CLEAR THE WAY
 

By Majo r General Robert B. Flowers 

Comma ndant. U.S. Army Engineer School 

To tell yo u that the Army and the Regiment will face 

un iqu e c ha lle nge s and e xciting c hanges ah e ad 

wo u ld b e an understatement. You kn o w as 

well as J that the CSA's Transformation Strategy, altho ugh 

de sperat ely need ed to align Army capabilities with kn own 

thr eats through 2010, requires major paradigm shifts as we ll as 

tou gh resourcing decisions. 

Ce ntra l to ensuring that the Army can achieve the desired 

e nd state for the "Initial Force" (present to 20(3) were some 

e xtrem ely ago nizing resourcing decisions that resulted in the 

Presidenti al Budget Decision 745 termination ofthe Grizzly and 

Wolve rine program s. Sin ce announcing the decision , we have 

se cured the backing a nd public support of key M ACOM 

comma nde rs, CIN Cs, and senior Army le aders in the Pent agon. 

We now very mu ch e xpe ct that Co ngress will reverse th e 

decision this summe r. 

With this underst ood , I assure you that yo ur Engi neer 

Sch ool ha s been feveri shl y working to position the Gri zzly and 

Wolverine program for success. Our strategy has already begun 

to reap some benefits. We were able to st:cure sufficient FYOO 

funding to procure 14 Wolverines-enough to field an entire 

battalio n set later this year at Fort Hood. We also feel that we 

hav e posi tioned ourselves to restart the pro gram with minimal 

effort by gaining support for placi ng the Gri zzly and Wolverine 

on the Army's l-N list of essential unfinanced programs. In 

fact , bo th are in the top 20 and stand a great chance for restarting 

whenever Congress allo ws. We expe ct the first decision po int 

on restarting by 4th quarter FYOO. 

Additionally, we have begun effort s to evaluate alternatives 

in case the Grizzl y and Wolverine are not allowed to restart. 

Re cognizing that none w ill fully repl ace the phenomenal 

capabilities of e ithe r the Grizzly or Wolverine. our initiatives 

include­

•	 Rest oring p ersonnel and eq uip me nt-specifi cally 57 

sappers, 9 ACEs, and an M 113-to the Force XXI Heavy 

Engineer Batt alion force struc ture . 

•	 Restarting the MI CLIC replacement progr am . specifically 

the Explosive Standoff Minefi eld Breacher (E SM B), to 

provide st andoff capabilit y again st all surface and buri ed 

minefields effective aga inst all known threats thro ugh 20 lO. 

•	 Revi ewing best alte rnatives to up gr ad e th e AVLB by 

improving its hydraulics and electrical systems , adding a 

new suspe nsion, replacin g the pow er train , and upgrading 

it to MLC 70 bridge ca pability if we fai l in our efforts to 

restore the Wol verine. 

•	 Improving the ACE by increasing its dozing, armorprot ection, and communication ca pa bilities, as well as 

improving its maintenance and sustainability. 

•	 Modern izing the Engineer Squad Vehicle to a Bradley for 

greater survivability throu gh leth ality and commonalty with 

the Bri gade Combat Team. 

•	 Continuing to demonstrate the requirement for an Enginee r 

Brigade headquarters in the force structure of the Force 

XXI Heavy Division. 

The Grizzly and Wolverine situatio n, as well as numerous 

o ther issues affecting the regiment, wi II be discu ssed during 

o ur upcomi ng Engineer Force (ENFORCE) 2000 Conference . 

The US ACE DPW Training Worksh op will meet 1-3 May. 

MACOM eng ineers will meet 2 May. We will all gather 

to get her as One Regim ent for the remainder of the ENFORCE 

2000 Conference 3- 5 May. The ENFORCE 2000 GoLf 

Tourname nt is sc heduled for 6 May. 

The ENFORCE 2000 Conferen ce theme is "Eng inee rs 

Shaping the New Millennium." A key undercurrent ofthis year 's 

conference is the remembrance of the 50th anni versary of the 

Korean War. I will deliver the commandant' s "State of the 

Branch" presentati on- a candid update of our br an ch. 

Lieutenant General Joe N. Ballard, our Chief of Engineer s, will 

co nclude the formal agenda with a "State of the Regiment" 

presentation. The conference fi nale will be the 12th Annual 

Engineer Regimental Dinn er, during whic h the Itschn er, Grizzly, 

and Sturgi s Awards and the Gold de Fleury Medal wi ll be 

presented. 

This year's confere nce ad m inistrative in formation and 

registrati on are available via the Int ernet on the Fort Leonard 

Wood home page. Sp ou ses are invited to join the Regimental 

Dinner and othe r conference social acti viti es. In formati on 

outlining activities available for spouses during their stay can 

also be fo und on the Fort Leon ard Wood home page . 

