Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
Q:
Yes.
A:
Well, it will all come back to haunt me. [Laughter]
What has happened this month since I've returned from leave and while Ernie Edgar's been
here, we crossed into the new fiscal year. All of a sudden we're in the year that the command
operating budget is effective.
Each one of our offices has come back to Ernie and said, "He cut my budget. I can't live this
year." So, I told Ernie, "You know, we're going to have to find a way." I mean, once you get
your budget cut, there are two ways to work it.
One is, you find out what's really essential, and you reorganize and downsize to do the
essential. Second, if your essential is more than that, then you find the way to better your
articulation to go fight the battle back uphill, to show the Army why we need more money for
that.
So, you ought to be able to win, one way or the other. You've gotten lean, and having gotten
lean, if there's something still so essential that's important, you have a better argument to go
back to the Department of the Army.
Now, six, seven months ago when they got their reduced markers, all these people didn't do
that. They waited until now, and then they've thrown the marker back and said, "I can't get
by this year because I don't have enough money." So, having not articulated a need for more,
they are left to downsize.
In fact, at the Engineering and Housing Support Center now--they have a new commander--
Ed Watling came in and said, "I need more people." I said, "Ed, the Army is not going to
give you more people" because, as General Sullivan said the other day, if we don't cut some
places in the Army, we're all going to be standing around watching our one division of
people--because that's all we got out there doing the job.
So, one of the things I've told Ernie Edgar is that one of his big challenges this year--if we
can get by this surge of Vanguards, Lab 21s, and all the rest of the studies--is to really bring
our own selves to bear on our organization so that we find the way to change and get our
people really to come to grips with trying to get leaner. Corporate America has gotten leaner.
When I was in Europe, I arrived as DCSENGR, and the Commander in Chief, General Otis,
had just eliminated ISAE from my organization.
Now, the Engineering and Housing Support Center is patterned after ISAE. It does for the
Army what ISAE did for the U.S. Army in Europe. I was there when ISAE was started years
ago, in '78, '79 in Europe, and it was a nice organization, provided support to the directors of
engineering and housing in the field. Over time it got bigger and bigger, and more of its
people supported each other in the field.
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