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VSE

vsec · NASDAQ Industrials
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Ticker vsec
Exchange NASDAQ
Sector Industrials
Industry Aerospace & Defense
Employees 1001-5000
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FY2008 Annual Report · VSE
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Proud of Our Past.  

Excited About Our Future.

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K

Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

VSE Corporation achieved two major milestones for this reporting period.  On January 22, 2009—VSE 
celebrated its 50th anniversary.  To crown that accomplishment, we had record revenues of more than $1 
billion.  This is about a 60% increase from our record revenues of $653 million last year.  Because of these 
2008 accomplishments, VSE was showcased by Government Executive Magazine as the #1 Best Defense 
Contractor (Small) in America; Business Week’s #6 Hottest Growing Company in the U.S.; and the 
Washington Post listed VSE as the #2 climber for industry in the Washington, D.C. metro area.  For the first 
time VSE (NASDAQ Global Select Market: VSEC) stock was added to the Russell 3000®, Russell 2000®, 
and Russell MicroCap Indexes.  

In April 2008, we acquired G&B Solutions, Inc. of Reston (VA).  G&B is a diversified information 
technology and management consulting provider to government agencies.  G&B’s expertise lies in enterprise 
architecture development, information assurance/business continuity, program and portfolio management, 
network IT services and systems design and integration.  Cash paid at closing for G&B was approximately 
$19.5 million, with the potential for additional payments of up to approximately $4.2 million if certain 
financial targets are met during the first three years after the acquisition.  

VSE has also been substantially expanding services during 2008 in: Birmingham (AL); Texarkana (AR); 
China Lake (CA); Tampa (FL); Albany and Fort McPherson (GA); Mountain Home Air Force Base (ID); 
Hamel (IL); Kuwait; Fort Devens (MA); Adelphi (MD); Marine Corps Air Station New River(NC); Broken 
Arrow and Oklahoma City (OK); Chambersburg and Letterkenny Army Depot (PA); Romania; Gatesville 
and Poteet (TX); Ogden (UT);  Arlington and Reston (VA); Whidbey Island (WA) and Fort McCoy (WI).

Corporate Profile
VSE Corporation is the Federal services company of choice for solving issues of global significance with 
agility, integrity and value.  VSE is dedicated to making our clients successful by delivering talented people 
and innovative solutions for:
 

Specializing in complete management services including systems integration, 

Multi-dimensional functions that support one service task/equipment system such as true 

Program Management — 
planning, evaluation, procurement and contracts.  
Logistics — 
field support, supply chain management or warehouse management.  
Engineering and Refurbishment — 
fabrication specializing in equipment sustainment, efficiency and advanced technologies.
IT Services — 
and software engineering for systems and standards development, assessments and reviews. 
Construction Management — 
procurement/contracts, and for major complexes as well as civil works projects.  
Consulting — 
analysis, cyber-security and infrastructure protection and mitigation measurements.

Professional competencies in technology roadmaps and solutions, policy impacts, 

Conceptual design, engineering of equipment /facilities for 

Development planning, preparation, permitting, feasibility studies, 

Complete enterprise architecture; data mining; public protection/security, and technical 

 

 

 

 

 

Headquartered in Alexandria, Virginia, VSE and its wholly-owned subsidiaries employ more than 1,920 
personnel (an increase from about 1,223 in 2007) supporting clients from more than 40 locations across the 
United States and around the world.  VSE is proud of its continued growing support to the U.S. military, 
navies of allied nations and federal and civil agencies.  We strive to provide our customers with competitive, 
cost effective solutions to specific problems. 

Stockholder Inquiries
VSE is an employee and publicly owned company, and its shares are traded on the NASDAQ Global Select 
Market under the symbol VSEC.  Inquiries about stock ownership, dividends, and stockholder changes 
of address may be directed to our Transfer Agent: Registrar and Transfer Company, 10 Commerce Drive, 
Cranford, New Jersey 07016-1340, or to VSE at 2550 Huntington Avenue, Alexandria, Virginia 22303-
1499, Attention: Corporate Secretary, Telephone (703) 329-4770.

