________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
A:
Yes, I think we've played in all of those activities. The problem is, in all those studies, you
get people who really don't understand. They go crashing on in some great crusade to do
something. They don't understand, and once they put a marker down that certain cuts seem
appropriate, then they're unwilling to back off from their position. Remember the Vander
Shaaf action I discussed in USAREUR?
So, the good guys--us--are always on the defensive to folks who really have some imbecilic
ideas, and to deter them just takes an exorbitant amount of executive and staff time. It's
really a lot of work, and some of the ideas are atrocious and unrealistic.
Q:
Yes. Maybe what I was getting at was, wasn't there a way earlier to anticipate and do
something so that they didn't get to this situation? I guess that is what I was looking for.
Were there some missed opportunities, perhaps, or some things you could have paid more
attention to?
A:
Well, Vanguard, I mean, that's been an ongoing process. I'm really disappointed with their
hardheadedness and misunderstanding of USACE and our labs and their apparent
unwillingness to find out the facts.
Now, we know the process is growing. We've had them over. We've talked to them. So, I
think we've participated. For some reasons, they don't understand facts, logic, and truth. So,
it's just very difficult. I mean, we say certain things that meet their requirements and the
principles they espouse, and then they produce a new paper that comes back with the very
same original position, as if you'd never talked. So, how do you deal with that?
Certainly, we've been playing with them for weeks. I met just this afternoon on where we
stand.
On the defense management reviews, those come down sometimes with a bit of surprise,
sometimes not. Certainly, the big one going on now is who's the construction agent. We were
participating with them. I think we were a little surprised by what they originally came out
with.
Their numbers are also very wrong. So, how do you ever anticipate that somebody's going to
use screwed-up numbers, then think it's the gospel and come up with a conclusion without
even the other option that you had been led to believe was going to be in there to begin with.
Now, I don't know if that meant that we dropped our guard at an inopportune time. We were
certainly surprised when they only came out with two options.
Q:
I don't know if you've had any predictions on what might happen. For example, for the big
one you were just talking about, do you know what the outcome of that defense management
review might be?
A:
No. Now they're talking about yet another study, going to April. Blows my mind.
Everybody's got a better idea of how to do things.
485
Previous Page
