________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
Major General Read or Lieutenant General Morris could talk to the commandant at Belvoir,
or to the commanding general of TRADOC, or the Deputy Chief of Staff, Research,
Development, and Acquisition.
So, I needed to stay for that year. Then General Morris in October or November called me
and we talked about my future. He said at the end of that year he wanted to know what I'd
like to do and we'd go from there. So, I told him I'd like to stay in the Washington area, and
if they didn't have a brigadier position for the ACE, I'd like to be the Deputy Director of
Civil Works.
Deputy Director of Civil Works
Q:
So, that's what happened? October '80?
A:
That's when I became the Deputy Director of Civil Works, right. That conversation took
place the year before, or over the intervening months.
Q:
Why did you want to be the Deputy Director of Civil Works as your next assignment?
A:
Well, I wanted to stay in Washington. I'd just been there a year. I thought, having had a year
of experience on the ACE part of the Army Staff, that if I could take a year in the Directorate
of Civil Works prior to being a division commander, it would be beneficial. Not having been
a district engineer, I thought that position would help me lean into division commander
responsibilities. Understanding things from the headquarters, I'd be more capable when I
went out to a division.
Q:
So, the division command would inevitably happen regardless, probably, whether you--
A:
Probably.
Q:
Okay, that was actually in the fall, then, of 1980 that you went over to Civil Works.
A:
My reporting date was delayed. General Norm Delbridge was coming in to be the ACE and I
stayed on as the acting ACE for a short time. I don't know if it was a month or six weeks
between General Read and General Delbridge, but there was some interim period because
General Read had to get on to the Lower Mississippi Valley Division, and General Delbridge
could not yet leave South Pacific Division. So, I stayed on as acting ACE.
Q:
So, at the time you went over to Civil Works, General Heiberg was the director, is that right?
A:
That's right. He had come back earlier from USAREUR, had been pulled back to be the
Director of Civil Works in summer '79. He'd been the director for a year. We had talked, and
so I was going back to be his deputy again. One day before I reported to Civil Works, the
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