“It was a real eye opener.”
That’s how the woman who grew up on a dairy farm describes her tenure in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Sacramento District from 1996 to 1998.
Retired U.S. Army Col. Dorothy F. Klasse, born in Forest City, Iowa, and raised in the small town of Knapp, Wis., petitioned to join the engineer branch after completing her training in the Women’s Army Corps in June 1975 because she believed it would deal with environmental challenges more than the other branches, and allow her to get out of the office and into the field more.
She was one of three graduates in her class to be accepted into the engineer branch. Little did she know at the time, her decision would later thrust her into the spotlight and into the history books.
“I just knew I really didn’t want to be a farmer,” Klasse said, “so I joined the military.”
In 1996, Klasse became the Corps’ first female district engineer, leading the Sacramento District during one of the most storied periods in the district’s 84-year history.
And it almost didn’t even happen.
“I always felt you should have a professional engineering degree to be a district engineer,” Klasse said. “So I didn’t feel I was necessarily the best qualified for running the Sacramento District, and I thought about that heavily before accepting the position.”
A January 1997 storm and subsequent flooding quickly proved she was the right person for the job.
All my life I’d been an operator, coordinating teams to get things done whether it was training maintenance or a mission, so the floods were something I could get my arms around, she said. “I was in my comfort zone.”
Leading teams was Klasse’s strong suit. She’d led a 600-person engineer combat battalion at Fort Stewart, Ga., two years before taking command of the Sacramento District. Everyone in the district had a role in the district’s flood response, and they all wanted to get it done as fast as possible, Klasse said.
“How did we do it?” she asked. “Teamwork. We can always do things better as a team.”
Her motto was “Be One Team,” and it lives on in the district to this day.
Each year, the Sacramento District honors the extraordinary achievements of its people with the People’s Choice Awards. Recipients are nominated and selected by their peers. In 2002, an award designated for a high achieving team was created and called the Col. Dorothy F. Klasse “Be One Team” Award.
“Dorothy had great respect for all of her staff and people,” said Jason Fanselau, who worked in the public affairs office during Klasse’s tenure. “I remember her assistant golfed—Dorothy didn’t—but she’d volunteer to go out and caddie for her assistant.”
She is just a great person, and she was great for the district, Fanselau added.
Ultimately, it was her lack of engineering background that perhaps made her the most successful.
My philosophy was that as a commander my focus should be 12 inches wide covering a little bit of everything, and not 12 inches deep into a single issue, Klasse said.
“The Sacramento District was a high-speed district that knew what it was doing and was doing it right,” she added.
By not being specialized, I was able to step back and take a more broad approach to leadership, she said.
Looking back to her time in Sacramento, she now has a better appreciation for the historical significance of her tenure, whether it was completing repairs after the devastating 1997 floods, dedicating the new Vic Fazio Yolo Wildlife Area situated between Sacramento and Davis, or just helping to build a stronger team for the projects to be completed in future years.
“The district was dealing with a lot of complex projects, and there was just a lot to know,” Klasse said. “I definitely walked away with a new appreciation for the challenges there and the vital role that the civilian workforce had in meeting those challenges.”
Many Corps projects, particularly on the civil works side, can last a decade or longer. The U.S. Army rotates district engineers through assignments every two to three years, so the civilian workforce is the primary means for maintaining continuity throughout individual projects.
“The civilian workforce plays an instrumental role in maintaining institutional knowledge because there’s no way a district engineer can come in and understand the idiosyncrasies of every ongoing project,” Klasse said.
Today, much of that institutional knowledge is nearing retirement, and could be lost if more young people don’t seek a career in engineering.
“Careers in STEM—science, technology, engineering and math—are absolutely critical,” Klasse said. “The challenges people in those fields are facing are life impacting.”
The doors are open, she said, for someone to be the next person to develop a tool to explore other planets or advance medical capabilities.
“People in these careers have the chance to change the world,” she said.
Note: Col. Dorothy F. Klasse retired from the U.S. Army in 1999 with nearly 24-and-a-half years of military service and now resides in Arlington, Va. In addition to being the first woman district commander in the Corps of Engineers, she was the first woman to command a combat heavy engineer battalion when she led the 92nd Engineer Combat Battalion from 1992-1994. Sacramento Mayor Joe Serna awarded Klasse the ‘Key to the City’ in 1996 for her achievements.