Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
Omaha District would certainly remain to do that in a diminishing era for the Strategic Air
Command, but they could get their oversight from somebody else.
So, if the Ohio River is the one with the largest number of locks, then running the Illinois
system and the upper Mississippi system of locks falls within that framework too. I wouldn't
have guessed all those components--Little Rock has always wanted to be part of the Lower
Mississippi Valley Division--but I really thought it was a good plan.
Q:
I wonder if it will be politically easier to sell the division reorganization than go back and sell
the district? If the district is more sensitive? You don't think so?
A:
Well, I don't know how you can do the two parts.
Q:
Well, I don't know that they're going to implement anything. They've got million in the
'93 budget.
A:
To study?
Q:
To work towards it.
A:
I mean, part of the division is supervising districts, the point of delivery.
Q:
Yes.
A:
The real question is, "In how many places?" What do you need at the point of delivery of
services, and then what layers do you need to provide support to that point of delivery? Point
of delivery is area offices, and parks, and locks and dams. I mean, really, subdistrict offices.
Then where are the logical places you need to put districts that have to service them?
Like on the Ohio, we figured we had to have two repair fleets, one to serve Louisville
District and one to serve Huntington and Pittsburgh. I don't think they, the districts, ever
came to that conclusion. So, then, how many engineering and construction offices do you
need to take care of the activity generated in terms of construction and design in an area?
Then what's your level of review over that? Then tie them together, do the Canadian
interaction, do the testimonial interaction, and pull that all together on a regional basis.
What you come down to is six or seven divisions in the continental United States, so they
probably had that right.
If you don't talk about what districts to close or contract, then you're maintaining folks down
there that you don't really need. You have to address districts somewhere.
When we did our study, one of the factors always was taking down a Corps flag. As long as
you take down a Corps flag, somebody will object. The people in that office will write their
congressman, and that mayor, that governor, or that congressman will object that you're
doing something to their flag.
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