Page 18 - Port of Baltimore - Issue 5 - 2024

Pera is the district’s 70th Commander. He was
first commissioned as an engineer officer in USACE
in June 2001, but his original career goal lay in quite
a different field.
“Coming out of high school, the Army really
wasn’t on my mind at all,” Pera said. “I thought I
was going to be a dentist. But when I was accepted
into UCLA and got my financial aid estimate, my dad
said, ‘You’d better make sure this is really what you
want to do.’ So joining the Army was about gaining
some experiences and figuring out where I wanted
to go.”
In hindsight, it was a good decision, because
enrolling at West Point put Pera on a completely
new track.
“West Point is the oldest engineering school in
the country,” he said. “The student body is exposed
to some level of engineering even if you’re a public
policy or a finance major.”
Pera ended up choosing a civil engineering track
for his studies.
Over the ensuing years, he embarked on an
illustrious career that saw him taking on leadership
positions at home and abroad.
He served as a platoon leader in the 18th
Engineer Company, which included a deployment
to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom.
Later, Pera served with the 1/307th Training
Support Battalion as the Engineer Branch
Chief, responsible for training the Pennsylvania
National Guard until 2007. He was then selected
for the USACE Prime Power battalion as the
assistant-S3 operations officer, serving eventually
as commander of Charlie Company for the 249th
Engineer Battalion in Fort Belvoir, VA. In that
capacity, he deployed platoons in support of
Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring
Freedom, and numerous federally declared disaster
areas until August 2010.
“We were able to serve as a really integral piece
to the temporary power mission after a disaster,”
Pera said. “We were part of the team that would
turn on the lights at the senior living facility, the
police station, the fire station, the hospital.”
The Right People
in the Right Roles
Until 2013, Pera served as an engineer staff officer
with the 25th Infantry Division, where he was
responsible for transferring all remaining U.S. bases
to the Iraqi government during the final stages
of Operation New Dawn. He then served as a
regimental engineer for the 75th Ranger Regiment
until 2015, with multiple deployments as part of a
counter-terrorism joint task force.
Pera was the NATO Staff Engineer Officer for
Balkans and Engineer Targeting Officer for Joint Forces
Command in Naples, Italy, until 2018, followed by his
role as Executive Officer for the Director of Program
Analysis and Evaluation, G-8. In 2019, he assumed
command of the 249th Engineer Battalion and served
as Commandant of the U.S. Army Prime Power School.
From 2022 to 2023, Pera was the Executive
Officer to USACE and Commanding General of
USACE. His military awards and decorations are
numerous, including honors such as the Legion of
Merit, Bronze Star Medal and NATO Medal.
In his decades of experience as an officer, Pera
said he has learned that “one of the main roles as a
leader in the Army is talent management. I’ve been
extremely fortunate to serve with some of the best
men and women in the Army, and a common lesson
is that passion drives performance and performance
drives potential. Having the right people in the
right roles can have an enormous impact on an
organization’s ability to accomplish its mission.”
Col. Francis B. Pera’s
Career Path to the Baltimore District
Platoon Leader –
18th Engineer Company
Assistant-S3
Operations Officer –
USACE Prime Power, VA
Engineer Staff Officer –
25th Infantry Division
West Point
1/307th Training
Support Battalion
Commander, Charlie
Company – 249th
Engineer Battalion
[16] The Port of Baltimore ■ ISSUE 5 / 2024