Supporting the troops
Richard Severson, MSA ’91, works tirelessly to make sure Marines in Al Anbar Province, Iraq, get good food, water, and shelter.
He’s deputy for support to the Marines for KBR, a global engineering, construction, and services company headquartered in Houston, Texas.
Severson and his colleagues provide base life support in Iraq, such as housing, food, water purification, sewage management, and power generation. There’s not much infrastructure available where they’re located, so they use large generators for electricity and water purification machines for potable water.
“If we can make the Marines’ jobs just a touch easier by giving them a good meal and a good place to rest, then maybe that just takes a little bit of the load off when they’re out doing their dangerous missions,” he says.
Maj. Severson retired from the U.S. Army in 1995 following a parachuting accident. He served 18 years, and the last five were spent in Panama as director of logistics for Special Operations Command - South.
Severson finished his MSA in public administration through CMU when he was in Panama, but he took most of his classes while stationed at Fort Meade, Maryland.
Severson says Fort Meade’s proximity to Washington, D.C., meant the professors often worked for or were retired from government service.
“It was a great place to get the public administration background,” he says.
“Central’s known as a quality institution, and when you have the opportunity that I did in the Washington, D.C., area, with the quality of the faculty there, it really bodes well for the quality of the institution.”
Severson says his public administration degree has helped him with the kinds of assignments and jobs he prefers – those that benefit the community.
After retirement from the Army he was airport manager for Menominee and Delta counties, Michigan. He also bought the Park Ridge Inn in Spaulding. Then when the KBR job came along, it was a way Severson could serve the United States.
“Especially after September 11, it was a way I thought I could contribute,” he says. “Being able to serve my country again and being able to help Marines and solders get what they need to do their job is important to me.”
Severson spent a year in Baghdad as director of logistics for the Middle East and Central Asia before moving into his current role – a job that involves a very real risk of injury or death.
“There is a level of danger every day,” he says. “There are incoming mortars. A contractor died 75 yards away from me.
“A third of the total war effort in Iraq is contractor support to the military. My company has lost of bunch of people.”
But even through the danger and demanding work, Severson says his job is personally rewarding.
“Each day you know you’re doing something to help,” he says. “That sure goes a long way.” •