It is imperative that we continue speak ing with one voice as 

One Corps. One Regiment, One Team. Your input and active 

parti cipation are critical to guide and strengthe n om actions. 1 

look forward to seeing you at Fort Leonard Wood. Be sure to 

study for the test' 

Essay ons! 
E · F1 

A ' i1 200P gIn! rpartmen of the Army Volume 30 PB 5-00-2 

UNITED STATES ARMY 

ENGINEER SCHOOL 

COMMANDANT 

Major General Robert B. Flowers 

MANAGING EDITO R 

Lynne Sparks 

FEATURES EDITOR 

Shirley Bridges 

CONTRIBUTING EDITOR 

Mattie Kirby 

GRAPHIC DESIGNER 

Jennifer Morgan 

By Order of the Secretary of the Army: 

ERIC K. SHINSEKI 

General, United States Army 

Ch ief of Staff 

Official: 

}dt}

JOEL B. HUDSON 

Administrative Assistant to the 

Secretary of the Army 

0006106 

Front Cover: "One Regiment"-Active, Reserve, 

National Guard, and Corps of Engineers work to revolutionize the way the Army provides support. 

Back Cover. Soldiers of the 8th Engmeer Battalion, 

1st Cavalry Division, put logs under the weakened 

supoottof a bridge near Yangzi, Korea, to preventits 

collapse until a tank retriever can arrive and remove 

the M-4 tank. (28 Jan 51) 

FEATURES 

2 Transforming the Engineer Regiment 

By Lieutenant General Joe N. Ballard 

6 The Engineer Regiment in Kosovo 

By Colonel Robert L. McClure 

11 Cobra Gold '99 Tests the Eight-Step Training Model 

By First Lieutenant Matthew Luzzatto 

14 Route Reconnaissance; A Lost Art 

By Captain Matt Pasvogel 

17 A Guide to the u.S . Army Engineer Museum 

By Kim Combs 

18 The Army School System: One Army, One Team, 

One Standard 

By Major Maurice E. Gissendanner 

20 The Army Engineer Diver 

By Captain James Kisiel and Master Sergeant Marcus King 

22 Engineer Doctrine Hierarchy and PUblications 

Renumbering 

By Lieutenant Colonel Harry Rossander 

26 Understanding AC/RC Assignments 

By Major Diane T Cummins-Lefler 

28 Constructing Pavements With Recycled Waste Materials 

By James E. Shoenberger 

30 Sets, Kits, and Outfits: Technical Trades and Topography 

By Alan Schlie 

34 GIS - The Bridge Into the Twenty-First Century 

By Lieutenant Colonel Tim Rensema, Mr. Craig Erickson, and 

Captain Steve Herda 

40 EOSC and EOAC Update 

By Cap tain Sam Hudson 

DEPARTMENTS 

Inside front cover: Clear the Way 

24 Book Review 

37 Past in Review 

39 The Engineer Writer's Guide 

42 CTC Notes 

46 Engineer Update 

49 Lead the Way 

ENGINEER (ISSN 0046-19890) IS prepared quarterly by the U.S Army Engineer 

School. 320 Engmeer Loop. Suite 210, Fort Leonard Wood, MO 65473·8929. Second 

Class postage IS paid at FOr1 Leonard Wood, MO, and aodrtional mailing offices. 

POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Engmee r Protessiooet Bulletin. 

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CORRESPONDENC E, letters to the edito r, manuscript s, photographs, 01· 

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4104 Engmeer's e-mail address IS' bridgess @wood.army.mll Our Internet home 

page IS loc ated at: htlp ffwww.wood.army.milfengrmagfemag_hp.h1m. 

DISCLAIMER' Engi neer presents prote ss ronal rnforma tion deSigned to 

kee p U.S. mi lita ry and civ ilian eng rneers rnformed of cu rren t and eme rging 

developments withm their areas of experuse for the purpose of enhancing their 

April 2000 

protessionat deveiop ment. Views expressed are those of the author and nol 

those of the Depa rtm ent of Defense or ItS eleme nts The contents do not 

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Address changes for personal subscriptions should also be sent to the Superintendent of Documents 

Engineer J 
Charles Darwin once said , "It is 

not the strongest of the species 

that survi ve, nor th e most 

intelligent, but the one most responsive 

to chang e." This quote is very appropriate, given the changes occurring 

in the Army. General Shinseki realized that 

the Army had to change. to tran sform 

itself to meet the needs of the current 

global environment. The Army's vision 

is to produce a more deployable force 

that is lethal and survivable. As the Army 

changes, so will the Engineer Regiment. 

We can either swim with the current of 

change and make it across the river or 

swim against the current and drown. j 

For the Engineer Regiment to properly I support the new, more mobile Army, we 

will have to revolutionize the way we 

pro vid e suppor t. This met amorphosis 

will be even more difficult if we are not 

unified. 

The Army transformation has posed 

several ch all en ges to th e Enginee r 

Regiment. First, two of our procurement 

2 Engineer 

progr am s-the Wol verine and the 

Gri zzly-have been put on the shelf. 

Second, the new Initial Brigade will have 

only one organic engineer company. And 

third, the force structure for engineer 

units that are echelons abo ve division 

and corps will probably be reduced . 

These changes require our regiment 

to do some innovative thinking to 

determine how we will provide worldclass engineer support to this more 

deployable Army. What we need to do 

as a regiment is get on board with the 

transformation and decide how the 

regiment can best support the new Army 

vision. 

I challenge you to consider how we 

can optimize our performance, given the 

struc ture alr eady determined for the 

Initial Brigade Combat Teams. We don't 

hav e a ll the answers bec au se the 

transformation is still in its early stages. 

But in this article, I'd like to share some 

of my thoughts on recent eve nts and 

where I think the regiment needs to go. 

