________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
A:
Well, I do. I hate to leave this place because it is so challenging and so much in the middle of
everything that's going on and I have total engineer force proponent responsibilities for that.
But, as I mentioned, I've been in Europe before, so I know Heidelberg and I know
Headquarters, USAREUR. I think it's a very important job. I think a lot of people in the
United States Army don't appreciate the MACOM level, the major Army command level. I
know I didn't until I was assigned to Headquarters, USAREUR, in 19781979.
The fact is that the Army Staff takes care of policy and programming and fights for
resources. When you're in units, you're trying to lead and care for troops and do your
mission. MACOM headquarters, like USAREUR headquarters, Forces Command, and
TRADOC headquarters, is that place that translates between the two. It's the place where
they talk upward to the Department of the Army about what the needs are and what resources
we need and talks downward to the units about what your needs are, here are your resources,
here's how you use them. So, MACOM is the point of translation where you go up and
down. Therefore, it's a very important place from the standpoint of educating officers on how
the Army works. If you work just at the Department of the Army, you could figure out that
the people down below ought to get it all done a lot more quickly than is happening.
If you just work in the units, you might get the feeling that nothing ever comes down from
above. When you're at Headquarters, USAREUR, or Headquarters, Forces Command, you
understand that what you get from above is limited, that you've got to make the good case of
what you're getting from below, package it together so you can make a case for more. Then
when you allocate down below, you've got to explain why it's only this much or why you
guys have got to do better with your limited perspectives in trying to make the better case to
go back up. So, it's really an up/down flow kind of place, a very important echelon of how
the Army works in peacetime.
Q:
Another challenge.
A:
Another challenge.
Q:
I hope to be able to come over and do some things with you.
A:
I'd like to do that.
Q:
Definitely going to follow up on that. I've already talked to my two battalion commanders,
who are ready and willing at any time to come over and go back to the Bulge, so we'll get
that put together.
A:
Good.
Q:
Do you have any other conclusions, comments that you'd like to make?
A:
Yes, I would like to identify some of the engineer officers that carried the load with me on
the EForce initiative--writing the papers, fleshing out the concepts, doing the numbers,
preparing and giving the briefings, and talking to their counterparts at the other schools and
in units and commands throughout the Army. Colonel Ted Vander Els and Majors Rick
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