Further information about VSE and its subsidiaries is available at www.vsecorp.com; www.icrcsolutions.com; 
www.gbsolutionsinc.com and www.energetics.com.

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

3

Financial Highlights

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2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

Message to Stockholders

Operational and Financial Information
After experiencing significant growth in revenues, earnings and backlog the past several years, VSE continued 
to perform at a record pace and generated an even better financial performance during 2008.  Based on 
our $1 billion plus revenues in 2008, Federal Group generated about 64% of our revenues; International 
contributed 21%; IT/Energy and Management Consulting efforts resulted in 5% of our revenues and our 
Infrastructure Group provided 10% of the total.  

Our funded backlog as of December 31, 2008 was about $567 million.  Funded backlog for government 
contracts represents a measure of our potential future revenues and is defined as the total value of the 
contracts that have been appropriated and funded by the procuring agencies, less the amount of revenues that 
have already been recognized on such contracts..  

In 2007 cash dividends were declared quarterly at the annual rate of $.14 per share through March 31, 2007, 
and at the annual rate of $16 per share commencing June 11, 2007.  In 2008 cash dividends were declared 
quarterly at the annual rate of $.16 per share through March 31, 2008, and at the annual rate of $.18 per 
share commencing June 3, 2008.

2008: Trends Toward Growth
Over the previous five years the VSE management team delivered increased revenues and net income, 
increases in stockholders’ equity, dividends and funded backlog, and an increase in total employees. 
Calendar year 2008 continued the upward trend with significant growth in all of the performance indicators 
mentioned above.  VSE’s management team and employees are commended for another outstanding year.

Late in 2007, the VSE Board of Directors initiated action to transition the executive leadership of VSE to 
a new Chief Executive Officer.  A search was conducted and after several months of careful consideration, 
the Board selected Maurice (Mo) Gauthier to succeed me.  During the search period, a detailed transition 
plan was developed and the plan has been executed over the past 11 months.  The purpose of the lengthy 
transition plan was to ensure that we did not interrupt the successful strategies that have worked in the past 
for VSE, so they could be carried into the future.  The transition has been successful, and the company is well 

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

5

positioned to gain new customers and employees in the years ahead.  Mo Gauthier has the knowledge and 
experience to take VSE to the next level, while meeting the challenges that will come in the future.

VSE’s strategy for continued growth in the DoD/Federal market place is sound and will continue, in 
my view, to produce favorable results over the long-term.  That being said, it is important that the VSE 
management team stay tightly focused on growing and managing the current business, while targeting and 
maximizing the opportunities that will be presented in an economy that is currently being challenged from 
many different directions. 

I take this opportunity to thank the VSE Board of Directors, the VSE management team, employees and 
VSE stockholders for granting me the privilege of being a part of your team over the last 26 years.  It has 
truly been a wonderful experience that I will cherish forever.

Sincerely, 

Donald M. Ervine 
Executive Chairman of the Board

March 2009

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2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

Letter to Stockholders

2008 Milestones
This year, VSE celebrates its 50th year.  I am pleased to announce that we experienced a very successful year, 
with revenues topping one billion dollars for the first time with record earnings of about $19 million ($3.74 
per share diluted) and a return on equity of 33.8%.

50 years ago, our founder, John Toomey, established VSE as a federal government services company.  Since 
then, we have adhered to the principles of integrity, agility and value, as we provide outstanding service 
to our expanding list of clients.  Today, with the new administration firmly in place with “change” as its 
foundational objective, we believe where there is change there is opportunity, and where there is great change, 
there is even greater opportunity.

VSE’s Leadership  
Under Don Ervine’s inspirational leadership, VSE began deliberately and incrementally positioning itself 
to capitalize on shifting national priorities during the mid 90’s with the acquisition of Energetics.  Several 
years ago, he led the acquisition of ICRC, followed quickly by G&B Solutions last year.  The net effect of 
these moves has been to gradually increase the share of business into the branches of government beyond the 
Department of Defense.  At year’s end, 20% of our business came from the Department of Transportation, 
the Department of the Treasury, the Department of Energy, the Department of the Interior, and many 
other governmental agencies.  We are on a path to continually expand our share of that work by small but 
achievable increments over the next several years.

