Colonel Jodi Jones Smith serves as DCG-S for the 416th Theater Engineer Command (TEC), in Darien, IL. The 416th is one of the Army’s two TECs, comprised of more than 10,000 Soldiers, and its mission is to coordinate and synchronize operational planning for combat, general, topographic and technical engineering supporting operational theaters, joint task forces, or sustainment operations. She previously served as G-3 and G-5 in the 412th TEC.
Colonel Smith previously commanded the 302d Maneuver Enhancement Brigade in Chicopee, MA, a mission-tailored force of more than 2,200 Soldiers, supporting stability, consequence management, maneuver, and support area operations. In this capacity, she also served as the Deputy Commander of Task Force McCoy during Operation Allies Welcome, focusing on resettling more than 13,000 Afghan refugees.
Colonel Smith served as both a military and civilian member of US Army Corps of Engineers' (USACE) Transatlantic Division (TAD) in Winchester, Virginia, including positions as the Division’s Forward Deputy Commander, G-3, Executive Officer, and Plans Chief, and as the Gulf Region District’s S-3 during Operations Iraqi Freedom and New Dawn. TAD’s mission supported engineering operations in the U.S. Central Command, with construction programs exceeding $4 billion. These projects enabled steady state operations and supported contingency missions including Operation Inherent Resolve, Resolute Support, Freedom’s Sentinel, and other military activities throughout the region.
Colonel Smith was the primary action officer for TAD’s military contingency lessons learned process and the Overseas Contingency Operations Playbook. Published in 2015, the Playbook provides lessons learned and codifies processes from more than 10 operational years in Iraq and Afghanistan and was presented to U.S. Congressional members during testimony on USACE’s reconstruction efforts. Her work was also presented to the international community at a United States Institute for Peace conference, focusing on reconstruction’s effects on establishing peace in Afghanistan.
After commissioning into the Regular Army as a Distinguished Military Graduate, Colonel Smith led platoons in the 555th Topographic Engineering Company and 62nd Engineer Battalion (Combat Heavy), Fort Hood, Texas, and served as the Executive Officer of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, III Corps, during Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm. She served in the U.S. Army Reserves in the 78th Division Engineer Team in Baltimore, Maryland, commanded the 3/312th Regiment’s Headquarters Detachment in Fort Meade, Maryland, and served in USACE’s Contingency Response Unit in Washington, D.C. She was also Brigade S-3 of the 1st Brigade, 102nd Division, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and commanded the 1/100th Battalion within this brigade, overseeing instructors and course managers in five U.S. locations.
As a civilian, Colonel Smith is the leadership and workforce development officer supporting HQUSACE. She holds a BS with double major in Marine Sciences and Geology from the University of Miami, Florida, an MS from the University of Maryland in Marine, Estuarine and Environmental Sciences, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the U.S. Army War College. She attended the University of Virginia’s PhD program in Environmental Sciences and is a member of the American Mensa Society. Her awards and decorations include the Bronze Star Medal, Meritorious Service Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal with two bronze star devices, the Afghanistan Campaign Medal with bronze star device, Parachutist Badge, and the Engineer Regiment’s Bronze Order of the de Fleury.
Colonel Smith is married to beloved Ron Kesner, a career law enforcement officer, and has two sons and a daughter-in-law, Nicholas, Jacob, and Isabelle. She hails from a military family, in which her brother and father are retired Army officers, her sister, brother-in-law, and niece served in the U.S. Navy, her nephew currently serves as an infantry officer, and her godson and nephew attended the Virginia Military Institute. She and her family advocate for mental health and suicide prevention and are profoundly honored to serve the United States of America.