Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
spaces, systems, and dollars--prepared me to have a sense so I could work with Hank Hatch.
He'd also had those same kinds of experiences, having been at Belvoir in Combat
Developments--not as commander, as I was, but certainly in that most intense combat
developments part of it--and having served as the ACE and as DCSENGR in Europe, he
also had those same kind of experiences.
So, we can almost talk to each other in shorthand, understanding what needs to be done
almost immediately, based on the parameters that we see out there. I think that's been
helpful, having the two of us. As he goes around a bunch of other places, the other one left
here--that's me--or if I'm out places, he's here, somebody's always around that has a sense
for that, to help provide perspective and guidance to the people in our Resource Management
shop or the ACE's shop where we're fighting all those battles, or preparing for those battles.
So, I think that upbringing--a sense for how to play and win in the Washington and
Pentagon arena--is an important ingredient to my job as deputy.
I would say, on the command side, I brought a sense to the job as Deputy Commander of
USACE that came from those same jobs, understanding the Washington level--Deputy
Director of Civil Works; Chief of Public Affairs--but also commander of the Ohio River
Division, where I was there for three and a half years and had a feeling that we needed a
higher headquarters that acted like a higher headquarters.
Some of my time in the Ohio River Division back then, I never felt that way. As I would
grapple and seek to obtain guidance or decisions, a lot of them having to do with resources,
and then having to dialogue with so many over time, it seemed never ending. It just took too
long to make things happen. So, I brought that sensitivity in.
Now, I already told you, I didn't come with agendas. I didn't come with an agenda to change
the headquarters. Having been here, I think I have a sensitivity for the next layer down, the
division, that we in USACE communicate to, that was helpful.
Q:
Okay. Did General Hatch, early on, seek a kind of definition of what your role would be?
A:
We had a very early-on discussion, and it was specific in what the role would not be. It was
not specific in what it would be. It was specific in what it would not be, from the standpoint
that he said, "I do not want it to be I'm a Mr. Outside, you're a Mr. Inside--that is, I would
go out and travel around and you stay here to do everything. I want yours to be a substantive
role and across the board."
I think he probably asked me what I thought before he gave his views. I told him that I felt I
could probably best help by using my background, which had been across the board. I didn't
want to be a designated hitter, role player, take a part of the action and he'd take another part.
I saw myself dealing with substance, not process. I'd served in the Chief of Staff of the
Army's office before as Assistant Director of the Army Staff, and I saw how the Chief of
Staff did some things, and the Vice Chief of Staff did other things, and they didn't try to
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