Also under Mr. Ervine’s leadership, VSE anticipated the winding down of the war in Iraq and the 
repositioning of people and material to Afghanistan and to the United States.  Billions of dollars of Army and 
Marine Corps equipment is now in need of restoration because the shifting national priorities will simply not 
support replacing the equipment with new equipment.  Over the past three years, VSE has added more than 
500 employees to restore this equipment for the Army, and we will continue to grow this business as future 
needs arise.

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

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Integrity, Agility and Value
Our “Integrity, Agility and Value” will continue to guide the company through the changing and challenging 
times ahead, and I will continue to place customer satisfaction at the top of VSE’s list of priorities.  I am most 
pleased at our unwavering commitment to serve clients.  It sets us apart and above our competitors.  I like to 
think of that commitment as the VSE Culture of Service.  We don’t need to talk about it...we just expect it 
from one another.

I conclude by restating my belief that the “change” we hear about from the new administration favors VSE.  
Change opens doors; it presents opportunities to demonstrate our value and capabilities to new clients.  We 
will be aggressive in our pursuit of new business, and I am excited by the challenges ahead.  We have the right 
team in place, the correct operating model, and we are fully committed to executing the right plan going 
forward as a team of skilled professionals focused on the common goal of success.

I am proud to lead this company into the future and continue the tradition of honor, excellence and service 
we are known for.

We welcome your comments and suggestions. 

M. E. Gauthier 
CEO/President/COO

March 2009

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2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

Board of Directors

Ralph E. Eberhart 
General, USAF (Ret.) 
President, Armed Forces Benefit 
Association 
Chairman and Director of 
5Star Bank/Life/Funds/Investments

Maurice E. Gauthier (not pictured) 
President and CEO/COO  
VSE Corporation 
(appointed in February 2009)

Clifford M. Kendall 
Private Investor and 
Chairman of the Board of Regents 
of the University System of Maryland

Calvin S. Koonce, Ph.D. 
Chairman, Koonce Securities, Inc. 
Securities Broker/Dealer 

Bonnie K. Wachtel 
Vice President and General Counsel, 
Wachtel & Co., Inc.

Donald M. Ervine 
Executive Chairman of the Board, 
VSE Corporation

David M. Osnos, Esq. 
Of Counsel 
Arent Fox LLP 
Attorneys-at-Law

Jimmy D. Ross 
General, USA (Ret.) 
Senior Logistics Consultant, 
Cypress International, Inc.

James F. Lafond, CPA 
Retired Executive; formerly 
Washington Area Managing Partner, 
PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

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VSE Corporation is the federal services company of choice for solving issues of global significance 

with agility, integrity and value.  VSE is dedicated to making our clients successful through the 
effective use of highly experienced people, systems, and technology in program management, 

logistics and equipment refurbishment, engineering, IT services, construction program management and 
consulting.  In helping others succeed, we increase stockholder value by capturing new work, exceeding our 
customers’ expectations, increasing our technical competence, affording more employment opportunities and 
building great industry teammates.

Our reputation for success and our quality management system are based on self-governance, openness and 
honesty in everything we do.  The foundation of our success is also based on highly experienced leadership, 
state-of-the-art IT communications, teamwork and motivation.  

VSE has more than 50 years of experience as a preferred provider of professional support services to a diverse 
customer base.  VSE specializes in reducing costs and improving the reliability of systems and equipment.  
VSE evolves along with the needs of the federal and civil governments while remaining true to our roots as a 
value engineering firm. 

VSE’s policy is to provide only products and services of the highest quality to meet the expectations and 
requirements of our customers on time and at a fair price.  VSE’s quality management system is registered to 
the ISO 9001:2000 standard.

