Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
the brigade commander's helicopter, and we were directing operations on the ground much
like the Vietnam model. For me, that was my first experience in an airborne command and
control helicopter. Now we were using helicopters that cut distances to deliver troops to
battle, to leap over obstacles, and for command and control.
Q:
Who was the XVIII Airborne Corps engineer then, do you remember?
A:
I don't remember who it was when we were in the Dominican Republic my first year. During
my second year, Lieutenant Colonel Jack Cox came in. He was relatively junior; before that
it had primarily been colonels. I believe Jack Cox came in as the Corps engineer, not the
deputy. Then later, about three months before I left the battalion, Jack Waggener left as the
battalion commander to become the division G3 and Jack Cox came down and replaced him
as the 307th Engineer Battalion commander.
Command and General Staff College
Q:
In 1967, then, at about the right time, I guess, you went to the Command and General Staff
College at Leavenworth. Was that when the bulk of your classmates and peers were headed
off for Leavenworth?
A:
I think so. It was certainly the right time for me because I'd just come out of this tremendous
two years with the 82d, where I had both a division perspective, which is the basic thing they
taught at Leavenworth, and became well-grounded with troops. So, I went to Leavenworth
fresh with understanding of how S1s and G1s and S3s and G3s and S4s and G4s
operated. When it came time to role play in each of these tasks, developing orders for
divisions in the attack or for divisions in the defense, then I'd had that experience in the 82d.
For example, I was part of the division staff on a Strike Command command post exercise as
part of a deployed Corps in the Dominican Republic. I had worked with the staff of the
division working under the XVIII Airborne Corps and had been a battalion exec seeing how
we played engineers in support of theater operations.
So, I was well-grounded by now, having been on the battalion staff, close to the operating
battalions and brigades, well-grounded in how U.S. Army troops, doctrine, force structure,
and procedures all went together at the division level. So, when I went to Leavenworth, I was
in a good position to study and learn what I'd been doing the previous two years.
Q:
Did you find it as satisfying as you'd found the advanced course?
A:
I found Leavenworth a lot more satisfying. I mean, it was satisfying from all aspects. I
thought it was a super course, interesting because they had a lot of variety of things to look
at. It had its slower moments when we got into the department of larger unit operations.
Some of the instructors weren't the very best, but all in all a very good professional course.
Now there were friends from previous assignments, and I got to know a lot more. I had
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