Exhibit 31.1

                          CERTIFICATION PURSUANT TO
             RULE 13A-14 OF THE SECURITIES EXCHANGE ACT OF 1934,
                            AS ADOPTED PURSUANT TO
                SECTION 302 OF THE SARBANES-OXLEY ACT OF 2002


I, D. M. Ervine, Chairman, President, Chief Executive Officer and Chief
Operating Officer of the Company, certify that:

1.   I have reviewed this quarterly report on Form 10-Q of VSE Corporation
(the "Registrant");

2.   Based on my knowledge, this quarterly report does not contain any untrue
statement of a material fact or omit to state a material fact necessary to
make the statements made, in light of the circumstances under which such
statements were made, not misleading with respect to the period covered by
this quarterly report;

3.   Based on my knowledge, the financial statements, and other financial
information included in this quarterly report, fairly present in all material
respects the financial condition, results of operations and cash flows of the
Registrant as of, and for, the periods presented in this quarterly report;

4.   The Registrant's other certifying officers and I are responsible for
establishing and maintaining disclosure controls and procedures (as defined in
Exchange Act Rules 13a-15(e) and 15d-15(e)) for the Registrant and we have:

     (a)  designed such disclosure controls and procedures, or caused such
          disclosure controls and procedures to be designed under our
          supervision, to ensure that material information relating to the
          Registrant, including its consolidated subsidiaries, is made known
          to us by others within those entities, particularly during the
          period in which this quarterly report is being prepared;

     (b)  evaluated the effectiveness of the Registrant's disclosure
          controls and procedures and presented in this report our
          conclusions about the effectiveness of the disclosure controls and
          procedures, as of the  end of the period covered by this quarterly
          report based on such evaluation; and

     (c)  disclosed in this quarterly report any change in the Registrant's
          internal control over financial reporting that occurred during the
          Registrant's most recent fiscal quarter (the Registrant's fourth
          fiscal quarter in the case of an annual report) that has
          materially affected, or is reasonably likely to materially affect,
          the Registrant's internal control over financial reporting; and

5.   The Registrant's other certifying officers and I have disclosed, based
on our most recent evaluation, to the Registrant's auditors and the audit
committee of Registrant's Board of Directors (or persons performing the
equivalent function):

     (a)  all significant deficiencies and material weaknesses in the design
          or operation of internal control over financial reporting which
          are reasonably likely to adversely affect the Registrant's ability
          to record, process, summarize and report financial information;
          and

     (b)  any fraud, whether or not material, that involves management or
          other employees who have a significant role in the Registrant's
          internal control over financial reporting.



Dated: October 29, 2004                  /s/ D. M. Ervine
                                         ___________________________
                                         D. M. Ervine
                                         Chairman, President,
                                         Chief Executive Officer and
                                         Chief Operating Officer