Life lessons of hard work and military service: Capt. Watkins unknowingly follows his father’s engineering footsteps

Photo By Sgt. 1st Class Whitney Houston | Capt. Uriah Watkins, a native of Rexburg, Idaho, who serves as a brigade planner with the 2D Engineer Brigade, out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Fort Wainright, stands in front of a concrete barrier that displays his brigade’s symbol on Bagram Air Field, Afghanistan, Oct. 27, 2014. Watkins is a second-generation engineer whose father, Isaiah Watkins, was a World War II veteran who also served as an engineer later in his Army career.  

BAGRAM, AFGHANISTAN

11.03.2014

Story by Staff Sgt. Whitney Houston 

U.S. Forces Afghanistan

BAGRAM, Afghanistan - Capt. Uriah Watkins, a Rexburg, Idaho, native who serves with Joint Task Force Trail Blazer in Afghanistan, is an engineer officer who has been unknowingly following in his father’s footsteps in Army engineering.

Watkins has served two roles in Afghanistan, first as commander of the 23rd Sapper Company, 6th Engineer Battalion, out of Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson and Fort Wainright, Alaska, where he was in charge of 95 Sappers responsible for clearing operational routes of road side bombs around Forward Operating Base Fenty near Jalalabad. Currently, he is assigned as a brigade planner with the 2D Engineer Brigade in Bagram.

Watkins explained that his father, Isaiah, was drafted into the U.S. Army during World War II as a draftsman for his artistic abilities. Shortly after being drafted, he went into the infantry where he would serve in the South Pacific theater.

“I know that he originally didn’t want to go into the Army, but he answered his call to duty,” Watkins said. “And I remember my dad telling me of many occasions where he had served with Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur in the Philippines and other South Pacific islands.”

Watkins explained that his father eventually commissioned into the Army Engineer Corps, and stayed with the engineers until the end of his career, a detail Watkins wasn’t aware of until after he became an engineer officer himself.

“It made sense that I joined the engineers,” Watkins said. “He explained that his father was a handyman, a ‘jack of all trades,’ and I always remember him working with his hands.”

Watkins explained that on weekends and summers, his father would bring him on odd jobs with him. Although Isaiah and Watkins’ mother Sheila were divorced, he has fond memories of when he was very young working with his father, which would prepare a foundation for his future endeavors.

“I remember helping my dad build our home,” Watkins said. “I was only 3 years old, but I vividly remember handing him the hammer, handing him the saw, and watching him work it out. I thought it was the coolest thing ever.”

Watkins explained that he first joined the military when he was 17 as an artilleryman with 1st Battalion, 148th Field Artillery Regiment, Idaho National Guard. However, he and his wife Shari didn’t see much future application with artillery outside of the military. So together they decided that engineering would be both satisfying for him and a safe financial choice in or out of the military.

Watkins attended Ricks College (now named Brigham Young University-Idaho) where he joined their ROTC program and got his bachelor’s degree in construction management and commissioned as a second lieutenant in the active duty Army upon graduation.
Watkins’ efforts have given him a good reputation. Many of his coworkers not only appreciate his value for work, but they also consider him a good friend.

“Speaking on the work side of things, the company that he was in charge of out here is a very coveted position,” said coworker and close friend Capt. Richard Packer, a native of Taylorsville, Utah. “There’s a whole staff of engineer officers in the battalion that want the 23rd Sapper Company that he was selected for.”

“Those who receive that company are groomed a year and-a-half out, because of the nature of their back-to-back deployments. So just the fact that he was selected for that position speaks volumes of what his engineer leadership thinks of his capabilities,” Packer said.

“On the friendship and spiritual side, I could always rely on him,” Packer said. “In our church in Alaska, there were 23 houses where there were no spouses to shovel their walks. So he and I would make sure those families’ walks were shoveled and their needs were met as a way to take care of the home front.”

Isaiah’s influence has been his legacy to his son. He passed away of cancer while Watkins was serving a two-year Latter-day Saint mission in Barcelona, Spain. In Isaiah’s last moments, instead of having his son come home to bid him farewell, he expressed a desire that he stay in Spain and finish what he began there.

“It wasn’t the easiest thing to deal with, I won’t lie,” Watkins said. “My dad was a true believer that once you’ve started something you need to see it through, and be committed to it. It was huge for him, and if I went home I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to return to Spain to finish my mission, so I stayed.”

Watkins wanted to ensure his fathers’ legacy was kept alive and started gathering information to create a biography. It was then that Watkins discovered his father was an Army engineer. He explained that his fathers’ “stick-to-itiveness” was evident in his Army career, and in everything he did.

“When he was drafted he went all in,” Watkins said, “and from what I understand from his bio, he did really well in the Army. He got a lot of accolades and recognition for his accomplishments while he was in, but he didn’t necessarily want to be in the Army.”

Watkins explained that although Isaiah couldn’t control the circumstances of being in the Army, he decided to run with it to the best of his capabilities. This served him well, and in turn gave his son a perseverant work ethic. Watkins continued to explain how important it is to him to pass this same legacy on to his children.

“Work ethic is one of life’s lessons that I think about a lot, and I am trying to pass that on to my kids,” Watkins said. “Hard work is one of the things that gets you through life. The more dedicated you are to your work, the more successful, happy and fulfilled you’re going to be.”

• Date Taken: 11.03.2014
• Date Posted: 11.03.2014 00:33
• Story ID: 146806
• Location: BAGRAM, AF
• Hometown: JOINT BASE ELMENDORF-RICHARDSON, AK, US
• Hometown: REXBURG, ID, US
• Hometown: SALT LAKE CITY, UT, US
• Hometown: TAYLORSVILLE, UT, US