The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) Far East District (FED) has welcomed their first two Korean Augmentation to the U.S. Army Soldiers (KATUSAs). Pvt. Ahn, Hong-in and Pvt. Jeong, Taeyeong came on board this past November and December. Both Soldiers will work in the district’s operations shop and are excited to be part of the team here at FED.
“I want to learn how engineering is done on the job site, as opposed to in the classroom,” said Ahn.
Jeong said he wants to learn engineering skills, but also wants to gain more understanding of the United States.
“I want to experience the American culture and also I hope this experience will increase my communications and inter-personal relationships with foreigners,” said Jeong.
Both Soldiers are studying engineering, Ahn at Pohang University of Science and Technology, and Jeong at Kyungpook National University in Daegu.
They will both be stationed with FED for 16 months, the entirety of their time as KATUSAs.
“We are really excited to have them here and get them to work and educate them about what we do at the district,” said Master Sgt. David Montes Jr., District Operations Non-commissioned officer in charge.
Both Soldiers said this experience will be beneficial as they continue their studies at the college level. They both think what they learn here will lead them to find the right professional job in the future and perhaps a job one day with an engineering company.
“I realize there are lots of ways to get a job in engineering and I also noticed there are a lot of civilians working at the district so I think it would be great one day to come back and get a permanent job here working for the Far East District,” said Jeong.