DVIDS – News – NAVFAC Officer in Charge of China Lake Engineer Construction Awarded 2021 Moreell Medal

China Lake, Calif. – Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) China Lake announced that Cmdr. Nathan Hardy is the Adm. Ben Moreell of the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) 2021 on March 10 and he is only the second Navy reservist to receive this medal since the honor was established in 1955.

The award is named after Admiral Ben Moreell, head of the Office of Navy Yards and Docks and the driving force behind the creation of the Navy Seabees. Moreell served as president of SAME in 1941.

“I am extremely humbled and proud of this recognition, primarily because it highlights the dedication and hard work of the OICC integrated team,” said Cmdr. Robust.

Hardy, a native of the Pacific Northwest, is currently assigned to OICC China Lake as an operations officer contributing to the $2.7 billion earthquake recovery program to restore full capabilities of the mission at Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, after sustaining major damage from a 6.4 and 7.1 magnitude earthquakes on July 4 and 5, 2019.

As part of Hardy’s nomination form, he was described as consistently exhibiting sound judgment, character and work ethic. His leadership as operations officer enabled the rapid start and first successes of the earthquake recovery program.

Additional efforts from Cmdr. Hardy, in support of the OICC China Lake mission, highlighted his leadership contributions to NAVFAC’s first-ever integrated organization and NAVAIR’s team of civilian contract and civilian employees in executing design- construction and construction management.

“Commd. Hardy’s selfless leadership, professionalism and initiative make him worthy of this prestigious award,” said Captain Laurie Scott, Commanding Officer of OICC China Lake. “This is a testament to his remarkable accomplishments in leading the operations for this $2.7 billion earthquake recovery effort.”

His work has resulted in the execution of several projects ahead of schedule and on-site work of the program more than 50% ahead of plan for fiscal year 2021. As an analytics guru, he has skillfully led the development of visual management tools and dashboards that became the model across NAVFAC OICC as a tool to showcase key metrics used to assess design and construction performance.

Hardy has embraced the use of technology to increase productivity and performance in the field by using iPad tablets to document and capture information in real time while using the electronic construction contract management and facility support system (eCMS) in each of the program projects.

In a joint effort with OICC China Lake and Naval Construction Group ONE, Hardy led efforts to establish the Seabee Strategic Skills program in support of Pacific Fleet Seabees. The program integrates active-duty Seabees with construction contractors to learn and take home experiences of large-scale commercial construction techniques, technologies, processes and relationships to deepen their knowledge in the field.

“It is an honor to serve with a world-class OICC team in partnership with world-class contractors building world-class facilities that will restore the capabilities of a program critical to the defense of our nation,” said said Cmdr. Robust.

Hardy attended Oregon State University where he received a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering, after graduating in March 2002 he was commissioned as an ensign in the United States Navy under the NROTC program. In 2020, he earned an MBA from Washington State University. He is a registered professional engineer in Washington State and earned his project management credentials.

The Moreell Medal is awarded annually by the Society of American Military Engineers (SAME) to recognize an active or reserve officer of the Navy Civil Engineer Corps, or a civilian employee of the Naval Facilities and Engineering Command who has made an outstanding contribution to military engineering .