JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, Alaska – Lt. Col. Penny Bloedel has been named the new deputy commander of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Alaska District.
She assumed duties Jan. 1, 2017.
Bloedel manages the Alaska District’s resources, manpower and programs, annually executing military construction, civil works and environmental programs throughout Alaska. She also directs emergency operations during disaster contingencies.
Bloedel is a native of Winfield, Kansas. She was previously assigned to the 1st Infantry Division from 2011 to 2014 at Fort Riley, Kansas.
Her assignments there included brigade engineer, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Inf. Div., in 2014; battalion operations officer, Division Headquarters and Headquarters Battalion, 1st Inf. Div., from 2013 to 2014; battalion executive officer, Special Troops Battalion, 4th IBCT, 1st Inf. Div., from 2011 to 2013; and engineer operations officer, 1st Inf. Div., in 2011.
She deployed to Afghanistan from 2012 to 2013 in support of Operation Enduring Freedom; and to Iraq from 2008 to 2009 and in 2003 in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
She received a Master of Arts degree in geography in 2016 from Kansas State University, Manhattan, Kansas; a Master of Science degree in geology and geophysics in 2006 from Missouri University of Science and Technology, Rolla, Missouri; and a Bachelor of Science degree in environmental science in 2000 from the U.S. Military Academy, West Point, New York, from where she also received her commission into the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.