Engineer Memoirs _____________________________________________________________________
fifth year." As opposed to saying, "We don't need this. Cut them all now," like General Otis
did in Europe.
So, we really must come to grips with realities. That's one item I've told Ernie that he's
going to have to focus on.
Q:
There's a lot of pain associated with that, of course.
A:
Sure there is. I mean, it's tough.
Q:
This has been a not very usual situation in which there have been two deputies on duty
concurrently for a period, even though short. It's given you an opportunity for some overlap
and some of this interaction that normally doesn't occur.
We were joking about that the other day, but it's only been maybe--what? It will end up
being about six weeks of time.
A:
Well, it's really been fortuitous for a couple of reasons. He came in, I guess, around the latter
part of July, and I was gone for eighteen, nineteen days in August. So, we had a couple of
weeks of overlap, and then I turned it over to him, so he was able to operate and had to come
to grips with things.
Part of the problem of any transition is that the issues don't surface while you're there
overlapping so that you'll have an opportunity to dialogue it while it is hot. So, by his early
assignment, he was in the saddle and having to operate. Then when things came to his
attention, he could ask about that. I may have not thought to tell him about it to begin with.
So, we're able to dialogue better from that standpoint.
Second, he then was able to get around and get acquainted while I was operating the store.
When I was on leave, he was operating the store. I could finish up the automation, which is
one of the big things to be completed, while he was there to mind the store. Plus, then the
senior leaders conference came during the period. We always have to leave somebody in
Washington, and I could stay back while he could go out and interact with all the leaders that
he was going to associate with in the future. So, that worked nicely too.
It's worked throughout. Like, even next week, I turn out to be the designated guy to stay
home because both the Chief and he will be out of town. With our requirements to have
generals in town, and before Bill Ray came back to be Director of Military Programs, we
were one shy. I'm still behind in my officer efficiency reports, even after all that. I mean,
that's how fully employed I've been--all the Vanguards and all those other actions.
Q:
When you commented earlier about the need to know the Army system and how the
Washington scene works and everything and since you just mentioned the Vanguard study
and all of the other things, there are some things that have been coming out recently from
Vanguard and defense management reviews, I believe it is. Has the Corps been caught off
balance by any of those, or were these all mostly things we anticipated coming along?
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