The commander of the Army Corps of Engineers Little Rock District in Arkansas was relieved from his position Thursday in a seemingly politically charged firing that two members of Congress and a Trump administration official implied was tied to a local dispute over waterfront homes on a Missouri lake.
The Army announced Thursday the firing of Corps of Engineers district commander Col. Patrick Caukin. Unusually for a command relief announcement, the Army statement did not name Caukin but a spokesperson for the Little Rock District confirmed his identity to Task & Purpose. Caukin, according to an online biography, is a longtime engineering officer and a combat veteran with three Bronze Stars.
Though military officers are routinely relieved of command across the military, announcements of those changes are nearly always brief and cite only the commanding officer responsible for the firing. However, the Army statement announcing Caukin’s relief was issued jointly by the Corps of Engineers’ commanding general and a senior civilian official at the Pentagon, whose remarks implied that Caukin had been “dealt with,” a wide departure from typical by-the-book firing statements.
Simultaneously, two Republican members of Congress trumpeted the announcement of Caukin’s firing, another uncommon reaction to the relief of a field-grade officer. In a joint statement applauding the firing, Sen. Eric Schmitt and Representative Eric Burlison tied the firing to local property use disputes between the Army Corps of Engineers and local homeowners on Table Rock Lake, Missouri, which is managed under the Little Rock District. Property owners on the lake have bristled in recent years at Army Corps efforts targeting private docks, sheds and septic tanks buried near the lake’s waterline.
‘Loss of confidence’ and failure ‘to follow orders’
Army Corps of Engineers, Lt. Gen. William Graham, said he relieved Caukin “based on a loss of confidence in his ability to command,” according to the official statement — a widely used euphemism in many military announcements. Graham also said it was “in the best interest” of the district and “the American public.”
Caukin had been in the job less than five months.
The Army announcement of Caukin’s relief did not say if Caukin had faced an investigation or note any official or off-duty misconduct, conditions that relief announcements sometimes cite in applicable cases.
But the Army-produced announcement also quoted Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle, whose remarks tied Caukin’s firing to “entrenched bureaucracies that have unnecessarily frustrated American citizens.”
“For the first time in decades, under the Trump Administration, Commanders who fail to follow orders and overcome entrenched bureaucracy will be dealt with accordingly,” Telle said.
Neither Telle or Graham’s comments cited specific infractions by Caukin.
Further highlighting the political aspect of Caukin’s firing was the reaction of Missouri politicians Schmitt and Burlison. In a joint statement, the two thanked the Trump administration and Telle for “taking decisive action to break up these decades-old, entrenched bureaucracies.”
The release from the Missouri lawmakers was titled, “Burlison, Schmitt Welcome Administrative Action to Rein in Corps Enforcement at Table Rock Lake.” In it, the lawmakers said homeowners around a lake outside Branson, Missouri, “continued to face enforcement actions based on a narrow interpretation of the law by the Corps’ Little Rock District despite clear congressional intent to protect long-standing, good-faith property uses.”
A law sponsored by Burlison and signed into law in January 2025 gave Army engineers more authority to do research and construction for infrastructure projects.
James Winner, a spokesperson for Burlison’s office told Task & Purpose the lawmaker did not play a hand in Caukin’s dismissal but that he had long advocated for homeowners on the lake facing Corps of Engineers rules.
“Our office can’t speak to internal personnel decisions or attribute specific reasons for the leadership change,” Winner said. But homeowners around the lake, he said, had repoted “being directed to remove long-standing structures such as deck steps and patios, including cases where residents cited historical documentation and satellite imagery showing those structures had existed for decades.”
In a May 2024 interview with a local television station, Burlison said Army engineers had told that homeowners that new surveys of the lake’s shoreline had found that many structures were on Corps of Engineers land.
“It’s everything from a septic tank that’s on Corps property to the corner of somebody’s house,” Burlison told KY3. “A lot of times it’s their shed, the corner of a back deck, or it’s landscaping in the backyard.”
Took command five months ago
Caulkin took command of the district in September 2025, according to a release that was taken down from official Army websites but reposted elsewhere.
Little Rock District manages approximately $8 billion in public infrastructure and has a staff of about 700 employees, the reposted release said.
Before his command position, Caukin was assigned to the Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania. According to a Defense Department-run media page, Caulkin was assigned to the 3rd Security Force Assistance Brigade in 2024 and a United Service Organization video from 2017 said that he previously served for a year at Camp Walker in Army Garrison Daegu, South Korea.
According to his 2025 biography, Caukin graduated from Middle Tennessee State University in Murfreesboro, Tennessee in 2002 with a Bachelor of Science in criminal justice, commissioning through the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps. He also has a Master of Science in public administration from Webster University, St. Louis, Missouri, and a Master of Strategic Studies from the Army War College.
He is a graduate of the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses, Command and General Staff Officer’s Course, Air Assault School, Pathfinder School, Airborne School, and the Jumpmaster Course. His military awards and decorations include the Combat Action Badge, Bronze Star Medal with two oak leaf clusters, Meritorious Service Medal with seven oak leaf clusters and Army Commendation Medal with one oak leaf cluster.
Little Rock District deputy commander Lt. Col. Jesse Carter will take over until a permanent commander is assigned, officials said.
