Lieutenant Colonel Kristen N. Dahle

59th Commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Philadelphia District

Published July 7, 2017

Lieutenant Colonel Kristen N. Dahle, served as the USACE Philadelphia District's 59th Commander.

District missions include dredging waterways for navigation, protecting communities from flooding and coastal storms, responding to natural and declared disasters, regulating construction in the nation’s waters and wetlands, remediating environmental hazards, restoring ecosystems, building facilities for the Army and Air Force, and providing engineering, contracting and project management services for other government agencies upon request. Established in 1866, the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Philadelphia District encompasses the 13,000-square-mile Delaware River Basin and the Atlantic coast from New Jersey’s Manasquan Inlet to the Delaware-Maryland line. Within its boundaries are more than eight million people in eastern Pennsylvania, western and southern New Jersey, most of Delaware, New York’s Catskills region and part of northeastern Maryland.

Lieutenant Colonel Dahle graduated from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology with a Bachelor's in Civil Engineering and received her commission as a Second Lieutenant in the Corps of Engineers in May of 1999. Since commissioning, Lieutenant Colonel Dahle has spent nine years stationed overseas in various locations around Germany. She deployed four times to combat locations serving 48 months in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kuwait.

Her military assignments include Platoon Leader, 535th Combat Support Equipment Company, 94th Engineer Battalion, Grafenwoehr, Germany; Executive Officer, Headquarters and Headquarters Support Company, 94th Engineer Battalion, Vilseck, Germany; Operations Officer (AS3) and Battalion S4, 94th Engineer Battalion, Baghdad, Iraq; Engineer Project Officer, Technical Headquarters Section, 18th Engineer Brigade, Bagram, Afghanistan; Company Commander, Headquarter and Headquarters Company, 18th Engineer Brigade, Heidelberg, Germany / MND-North, Iraq; Brigade Planner, 18th Engineer Brigade, Mosul, Iraq; Lead Planner, III Corps, Executive Officer, 2826th Engineer Battalion, and S3, 62nd Engineer Battalion, Fort Hood, Texas; Aide-de-Camp, Deputy Commanding General FORSCOM, and Plans Officer, Strategy, Policy and Transformation in the FORSCOM G3/5/7. Lieutenant Colonel Dahle recently completed a one-year deployment as the Combined Joint Task Force, Operation Inherent Resolve Engineer Chief of Plans, Kuwait.

Her military education includes Airborne School (1995), Engineer Officer Basic Course (2000), Engineer Captain’s Career Course (2005), Intermediate Leader Education (2010) and School of Advance Military Studies (2011).

Her awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster), Meritorious Service Medal (2 Oak Leaf Clusters), Army Commendation Medal (Oak Leaf Cluster), Army Achievement Medal, National Defense Service Medal, Afghanistan Campaign Medal (1st Campaign Star), Iraq Campaign Medal (4th Campaign Star), Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Army Service Ribbon, Overseas Service Ribbon (6th Device), Presidential Unit Citation, Army Meritorious Unit Commendation (Oak Leaf Cluster), and the Parachutist Badge. She is also a recipient of the Army Engineer Association's Bronze De Fleury Medal.