The Army Corps of Engineers has fired Little Rock District commander Patrick Caukin amid a dispute between his office and property owners at Table Rock Lake, a scenic reservoir near Branson, Missouri, in the Ozark Mountains.
Assistant Secretary of the Army for Civil Works Adam Telle and Army Corps Commanding General William “Butch” Graham announced Caukin’s dismissal in a Jan.15 news release, saying the move was spurred by “a loss of confidence in his ability to command.”
The same day, two Missouri Republican lawmakers — Sen. Eric Schmitt and Rep. Eric Burlison — praised the Trump administration for taking action “to address long-standing enforcement issues by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers at Table Rock Lake and to restore clarity for Missouri property owners.”
Caukin is a Bronze Star recipient who served in South Korea and Iraq. He led the regional Army Corps office in Little Rock for less than six months. Reached by phone Monday, he referred questions to the district’s public affairs division, where spokesperson Randall Townsend declined to answer a question about Caukin’s dismissal.