Initial Brigades 

As has been well publi cized, the 

new Initial Brigade call s for 

only one engineer company to 

be organic to it . We have be come 

accustomed to a brigade havin g a full 

battalion of e ng inee rs . The tr an sformation is a fact of life, and it is unlikely 

that the Initial Brigade structure will 

change significantly with regard to its 

organic engineers . This company will 

have many of the capabilities that arc 

already found in a mechanized engineer 

company. The challenge is to accomplish 

all the mobility, counterrnobility, and 

survivability tasks for the Initial Brigade 

that an engineer battalion provides now. 

The Engineer School and TRADOC are 

working to determine how this engineer 

company will fight and how it will be 

augmented during contingencies . There 

are still a lot of problems to be resolved. 

Probably the most important thing that we 

can do as a regiment is to influence the 

force structure at the division level. 

Ap ril 2000 
We are continuing to work to keep the 

eng ineer brigad e structure. Thi s co mmand element is ess ential in order to 

coo rdinate augme nting engineer forces. 

We are also working to ensure that there 

are augmenting engineers available at the 

division level. Our challenge will be to 

justify to the Army what the right engineer 

mix is to support the force. To do that, we 

ha ve to devel op sound reason s for 

retaini ng force structure . 

The Arm y transition str ategy ha s 

raised the que stion, "How do we prov ide 

the be st enginee r serv ices to the Army 

and DoD ?" The regiment' s place in the 

new Army will be determined by how well 

we answer that question . 

We must use our collective experience 

an d kn owl ed ge to defi ne practical , 

workable solutions to these probl ems. We 

will know more as the new brigades begin 

to train and test their new force structu re. 

Tchallenge everyone in the regiment to 

stay e ngaged. The re sults of th ese 

brigades' training exe rcises will affect 

every engineer 's future. 

Wolverineand Grizzly 

As I menti oned earlie r, we have 

lost l1 ng for the Wolverine 

and Griz zly. It loo ks as if one 

battali on 's worth of equipme nt wi ll be 

field ed in the cas e of the Wolverine. The 

Gri zzly program will be stopped and 

positioned so that it can be restarted if 

funds become available . Th ese systems 

a re at the top of the Ar my ' s list of 

unfund ed priorities. We need to kee p 

pu sh ing for them. 

It is a fact that there is a lack of capability inside our current struc ture to 

cond uct gap crossings and breachings. 

Th e transform ed Army will be a full- i 

sp ectru m force. These systems are , 

needed to support a high - to mediuminten sity co nfl ict. Eng inee r Sch ool 

personnel are analyzing other equipment 

that is more depl oyable. Th ese newer 

systems will be the first to the battlefield . 

But the larger,more survivable equipment 

will still be required to prevent casualties , 

and e ns ure mo b ili ty . Regardless of : 

April 2000 

"As the Army changes, 

so will the Engineer 

Regiment. We can 

either swim with the 

current of change and 

make it across the river 

or swim against the 

current and drown." 

whether they are in tracked or wheeled 

vehicles, the maneuver forces will require 

mob ility su ppo rt , and it is our 

responsi bility to provide that support. 

How will we do that, given the constraints 

placed upon us? 

Engineer Services 

I t is clear that the Arm y will soon be 

a lighter, more deployable force. For 

the Engi neer Regiment to be of the 

greatest benefit to that force, we need to 

be able to bring the 1'1111 capabilities of the 

regiment to bear on any situation. That 

means we must do a fundamental relook at 

the full spectrum of engineer support to 

the Army and to our Joint force s. 

Th e old ad hoc deli very of enginee r 

services to the multitude of contingency 

operations around the world simply docs 

not meet the standa rd th at is ex pected 

from the regiment. We must have a clearly 

und erstood, well-coordinated doctrin al 

process fo r e ng ineer suppo rt, from 

minefields to theater operation s. This 

pr ocess mu st better use the resources 

and command-and-co ntrol struc ture of 

USACE-the engineer MACOM. It must 

levera ge the strengt hs of our engi nee r 

troop units-both active and reservewhile minimizing we aknesses. It must 

lever age the tremendou s worldwid e 

co ntractor resour ces that we can tap into. 

It must leverage the capabilities of Corps 

labs, district s, and divisions. 

We have been working on severa l 

initiative s to provi de this type of 

sup po rt. One initiati ve that we a re 

curre ntly working with the Arm y Staff is 

aimed at impro ved deli very of engineer 

se rvices abov e the tactical level. This 

plan will better use the resources and 

command-and-control structure of the 

engineer MACOM . 

USACE division co m manders arc 

aggress ive ly engaged with every CINC 

now, and we will increase plannin g staffs 

to int egrate with CINC operations over 

the rest of this yea r. We are workin g as a 

part of the Army Transformation Team to 

dramatically improve how the regime nt 

provides enginee r serv ices to U.S. forces. 

The engi neer support to Kosovo is a 

goo d example of how engineer services 

ca n optimize the effectiveness of the 

force. USACE's North Atlant ic Division 

was directly engaged with EU COM to 

deliver the requi red engineer services 

above the tactical level. By using the full 

spec trum of e ng i nee r ca pa b ili ties 

avai lable, we were able to get U.S.forces 

into winte rized billets within 90 days (see 

article on page 6). 

