Autin Assumes Command Of New Orleans District
The New Orleans Engineer District held a change of command ceremony July 25 at its district headquarters on Leake Avenue in the city’s Black Pearl neighborhood, with Col. Scotty Autin assuming command from Col. Cullen Jones.
Jones, who concluded a three-year term as district commander, will now serve as director of the officer of the Chief of Engineers at the Pentagon.
“It has been my greatest honor to serve alongside you during my Army career,” Jones said to a crowd gathered outside the New Orleans District’s headquarters. “Thank you. You deliver, for this region and this nation, every day. You do so with excellence, integrity and quiet, relentless drive.”
For Autin, assuming command of the New Orleans District is a homecoming of sorts. Autin is a native of Houma, La., located about an hour southwest of New Orleans. Like New Orleans, Houma is defined by its maritime connections, namely with the Houma Navigation Canal and the Gulf Intracoastal Waterway (GIWW). Autin is the first Louisiana native in decades to lead the New Orleans District.
“To the incredible New Orleans District personnel—what a great reputation,” Autin said. “I’m deeply humbled and excited to learn about each of you and the projects.
“It is my obligation to you that I will lead with genuine curiosity, commitment and pride in each of you and what you have accomplished and what you will continue to accomplish,” he later added.
Autin is a 2002 graduate of the United States Military Academy, where he earned a degree in engineering management. Most recently, he served as the protection branch chief and U.S.-NATO integration lead at the NATO Joint Force Command in Brunssum, Netherlands. Among his many other mission assignments, Autin was deployed in 2005 to Louisiana and Mississippi in response to Hurricane Katrina to serve as deputy commander for the Waveland, Miss., emergency field office, where he supported debris removal, blue roof installation and ice distribution. Five years later, he was project manager for the Galveston Engineer District. Projects included dredging along the GIWW, the beneficial use of dredged material on South Padre Island, Texas, and Customs and Border Protection border stations in the region. Overseas deployments for Autin include to Iraq, Korea and Afghanistan, with additional work along the U.S.-Mexico border and in Puerto Rico.
Maj. Gen. Kimberly Peeples, commanding general of the Mississippi Valley Division, praised Jones for his three years of leadership and welcomed Autin to New Orleans, which oversees one of the largest civil works programs in the entire Corps of Engineers.
“He has a love for Louisiana, family, our nation and mission accomplishment,” Peeples said. “He is the right leader at the right time.”
Featured Image Caption: Col. Scotty Autin receives the district flag from Maj. Gen. Kimberly Peeples during the New Orleans Engineer District’s change of command ceremony, held July 25 at the district’s headquarters on the Mississippi River in New Orleans. (Photo by Ryan Labadens; U.S. Army Corps of Engineers; New Orleans District)