 NASDAQ: VSEC

ISO 9001:2000

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2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

International Group

President (incoming), Michael E. Hamerly 
President (outgoing), James M. Knowlton

In July 2008, we were awarded a prime contract to support aircraft maintenance for the Air Force Contract 
Field Teams (CFT) Program with a maximum ceiling of about $10.12 billion.  A new office in Oklahoma 
City was opened to focus on this effort for rapid deployments and long-term support services and expand 
our work for the Air Force.  We are also a subcontractor on six prime contracts which will allow us to 
support Warner Robbins-Air Logistics Center (GA) on the Future Flexible Acquisition and Sustainment Tool 
(F2AST) contract that will provide lifecycle and modernization sustainment support to the U.S. Air Force. 
This multi-awarded contract has a 10-year $6.9 billion ceiling.   

We recently established a boiler and pressure vessel inspection service business unit.  In addition to inspecting 
Naval Facilities, we are a National Board Authorized Inspection Agency certified to do public and commercial 
inspections.  

We are very proud of the “first-of-its-kind” virtual-electronic classroom we developed in Taiwan during 
2008 to train sailors as part of the ongoing support for four ex-USS KIDD (DDG 993) class ships that were 
transferred several years ago.  This training model is transferrable to other countries and ship class platforms.  

Other 2008 highlights include:
 

 

 

 

 
 

 

 

First time support to Romania in the installation and testing of a coastal surveillance system comprising 
short and long range radars and a communications/electronic emissions sensor system. 
Hosted a Naval Value Stream Analysis to establish a more efficient process for transferring FFG 7 class 
ships to foreign navies.
In Egypt, approximately 94 VSE employees and subcontractors support the Egyptian Navy’s ex-U.S. 
Navy Frigates, Guided Missile Frigates and Mine Hunters.  VSE provides a depot repair team that 
performs industrial planning and complex repairs to these ships; provides management and contracting 
for rebuilding the infrastructure that supports ship maintenance and repairs and is developing a cadre of 
skilled local technicians through the Egyptian Naval Industrial Training program. 
Teamwork efforts with a more streamlined modeling process combining our business units in fleet 
maintenance and ship waterfronts.
Expansion of our diagnostics and prognostics offerings for U.S. Army ground units.
Augmentation of our core base of work by emphasizing growth on the Treasury Seized Property 
Management Program to include potential target cost adjustments for the years 2007 and 2008.
We are continuing our support at NSWC Indian Head Division, MD to the CAD/PAD Joint Program 
Office and Demilitarization/Decontamination contracts.  We are working with Navy and Army agencies 
on Demilitarization processes for munitions end items as well as initiatives for a defense wide assessment 
process for the munitions stockpile and with the U.S. Congress to highlight the need to reinvigorate 
a national effort for advancing the science and technology for all facets of explosives and propellants 
(research & development; manufacturing processes; detection; forensics; modeling and simulation of 
blast effects; support of the intelligence community; and, needs of Department of Homeland Security).
We were awarded a contract allowing us to bid on emergent repair work for the U.S. Army’s two LSVs 
and two LCUs that are forward deployed to (home ported in) Kuwait thus increasing our support to our 
warriors in South West Asia 

In our ship transfer work we are well underway on planning for the Chilean project, the transfer of ex-USNS 
ANDREW J HIGGINS (TAO-190).  We also have been planning an industrial work package in Mexico for 
ex-USS STEIN (FF-1065).  Based on congressional approval of certain ship transfers, we expect to increase 
our ship transfers in 2009 and possibly future years. 

We are energized by our organizational changes that allow us to take full advantage of the Executive Team’s 
guidance on revitalizing our business processes and marketing our full capabilities.  This has allowed us to 
enhance our proven model of performing projects with integrity, agility and value built in.  We really are 
extremely proud of our past and very excited about our future.  

