________________________________________________________________________Richard S. Kem
ATZA-CG
2 Aug 85
SUBJECT: Engineers--A "Corps" in the Army's Regimental System
The Army's Regimental System Purpose--"To enhance combat effectiveness through a framework
that provides the opportunity for affiliation, develops loyalty and commitment, fosters an extended
sense of belonging, improves unit esprit and institutionalizes the warfighting ethos.
As one addresses potential ways the Army Corps of Engineers might seek to implement the above
purpose the numerous pros and cons of each alternative seem inconclusive and each prompts as
many opposing such an option as supporters. In analyzing the conflicting arguments in the endless
debates that arise whenever the subject is addressed the conclusion obtains that there is no simple
solution to meet all the design parameters of CSA and to obtain the very appropriate purposes
articulated above. The questions then to be answered are:
--Why: What is different?
--Are our assumptions valid?
--What can be/should be done?
--How can the Corps of Engineers obtain the purposes of the Regimental System?
Let me address each of these, in turn--because the purposes are valid to the engineer force in today's
Army. The mission then is to determine in what form the engineer of that Army will participate in
the Army's system and obtain the purposes desired.
First, to answer the question of why can't we develop for the engineer force a system of regiments
like those of other combat arms. After considerable dialogue and thought--after observing how
others grapple with the issues and their changing thoughts while thinking their way through the pros
and cons--I conclude that the reason is that each attempt provides an organization scheme that is
artificial. That is--each person recognizes that in fact the purposes will not be best obtained by
artificial associations that do not provide the bonding or affiliation that such associations would be
intended to produce.
In analyzing why each organizational scheme associating battalions in regimental groups provides an
arrangement that is artificial it becomes readily apparent that engineers have their strongest feeling of
association in two directions--to their branch and to their battalion or a past battalion, or in the case
of separate engineer companies to a parent organization. Because engineers are organized in
battalion entities for the most part and assigned to Divisions, or Engineer Brigades or Groups, or
perhaps stationed as an independent battalion at a larger divisional installation, broader
associations--other than existing combat association--do not provide real associations and are not
perceived as appropriate. Where those broader associations exist, such as the 20th Engineer Brigade
B-1
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