Dedicated to the National Defense, The Society was founded following World War I, in which engineers of the Army and Navy had served with thousands of civilian engineers who had been taken into the military services for war duty. The experiences of that service convinced the Chief of Engineers of the Army that a permanent association between the professional engineer officers and the civilian engineers would wear the uniform in time of war, as well as the engineer who would conduct industry for war, was seriously needed. The Society, therefore, was founded in 1920 and incorporated in 1924. The soundness of the idea had been amply demonstrated by the service of The Society to the nation and to its members in the war years when the mutual effort of the engineers of all services and industry was vital to the military success. Similarly, during periods of peace The Society forms a vital link between military and civilian engineers in its work for training and preparedness and for the development of resources and facilities in the national economy, and for the enhancement of the engineering profession through education.

The purposes of The Society are to advance the knowledge of the science of military engineering, promote efficiency in the military engineer service of the United States and maintain its best standards and traditions, preserve the memory of services rendered by the engineering profession throughout the wars in which the United States has been engaged, develop between military engineers and other arms of the military service a spirit of cooperation and mutual understanding, and to develop relations of helpful interest between the engineering profession in civil life and that in the military service.