News

New USPFO Facility, Camp Dodge, IA

SKE International, Inc. recently completed the design and construction of a new United States Property and Fiscal Office (USPFO) facility at Camp Dodge, Iowa.  SKE and its design team were one of five proposals and one of three Iowa MATOC contractors selected to present their concept to the Iowa Army National Guard.  The SKE design team includes BCDM Architects, Bishop Engineering and Hoss & Brown Engineers.

The SKE design includes a 19,260 square foot, single story office facility with brick veneer and metal roofing.  The project includes site development, parking pavements, sidewalks, detention basins, site lighting, signage, terrazzo flooring, computer server room, tornado shelter, and an emergency power generator.  The project is to achieve a LEED Silver rating which includes enhanced commissioning of the new facility.  Design development is executed with the cooperation and partnership of the SKE International Inc. design team, USPFO Office for the Iowa Army National Guard, and the Director of Installation Management office for the Iowa Army National Guard.  The client who is also the end user moved into the Facility in November 2011.

Col. Carl F. Baswell Awarded 2011 Gold DeFleury Medal

Army Corps of Engineers Colonel Carl F. Baswell, USA (Retired) was recently honored by the Army Chief of Engineers and the Commandant of the Army Engineer School as the recipient of the 2011 Gold Order of the deFleury Medal – the highest award presented by the Army Engineer Regiment.  Baswell received the award at the 2011 ENFORCE Conference held April 6-9, 2011 at Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.

The Gold Order of the deFleury Medal is normally presented annually to a single distinguished American who exemplifies boldness, courage, and commitment to a strong national defense.  Past recipients have included General Maxwell Thurman, General Andrew Goodpaster, the Honorable lke Skelton, SMA Leon L. VanAutreve, Mr. Allen Carton and other equally outstanding military and civilian personnel.  Baswell becomes the 27th person so honored since the award was first presented in 1989.

Colonel Baswell entered the Army during World War Two as a volunteer soldier from Arkansas.  He was selected to attend Officer Candidate School and was commissioned as a Second Lieutenant, Corps of Engineers in 1943.  Following deployment to Europe, he was wounded during the Battle of the Bulge in 1944 while assigned to the 9th Armored Division’s engineer battalion (the 9th combat engineers).  He later commanded the 11th Combat Engineer Battalion and 36th Engineer Combat Group both in Korea.  He retired from active military service in 1970 while serving as the Bavarian Engineer District commander in Augsburg, Germany.  Military awards include the Legion of Merit w/Oak Leaf Cluster, the Bronze Star and the Purple Heart Medal.

Following retirement from the Army with 32 years active service, he worked as the Director for International Operations, KLEE KG, a German International Construction and Service Company, located in livesheim, West Germany.  KLEE KG was renamed SERVICES KLEE EHRENFELS (SKE) in year 2000.  Today he remains an active engineering and business consultant to SKE.

In addition to the exceptional engineering contributions he made to the Engineer Regiment while on active duty with the U.S. Army, and afterwards in a civilian capacity, Baswell has remained extremely active with non-profit organizations such as the Army Engineer Association (AEA), Society of American Military Engineers and the Association of the U.S. Army.

He recently established two AEA academic scholarship awards in his name, each funded annually by his generous financial contributions, specifically for families of fallen engineers who died during combat operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as for combat wounded engineers in each of those operations who are recipients of the Purple Heart.

Baswell spends a portion of each year living in Germany and his beloved State of Arkansas, while traveling to and participating in a large number of military and civilian related engineering conferences and seminars.  As noted by the Army Chief of Engineers, Lt. Gen. Robert L. VanAntwerp who presented the medal, “Carl Baswell is not only an outstanding American and distinguished member of the Engineer Regiment, he is tribute to the sort of long term dedication, commitment and service to our nation from which we can all gain great inspiration.”

                     -Reprinted with permission from the Army Engineer Magazine.

Consistent adherence to the accident prevention regulations and the consistent use of personal protection equipment has had a positive effect on the number of accidents. For around seven years now there have not been any serious accidents in the carpenters' workshop - and for three years they have even been completely accident-free. Worthy of praise indeed!

Every morning a brief discussion is held among the employees of the carpenters' workshop in Mannheim. Besides the upcoming work that is to be carried out, defects or faults are addressed and immediately corrected. All of the machines and equipment are also checked and repaired at regular intervals.

The carpenters' workshop exist now for around 35 years and was created from a maintenance agreement from the US Army, the origin of SKE.

Under the leadership of Plant Manager and safety expert Uwe Fiedler and his deputy Bernd Schumann, the carpenters perform work in conjunction with renovation projects for the US Armed Forces, produce made-to measure kitchens, e.g. for PPP projects, and constructing - last but not least - furniture, windows, fitted furniture and much more, including for the private customer field.

Ammunition Storage Facility Livorno

The US Navy awarded a Multiple Award Construction Contract (MACC) for Italy to SKE in 2009. SKE received a Delivery Order under this frame contract to build an Ammunition Storage Facility (ASF) in Livorno, Italy for € 4.5 million. The two facilities depicted in the photos are the "stuffing and un-stuffing" buildings that are part of this project and support the ASF operation. The main storage building (not pictured) was scheduled for completion in April '11, however, an additional modification to the contract will be required to correct technical desrepancies of the Fire Alarm system due to US Government design deficiencies. Receipt of this modification is pending receipt of US funding which is imminent. New completion date will be May/June '11.