SAME at 100 – Celebrating a Century of Service
AHBL’s Society of Military Engineers (SAME) members including Tim Hansen, Ken Leland, Bill Fierst and Denise Storaasli got decked out to celebrate SAME’s 100th Anniversary July 23rd at the Centennial Ball! The celebration was held at the Tacoma Convention Center Marriott Hotel – an AHBL project that our civil, survey and landscape architecture teams designed. The event was the first group event held at the hotel since its opening in November 2020. The event was hosted by the SAME Mount Tacoma Post.
SAME is an organization that unites public and private sector individuals and organizations from across architecture, engineering, construction, environmental, facility management, cyber security, project planning, contracting and acquisition and related disciplines to develop multidiscipline solutions to national security infrastructure challenges.
The Centennial Ball in Tacoma offered SAME community members the opportunity to connect with other stakeholders in the area to honor the contribution the profession has made to our nation.
Honored guests and speakers included:
- Colonel Jeff Hall, Commander, 555 Engineer Brigade at JBLM, Colonel Hall is also jumpmaster qualified. His awards include the Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, and Army Commendation Medal.
- Bryan Goda Ph.D., Colonel (Ret.), Professor, University of Washington-Tacoma; following his retirement in 2012 after 30 years of service, Colonel (Ret) Goda was hired as a full-professor at the University of Washington-Tacoma. Over the last nine years, the IT program has more than doubled and the Masters of Cybersecurity and Leadership program he started is now in its eighth year. The Master of Information Technology program is nearing final approval will bring even more opportunities to the South Sound.
- Brig. Gen. Joe Schroedel, P.E., F.SAME, USA (Ret.) became SAME Executive Director in August 2014 after a 34-year career in the US Army. He also serves as the Adjunct Professor in the Graduate Construction Management Program at George Mason University. He wrapped up the presentation with the four keys to life: family, health, integrity and faith.
AHBL has been a member of SAME for the past 20 years. AHBL helped support the Centennial celebration as an event sponsor and also sponsored a military member and his guest so they could join us in celebrating SAME’s 100th Anniversary. Our sponsored army military member was recently stationed at JBLM and hopes to become a Professional Land Surveyor once his military career is concluded.
One goal of the event is to ensure new participation from local military and industry partners, government agencies, stakeholders and the community. If you are interested in learning more, visit the Mount Tacoma Post.