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The most recent appropriations for the Department of War expired at 11:59 p.m. EST on September 30, 2025. Military personnel will continue in a normal duty status without pay until such time as a continuing resolution or appropriations are passed by Congress and signed into law. Civilian personnel not engaged in excepted activities will be placed in a non-work, non-pay status. 

  • September

    A man in a red had and yellow safety vest speaks in front of a group of people in yellow safety vests.

    Blue-sky day training helps responders prepare for future flood events

    Natural disasters don’t care about chain of command or what roles and responsibilities lie with which local, state or federal government agency. The destruction caused by natural disasters can happen anytime and anywhere. So, having coordinated preparedness plans at all levels of government is vital for effective response when these events inevitably occur. On a sunny, temperate day in middle Missouri, dozens of emergency management personnel convened for a two-day event aimed at doing just this – discussing policy, operations, recovery and hands-on training for a variety of disaster scenarios. The Missouri State Emergency Management Agency hosted a regional coordinator meeting on Sept. 23 and 24 in Jefferson City, Missouri, during National Preparedness Month.
  • Man working at desk.

    Mentorship made simple: New app helps connect employees across Kansas City District

    When thinking about professional development within the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Leadership Development Program is the gold standard. That’s why fiscal year 2024 LDP graduate, security specialist Jason Smith, took his year two LDP project to the next level — developing an internal mentorship application that focuses on leveraging the principles he and other district senior leadership learned in LDP and throughout their careers in federal service.
  • Two men, one with a green shirt and glasses and one with a brown shirt, stand and smile at the camera.

    ‘Like a detective looking for evidence in a crime scene’: How collecting high-water marks helps flood risk reduction efforts

    If a tree falls in a forest and no one is there to see it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if a heavy rain event causes flooding overnight and no one is awake to see it, did it happen? Of course it did. But, how do you know how high the water got if no one was there to witness it? This was the scenario facing the City of Merriam, Kansas, after a significant rainfall event occurred overnight and into the early morning of July 17, 2025. Turkey Creek, which runs through the city, is prone to flash flooding during heavy rain events. On July 17, the creek flooded, impacting parts of the city, but it all occurred overnight when most people were asleep. The flood waters receded almost as quickly as they rose, posing the question: how high did the water get?

  • August

    Screenshot of AI scanning the road for defects from tasks order one.

    The Kansas City District tests AI and GoPro technology to improve roadway and campground maintenance with new pilot program

    The Kansas City District has long played a significant role in testing and implementing new approaches to conducting work across its sprawling footprint in Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska and Iowa. Now, a new pilot program that leverages GoPro cameras and Artificial Intelligence technology reflects a broader commitment to using these tools for smarter, more efficient ways to serve the needs of the public it serves across the region.
  • A black sign with gold lettering hangs on a grey concrete post with white headstones, grass and trees in the background.

    Fort Scott National Cemetery Lodge: Standing watch over our nation’s fallen heroes

    There is something awe-inspiring about seeing thousands of white marble headstones uniformly lined up throughout pristinely manicured grounds. Entering the iron gates of the Fort Scott National Cemetery, a quiet somberness descends as you take in the graves nestled into the hillside. While the cemetery has existed since the 1840s, it wasn’t designated as a national cemetery until 1862 by President Abraham Lincoln—making it one of the first to be dedicated to American military personnel. Back then, it was common for cemeteries to have caretakers responsible for maintaining the grounds. These caretakers and their families often lived in houses built inside the cemeteries, and at the Fort Scott National Cemetery, the caretaker’s lodge is still standing. Not only is it still standing, but it’s currently used as administrative offices, dressing rooms and storage for today’s staff.

  • July

    Aerial shot of wildfire destruction in Colorado.

    Answering the call: Kansas City District volunteers bring expertise, compassion to national disaster response

    As incidents of extreme storms and natural disasters continue to rise across the nation, more volunteers are needed to help their fellow Americans find normalcy in their lives again. That's why the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, has consistently deployed volunteers and emergency management professionals to support recovery efforts in some of the most ravaged area across the nation.
  • A woman in a green dress and a man in a grey shirt and green pants stand and smile in front of a wooden board with white posters and orange and blue lifejackets hanging in the background.

    Love, Carissa: Granddaughter’s legacy is saving lives one lifejacket at a time

    Shannon Shaw never thought she’d be part of a growing group of grieving families who’ve lost a loved one by drowning. In 2015, her granddaughter, Carissa, tragically drowned at the age of nine while swimming in a river. She was not wearing a lifejacket. Despite her unimaginable grief, Shaw decided to dedicate her life to preserving Carissa’s enthusiasm for life by helping save others. Shaw is the CEO and founder of the Love, Carissa Corporation, a non-profit committed to preventing drowning fatalities by raising awareness and providing resources like lifejackets and financial assistance for swimming lessons. According to Shaw, she doesn’t want to lecture people about water safety. Instead, she wants to provide them with resources to stay safe.
  • A woman in a yellow safety vest and a hardhat speaks to others in orange and yellow safety vests and hardhats on a dirt ground with a white pickup truck in the background.

    ‘Seeing is believing’: Project site visits provide valuable knowledge sharing opportunity

    Employees leave their jobs for many reasons. Some retire while others leave to explore new career opportunities. While workplace attrition is common across industries, it can pose a challenge to those left behind, especially when decades of institutional knowledge are also lost when the experienced employee departs. Sometimes, there can be a gap in knowledge, skills or abilities when a senior employee leaves an organization. Mack Landen, project manager with the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Civil Works Branch, saw a wave of employee departures and new hires at the district within the last few years not as a deficiency, but as an opportunity.

  • May

    A man in a purple shirt stands in front of a brown wall with a silver emblem on the left side and a red flag on the right side.

    Challenging the status quo: Security specialist develops app for Army Protection Program

    Challenging the status quo isn’t easy for everyone. For some, being able to identify areas for improvement and finding solutions comes naturally. For Jason Smith, finding solutions to problems and inefficiencies in the workplace is something he learned early in his career and is now part of his work philosophy. “I started as a civil servant 20 years ago and even when I was in the [National Guard], you have people with a mission,” said Smith, security specialist at the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. “If you make it easier for people to do their job by helping them out with their processes, it makes the mission easier and that makes people happier.”
  • A woman in a purple shirt and tan shorts stands on rocks with waves splashing in the background.

    ‘We represent the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’: Office of Counsel an essential element to engineering excellence

    Attorneys, paralegals and other legal support staff are probably not the first jobs that come to mind when thinking of a large engineering organization. At the Kansas City District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, the Office of Counsel plays a vital role in the district’s ability to execute its many missions — albeit sometimes in the background. Practicing what is known as preventative law, the Office of Counsel is typically not the face of the Kansas City District. However, they play a critical role representing the legal position and rights of USACE as an organization and are engaged in the planning and design phase of many of the district’s projects to ensure smooth and effective execution from project conception to completion.