Engineer Memoirs
there, as far as I know. So it was another example of what I've already discussed, where
American firms lost out. I really do think Mr. Bill McMurren, the president of Morrison
Knudsen, put in an honest bid- t h a t is the amount he thought they'd need to be successful.
In contrast, when the Corps finished there were claims. Contrary to awarding a contract, I
thought the Saudis should participate in the discussions relating to claims. Payment was often
held up because of their questions, and if they participated in the negotiations to settle these
claims, the chances are they'd be settled without delaying questions.
While we didn't want the Saudis involved prior to the contracts being awarded, I felt they
should be involved in the close-out claims situation.
When we first got into the Saudi program, there were some morale and personnel problems.
Ultimately we moved over a thousand people out there. Initially, our people were living in
homes that had been procured from the market throughout the city. Don't misunderstand me,
they were very nice homes, but they were scattered all over Riyadh. Our women couldn't
drive, and transportation was difficult because the road nets weren't finished. It was just very
inefficient and somewhat unpleasant for all, especially the women.
So we asked the Saudi officials to allow and finance us to build housing areas for our own
people. That was done to include recreation facilities. The housing areas were to have
than-average facilities for family-entertainment, playgrounds, tennis courts, et cetera. We
may have been a bit extravagant, but I have no apologies. It was the right thing to do.
We built a nice area for the senior people called "The
including a larger home for the
division engineer. The division engineer needed a little more space. He had some entertaining
to do, and the houses weren't all that large anyhow. Besides, the Saudis expected the senior
people to be better cared for-that was their style.
Morale problems lessened at once, and most people who went to Saudi loved it. They were
often hesitant to go, but once they got there they loved it. I remember when we sent [Major]
General [James N.] Ellis, whom I'd yanked around a couple of times earlier in his career. Mrs.
Ellis did not want to go, but after she got out there she loved it. Really. The same thing
happened, to some extent, with [Major] General [George] Robertson. He and his wife were
happy too.
I look back on the Saudi program as a severe test of the Corps' managerial talents and
capabilities. It was a successful program. Some people may say we should have stayed longer.
Still, our goal was to export our talents and teach the Saudis how to do their own
management-and they've done that.
Q::.
I wanted to ask you about that. There was an emphasis on training the Saudis.
A ..
Yes, absolutely. We never made any bones of the fact that we were going to be there as long
as they needed us, but our intent was to come home. When we came home, to leave behind
a capability that could fill in behind what we were doing. You always hate to give up a nice
program, but when we'd finished our mission the Corps came home in good shape. Fact is,
they had a ceremony to recognize the work. Along with General Clarke and selected key
people, I was invited in 1988 or `89 to a very nice Corps' recognition affair in Riyadh and at
King Khalid Military City. I've been back to Saudi several times since I retired and the Corps
remains well liked. They'll never bring the Corps back in to do what we did before, nor
should they, but they still call on the Corps for advice and help.
The only other incident in the Saudi program that I can think of was when Under Secretary
of Defense [William] Clements thought the senior U.S. officer in Saudi Arabia, the Air Force
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