"The Ambassador of Jefferson Parish" Kevin Blair (left) discusses a demolition with a property owner in Jefferson Parish. LA-RFO Photo by Spec. Larry Gleeson. Back to Features

Go-To-Guy
Kevin Blair: From big-time Iraq duty to Jefferson Sector boss
By Dave Harris, Public Affairs Specialist, Louisiana Recovery Field Office 

Others talk about early living conditions working in Louisiana after Katrina – sleeping in a tent or on a boat docked near a bunch of waterborne snakes. Resident Engineer Kevin Blair spent his first days in style. 

“I slept in a 2004 Ford Taurus,” he said, and recalls the day he got to move into a motel that had been occupied by the police and National Guard. “The whole ceiling in my room was covered with black mold.” 

Kevin has had adventures in Iraq and New Orleans. He stretches out his arms, making like scales balancing between the two places – where would he rather be? 

He settled his choice, having served in Iraq, on the Army Corps of Engineers’ New Orleans recovery mission since Sept. 5, 2005, and planning at the end of the mission to return to Iraq or Afghanistan. 

Hailing from Kansas City District, he said he has four more years to go before retirement. He’ll spend a month or two at home before heading to the Middle East again.  

Fishing? 

“Naw. I don’t have any hobbies to speak of.” So when it comes to thinking about retirement, he said, “Might as well keep working.” 

He wrote his first load ticket here when he was working Lafreniere Park in Metairie. Kevin later served as a quality assurance supervisor, both on the West Bank and in Grand Isle. Since then became the resident engineer in Jefferson Parish. 

His biggest challenge before returning to Kansas City was coordinating QAs and debris crews, keeping track and locating resources. “It was especially challenging during the PPDR – personal property debris removal program – that involved 150,000 properties in three months with 24,000 work orders – coordinating with the contractors to get the work orders completed.” 

Kevin was used to working on large projects. In Iraq, from June 2004 to April 2005, he was resident engineer for the northern three provinces, responsible for stringing 172 kilometers of transmission lines. He also was tasked to build an Iraqi training base and, in Arbil, he set up a resident office. 

Prior to that, he served 20 years in the National Guard and built 18 kilometers of road during Operation Just Cause, the 1989 U.S. invasion of Panama, and fought flooding in Missouri in 1993. 

He was used to working on public projects, he said, but what was unique about the mission in New Orleans was “the magnitude of working with contractors on private properties and dealing with the public on a constant basis daily.” 

With employees deploying to New Orleans from throughout the country, he said he saw good people volunteering for the work, but he faces the reality that “their spouses won’t let them stay, and we have to start all over again with retraining.” 

Area Engineer Nolan Raphelt said, “Kevin has an amazing ability to know everything in his sector, from the smallest matter to the big picture. This guy knows what’s going on – all the detail I want or need. He is superior!” 

Kevin hasn’t spent much time at home lately, between Iraq and Louisiana. 

One gets the impression he has seen it all, and nothing seems to faze him. But sometimes there’s an interruption he cannot ignore. 

“I had to come home from Iraq when my house burned down and fix that,” he said.

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