Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
General Kem (second from right), Deputy Chief of Engineers, inspected the chemical
demilitarization facility on Johnston Island during a visit to the Pacific in 1990.
Q:
How would you do it? If you were going to be around for another year, whatever, would you
devote more time to trying to clean that situation up? Can the Chief of Staff do that on his
own, or is he going to need a higher emphasis on the whole?
A:
Well, no. There are only two people higher than the Chief of Staff.
Q:
Yes.
A:
So, I have tried to work it out this year in the things I've done. I'm just trying to make those
examples of something by saying, "If you want to get it coordinated in three days, give them
three days. If they haven't answered by then, you just send it up to me and say they didn't
answer, and we'll make the judgment." Or, "Why did you send it to all 20 people for
coordination because you know that for 15 of them it doesn't apply and you don't need their
comments? It's not going to be meaningful to you; it will not improve your paper. If you
spend two days on each one of them coordinating it sequentially, you'll never get to the ones
you really want. So, why don't you just take it to the five people that you need input from,
get their input, incorporate it, and then go talk them into signing concurrence."
It becomes a training issue for every action officer. To do that requires mentoring and
coaching and perspective from the executive directors and the bosses down the way. You're
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