During this mission, we reac hed bac k 

to the USACE labs and district personnel 

to acquire tech nical assistance as well as 

co n tr ac to r suppor t. It was truly a 

coordinated effort between every aspect 

of the regiment. And it worked! 

USA CE ha s struc tu red itself to be 

theater-focused . A general officer from 

one of our major subordinate commands 

is focused on each theater. Each CINC 

headqu arters will soo n have a USACE 

planning cell. This is a natural extens ion 

of the work USACE is doi ng around the 

world. The added plann ing reso urces will 

strengthen USACE ties and rei nforce the 

existing ENCOM plannin g link for major 

theater war scena rios. Also, the USACE 

plan ning ce ll will fill the gap in 

eng i neering pla nning tha t exis ts fo r 

co ntinge ncy op er at io ns suc h as the 

floo ding in Mozambiqu e. 

Engineer 3 
The goals are to build on the current I, 

interaction between each CINC's staffand 

USACE and to take advantage of current 

engineer th eater en gagement under 

programs such as foreign military sales 

and nati on- assistance pr oj ects. Th e 

result will be better engineer support to 

all CINCs across the full operatio na l 

spectrum. 

The Future 

he futur e of the Army is to be a 

mor e depl o ya bl e force. For 

engineers to be of full benefit in 

that force , we need to be innovative and 

de vel op a force tha t is agile and 

synchro nized across the battlefield and 

the full spe c trum of co nf lic t. Each 

component of the regiment must work 

toge ther as a focused team. We must 

make the term One Regiment a reality. We 

can continue to provide a full spectrum 

of engineer services to the Army with a 

lighter, more deployable force.To do this, 

we must have seamless integration of all 

aspects of the regiment. Our goal is to 

ma ximize eng inee r suppo rt with the 

smallest footprint possible. 

All the changes and initiatives I just 

mentioned are the close fight. The se are 

actions that we are currently working and, 

by the time this article is published , may 

alrea dy be determined. However, as a 

regiment, we need to focu s on the deep 

fight. After the structure of the engineer 

fo rc es is determined , ho w will we 

operate? Can we predict the challenges 

and shortcomings of the new structure 

before they become crises? Some of this 

will shake out as the new brigades start 

to train. But the integrati on of these 

brigades with di vi sion and ec he lonabove-division engineers will take the 

collective energ ies of the entire regiment 

to determine the best supp ort ratios and 

operating techniques. 

Last year, I published an article in this 

magazin e challenging the regim ent to 

foc us on wo rking as a unifi ed o rganization. At a recent Sen ior Reserve 

Engineer Conference, the commanders 

briefed some of their efforts to help form 

a more unified team . We have made some 

progress, but we still have a long way to 

go. 

The transformation of the Engineer 

Regiment cannot be accomplished by a 

small group of officers in the Pentagon 

or the Eng inee r Sch ool. It ta kes the 

collective input of every component of 

the regiment to ensure that we capture 

the ideas we can use to make our new 

struct ure a suc cess. We mu st learn to 

communicate with one another. 

Recently MG Halvorsen, commander 

of the Texas Nati on al Guard 's 49th 

Armored Divi sion , took charge of the 

U.S. forces in Bosma.This isthe first time 

the active-duty soldiers in Bosnia have 

come under the con trol of a commander 

from the National Guard. This is no t an 

isolated incident-this is the future. For 

engineers, this is even more significant 

because under the new Army structure, 

active-duty soldiers will find them selves 

worki ng much more often with rese rve 

and N ational Guard engineers. To 

provide seamless support, we must be 

abl e to operate togeth er. Th at is why 

'	 comm uni catio n, coopera tion , a nd 

information sharing is so critical. 

The Army is c ha nging . and the 

Engineer Regiment is going to change 

wit h it-there is no doubt abo ut that. 

There is a lot we can wring our hand s 

about, but hand-wringing isn' t going to 

hel p matt ers . No w is the ti me for 

leadership, and for the entire regiment, 

to pull together. No one is well-served if 

th e reg ime nt is piece-me alcd b y 

equipment cuts here and personn el cuts 

there. We cannot afford to play catc h-up 

as the transformation plan for the Army 

Soldiers from the 50th 

Engineer Company, 1st 

Platoon, and the 2d 

Battalion, 9th Infantry, 

pull together two 

sections of pontoon 

bridge on the Imjin 

River in the Rep ubllc of 

Korea. They are 

participating in the 

exercise as part of the 

U.S. Army Officer 

Professional Development Program. 

4 Engineer	 April 2000 
Army engineers from A Company, 40th Engineer Battalion , and A Company, 20th Engineer Battalion, push a partially 

constructed Mabey and Johnson bridge into position at Camp Demi, near Kladanj , Bosnia-Herzegovina. 

visio n is executed . We must get out 

ahead now with a solid engineer support 

plan . We all mus t be engag ed in this 

planning for engine er support to the 

A rmy and the nation. [t is up to us to 

ens ure th at these c ha ng es do not 

jeopardize the safety of our soldiers or 

the defense of our country. 

Challenges to the Regiment 

These are my challenges to the 

members of th e En gin eer 

Regiment: 

•	 Be a student of change. Pay attention 

to the results of the testing of the new 

structures and equipment. 

•	 Be knowledgeable of how engin eers 

are integrat ing into the Army vision. 

