________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
Q:
Probably not extensive, not very. The 82d at that time was like today, it remained sort of the
force for immediate readiness for movement and deployment.
A:
That's right. America's guard of honor, first to go.
Q:
Was this during the period of Strike Command?
A:
Yes.
Q:
So, that Strike Command was the rapid deployment force?
A:
Yes. I recall going out to Texas, to Amarillo Air Force Base, and a Simulation, Training, and
Instrumentation Command exercise with General Paul Adams in charge, for a huge war game
exercise. As assistant division engineer I was in the division headquarters cell, in one of the
rooms playing the 82d's role.
Q:
Were you assistant division engineer the whole two years you were there?
A:
No, I was for about six months and then Major Max Noah came in to be the exec. I was to
become the S-3. Then, with the buildup for Vietnam, he was pulled out to be a part of the
newly forming 45th Engineer Group, which was to deploy weeks later to Vietnam. So, then
rather than my moving to be the S3 I became exec, and Major Al Rowe, who'd been
commanding the 618th Engineer Company, moved up to be the S3.
Q:
So, there was a lot of emphasis during this period on training and getting ready, although
there would have been all along, but particularly now in training and readiness and being in
the immediate state to deploy?
A:
Oh, yes, we were always ready to deploy, always had the immediate reaction force and all of
those things. We turned also to start considering how we would operate in the Vietnam kind
of environment. The Air Assault Division was then going through its paces down at Fort
Benning. It was later to become the 1st Cav Division and deploy to Vietnam. So, all of us
were thinking helicopters and thinking how to occupy fire bases. I remember we would
parachute into Camp McCall and then set up a typical fire base and operate from it.
Q:
So, as an example of what we were talking about earlier, the counterinsurgency war situation
doctrine, trying to determine what a unit would do, how it would respond to--
A:
Well, we weren't in the clear and hold kind of thing. We were now talking deploying troop
units because that's what we were doing. So, we were setting up for fire base security. We'd
build the bunkers at Camp McCall and then we'd put up radars and sensing devices to see if
we could spot penetrations into the perimeter at night, and we would organize that way.
Q:
So, the situation here was more like it had been in the 3d Armored Division, I guess, in terms
of what the unit was doing.
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