Memoirs
director of Military Construction was responsible for the program even though, as I recall, the
funds were managed through the Civil Works accounts.
On 1 July 1976 the headquarters moved out there as a new division, the Middle East Division.
Colonel Gray remained as district engineer of the Riyadh District, and Brigadier General Dick
Wells became the first division engineer. He was selected because of his solid, thorough,
deliberate, and correct decision-making process-characteristics we needed for a new office
during a turbulent period. Gray stayed a short while, returned to the States, and ultimately
retired. Wells built up the Middle East Division and got it off to a good start.
Q ..
Was it important to have a general officer there?
A
It was critical to have a general officer there. It was the biggest program we had. The Saudis
are quite sensitive to having top people. Also, making it a division in itself was important, but
we must remember that the Saudi program probably was as large as the rest of the military
construction program, and it was a long way from home. We also set up a division rear out
at Winchester. A general was appropriate.
Q ..
Why was Winchester chosen?
A
Well, it was not accidental. The chosen site, not where they are now but where they went
originally, was secure and had good communications once Bob Blakeley set up a satellite
communications network to Riyadh directly from Winchester.
It was far enough away from Washington to protect the activities from what I would consider
unnecessary visits and queries, et cetera. Several sites closer to D.C. were considered but none
was as suitable.
As time went on, and almost immediately after I moved up to be Chief of Engineers, I met
with the officer in charge of the Saudi military construction program, Prince Nasir Faisal. He
was a major, very sharp, and I thought, excellent. During an early meeting I mentioned that
while the program was big then, it would not stay big forever. I wanted the Corps to finish its
work with pride and dignity, and I would like to try to predetermine a date for coming home
if possible.
So I asked him if he would give us a flight path into the future, which he was unable to do.
However, by asking that question when we did I think it alerted the Saudis to the fact that
somewhere out there there would be a phase-down and that should be handled properly. Of
course, that was a low-priority item at the time because we were so busy doing the job.
A couple of other things came up in the Saudi program. Our charter and our responsibility
were to the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, and also to the National Guard. The ministers
over there were possessive about people who worked for them. I offered to do a study of their
water resources nationally, similar to what we've done in several regions here in the States.
It was a very attractive offer, but we could never get the authority to deal with a ministry other
than the Ministry of Defense and Aviation for reasons I don't understand. The Corps could
have done it nicely.
So we concentrated on the Ministry of Defense and Aviation, and out of that program came
some truly magnificent projects-no question about it. The headquarters of the National
Guard is a monumental building, cost a couple of hundred million dollars. It was designed by
Leo Daly and built by
an American company with the Korean, Sam Whan, as a
partner. It is a beautiful building. We had some problems with it, of course; you always do.
Then we built the headquarters for the Ministry of Defense and Aviation itself, which is
another monumental building, the headquarters for the Air Force, headquarters for the Navy,
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