Courtesy Photo | Fort Bliss’s William Beaumont Army Medical Center Commander, Col. Wendy L. Gray, and...... read more read more
The air over the construction site was crisp, carrying the familiar scents of wet concrete, diesel, and fresh steel. For months after the groundbreaking for the Veterans Administration’s El Paso Health Care Center, the symphony of progress had been one of deep percussion—pile drivers hammering into the earth—and the grating whine of saws. But today, a crescendo of voices rose together to celebrate the next major accomplishment, the topping off ceremony.
Construction manager Jesse Richardson of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ Fort Worth District has seen the building rise from the ground to its now skeletal form.
“We broke ground in August 2024, and in just 14 months we’ve taken this project from bare earth to a fully emerging structure,” said Richardson. “There’s still a lot of work ahead, but this milestone tells us we’re on the right trajectory. Progress will only speed up from here.”
The topping off ceremony is a decades-old construction tradition, a milestone marking the placement of the final structural beam. But for the Corps of Engineers, building for veterans, it is more than a tradition; it is a way of giving back to those who’ve built and defended this country.
The chosen beam, shorter than the others, lay on a pedestal created for the event. A crane stands idle in the background waiting for the opportunity to raise the beam into its final resting place.
A crowd had gathered: hard-hatted ironworkers with their tool belts slung low, engineers in clean reflective vests, VA administrators and construction executives in suits, and a small, solemn group of veterans from the local post, their caps denoting wars fought long ago.
Fort Worth District Commander Col. Calvin Kroeger addressed those in attendance.
“This project’s success is a direct result of hard work, dedication, and a passion of the individuals involved and those seated to your left and right,” said Kroeger. “From the skilled laborers on the ground to the project managers ensuring everything runs smoothly, every role has contributed to getting us to this point.”
At the conclusion of the speakers, one by one, hardhats and suits alike took their markers. Engineers signed their names next to electricians. Grizzled construction pros left their mark beside young apprentices. The grey steel was soon a tapestry of signatures, well-wishes, and doodles—a community’s signature on a promise.
Richardson said that even though this isn’t truly the last piece, structural steel placement will be completed in about a month.
“We've already started working on the inside of the building, laying out interior walls,” Richardson said. “In about six months, another of the major milestones will be complete, having the building shell complete.”
The ceremony was over, but the work is not. Soon, the sounds of rivet guns and saws would resume. The building’s skeleton would be clothed in glass, drywall, and paint. For the rest of the day, and for the rest of the project, workers would remember the sound of that final beam settling into place, and the quiet salute of the veterans who stood below, reminding them who this building is for. They weren’t just building a health care center; they were keeping a promise, one steel beam at a time.
Editor’s note: The Army Corps of Engineers supports non-Department of Defense federal agencies, state and local governments, tribal nations, private U.S. firms, international organizations, and foreign governments through the Interagency and International Services program. To learn more about IIS, visit https://www.usace.army.mil/Missions/Military-Missions/Interagency-International-Support/
| Date Taken: | 11.24.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 11.24.2025 11:32 |
| Story ID: | 552220 |
| Location: | EL PASO, TEXAS, US |
| Web Views: | 21 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
This work, Topping Off and Giving Back, by Patrick Adelmann, identified by DVIDS, must comply with the restrictions shown on https://www.dvidshub.net/about/copyright.
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