an engineer soldier: bridging or pioneer work. A draftee learned to become a soldier
first-to shoot and to live in the field-with minimal training to be an equipment
operator on some of the relatively simpler types of engineer equipment. It was very,
very basic training designed to take people off the street and to make them soldiers in
a very short period of time.
Q ..
How successful was it?
A ..
Well, I have no real way ofjudging. In terms of the mission we were given, my feeling
is that we turned out a product that was in keeping with that mission in the time given
to do it. I was in the headquarters and not directly involved in the trainingbut I recall
,
that most of the people who were engaged in the training felt that there wasn't
sufficient time to do the things they really needed to do. There was always the question
do you get the necessary skills and knowledge that have to be taught to make
a soldier out of a raw recruit in such a short period of time. There was no time for any
advanced individual training. The best we could really do was some semblance of
training to platoon level. Nothing more than that.
I do think the experience would indicate that it is necessary to set up a more advanced
course for training mechanics and skilled equipment operators and other specialists. In
the time period available for basic training, there simply wasn't any time for advanced
training. It could have been done there if people had been kept longer, but in the time
frame given it was not possible.
Q ..
Were you involved in any postwar assessment of the mobilization effort?
A ..
Other than being assigned as an instructor at the Engineer School from 947 to 1949,
1
responsible for the engineer combat portion of the advanced course for officers where
we used wartime experiences as background as we prepared lesson plans and taught
them, I had no part in any formal evaluation of World War II.
Q.
Can you think of any other experiences in the period before your departure for England
l
that you would like to recall?
One of the things that impressed me as a young officer occurred at Fort McIntosh.
A
After I'd been there about two years (this would have been in the fall of
a new
commanding officer came in, Lieutenant Colonel Wilhelm D. Styer, who later became
chief of staff of the Army Service Forces under General [Brehon B.] Somervell. I
remember Colonel Styer telling our group of young Regular officers, "I'm not really
trying to train you to be lieutenants and captains; I'm trying to train you to be battalion
commanders." As far as I know, every one of those 10 or 12 lieutenants and young
captains became battalion commanders later in the war. He foresaw the need. And less
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