Colonel Francis B. Pera is the 70th commander and district engineer of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Baltimore District. Pera was commissioned as an engineer officer in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in June 2001.
Prior to commanding the Baltimore District, Colonel Pera served as the Deputy Director of Operations for the Tradecraft and Technology Group at the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency.
Colonel Pera earned a Bachelor of Science in Engineering Management from West Point, including one semester at the United States Naval Academy, and a Master of Science in Engineering Management from the Missouri University of Science and Technology. He holds an Engineer in Training (EIT) Certification from the state of New York. He is also a graduate of the Engineer Officer Basic Course and Engineer Officer Advanced Course, Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri, and the Army War College, where he served as a Defense Fellow at the College of William and Mary’s Public Policy Department. He graduated from the U.S. Army Ranger School, Sapper School, the Stryker Leader Course, and U.S. Army Airborne School.
Upon completing the Officer Basic Course, Colonel Pera arrived at Joint Base Lewis McChord, Washington, in 2002 to serve as an Assistant S4 logistics officer on the Stryker fielding team. He then served as a Stryker Engineer Platoon leader in the 18th Engineer Company. As a platoon leader, he led two platoons until 2004, which included a deployment to Iraq in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Later, Colonel Pera served with the 1/307th Training Support Battalion as the Engineer Branch Chief, responsible for training the Pennsylvania National Guard on Stryker operations until 2007 before being selected to serve in the USACE Prime Power battalion as the assistant-S3 operations officer, then commander of Charlie Company for the 249th Engineer Battalion in Fort Belvoir, Virginia. In that capacity, he deployed platoons in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and numerous federally declared disaster areas until August 2010.
Until 2013, Colonel Pera served as an engineer staff officer with the 25th Infantry Division, including on the Re-posture Team, where he was responsible for transferring all remaining U.S. bases to the Iraqi government during the final stages of Operation New Dawn. He then served as a regimental engineer for the 75th Ranger Regiment until 2015 with multiple deployments as part of a counter-terrorism joint task force during Operation Enduring Freedom and Operation Resolute Support.
Colonel Pera then served as a NATO Staff Engineer Officer for Balkans and Engineer Targeting Officer for Joint Forces Command in Naples, Italy, until 2018, followed by his role as Executive Officer for the Director of Program Analysis and Evaluation, G-8, on the Army Staff. In 2019, he assumed command of the 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) and served as Commandant of the U.S. Army Prime Power School.
From 2022 to 2023, Colonel Pera was the Executive Officer to the U.S. Army Chief of Engineers and Commanding General of the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Colonel Pera’s military awards and decorations include the Legion of Merit, Bronze Star Medal, Defense Meritorious Service Medal, Meritorious Service Medal with Oak Leaf Cluster, Joint Service Commendation Medal, Army Commendation Medal with 3 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Achievement Medal with 2 Oak Leaf Clusters, Army Good Conduct Medal, National Defense and Service Medal, Afghan Campaign Medal, Iraq Campaign Medal, Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal, Overseas Service Medal, NATO Medal, Combat Action Badge, Ranger Tab, Sapper Tab, the Parachutist Badge, and the Army Staff Badge.