Colonel (retired) Jeff Eckstein is from Inverness, Florida. His wife is Lieutenant Colonel (retired) Adrienne Eckstein. They have three children: Luke, currently a Captain in the Army; Adrienne, a Second Lieutenant in the US Air Force; and Adam, a Cadet at the US Military Academy. He is a 1985 graduate of the United States Military Academy with a Bachelor of Science in Civil Engineering. He received a Master of Science in Civil Engineering from the University of Washington in 1994. He is a registered Professional Engineer (PE) in Florida and Virginia. He is also a certified Project Management Professional (PMP). His military education includes the Engineer Officer Basic and Advanced Courses at Fort Belvoir, Virginia, the Combined Arms Service and Staff School and Command and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, and the United States Army War College at Carlisle Barracks, Pennsylvania.
Colonel Eckstein completed a 30-year Army career as the Commander of the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center in Vicksburg, MS. His company grade assignments include a tour in Germany with the 54th Engineer Battalion; service at Fort Benning, GA in the 36th Engineer Group and the 43rd Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) as a Company Commander; and with the Seattle District, United States Army Corps of Engineers as a Project Engineer at Fort Lewis, WA. While at Fort Benning, he deployed to Operation Desert Shield /Desert Storm, Hurricane Andrew Cleanup, and Somalia.
Colonel Eckstein’s field grade assignments include a second tour at Fort Benning with the 36th Engineer Group where he deployed to Nicaragua in support of Operation Fuerte Apoyo. He served as a Requirements Officer in the J8 of U.S. Joint Forces Command in Norfolk, Virginia. He commanded the 84th Engineer Combat Battalion (Heavy) in Hawaii and deployed to Operation Iraqi Freedom to execute construction missions throughout Northern Iraq. Colonel Eckstein served as the G-7, Reconstruction Officer for Multi-National Division North when the 25th Infantry Division deployed to Iraq in 2006. He then served as the Chief of Staff for the division. He was commander of the Vicksburg District for three and half years. The district supported debris cleanup missions after tornados struck Yazoo City and Smithville, MS, flood fighting during the record flood of 2011, and operations during Hurricane Isaac. He joined the Coastal and Hydraulics Laboratory in 2015 and served as the Deputy Director as well as the Acting Lab Director from May 2017 through September 2018. In December 2020, he began his current duties as the Chief of Staff for the US Army Engineer Research and Development Center.