Ernest Graves
I can't remember that any of us thought that we had a huge drug problem. They can tell
some real hair-raising stories about incidents, but that's different from the situation
where you had a high percentage of the people on drugs.
Q:
Is there anything else I ought to ask you about Vietnam?
A:
I don't believe so. You talk about whether you're sorry to leave or not. I wasn't sorry
to leave Vietnam, but for some funny reasons.
In the delta, a commander could get things done if he could get around. We had a
terrible reduction in helicopter support toward the end. I got sort of housebound, so to
speak. There were only so many helicopters, and I insisted that my subordinate
commanders have them, rather than me. That was something that we went through
cycles on. First, we had helicopters. Then they'd wear out. Then there'd be new ones,
and so forth. There was a lot of turbulence in the helicopter area which affected the
exercise of command. That was one point.
The second point was that they started to wind the war down. The 86th Engineers was
inactivated, and the 9th Division started to be inactivated. Since we had decided to pull
out, it didn't bother me to come home.
Again, I learned a lot from Vietnam. I think I had a successful tour there. I was left with
my command for the entire time. Others were rotated. Some people had command for
only six months. I was left down there for a year. My judgment was that the units
responded to my leadership. So all in all, it was a good experience.
Q:
You were a colonel?
A:
I was a colonel.
Q:
Did you know you were on a list for promotion before you came home?
A:
No, I didn't know that. I was very concerned about getting my report in for my
command because the board was meeting as I was coming home, or met just after I
came home.
Deputy Director of Military Construction, 19691970
Q:
You knew you were going to OCE?
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