•	 Talk to the forces you support about 

their requ irements and engineering 

changes. Ensure that their ideas and 

concerns are relayed through the 

engineer chain of command to the 

decision makers. 

•	 Be an active part of the dialogue at 

your level. Mak e sure your soldiers 

and junior leaders know wh at is 

happenin g. It will affect their future . 

•	 Talk to people at the Engineer School. 

They are the pr oponents for these 

cha nges, and they need information 

concerning issues in the field. 

During my more than 35 years in the 

Army, I have never seen the Engineer 

Regime nt presented with the magnitude 

of changes that are happening as we 

speak. Meeting the challenges that the 

Arm y transformati on provides is an 

oppo rt unity for us to become marc 

efficient; to be a stronger, more unified 

team ; and to revoluti onize our support 

to the Army. We must ris e to the 

chal lenge . 

In conclusion, I would like to sha re 

wi th you the words of President Dwi ght 

D. Eisenhower, who said, "Engineers 

bui ldfor the fu ture , not merely f or the 

needs of men but for their dream s as 

well. Thus, inherently, the enginee r '.I' 

work is a fea rless optimism that life 

will go f or ward and that the f uture is 

worth working fo r. ., 

I challeng e all of YQ!! to go out and 

work to keep the regimen t ready to meet 

the needs of the Army. III 

Essayon s! 

Lieutenant General Ballard is Chief 

of Engineers and Commander ofthe u.s. 

Army Corps of Engineers. He previously 

served as Chiefof Staff of the u.s. Army 

Training and Doctrine Command, Fort 

Monroe, Virginia. LTG Ballard is a 

registered prof essional engineer in civil 

enginee ring. 

April 2000	 Engineer 5 
De En8Ieer le_ent
 

By Colonel Robert L. McClure 

For the better part of 1999, much 

o f the world ' s attention wa s 

focused on Serbi an President 

Slobodan Milosovec ' s ethnic atrocities 

in Kosovo as well as NATO's 78-day 

bombing ca mpa ig n that eventuall y 

compelled Milosovec to stop and accept 

depl oyment of an international peacekeeping fo rce in th at bele aguered 

province. Americ an soldiers ti.rst entered 

Kosovo on 12 June as part of that force 

and began to establish a safe and secure 

environment. The media gradually began 

to pull out of Kosovo, so by the end of 

the year, Kosovo, along with Bosn ia, 

became essentially "backwaters" of 

international interest. The Russian war 

in Gro zny , th e new millennium 

cel ebrati ons, and oth er issues commanded headlines . 

In 1050'0
 

For engineers, that was a bit of a 

shame because what happen ed in 

Kosovo after Jun e is just short of a 

miracle: two base-camp "cities" were 

erected in record time to hou se the 

Americ an force and its allies before the 

onset of a harsh Balkan winter. For me 

personally, Kosovo after June 1999 was 

an engineer' s dream . While perhap s not 

news to the rest of the world, in Kosovo 

the Engineer Regiment again proved its 

versatility and worth to the Army and, 

more importantly, to our soldiers. 

Planning 

Engineer planning for operations 

in Ko so vo began month s 

before the first bomb wa s 

dropped. At the outset, planners wanted 

to use the lessons learned in Bosnia and 

convinced decision makers to reach basecamp "end state" as quickly as possible. 

Be c au se of un cert ain ty abo ut th e 

Bosnian mission's duration , when the 

Army moved across the Sava River into 

Bosnia in 1995, soldiers were housed 

first in tents - in the winter! Only years 

later were they moved to semiperm anent 

Southeast Asia (SEA) huts (a theater-ofoperations design that first made its debut 

in Vietn am) on base camps. Engineer 

planners knew it was much more cost 

effective to forego this gradual approach 

in Kosovo in favor of building end-state 

SEA huts right away, and operational 

commanders agreed with this approach. 

The First Infan try Division (lID), 

kn own as the "Big Red One ," wa s 

tapped to be the first unit in Kosovo. The 

division's Engineer Brigade would 

A view of Camp Bondsteel 

6 Enginee r April 2000 
oversee the sapper and constructionen gineer effort. A relatively new entity 

(engineer brigades within divisions were 

formed less than 10 years ago), the organization would pro ve its worth by integrating engineers from outside the division, indeed aro und the world, into the 

task-force effort. The Engineer Brigade 

commander at the time, COL Joseph 

Sc hro edel, and his staff worked tir elessly at a base-camp plan that would 

incorp orate all tbe necessary requ irements and still be functional for the mission. Incorporating requirem ents from 

force-protection experts and safe ty specialists, Engineer Brigade personnel laid 

our a base-camp "template" that depicted 

where soldier living areas should be arranged in relation to helicopt er flight 

lines, amm unition holding areas, etc . At 

the same time, planners also took geo ­

logic data (obtained from the Waterways 

Expe riment Station in Vicksburg, Mississippi) that indicated possible under ­

gro und wate r sources and matc hed the 

data to possible camp locations that had 

been selected from satellite imagery. 

