________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
and sulfurous oxides released into the air, based on our conversion of heating plants and
based on our conversion of our vehicles to be more environmentally correct.
Oil spills. I mean, we aggressively worked against that. We had oil separators in our motor
pools. We really were doing a lot of things and were very sensitive to the environment.
So, yes, there were those who said the reason for not having Apaches was environmental, and
there were probably some other motivations tied in with that as well.
Q:
Yes. There was the suspicion that some of the opponents didn't want the U.S. military,
period, and for whatever reason that was being cited and it would be used.
A:
There was some of that, yes. We were, in some areas, a very visible kind of thing, and this
was a technique by which we could be opposed.
Q:
The German environmental movement, I heard several people say, had developed more
slowly and a little behind the U.S. environmental movement.
A:
I believe so.
Q:
Where they were in the '80s was perhaps where we had been ten years before.
A:
Or fifteen. I think that, in the United States, we have gone away from the just cheerleading
about the environment and complaining about it to the point of having rational programs, and
environmentalists are seeing that rational approaches were being made.
In Germany, they were still in this rant-and-rave mode that nobody can be right. We really
didn't get recognition for the kinds of things we were doing. There was a lot of selective
listening.
Q:
Well, before you went, USAREUR had already started the program of treating wastewater
from, say, tank washing facilities and things like that.
A:
Right.
Q:
To lessen runoff of pollutants and oil and along those lines.
A:
Right. Exactly. All those programs were under way.
Q:
So, you had a pretty proactive program. You mentioned trees, and in a small country like
that--I mean it may seem so strange to us since we have so many--but they're preoccupied
with down to the last tree. In some cases to the point where the forestmeisters and citizens
could really cause problems for projects.
A:
Well, they have a lot of trees too. It's a pretty country. They've got a little more temperate,
cooler climate than here, so some of them flourish even better. At that time, I think I heard it
for the first time while I was there, there was evidence that the Black Forest was suffering
from acid rain. It wasn't yet a big clamor, like I'd already experienced several years before
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