________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
Introduction
by
William C. Baldwin
Major General Richard Samuel "Sam" Kem's distinguished Army career culminated in two
prominent senior positions: Chief of Staff of the U.S. Army Europe and Deputy Chief of Engineers.
For two years at the end of the Cold War he was one of the senior leaders of the Army's most
important front line combat force, and in his last assignment he helped lead the U.S. Army Corps of
Engineers during a critical transition period in its modern history. As General Kem thoughtfully
describes in this interview, his earlier assignments had well prepared him for his senior positions.
After graduating from West Point in 1956 and attending Ranger, Airborne, and Engineer training,
General Kem went to a junior officer assignment in America's most important potential theater of
operations, Europe, in one of the key units in that theater, an armored division. His experiences in the
3d Armored Division and the lessons he learned would serve him well for the next 30 years of his
career. In just a few years, however, while still a junior officer, he saw early the challenges that
would confront the United States in its next combat operations in Southeast Asia, as an engineer
advisor assigned to South Vietnamese engineer units in 1962. After honing his combat engineering
skills with the 307th Engineer Battalion, 82d Airborne Division, he returned to South Vietnam in
1968 in the middle of the war as commander of the 577th Engineer Battalion. After seven years as a
student, teacher, and staff officer, he returned to troop command in America's front line army in
Europe as commander of the 7th Engineer Brigade. His experience in combat and command
culminated in General Kem's tour as commandant of the Engineer School where he oversaw the
training of young officers, the reorganization and strengthening of engineer combat units, and the
development of new and vital engineer doctrine and equipment. He then returned to Europe to apply
his skills and implement the lessons he had learned as Deputy Chief of Staff, Engineer, and Chief of
Staff of the U.S. Army Europe at the peak of Reagan Administration defense buildup and on the eve
of the collapse of the Soviet Union. From his earliest military training and assignments, General
Kem's experiences prepared him well for his culminating positions in America's senior overseas
theater.
His service in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers also prepared him for assignment to senior
positions in the organization that would become a major Army command (MACOM) in 1979. After
earning a master's degree in civil engineering at the University of Illinois, General Kem was
assigned to the Chicago District, at that time a large district with both civil works and military
construction responsibilities. In addition to learning about the activities of an engineer district,
General Kem experienced firsthand the Corps' important role in helping communities recover from
natural disasters. In 1964 the district sent him to Alaska to help with the cleanup following the
devastating earthquake. Later General Kem served as Chief of Public Affairs in Corps headquarters
as the agency struggled with its new environmental missions and the many controversies they
produced. In his next Corps assignment as Deputy Assistant Chief of Engineers in the Pentagon,
Kem was a key player in the Army's programming and budgeting cycles and in relations with
Congress. As Deputy Director of Civil Works, he learned more about the Corps' water resources
program. With this varied Corps background, General Kem was named commander of the important
Ohio River Division (ORD) headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio. ORD's diverse civil and military
responsibilities required careful management, especially in the early years of a new presidential
administration committed to bolstering the nation's defenses and finding new approaches to the
Corps' water resources program. These varied Corps assignments culminated in General Kem's
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