The eng ineer fo rc e assembled in 

Kosovo in the summe r of 1999 consisted 

of more than 1,700 personnel under the 

command and control of lI D' s Engineer 

Brigade. Foremost was the organic 9th 

Engineer Battalion , whose mission was 

to provide direct support to lID's 2d 

Bri gade Co mbat Team. Att ac hed 

con struction units incl uded the 94th 

Engi neer Comba t Battal ion (Heavy) , 

wit b th e 535th Combat Support 

Eq uipment Compa ny from Germa ny ; 

Naval Mobile Con struction Battalion 3 

(Seab ees) from California ; A Company, 

86 4tl1 Eng ineer Batt ali on fr om Fo rt 

Le wis, Washin gt on; a nd th e 568th 

Combat Support Equ ipment Company 

from Fort Riley, Kansas. 

Also attached to the lID Enginee r 

Brigade were explosive-ordnancedisposal units and a team of about 30 

military and civilian engi neers from the 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Baltimore 

District with expertise ra ng ing from 

structural to electrical to environmental 

engineering and more . The team' s job 

was to integrate the fina l requi rements 

Ap ril 2000 

. . , 

.. ;..~ ' . 

Camp Bondsteel, 15 June 1999 

Camp Bondsteel, 15 October 1999 

of units and agencies on the camp, assist 

wi th final desi gn, and en sure th at 

standards were being met by both 

contractor and const ruction engineers. 

This team ca me with its own video 

telecon ference system back to districts 

in the states and made the term "teleengineering" come alive . More than 

once , the answers to tough engineering 

questions were no more than a telephone 

call away . A construct ion-management 

section attac hed to the bri gade staff 

assisted the construction battalions with 

design and layout of various projec ts . 

The brigade staffed a mine-action center 

in the task-force headq ua rt ers th at 

maintained a database of all known and 

suspected mine locations in sector and 

also coordinated United Na tio ns and 

humanitarian demining operations. 

Mission 

The mission was simple, daunting. 

and as broad as any the Corps of 

Engi neers had ever faced . First 

and foremost, it was to prov ide direct 

enginee r support to the mane uver 

commander wit h mob ility and fo rce 

prot ection so th at a safe and secure 

en vironment co uld be established in 

Engineer 7 
Camp Monteith, 1 July 1999 

Camp Monteith, 15 October 1999 

sector. This wo uld no t be easy and ! 

proved to be a cha lleng e to the 9th ! 

Engineer Battalion eve ry day until it le ft 

the thea te r. A t the s ame time, th e 

En ginee r Bri g ad e was to me rg e 

cons truction assets and integrate them 

with th e co ntra c tor, Brown & Roo t 

Servic es Corporation, to bu ild nOI one 

but two base camps for a total of 7,000 

troops. That would hav e been a tall order 

in itself had not the V Corps commander 

ad de d a deadline of I Oct ob er. His 

cha llenge to the engineers was to ensure 

that housing for soldiers wa s built before 

winter set in, and he didn ' t care that the 

8 Engineer 

deadline happened to be less than 90 days 

afte r man y of the cons truc tio n units 

arri ved on site. 

During this time, two phrases were 

ado pte d as un offi ci al mottos to help 

leaders at all levels discern the highest 

priority when contlicts arose and to remind 

everyone that there were more engineer 

missions than there we re engineers.Those 

phrases were "It's the SEA huts, stupid!" 

and "No idle engineers!" 

When the 9th Engineer Battalion hi t 

the ground in Kosovo, it began building 

tripl e-standard concertina fences around 

the areas se lec ted fo r th e tw o base 

camps- Bo ndsteel and Monteith. In all, 

elements of the 9th built more than 17 

kilo me te rs o f fe nce in Koso vo , 10 

kilometers around the perim eter ofCa mp 

Bond st eel al on e. Additi on all y, the 

battalion reconnoitered more than 320 

kilorneters of roads and cl assified 75 

bri dge s for military use b y sappe rs . 

Because of the magnitude of the overall 

peacek ee pi ng mission, one compa ny 

from the 9th wa s reorganized as infa ntry 

and attached to a me chani zed infant ry 

battalion to conduct presence patrols near 

the c ity of Gnjilan e (se c En gi neer. 

February 2000, page 6). Other mission s 

for the 9th includ ed clearing mines and 

ordnance whe n they impe ded man euver 

and co ns tr uctin g force-p rotecti on 

b unkers on base camps to protect again st 

possible indirect fire . 

The construction effort began in earnest 

around the first of July with the arrival of 

the Seab ee battali on o ve rl and fro m 

Albania, where the battalion had been a 

part of Ta sk Force Hawk durin g the air 

wa r. The Seabees oc cupi ed Cam p 

Monteith (on the edge of Gnjilane), which 

had been a Yugosla v a rmy arti llery 

barracks before the war. The camp itself 

was largely untouched, except where two 

precision bom bs had destro yed th e 

maintenance facilities. However. either 

retreating forces or locals had trashed and 

looted each building, and it took weeks to 

make them usable again. 

