Engineer Memoirs
Deputy Assistant Chief of Staff for Force Development
Q ..
After you left Vietnam in June of 1963, you became special assistant for tactical
mobility to the assistant chief of staff for force development. What did that
involve?
My job was to head a special
A:
division within ACSFOR to further
air mobility in the Army. I was
charged with integrating the ideas
which had been tested by the
Howze Board with the results of the
helicopter experiments in Vietnam.
I was established in the job by
Secretary of the Army Cyrus Vance
who was intent on pushing the idea
of air mobility.
I was allowed to recruit some 15
officers who had worked on the
Howze Board and another 15 who
had served with me in Vietnam.
Our task was to write doctrinal
manuals for teaching the air
mobility concept and to design air
mobility units to go to Vietnam.
Major General Edward L. Rowny, 7962.
Q:
Who headed ACSFOR at that time?
The chief of ACSFOR was Lieutenant General Ben Harrel. He had two deputies,
A:
Major General Creighton Abrams and Major General Ralph E. Haines, Jr.
Q:
Can you describe some of your accomplishments while you were in ACSFOR?
One of my accomplishments was to oversee the writing of Army doctrine for air
A:
mobility. We circulated these ideas throughout the Army staff and also famed
them over to a number of think tanks for comment. The second accomplishment
was to design organizations to incorporate air mobility into the Army. The units
we designed were of two types. The first was a unit of helicopters and trained
people which could be attached to a standard division having the need for tactical
air mobility. The second was a light division which integrated helicopters
throughout the entire division. Some of these helicopters were for reconnaissance,
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