When we catch up with a colleague in the break room or exchange a few lighthearted words over Zoom before a meeting, we are often reminded that the people we work with every day have entire lives outside of the halls we share from 9 to 5. Our coworkers have children, significant others, and pets. They’re involved in hobbies like pickleball, trivia, and going to live music shows.
As we approach Veterans Day, I was reminded of a colleague in our Raleigh office, Chris Rogers, who doesn’t just have a life with kids and hobbies outside of work — he also has another career in the Marine Corps Reserve.
Chris is a senior project engineer with our stormwater services team in Timmons Group’s Raleigh office. Holding PE licenses in SC, NC, and VA, he offers extensive experience designing and implementing stormwater infrastructure and drainage improvement projects. He provides project watershed analysis for pre-development and post-development conditions and uses many technology and software tools in his work, including USACE HEC-HMS, EPA SWMM, Autodesk HydraFlow Hydrographs, and HydroCAD.
He sees projects through their various states, including site review, shop drawing approvals, RFI resolutions, as-built inspections, and final certification of constructed projects that include storm drainage systems and stormwater control measures (SCMs). Chris works with his team whose goal is to provide unrivaled service to clients so that their projects meet codes, and more importantly, enhance surrounding communities with trustworthy and safe infrastructure.
Outside of his impressive 12 years in the civil engineering field, Chris is a dedicated First Sergeant to a Marine Corps Reserve rifle company of about 100 Marines in East Tennessee.
According to Marines.com, the Reserve is a group of Marines who are ready to supplement the active-duty forces when needed. They maintain civilian commitments but are ready to support the Corps in major combat assignments, humanitarian efforts, and national emergencies.
Chris’s family has a robust background in the military. His maternal grandfather is retired Navy who served aboard the USS Lexington as one of his original duty assignments in the 1950’s. The ship is now a floating museum in Corpus Christi, TX.His great uncle served in the Army in the Pacific Theater during World War II. Chris’s father and brother were also in the Marine Corps. When asked if he had always known if he wanted to serve in the military, Chris answered, “Well, yeah!”
After he enlisted in the Marines in 2006 in the Delayed Entry Program, Chris completed boot camp and training at Parris Island and Camp Lejeune in 2007. Before the Marines, Chris got a job as a CAD technician at a local engineering firm. He then attended Johnson Community College and NC State University and earned a B.S. in Civil Engineering.
Chris’ first Reserve Duty Station from 2008 to 2020 was Company F, 4th Tank Battalion located at Camp Lejeune, NC. While assigned to Company F, he rose through the ranks from PFC to Gunnery Sergeant and served in every role in a tank platoon, from driver to platoon commander. Following the Corps’ divestment of armor in 2020, Chris took an assignment in a Reserve staff billet at 2d Marine Division overseeing environmental compliance. “I enlisted and I wanted to serve in a reserve capacity so I could continue to pursue my engineering career as well, so I had dual tracks,” Chris said. “I was a Tank Crewman and worked in armor for 12 years, but the environmental work was a staff billet that anyone could fill. It’s great that it went hand in hand with what I do now.”
Chris’s Reserve status comes with responsibilities and time commitments. “The Reserve is a great career opportunity. You get out of it what you put into it,” Chris said. There’s a bit of misconception about what the Reserve is, Chris says. “Many people think the Reserve is just a few days out of the month or a week or two away during the summer. But the reality is that when the company gets together it’s to train for the specific mission of being prepared if our country needs us.”
A typical drill weekend for Chris’ rifle company can be between two and five days, and sometimes more, depending on the training requirements. The time commitment for Reserve Marines is 48 drills (a drill is half of a day) and two to three weeks of Active Duty time (known as Annual Training or “AT”) each fiscal year. This adds up to about a month and a half of time away from family and civilian employment. Most drills occur on the weekends to limit impact on employers, but often there is overlap into the normal work-week. In addition to this, there are advanced Military Occupational Specialty (MOS) schools and required Professional Military Education (PME) at almost every level of rank. Sometimes these extra schools can count as a Marine’s AT. The training schedule is driven by combat readiness, which involves necessary administrative and medical requirements (much like human resources management in the civilian sector) as well as being technically and tactically proficient with weapons systems and combat maneuvers. Reserve Marines will arrive for muster, check out their weapons, pack their gear, and board a bus to travel to one of the several military bases to conduct live fire training. Administrative tasks are ongoing and do not end when drill ends. Chris’ role as Company First Sergeant is to advise the Company Commander on the status of the Marines in the Company with regard to their personal and professional readiness, awards and recognition, and disciplinary matters. He works closely with his Active-Duty counterpart, the Inspector and instructor 1stSgt, to ensure there are no gaps between drills.
Chris says that Timmons Group has been an instrumental support system for him during his shared time. “I have to give a shout out to my team here. Everyone pitches in and we all share workload, but they are so supportive when I am on duty and we’re able to adjust and cover each other’s projects,” Chris said. “The firm also has processes in place to ensure that our team has the resources we need to continue to be a well-oiled machine.”
One of his favorite parts of the team, Chris says, is that his teammates are invested in healthy time spent together. During breaks at the office, the team can be found outside on the parking deck working out as a group.
“I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that the real reason I do this, both careers, is for my wife and kids at home,” Chris said. “It’s truly a balance, and I’m grateful for the people around me that make this life possible.”
Interested in learning more about our stormwater services or Chris’s time in the Marine Corps Reserves? You can reach him on LinkedIn here.
