NAVFAC Officer in Charge of Construction China Lake Engineer Awarded 2021 Moreell Medal
11 March 2022
China Lake, Calif. - Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) China Lake announced that Cmdr. Nathan Hardy is the winner of the 2021 Society of American Military Engineers’ (SAME) Adm. Ben Moreell Medal, March 10 and he is only the second Navy reservists to be awarded this medal since the inception of the honor back in 1955.
China Lake, Calif. - Naval Facilities Engineering Systems Command (NAVFAC) Officer in Charge of Construction (OICC) China Lake announced that Cmdr. Nathan Hardy is the winner of the 2021 Society of American Military Engineers’ (SAME) Adm. Ben Moreell Medal, March 10 and he is only the second Navy reservists to be awarded this medal since the inception of the honor back in 1955.
The award is named after Adm. Ben Moreell, Chief of the Navy’s Bureau of 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 the recognition, mostly because it highlights the dedication and hard work of the integrated OICC team,” said Cmdr. Hardy.
Hardy, a native of the Pacific Northwest, is currently assigned OICC China Lake as its Operations Officer contributing to the $2.7 billion Earthquake Recovery Program to restore full mission capabilities back to Naval Air Weapons Station China Lake, after suffering significant damage following a 6.4 and 7.1 magnitude quakes on July 4 and July 5, 2019.
As part of Hardy’s nomination form, he was described as consistently demonstrating flawless judgment, character, and work ethic. His leadership as Operations Officer has driven the rapid start and early successes of the Earthquake Recovery program.
Additional efforts of Cmdr. Hardy in support of the OICC China Lake mission, noted his leadership contributions to the first ever integrated organization of NAVFAC and NAVAIR’s team of military, civilian and contracted civilian employees in executing the design-build processes and construction management.
“Cmdr. Hardy’s selfless leadership, professionalism, and can do spirit makes him worthy of this prestigious award,” said OICC China Lake Commanding Officer Capt. Laurie Scott. “This is a testament to his remarkable accomplishments in driving the operations for this $2.7 billion earthquake recovery effort.”
His labors resulted in several projects executing ahead of schedule and the program's work-in-place being ahead of plan by over 50% for fiscal year 2021. As an analytical guru, he skillfully led the development of visual management tools and dashboards that have become the model across NAVFAC OICC's as a tool to present key metrics used to evaluate design and construction performance.
Hardy embraced the use of technology to increase productivity and performance in the field by employing iPad tablets to document and input information in real time while utilizing the Electronic Construction and Facility Support Contract Management System (eCMS) across each of the Program’s 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 away experiences of large-scale commercial construction techniques, technologies, processes and relationships to expand on their knowledge of the field.
“It is quite an honor to serve with a world class OICC team partnered with world class contractors constructing world class facilities that will restore capabilities of a program that is critical to our Nation’s defense,” said Cmdr. Hardy.
Hardy attended Oregon State University earning a Bachelor of Science degree in Civil Engineering, following his graduation in March 2002, he was commissioned an Ensign in the United States Navy through the NROTC program. In 2020, he earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Washington State University. He is a registered Professional Engineer in the State of Washington and has earned his Project Management Professional credentials.
The Moreell Medal is given 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 Naval Facilities and Engineering Command that has made outstanding contributions to military engineering.