Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
So, I found that to be quite controversial. There had been a lot of messages back and forth,
and people would speak ill of General Otis back in the Army secretariat. General Otis was
really standing by his guns that the right way to do it was the commander on the spot, who
has responsibilities for all kinds of other things. There was some recognition that General
Otis had this responsibility, but the AFRC also served the Air Force, and the U.S. Air Force,
Europe, commander also had a role.
So, what I found out was that it was long past me, as DCSENGR. It was being handled right
out of the Office of the Chief of Staff and the Commander in Chief, from the standpoint of
the interaction on command relationships. Meanwhile, EUD was driving on, with
coordination with Bob Joyce and others as to what should be put into the new facility.
Well, subsequently, the decision was made that AFRC would belong to Bob Joyce and the
Community and Family Support Command here in Washington and would not report to
USAREUR. So, as bitter a pill as that is to a commander who feels the obligation to take care
of his soldiers, that had now been established. General Otis, in his later days of command,
and Butch Saint, when he picked up command, honored that and let the Community and
Family Support Command here take charge. There was really a lot of bad blood and hard
feelings over that.
When he came in, General Saint said: "Enough of that. We don't speak of that anymore. It
belongs to another command. The other command will take charge. They'll make the
decisions, and if they ask us, we'll contribute."
Later on, when there were problems in budget and support problems, the kind that naturally
arise with any function, the AFRC commander would come to USAREUR asking for things,
and he was respectfully asked to contact the Community and Family Support Command in
Alexandria. The point that General Otis had been arguing was, "Responsibility comes with
command, and I'm willing to exercise that responsibility. I think I should exercise it."
General Saint came in with the saying: "If you want to take in the receipts, be expecting to
pay the bills."
So, my year as Chief of Staff for General Saint, we had very little interaction with AFRC,
Europe. We watched and heard how things were going. We heard back from our folks about
their happiness or unhappiness with how things were. And, during that particular year, we
also told them they might want to reconsider the size of the planned hotel because sometime
in the future we might not have as many people in Europe.
However, I left before the Community and Family Support Command took down the old
hotel. Then they did not proceed to build the new hotel, and left what's there today--a hole
in the ground.
Q:
I heard about that when I was over there. At one place, I think, they actually have parking
under the ground level.
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