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

11

 
 
Federal Group

President, Thomas G. Dacus

Our Army Reserve RESET/Refurbishment services continued to grow significantly during 2008 with new 
operations being established this past year in Texarkana (AR), Hamel (IL), Gatesville and Fort Hood (TX).  
We also opened our first Center of Excellence in Ladysmith (VA) which is our flagship for complete state-of-
the-art equipment refurbishment/repair and upgrading.

Our major focus for Federal Group during 2008 has been expanding our services in Southwest Asia.  We 
introduced the Tanker Ballistic Protection System in 2004 to our forces in Iraq and finished the project 
recently completing more than 1,500 fuel tankers.  This program preceded the launch of our Field Support 
Services initiative in 2007 to provide worldwide field maintenance, logistic support and technical advisory 
services for a wide variety of mine-clearing vehicles and equipment.  Although there were various contractors 
in the area performing similar work, VSE quickly became the “go to” experts in intermediate and depot-level 
maintenance for these vehicles.  VSE’s willingness to travel with units, in need of this expertise, at a moment’s 
notice, in austere environments, coupled with the low turnover rate of our motivated team, solidified the 
value of our contributions.

Because of this stellar reputation, in 2008 the Letterkenny Army Depot as the Tank-Automotive and 
Armaments Command agent for Assured Mobility Systems, selected us to serve as the prime contractor on an 
award of approximately $194 million to establish a 950,000-square foot, depot level, refurbishment complex 
in Kuwait for modernizing and improving the U.S. military’s wheeled vehicles used for defense against 
roadside mines and improvised explosive devices. 

At the beginning of 2009, an additional task of approximately $389 million was awarded on behalf of the 
US Army Program Executive Office Combat Support and Combat Service Support Systems, to provide rapid 
turn-around of repaired military assets, to the combat soldier in theater.

Our Southwest Asia expansion is just the tip of the iceberg on what Federal Group can accomplish 
internationally.  

I want to extend a special appreciation to our managers and employees who have been and are continuing 
to deploy to multiple theaters of operations, shadowing our warfighters, providing superior equipment 
maintenance, refurbishment and sustainment.  They are serving in harm’s way freely and tirelessly, and have 
earned our respect and gratitude.  

Our commitment to “serving those who serve” doesn’t stop there.  We strategically recruit veterans and 
reservists because they bring discipline, responsibility, training and qualifications to the VSE workforce.   
Further, in 2008 we began registering our jobs on a data base that goes directly to all reserve component 
soldiers nationwide.

As part of our strategic plan, we are transitioning our marketing away approach toward a functional and 
regionalize structure.  We are still doing the same mission requirements on a local level, but, because of 
our increasing size, we are competing for more complex and regional work.  Our strategies have improved 
business opportunity communications to all our VSE Groups and Divisions.  This corporate-wide, 
consolidated team marketing approach benefits all, while building unity within the company.

Despite many challenges during 2008, Federal Group exceeded all goals and expectations.  Hard work, 
integrity, ingenuity, commitment and being a true value added supporter to our clients, by our dedicated 
workforce were the driving factors behind our record revenues and profit.  That effort will continue 
throughout2009 and the outyears.

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2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

Management and IT Consulting Group

President, Jim Reed

2008 was the largest growth year ever for Energetics Incorporated with $19.3 million in revenue, a substantial 
increase from 2007’s $14.5 million.  VSE’s newly acquired subsidiary G&B Solutions had a banner year as 
well with revenues exceeding $30.6 million from the acquisition date of April 14, 2008.  

G&B is an established information technology provider to many government agencies, including the 
Departments of Interior, Homeland Security, Labor, Agriculture, and Housing and Urban Development, 
the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation, and the National Institutes of Health.  G&B’s core expertise lies 
in enterprise architecture development, information assurance/business continuity, program and portfolio 
management, network IT services and systems design and integration.  

A major contributor to this growth was the establishment in June 2008 and full staffing (13 persons) of our 
new Arlington (VA) office.  We opened this office to support our newest client, the Executive Management 
Office in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security.  Most of our work in Arlington has been addressed to 
infrastructure protection, and has included policy analysis, development of information sharing mechanisms 
and processes, and partnership-building activities with the private sector.  This successful venture has been 
managed by Energetics vice president Jim Carey. 