Forc e-protection concerns caused by 

the closeness of Gnji lane forced us 10 

abandon many of the original buildings 

on Camp Monteith and build most of the 

camp in an adjoining field. More than 75 

SEA huts, along with support structures, 

were built for the planned force of about 

2,000. It is perhaps a curse offate that those 

looking for engineer stories in Kosovo 

always will overlook Camp Mon teith. But 

ev en th ough it is smaller tha n Camp 

Bondsteei, Camp Monrcith-i-the site ofthe 

American headquarters- is no less an engineering marvel. Buildings have been 

refurb ished, electricity and water run to 

all soldiers' quarters, and facilities such 

as weig ht-lifting and recreatio n rooms 

have been built in large fest tents. Th e 

April 2000 
Soldiers from the 9th Engineer Battalion set up concertin a wire around the construction area at Camp 

Bondsteel. 

camp is also the center of tactical activity 

in the America n sector be cause of the 

mixed e th nicity of the sur rou ndi ng 

popul ation and the camp' s proximit y to 

the Ru ssian battalion serv ing alongside 

other peacekeepers in Kosovo. Indeed , the 

first American fire support for Russian 

for ce s si nce Worl d W ar II-I 55 ­

millimeter illumin ati on ro unds -were 

fired from the artillery positions made by 

Seabee engineers at Camp Monteith. 

But Camp Bond steel is the "Grande 

Dame" in Kosovo of wha t enginee rs do. 

Spread ove r almo st 900 acres of rolling 

wheat fields, it was picke d early on to 

become what it is tod ay-the maj or 

American base cam p in theater. Within 

its fenced perimeter are more than 175 

SEA huts, a 30,OOO-square -foot headquart er s bu ilding, an amm unit io n 

holding ar ea, motor pool s, c hapels, 

recreation and din ing facilities for about 

5,000 American and allied soldiers , and 

a helicopter airport with more than 50 

parking pads. Water is piped into each 

hut from huge holding bags fille d by 

several wells in camp . And there' s even 

a was tewater treatment plant. It is Camp 

Bondsteel that benefi ted most from all 

the staff planning condu cted early on. Its 

layout is very simila r to the tem plated 

camp design , adjusted only for the terrain 

and other fac tors . 

The numbers involved in building both 

camps were staggering. At the height of the 

effort,about 1,000expatriates hiredby Brown 

& Root, along with more than7,000Albanian 

local nationals, joined the 1,700 milit ary 

engineers. From early July and into October, 

construction at both camps continued 24 

hours a day, 7 days a week, with perhaps 

half a day each week for soldiers to perform 

personal choresand equipment maintenance. 

More than a quarter-million 2 by 4s were 

used, along with almost 200 tons of nails and 

more than 100 miles of electricalcable. More 

than a half-million cubic yards of earth were 

moved on Bondsteel alone, and the gravel 

used at both camps would cover a two-lane 

roadfrom St. Louis to Kansas City. 

Ca mp construction centered around 

the SEA huts. Each living-area bay was 

16 by 32 feet-almost exactly the siz e 

of the familiar medium, general-purpose 

tent. In Kosovo, we joined five of these 

bays and a latrine under one roof. We 

planned for six so ldiers per bay , 30 

soldiers per SEA hut , and 120 soldi ersabout a company ' s worth- in a "quad" 

of SEA huts that were then surrounded 

by a force-protection wall. We covered 

the ply wood floors with lin oleum and 

hung plasterboard on the walls fo r fire 

resistance. We install ed smoke detectors, 

emergency lights, and eight elec trical 

outlets in each bay. The SEA huts had 

vertical supports that rested on concrete 

footers placed on compacted earth and 

gravel. We used no foundations and did 

not place footers on fi ll becau se of 

settle me nt. We in st all ed a heater/a ir 

conditioner and a small window at each 

end of the bays. We ro uted electricity, 

wate r, and co m mu nicatio ns ut il ities 

underground and prefabri cated walls and 

other se ctio ns so th ey cou ld be 

co nstructed qu ickly. 

Toward the end of September, it wa s 

taking abo ut 18 days from init ial site 

prep aration to complete a SEA hut fo r 

30 soldiers, with dozens of them under 

constru ction at anyone time. In the end, 

more than 700,000 cubic fee t of liv ing 

spac e h ad be en built- equ al to a 

subdivision of some 355 houses- all in 

less than 90 days! 

April 2000 Engineer 9 
Challenges I 

Obviously, any endeavor this size i 

is not without its challenges. I 

Sho rtly afte r site preparat ion i 

began at Camp Bon dst eel , a 36-inch I na tura l-gas pi peline was d isco ve re d 

under the camp - right where we wanted 

to make a 3-foot cut ! It was eas ier to 

redesig n the camp around the pipeline 

than dig it out, and that 's why today a 

" no- co nstruc tio n" strip of land run s 

north west to southeast amo ng the SEA 

huts. The tot al ab sence of ci vili an , 

sewage-trea tme nt faciliti es in Kosovo : 

forc ed e arly diversi on of c r itic al i 

hori zontal equipment to bu ild sewage i 

lagoons, so we would not foul the local : 

wa tersheds. , 

Outside the wire and at the other end I 

of the engin eers' mission spectrum, the 

9th Engineer Battalion was given several : 

e thnica lly mixed villag es to contro l, : 

because so meone occasio na lly tcr - ' 

rorize d the area with sma ll-a rms and 

mortar fire at nigh t. Alt hough the "mad I mortar man" was not caught , he did stop , 

after a section of tanks and a military- i 

poli c e e le me nt were pl ac ed un d e r ! 

control of the en gineer li euten ant in I

I 

Gnjilane . Th e combat engineers ' ability ! 

to not only maint ain con trol un de r I ex tre me c irc ums tances but a lso to I 

inspire confidence in this small village i 

and e lsewhere speaks vo lume s of the I 

American soldier and junior leaders who 

mad e it happen on the ground. 

