Lieutenant General Thomas P. Bostick ’78 relinquished command as the 53rd U.S. Army Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) May 19, 2016, in a change of command and retirement ceremony at Joint Base Myer-Henderson Hall (JBMHH), Virginia. He had served as the Chief of Engineers since May 22, 2012, and retired with 38 years of service in the U.S. Army. Lieutenant General Todd T. Semonite ’79 became the 54th Chief of Engineers and assumed command of USACE during the same ceremony.
As the USACE commanding general, Bostick served as the senior military officer overseeing most of the nation’s civil works infrastructure and military construction. He was responsible for more than 32,000 civilian employees and 700 military personnel who provide project management, construction support and engineering expertise in more than 110 countries around the world. USACE has a key role in supporting overseas contingency operations, with thousands of civilians and Soldiers having deployed to support military operations and reconstruction in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Before commanding USACE, Bostick served as the Army’s Deputy Chief of Staff, G-1, Personnel, responsible for developing, managing, and executing manpower and personnel plans, programs, and policies for more than 1 million Soldiers and 300,000 Army civilians. Other command and staff positions that Bostick held during his 38 years of service include Commanding General, U.S. Army Recruiting Command; Director of Military Programs in USACE with duty as Commander of the Gulf Region Division in Iraq; Assistant Division Commander (Maneuver), later Assistant Division Commander (Support), 1st Cavalry Division during the deployment into Operation Iraqi Freedom; Commander, Engineer Brigade, 1st Armored Division, Operation Joint Forge in Bosnia-Herzegovina; and Commander, 1st Engineer Battalion, 1st Infantry Division (Mechanized).
Bostick also served as Executive Officer to the Chief of Engineers, Executive Officer to the Army Chief of Staff, and Deputy Director of Operations for the National Military Command Center, J-3, the Joint Staff in the Pentagon from May 2001 to August 2002, including the events of Sept. 11, 2001.