Colonel Robert M. McTighe was assigned as the deputy commander of the North Atlantic Division, US Army Corps of Engineers on 5 July 2023.
The North Atlantic Division is one of nine divisions comprising over 3,700 employees providing engineering and construction services to the nation. It is USACE’s headquarters for the Northeastern United States, Europe and Africa, with six subordinate district command offices located in Concord, Mass., New York City, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Norfolk, and Wiesbaden, Germany.
McTighe’s previous operational assignments began at Fort Drum, New York, from 2002-05, where as a Sapper platoon leader he deployed with the 2-14th Infantry in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Upon redeployment, he served as a company executive officer and next as the Fire Fighting Detachment commander. After departing Fort Drum, he was assigned as a senior observer controller-trainer at Devens, Massachusetts, in a Training Support Battalion preparing the reserve component for worldwide deployments. In 2008, he was reassigned to Fort Drum and immediately deployed with the 10th Mountain Division Headquarters to Iraq. While deployed, he assumed command of the division’s Headquarters Support Company.
Upon completion of company command, McTighe served from 2010-12 in Garmisch, Germany, at the George C. Marshall European Center for Security Studies as operations officer and facility engineer. He next served at Fort Carson, Colorado, from 2013-16, beginning with a deployment to Afghanistan with the 4th Infantry Division Headquarters. While deployed, he served as a Transition Team operations officer for both the Afghan Army and Uruzgan Provincial Police. Upon redeployment, he served as the brigade planner in the 1st Stryker Brigade and then as the 299th Brigade Engineer Battalion operations and executive officer.
From there, he returned overseas to Wiesbaden, Germany, where he served in the U.S. Army Europe Headquarters and held positions as the engineer operations officer and chief of construction. McTighe then assumed command of the 1-310th Brigade Engineer Battalion, 181st Multifunctional Training Brigade, soon after attending the Army War College before arriving at NAD to serve as the deputy commander.
McTighe holds a Bachelor of Arts in history from the University of Connecticut, a Master of Arts in public administration from Webster University, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the US Army War College. He is also a graduate of the Army Command and General Staff College, Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced courses, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri.
His military awards and decorations include: the Airborne Badge and Sapper Tab, the NATO Service Medal, Humanitarian Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary and Service Medals, the Iraqi and Afghanistan Campaign Medals, three Army Achievement Medals, three Army Commendation Medals, four Meritorious Service Medals, the Defense Meritorious Service Medal, and three Bronze Star Medals. His unit awards include two Army Meritorious Unit Citation Awards. He has also received the Engineer Regimental Award and the Bronze Order of the DeFleury Medal.
He is married, and he and his wife have two daughters.
Mark Loizeaux is President and Owner of Controlled Demolition Incorporated (CDI), one of the leading international demolition firms performing both conventional and explosives demolition, as well as dismantling operations for a broad range of clientele. CDI offers consulting services to assist governmental officials, property owners, architects, engineers and construction managers with complex structure designs, site clearance/demolition challenges, and forensic investigations on domestic and international projects. The forte of this group is their half century of experience and 'hands-on' approach to field consulting, design, dismantling, conventional demolition, and explosives operations to meet the goals of each project.
Mr Loizeaux has worked in both the conventional and explosives demolition trades since a young age when he began as an apprentice to his father, John D. Loizeaux. John D. Loizeaux is recognised by the US and international demolition industries as the founder of commercial explosives demolition methods worldwide, starting in 1947. Since CDI was formally founded as an exclusive entity for explosives demolition in 1960, Mark Loizeaux has worked his way up through the company. He began as a field labourer and quickly advanced with time and additional education to Labour Foreman, Field Superintendent, General Superintendent, Vice President and Executive Vice President in 1976, when he took over the company and began running it. In 1986 Mr Loizeaux became President of CDI and Chairman of The Loizeaux Group of Companies.
As a consultant to both the public and private sectors on an international basis, Mr Loizeaux provides consulting for demolition and site clearance, rock removal and vibration control, anti-terrorist consulting to mitigate the effect of attacks on structures, and forensic analysis of failed structures to aid in determining the cause of such failure toward preventing similar failures in the future.
Mr Loizeaux is internationally recognised and has been honoured as a leading professional in the demolition industry. He is considered the leading, active professional in the explosives demolition field. As such, he acts as an expert technical witness on legal claims cases and in technical research committees where such expertise and hands-on experience is required.
In keeping with CDI's commitment of personal service to its clients, Mr Loizeaux works in the field regularly, personally handling both conventional and explosives demolition projects as the Principal-in-Charge for CDI. He has been personally responsible for the supervision of the demolition of thousands of structures worldwide and has worked on an additional 3,000 structures while passing through the various design, engineering and estimating stages of advancement in the group.
Mr Loizeaux regularly speaks to professional groups and universities, at safety seminars and works with regulatory agency committees on different aspects of explosives and demolition operations. He brings to his work a combination of hands-on experience in the field, business background and engineering studies to thoroughly and professionally address all aspects of each and every project undertaken or reviewed by CDI.
Mr Loizeaux obtained a BS Degree from the University of Tennessee.
