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BIOGRAPHY

Brigadier General William E. Rapp Brigadier General William E. Rapp
Member-Designee

Brigadier General William E. Rapp assumed command of the Northwestern Division, U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, on May 30, 2008.  In his current position, he oversees a combined program of more than $3.2 billion in civil works, environmental restoration, and military construction in more than a dozen states, primarily within the Columbia and Missouri river basins.

Prior to this assignment, Brig. Gen. Rapp served in Iraq for Gen. Petraeus as the Director of the Commander’s Initiatives Group for the Multi-National Forces-Iraq, Feb. 2007 - Feb. 2008. Other assignments include an earlier deployment to Iraq as Commander of the 555th Combat Engineer Group in support of the 101st Airborne Division in Multi-National Division-North, Oct. 2005 - Oct. 2006, preceded by a year serving as Chief of Plans, I Corps, at Fort Lewis, WA.

Numerous other stateside and overseas assignments include serving as a Fellow for the Council of Foreign Relations, Institute for International Policy Studies in Tokyo, Japan, August 2002 – June 2003; Commander of the 54th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Mech) in Bamberg, Germany, July 2000 - July 2002; Military Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of the Army (Civil Works), Pentagon, 1999 - 2000; and Operations Officer (S-3) for the 864th Engineer Battalion and the 555th Combat Engineer Group, 1997 - 1999.

A distinguished graduate of the United States Military Academy, West Point, NY, Brig. Gen. Rapp was commissioned in the Corps of Engineers in 1984. He spent his first operational assignment in the 1st Armored Division (Furth, Germany) as platoon leader and executive officer in the 16th Engineer Battalion and reconnaissance platoon leader in 1-1 Cavalry Squadron. Returning to the States in 1988, Brig. Gen. Rapp served as Assistant Operations Officer (S-3) and later as commander of B Company, 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat) (Airborne) at Fort Bragg and during the Gulf War. From 1992 to 1994, he was a graduate student at Stanford University, and then taught international relations for two years in the Department of Social Sciences at West Point.

Brig. Gen. Rapp has a Masters and Ph.D. in Political Science from Stanford University as well as a Masters in National Security Policy from the U.S. Army War College. He is a licensed Professional Engineer from Virginia.

His military schooling includes the War College, Joint Forces Staff College, Command and General Staff College, Combined Arms Services and Staff School, Engineer Officer Basic Course, Airborne School, and Air Assault School. COL Rapp was the distinguished honor graduate of the Infantry Officer Advance Course, Ranger School Class 2-85, his Jumpmaster Course, and the Strategist Program at CGSC. He is a Master Parachutist and holds the qualification 6Z (Army Strategist). His personal decorations include the Defense Superior Service Medal, Legion of Merit, Bronze Star with oak leaf cluster, the Meritorious Service Medal with five oak leaf clusters, the Army Commendation Medal with two oak leaf clusters, and the Engineer Regiment’s Bronze DeFleury Medal.

 

July 2008