OMAHA, Neb. — A longtime U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Omaha District employee will retire this summer after more than four decades shaping how military and federal buildings withstand threats and conserve energy.
Don Dittus, a 43-year mechanical engineer with the Protective Design Center of Expertise, began his career in January 1983. He said his path into public service and the Omaha District was as much about opportunity as it was about purpose.
“They were the first ones to offer me a job,” he said. “I had started grad school when I got the offer from the Corps of Engineers, so I pulled out of that and started working for the Corps.”
Over the years, he became a key figure in the Omaha District’s Protective Design Center of Expertise, focusing on security engineering and air barrier systems — a specialized field aimed at safeguarding buildings and the people inside them.
“The Protective Design Center serves as the Army’s source of engineering expertise to combat the effects of those who would do harm to our country,” he said. “We provide criteria development, security engineering and hard structure design services.”
His work also helped advance air barrier technology, now a standard feature in modern construction. Air barriers reduce the exchange between outdoor and indoor air, improving energy efficiency and safety.
“Because of the air barrier, we have to heat up less outdoor air in the winter and cool less in the summer,” he said. “So we are saving energy, and because we’re saving energy, we’re saving taxpayer money, too.”
But the benefits go beyond efficiency. He said airtight buildings also help protect occupants from chemical or biological threats and reduce moisture buildup that can lead to mold.
“You have these different communities — energy efficiency, chem-bio and mold prevention — and they all have different missions, but the same goal of making an airtight building,” he said.
Throughout his career, he worked on projects across the globe, including efforts in South Korea to certify specialized air filtration systems and a post-Cold War initiative in the 1990s to help secure nuclear materials in the former Soviet Union.
He has also responded to emergencies closer to home, which he considers one of his most satisfying projects. After a devastating hurricane struck Puerto Rico in 1998, he volunteered for a temporary roofing mission, helping oversee the installation of hundreds of roofs for displaced families.
“Because of those temporary roofs, 300 families could stay in their homes,” he said. “It was a really rewarding experience.”
Among the more technically challenging moments of his career was an early project testing a gymnasium in Arkansas intended to serve as a shelter in case of a leak from a nearby chemical weapon depot, now closed. Despite running multiple high-powered fans, his team could not build pressure inside the structure during five failed tests.
“It was bleeding out somewhere, but we couldn’t figure out where,” Dittus said.
The mystery was solved only after he climbed into the building’s upper trusses and discovered a continuous gap near the roofline, which turned out to be normal building ventilation architecture for that period.
“From that vantage point, and only that vantage point, I could see a ribbon of daylight about two inches high on all four sides,” he said.
The discovery underscored the importance of integrating architectural understanding with mechanical engineering — a lesson that would shape his approach for decades.
In addition to his project work, he helped educate others in the field, teaching air barrier and pressure testing courses nationwide.
Looking back, he said he is most proud of the breadth of his contributions, from international security work to hands-on disaster response.
As he prepares to retire, he anticipates missing the rapid pace of technological change.
“I think I’ll miss the technology,” he said. “When you go into retirement, you just get left behind technologically.”
His retirement, however, is unlikely to be quiet. A planned interstate project will keep him busy as he will need to relocate his family farm, where he has lived for more than 50 years.
“I think I’m going to be more tired than retired,” he joked.
One thing is for sure, his contributions to the protection of facilities and people will last for years to come.