Growth occurred in all of Energetics’ five business areas.  In particular, we expanded our work in support of 
the U.S. Department of Energy’s Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy and Office of Electricity 
Delivery and Energy Reliability, and our technical work for the U.S. Commerce Department’s National 
Institute of Science and Technology, where we support the U.S. Measurement System.  

This past summer Energetics also began work on a new energy efficiency and renewable energy contract we 
were awarded in a joint venture with a small business.  We are still in the building process to maximize the 
value of this five-year technical services contract to our client’s high-national-priority programs. 

One thing of note I’d like to mention is the great corporate teamwork initiatives and guidance.  The VSE IT 
and accounting assistance we’ve been receiving is invaluable.  We are also grateful that we have access to the 
new corporate general counsel and have been combining human resource efforts with very proven results.  

We are also happy with the establishment of a formal VSE business development capture center which has 
been very positive in giving us structure with a more rigorous process, assuring us more warning and lead 
time in getting that extra edge.

We have been putting down firm roots and if we continue to perform at this level we believe we will make 
our growth goals.  We need to show people we can operate at this level.

I believe that our management and IT consulting teams are very well positioned and we look forward to the 
journey ahead.

2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

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Infrastructure Group

Carl Williams, President

In creating a clear vision for the future through the newly adopted strategic planning process, we set our 
sights on increasing our share of the federal civil market.  The first step toward this goal was concentrating 
our business efforts into well-defined lanes, specifically concentrating on construction management services as 
our one core business area; the second being the adopting of an embedded support model.

2008 represented a year of significant change to the Infrastructure Group.  ICRC, having been acquired by 
VSE in 2007, came to us with three core markets: Information Technology, Engineering/Technical Services 
and Program/Project Construction Management.  Recognizing the importance of the growing market in 
infrastructure modernization, upgrade and new construction—we have concentrated ICRC’s efforts on 
Program/Project Construction Management by moving the information technology work to G&B Solutions 
and the engineering/technical services to Federal Group.  Additionally we streamlined and refocused our 
business development and management team to better support this single market by selectively moving 
resources to other areas within VSE and hiring more expertise in the program construction management 
field.  We continued the integration of ICRC’s back office functions into VSE successfully completing the 
conversion to CostPoint™ in December 2008.

The transformation has gone quite well, especially in leveraging the ample VSE core resources to get the 
transformation completed while maintaining rock steady focus on our existing clients and employees.  Even 
though we farmed several business areas to other VSE Groups, our revenues have grown; exceeding $100 
million in 2008 and we have managed to find roles for almost all the transitioning employees in other VSE 
groups.  Our most valuable resource is our employees and they are directly responsible for the success of the 
group this year!

The embedding of expertise in each of the groups increases our agility and ability to get things done quicker 
for our customer.  The embedded model also provides the resources we need to quickly adapt to the ever 
changing marketplace while simultaneously maintaining the required oversight and compliance.  In our 
experience to date the embedding process has also leveraged the considerable talents and experience within 
VSE to rapidly communicate and bring resources to bear to solve problems or support emergent initiatives. 

2008 has been a year of positive transformation for the Infrastructure Group while continuing our revenue 
and profit growth.  We are well positioned to continue this growth in 2009.

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2008 VSE Annual Report and Form 10-K—Proud of Our Past.  Excited About Our Future.

The Region at a Glance

2550 Huntington Avenue

Alexandria, Virginia 22303-1499

www.vsecorp.com 

email: info@vsecorp.com

(703) 960-4600 

(800) 455-4873

7067 Columbia Gateway Drive, Suite 200

1861 Wiehle Avenue, Suite 200

2550 Huntington Avenue

Columbia, Maryland 21046 

Reston, Virginia 20190 

Alexandria, Virginia 22303

www.energetics.com

(410) 290-0370

www.gbsolutionsinc.com

www.icrcsolutions.com

(703) 883-1140

(703) 519-9910