911th Engineer Company

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Homer McElvoy, an Arlington Co. Firefighter, is seen talking to a member of the 911th Engineer Company during a rescue exercise in and around the Memorial Tunnel in Gallagher, W.Va., June 13, 2006, conducted by the Center for National Response.

The 911th Engineer Company (Technical Rescue), formerly the MDW (Military District of Washington) Engineer Company, is the only combat engineer company in the United States Army that specializes in Urban Search and Rescue (USAR). It is located at Ft. Belvoir, Virginia, and is best known for its response to the attack on the Pentagon on September 11, 2001.

The 911th is assigned to the 12th Aviation Battalion, itself a subordinate Headquarters of the Military District of Washington. The company specializes in collapsed structure, vertical, confined space, and mine rescue. It regularly trains with local, state, and federal first responders in the National Capital Region as a valuable contributor to the joint homeland defense organization, the Joint Force Headquarters National Capital Region. It was redesignated as the 911th Engineer Company on September 11th, 2006, in memory of its historic role in the war on terror.

[edit] External links

• "MDW's Rescue Engineers" by Don Wagner, Soldiers Online Magazine, Sept. 1, 2006
• US Army Corps of Engineers Structural Specialist Program
• Images from the rescue exercise by the Center for National Response in Gallagher, West Virginia, on June 13, 2006.
• Images of the MDW Eng. Co. dedicating three new rescue vehicles at Ft. Belvoir, VA, on July 14, 2006.
• Images of the MDW Eng. Co. during a rescue exercise at Ft. Belvoir, VA, on April 14, 2006.
• Link to "MDW Engineer Company Now the 911th" - http://www.mdw.army.mil/content/anmviewer.asp?a=1732&z=72
• 911th Engineers Conduct Joint HAZMAT Training with Arlington County Fire Department - http://www.belvoireagle.com/archives/2006/OCT/26/hazmat.shtml