Lieutenant Colonel Christopher W. Crary assumed command of the Honolulu District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on July 17, 2014. The Honolulu District operates across the Pacific coving approximately 12 million square miles from the Hawaiian Islands to American Samoa; throughout Micronesia including Guam, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, and other Pacific Islands. The District manages a multi-million dollar program providing engineering, construction, planning, contracting, real estate, emergency operations, environmental, and regulatory services to the military; to federal, state, and local governments; and to the public within its area of operations.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary came to the Honolulu District from the 130th Engineer Brigade, Schofield Barracks, Hawaii where he served as the Deputy Corps Engineer while the brigade was deployed to Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary is originally from Birmingham, Alabama. He was commissioned in the United States Army Corps of Engineers in August 1997 after graduating from the University of Alabama at Birmingham with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Civil Engineering. He also holds a Master of Science Degree in Engineering Management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary’s previous assignments include: Platoon Leader, Company Executive Officer, and Battalion Training Officer, 92nd Engineer Battalion, Fort Stewart, Georgia; Battalion Assistant Operations Officer and Company Commander, 46th Engineer Battalion, Fort Polk, Louisiana and Fort Rucker, Alabama; Naval Exchange Officer, 30th Naval Construction Regiment and 1st Naval Construction Division (Pacific), Pearl Harbor, Hawaii; Force Integration Officer – Afghan National Army Development, Combined Security Transition Command – Afghanistan, Kabul, Afghanistan; Battalion Operations and Executive Officer, 4th Engineer Battalion, Fort Carson, Colorado; and Deputy District Engineer, San Francisco District, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, San Francisco, California.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary’s operational deployments include: OPERATION IRAQI FREEDOM in 2003 and 2005 and OPERATION ENDURING FREEDOM in 2007-2008, 2009, and 2013-2014. He also deployed to New Jersey in support of HURRICANE SANDY RESPONSE in 2012 as the operations officer for a Headquarters U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (Forward) element.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary is a graduate of the Engineer Officer Basic Course, Engineer Captains Career Course, Combined Arms Staff Services School, and the Command and General Staff College.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary’s awards and decorations include: the Bronze Star Medal (two awards), the Meritorious Service Medal (four awards), the Army Commendation Medal (two awards), the Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal (three awards), the Army Achievement Medal (three awards), the Afghanistan Campaign Medal (three campaign stars), the Iraq Campaign Medal, the Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary and Service Medals, the Humanitarian Service Medal, and the Non-Article 5 North Atlantic Treaty Organization Medal. Unit awards include the Joint Meritorious Unit Award and the Valorous Unit Award. He has also been awarded the Engineer Regiment’s Bronze Order of the de Fleury.
Lieutenant Colonel Crary is married to the former Maria Watts of Aiea, Hawaii.