________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
A:
Early on, the concept had been to demolish the old hotel and then build underground parking,
two or three stories, in the first phase. Then above that you would raise the hotel and the rest
of it.
Q:
Well, I know that at some point--perhaps along the same time--that I think it was General
Otis who raised some questions, generalized questions about stovepipe organizations in
Europe, and asked questions about EUD as well.
A:
Yes, he did.
Q:
Was that while you were there?
A:
I think it really happened before. He wrote back to the Chief of Staff of the Army and said he
felt all stovepipe organizations should work for him, that is EUD and all the rest. I believe
General Heiberg had communicated back to him.
While I was there, it came up a couple of times in conversations. General Otis might have
reminded us of his feelings. There was no ongoing activity that I had to address one way or
the other. There was no ongoing action. So, I sensed that all the shots had been fired before I
arrived.
Q:
Did troop construction play much of a role in the construction program in Europe, the 18th
Engineer Brigade, or the civilian labor center?
A:
Yes. Those were two very good organizations, and they played some role in supporting
installations. The 18th Engineer Brigade's primary role was getting involved in the
construction of the major tank ranges at Grafenwhr and at Wildflecken. The real training
key for tank gunnery was being able to identify and engage targets at considerable range
before their guns got in range.
Now that we've seen what's happened in the Gulf War, DESERT STORM--our tankers could
see Soviet tank rounds hitting in front of ours, not reaching our tanks. Then we were able to
pick them off at that range--our Abrams capability and the wisdom of having ranges to train
that capability were apparent.
There was a range atop a major hill complex at Wildflecken, and the idea was to convert that
into an even longer range, extend it out, build lanes so that tanks could move and shoot on
the run and move forward to other positions. So, that was quite an important range. There
was another range at Wildflecken, which was to be a Bradley range for firing its weapons,
which caused considerable controversy.
The two ranges were held up for a considerable amount of time and occupied a lot of my
time in both positions, DCSENGR and Chief of Staff. The first range I mentioned, the tank
range, actually was broken free more quickly, and the 18th Engineer Brigade did that
construction, committing multiple battalions there over a two-year period. It was a major
project, and they did a very nice job.
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