Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
So, my preference, my recommendation to the Chief of Colonels Division and the Chief of
Engineers would be to see that the OPMS system show its adaptability by providing a board-
selected list of commanders from which assignments would be made to both district and
command positions.
I said, "Further, I would seek a four-year period for consideration [originally OPMS called
for a two-year window], thus permitting greater stability in assignments and schools." Then I
said, "I think the question of length of eligibility for selection needs to be answered first and
then redirect the question to Chief of Engineers."
Anyway, we went through the process of briefing the Chief and the rest, and so General
Clarke then addressed his request to the DCSPER [Deputy Chief of Staff for Personnel] of
the Army.
Anyway, Lieutenant General Sid Berry, former commander of MILPERCEN and now the
DCSPER, did not concur. So, ultimately it went to General Abrams, Chief of Staff, U.S.
Army, for resolution with a recommendation from the Chief of Engineers to include
centralized selection of district engineers within the Army's centralized command selection
process, nonconcurred in by the DCSPER. There was a Chief of Staff's office showdown one
day, to which I was not invited. Colonel Lou Tixier attended as Chief of Colonels Division. I
pre-briefed him beforehand.
As a result of that meeting General Abrams approved command selection for district
engineers over the objection of the DCSPER. Then he turned to Colonel Tixier and said,
"What's your recommendation? Should a person be able to do both; that is, be selected for
one one time and one another and serve sequentially, or should they be selected for one or the
other?"
My recommendation at the time was to do only one, so that that person would have his
command, other people would have the opportunity for command, and that person would be
available to go to other important positions. Thus, he would not be out of the net as a
commander two years, then three years--total time as a colonel five years and all in
command. Who were going to be the guys filling all those other positions?
Lou Tixier then told me, "I didn't remember what you said, so I said, yeah, let them do both."
So, as it first came down, a person could do both. That's the way it was for the first two or
three cycles, and then later it was changed so that you would go to only one of the two. One
colonel-level command per person was it. That's basically how it happened.
Q:
Why was there opposition to this program?
A:
Are you talking about Sid Berry's opposition? I never talked with him, so I'm just supposing,
but generally it came from the standpoint of why is it that the engineers got to do something
different? He might have thought, "We're trying to emphasize troop command and we got
OPMS." Like so many things in the Army, it had been thought out in terms of the
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