Autumn Leveridge, an associate professor of practice in the Zachry Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Texas A&M University, was recently awarded the Legion of Merit from the United States Army for her years of military service.
Before joining the department, Leveridge served in the Army for 22 years, achieving the rank of lieutenant colonel. The Legion of Merit, one of the most prestigious awards, is bestowed to military personnel for highly meritorious service.
"I feel that it was a privilege to serve the United States as a military officer for 22 years, representing our country with Army soldiers, other joint service members and interagency partners, and multinational allied partners all working to preserve peace through strength," she said.
The award recognizes Leveridge’s significant contributions to improving Army medical logistics at the operational and strategic levels by leading construction projects of multiple joint and deployed health care facilities as a medical logistics expert and health facilities planner.
"She is an accomplished thought leader, knowledgeable in forward surgical and combat casualty care, health facilities’ construction and women's health through global health engagements," the award says. "This diversity, expertise and knowledge, combined with her extremely dedicated work ethic, enabled her to excel in 2011 while serving as the deputy director of medical logistics in the U.S. Army Europe's Surgeon Office (USAREUR). In this capacity, she supported the deployment of a Role 3 Combat Support Hospital to Kosovo. She performed on-site engineering surveys and quality assessments for health care facilities and equipment in Romania, enabling USAREUR to use these facilities for combat-casualty care if needed during Russian aggression contingency plans."
From 2013 to 2014, Leveridge served as the site director of the $350 million hospital construction project at the Irwin Army Community Hospital and the $50 million initial outfitting and transition contract at Fort Riley, Kansas. Under her leadership, the team resolved conflict in design specifications and corrected three critical failures, avoiding potentially catastrophic hazards to patient safety. Under her watch, the project gained momentum and achieved vital milestones that allowed the Army to deliver a world-class hospital for 50,000 soldiers, families and beneficiaries in 2016.
From 2015 to 2018, Leveridge returned to Europe, where she served on the Geographic Combatant Command's joint surgeon staff for the U.S. European Command in Stuttgart, Germany, providing leadership for U.S. forces and multinational partners. She was selected to serve on a quick-response team for three years, where she led the medical section for the combined coordination center of a bilateral joint task force that provided overwatch and coordination to the areas of interest. She taught joint medical planning for North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) officers and advised the command's Joint Deployment and Distribution Operations Center, Joint Personnel Recovery Agency liaisons and other interagency partners on medical logistics distribution and personnel recovery medical requirements.
Leveridge's culminating assignment was as the support operations officer at the 6th Medical Logistics Management Center, where she positively influenced single integrated medical logistics management operations and planned efforts in direct support from all six geographic combatant commands. She supported U.S. Army North and U.S. Northern Command during COVID-19 response operations and was instrumental in developing the COVID-19 Medical Logistics concept of support for medical materiel and maintenance, which supported the federal response for COVID-19 treatment, diagnostics and mass vaccination sites.
"I am grateful and honored to be recommended by the 6th Medical Logistics Management Center of Fort Detrick, endorsed by the 44th Medical Brigade of Fort Bragg and approved for the Legion of Merit by the XVIII Airborne Corps in U.S. Forces Command, also at Fort Bragg. These are elite organizations that remain ready and vigilant to respond to our nation's needs," Leveridge said