________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
Engineer Group in the north, while I was in the 577th in the 35th Group. Al Rowe, S3 in the
307th, was at this time also in Vietnam. Chuck Henry, who'd been maintenance officer in the
307th, was up with Jack Waggener in the 45th Group.
I would say that by the time I got the 577th we had expanded the Army considerably. I
arrived in the 307th about the time of the first deployments to Vietnam. By the time I got
there post-Tet, the big deployments were over and we were at about max size. We had
thinned out the professional leadership of the Army and spread it into all the units, so it had
to be thinner in any one place. Then there was the turnover, the 6-month, 12-month turnover.
Q:
Interesting. That rotation is coming up again as a subject in Saudi Arabia. What did you think
of the one-year rotation? Was it too short? Did it serve a valuable purpose?
A:
Well, I think so. I mean, in the heat and stress of what went on in Vietnam, one year was
about as much as a lot of people could take. If somebody wanted more of it, they could get
more of it by extending. A lot of soldiers from World War II slogged through the whole war,
and a lot of them were also only in units with that kind of intensity for short periods of time.
I was the benefactor of a change in command tour over there. When I went over, it was a six-
month command tour. Certainly I thought that was too short. I guess about my third or fourth
month there, they were thinking about leaving at least some folks in for a full year tour as
commander. I think I was among the first to get that opportunity. I had been told I'd probably
move down to be the executive officer of the 35th Engineer Group, and I'd be replaced in six
months.
I didn't really want to do that, so I asked Colonel Jack Waggener, as I just mentioned, the
commander of the 45th Group, if he had any battalions available and that I was available.
He'd mentioned that to Major General Dave Parker, the USARV engineer, who was at this
time considering leaving commanders in place for a full year.
So, he asked Jack Waggener, "Where is Kem going?" Jack told him. Then General Parker
said, "No, we'll leave him right where he is." So, I got to stay a full year in command.
Certainly six months weren't enough. I would say a year in command over there was a pretty
long time to continue under that kind of load and stress. I think I was--I hate to use the
word--burnt out; I certainly could have probably used some fresh ideas by the time I finished
my one year.
So, your question really had to do with one-year tours overall, but I gave you an answer that
indicates that the six-month command tour, in my mind, was a more important parameter and
too short.
Q:
Okay. Should we turn away from Vietnam? Any other thoughts?
A:
Let me see. I guess not. I guess we can come back to them if necessary.
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