Carroll H. Dunn
life, whatever it was, would have been disrupted. Again, there's nothing wrong with
that. I'm simply saying that I had the choice of making the Army a career or making
civilian life a career, with a strong possibility for the disruption of civilian life. I chose
under those circumstances to make the Army a career. I'm trying to make the
distinction between the fact that it wasn't that a war appeared to be coming and I
wanted to be ahead of the game, but that I figured that I was going to be in the Army
sooner or later
so I might as well decide to start with the Army as a career
instead of having it disrupt another career.
Events proved that I made the right decision. I don't believe that I would have wanted
to be in the Army in any branch other than the engineers. Although I've had several
important non-engineer assignments, which I enjoyed and found to be a challenge, as
a whole I wanted to be closer to an engineering career. It was the opportunity for a
commission in the Corps of Engineers as well as in the Army that made the choice
attractive.
I have enjoyed all of my assignments and gained from them, so I don't look back on my
career with any regret. I feel very fortunate that I have had many opportunities. What
may have seemed to be minor events have helped shape my career. Some examples
were the WES anniversary celebration, which brought me to the attention of General
Sturgis, and the OCE service, which acquainted me with many key people. There's no
question that that played a part in my career advancement and in the assignments I've
been given. I really don't feel that I could have made a major improvement if I had been
free to choose my own assignments.
What about troop command?
A
Well, I had troop command my first seven years up through battalion command in
wartime. Frankly, after you command a battalion in wartime, no other troop command
makes any difference. That's the command! When you get above that, you don't have
the same relationship. The difference comparing my case to a current career-say, the
is that I got a tremendous amount of experience in a very short time.
career of my
This was because of the time frame in which I came along. He (my son) will
undoubtedly learn more in longer term assignments and individual assignments, but he
won't have the opportunity for the wide diversity of assignments that I had. Each of us
is a product of the times in which we live, and, rather than serving in three wars, as
there were in my career, I hope he has had his war experience in Vietnam with no more
in the future.,
Q.
He's in the engineers, is he not`?
A ..
Yes.
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