________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
That the brigade headquarters was not going, not being a part of the Corps FTX, was
shocking to me. The brigade battalions, certain ones, were going. Some were already
constructing the many kinds of facilities needed--an umpire headquarters and a Corps
headquarters, and a visitor headquarters because REFORGER FTXs draw visitors from all
over the world. So, we had a lot of responsibilities, but we were not going out there to be a
tactical headquarters. I was told by my staff, when I asked why, "Well, we just never do that.
We don't need to be out there. The Corps engineer section can run the engineer part. They
don't need us out there."
I said, "Well, gang, we're going." They said, "Well, you know, we can't. All that planning
goes on months ahead of time, and the troop lists and all that are finalized and there's no
money and there's no place to go." There was only a month and a half left before the FTX. I
said, "Sorry about that, but we're going!"
I had them rustle rations, use our own training money, go find us a place to set up, called the
Corps commander and G3 and said, "We're going." They said, "Fine." It was only within
our own brigade kind of thinking that had us not going. So, we went out on the REFORGER
'76 FTX.
Frankly, it was not a very successful exercise from my standpoint. It certainly led to our
preparing for REFORGER '77, which turned out to be a most significant exercise and one
that was a culmination of a lot of planning. The seeds for success in '77 were set in
REFORGER '76. For example, in REFORGER '76 engineers only built two bridges in 10
days of FTX. One of those bridges came about because we sent a message from Corps
headquarters out to the orange forces and told them to build a bridge at this location by such
and such a time. Otherwise, they'd have never built it.
In the '76 FTX we engineers really weren't integrated into the operations. So, out of that, and
because I lived through that frustration, I had a feeling for how we needed to be prepared for
the next year. Our prep for REFORGER '77 was significantly different.
To answer your question, commanders were receptive, but if you, the engineer, really wanted
to be integrated, you needed to take the initiative to ensure the integration. I met with the
commander of the 3d Infantry Division, who was a bit skeptical when I told him we wanted
to be in the field with him on his training exercises. He was taking the whole division out for
a JanuaryFebruary winter exercise, and I knew there'd be great training opportunities. He
was taking the 10th Engineer Battalion out, and I wanted him to take others from his
expected engineer support slice. So, I developed a plan with the staff to piggyback on his
exercise. I mean, the U.S. Army's exercises always focus on a brigade and the fight at the
line of contact, and the things that happen in front or behind of it never get any emphasis.
I mean, if the scenario had a blown bridge, we'd come in and replace that bridge, the brigade
fight moves on beyond it, and it's now in your rear area. Now everybody's using the old
bridge all the time and nobody ever blows a bridge in the rear. It's always just the ones right
up front. So, for Corps troops on a typical maneuver FTX, there could be a point where
there's not much to do in a moving forward operation. So, when we were piggybacking, what
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