The U.S. Army Engineering and Support Center, Huntsville welcomes Lt. Col. Hugh Darville as its new deputy commander, taking over in August when Lt. Col. Burlin Emery retired.
“It’s an honor to be able to work in an organization with such an outstanding reputation — an organization that districts across the Corps of Engineers and agencies across the Department of Defense lean on to deliver cutting-edge solutions to some of some of the toughest and unique engineering challenges facing our nation today,” Darville said.
Darville is no stranger to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers. He held previous positions as deputy commander for the Baltimore District from January 2010 to June 2012; executive officer to the Director of Civil Works at Headquarters, USACE, from 2004 to 2006; and served as the liaison between USACE and the City of New Orleans for immediate recovery efforts following Hurricane Katrina.
Before coming to Huntsville, Darville was the director of the Directorate of Training and Leader Development, and director of the Directorate of Instruction at the U.S. Army Engineer School at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri, where he oversaw curriculum development for Army Engineer courses, training strategies for operational Army Engineer units, and the execution of officer and warrant officer courses.
His other assignments include commander, Syracuse Army Recruiting Battalion from July 2012 to July 2014; operations officer and executive officer for the 14th Combat Engineer Battalion, Fort Lewis, Washington, from 2007 to 2009; and consecutive tours in Germany as operations officer and Alpha Company commander for the 16th Armored Engineer Battalion in Giessen; deputy assistant division engineer for the 1st Armored Division in Wiesbaden; chief of Construction Management for the 130th Engineer Brigade and platoon leader for the 502nd Engineer Company (Assault Float Bridge) in Hanau.
His combat and operational deployment experience includes being squadron engineer for 1st Squadron, 1st U.S. Cavalry Regiment, in Baghdad, Iraq; chief of Construction Management for Task Force Falcon, and master planner and architect of Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo; and chief engineer of Joint Task Force Shining Presence in Tel Aviv, Israel, during Operation Desert Fox. He also served on operational and humanitarian assistance deployments to Hungary, Croatia, Bosnia, Albania, Macedonia, Bulgaria, Moldova and Botswana. From 2008 to 2009, while assigned at Fort Lewis, Darville deployed to provide mission command to a multi-service force of 800 Army, Navy and Air Force engineers conducting full-spectrum operations across Iraq.
Darville is a Distinguished Military Graduate of Texas A&M University where he received a Bachelor of Environmental Design, cum laude. He also holds a Master of Architecture with certificates in Historic Preservation and American Urbanism from the University of Virginia; and a Master of International and Strategic Defense Studies jointly conferred by the University of Milan and the Free International University of Social Studies (LUISS) "Guido Carli" in Rome, Italy. He is a registered architect in Louisiana and a certified construction manager. He is a member of American Institute of Architects, is past president of the Fort Leonard Wood Post of the Society of American Military Engineers, and past chair of the Baltimore Federal Executive Board.
His military decorations include two awards of the Bronze Star, seven awards of the Meritorious Service Medal, the Joint Service Achievement Medal, the Humanitarian Service Medal, the Combat Action Badge, and the Silver and Bronze Order of the de Fleury Medal. His military education includes the Defense Strategy Course of the U.S. Army War College; the Joint Service Staff College (ISSMI) at the Center for High Defense Studies (CASD) in Rome, Italy; the Joint Multi-National Staff Officer Course at the Euro-NATO Training Engineer Center (ENTEC) in Munich, Germany; the Future Unit Commanders Course (CFCU) at the French Army Engineer School (ESAG) in Angers, France; and the Linguist Enhancement Course at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Germany.