Lessons Learned 

The engi nee r lessons learn ed in 

Kosovo are lew and simple. FIrst, I 

a brigade-level co mma nd-andco ntro l he adq ua rte rs was essential to I e ffe c tive ly inte g rate the e no r mo us , 

engine er effort required to get soldiers i under cover before winter. While many i 

have questioned the need for enginee r I 

brigades in division s as the Army looks i 

ahead in the twenty-first century , it was! 

esse ntial to Ta sk Force Fa lcon's early I success. The magnitude of co mmanding i 

more than 1,700 soldiers and integrati ng I 

the efforts of nearl y 10,000 peo ple 

wo uld have sw amped a no rma l I 

engineer-battalion staff. 

Se cond , our engi neer soldiers are 

trained and led well, as ev idenced by 

the broad ran ge o f missi ons they 

acc ompl ished-from patro ll in g as 

infantry to major ca mp co ns truc tio n. 

However- and this is not news-their 

eq u ip ment is outd a te d . T he 94 th 

Engineer Battalion had some bulldozers 

that vendo rs no longer stocked parts for 

in theater. The only sources for parts for 

many of the prime movers and trailers 

were cannib alization points in the United 

Stat es. 

Finally, we need to put some muscle 

back into the sapper batt alions. For a 

variety of reasons over the past several 

years, these battalions have been cut to 

th e bone and a re o n the ve rge of 

becomin g irrelevant on the battlefi eld . 

According to the table of organization 

and equipm ent, the personnel strengt h 

for line compa nies in supper battalions 

is now less than 100, When such a unit 

is manned at less than 90 percent strength 

(as was the case in Ju ne 1999), and you 

subtract nondeployable soldiers (all units 

have them), you end up with 65-person 

companies patrolling sectors as infantry 

or tr ying ga me ly to co nd uc t routeclearing ope ratio ns that wo uld be so 

much easier with more soldiers.It' s time 

to stop doing more with less. 

As the millennium changed, so did the 

engineer force in Kosovo, And, although 

most of th e ca m ps we re built by 

Christmas, a significant list of projects 

rem ained. Taking over from the 9th 

Engineer Battalion was their sister unit, 

the 82d "Blue Babe" Engineer Battalion 

fr om Ge rm an y . A Na tio na l G ua rd 

combat-heavy construction company 

from North Dakota-B Company, 142d 

Engi neer Ba ttalion- deployed to take 

ove r duties from the 568th and 864 th 

Eng ine e r Co mpa nies. Add itionally, a 

co mpany- si zed " air de tac hmen t" of 

Seabees re p laced Na va l Mo bi le 

Constructio n Batt alion 3 a t Camp 

Mo nteith. 

Accompli shments 

The sto ry of Ame rican fo rces 

in Koso vo is f ar fr o m ov e r. 

Ho we ver, as o ppose d to th e 

Army's ea rlie r ex perience in Bosn ia, 

soldiers deploying to Kosovo will have 

a warm, dry place to live . There , the 

Engineer Regiment eame together as one 

and, in record time , built base camps 

worthy of Ame rica n soldiers, so they 

co uld per form th e ir cr itic a l dutie s. 

Although the camps were by and large 

complete when the world celebrated the 

new millennium, en ginee rs were not left 

without a mission. Presence patrols by 

combat engineers co ntinue around the 

cl oc k , min efields and un e xpl od ed 

ord na nce are still bein g mar ked , and 

sno w fr om mai n supply routes 

throu ghout (he American sector is be ing 

removed by engineers with more than a 

hal f-dozen plows and salt spreaders. Yes, 

engineers have been tasked to plow snow 

in Kosovo. It is no surprise that the 

clearest roads there this past winter we re 

in the American sector. 

With luck, much of the world will turn 

away and forget the terrible tragedy of 

Kosovo as time passes. Howe ver. the 

Engineer Regiment should not forget its 

acco mplishments but build on them as 

One Team, One Regiment. One Figl!tactive and reserve, civilian and military. 

Anyone who has had the opportunity 10 

see what the Engineer Regiment crea ted 

in so short a time in Kosovo cannot help 

hut he impressed with the "can-do" spirit 

of engineers, as well as that of America 

and her Army , whe n the mission demands action. III 

Colonel McClure commands [he I sf 

Infan tr» Division Engineer Brigade. He 

wa.\·previously on [he U'N. peacekeeping 

mission plann ing stafj in New Yo rk; 

commanded [he 92d Engineer Battalion 

when it built the U'N. base camps in Haiti; 

and se rv ed more than 10 years ill 

Ge rmany. includin g company C01J11J1a1ut 

in [he Berlin Brigade. COL McCl ure is a 

West Point gradua te, holds a master 's 

deg ree f rom th e Kenn edy S ch ool at 

Harvard lind a War College Fellowship 

f ro m th e Ce n te r f o r Strateg ic a nd 

International Studi es in WashinJ!.foll. and 

is a reg istered profe ssional engi neer in 

Virginia. 

10 Engi neer April 2000 
Cobra Cold '99
 

Tests the Eight-step Training Model
 

By First Lieutenant Matthew Lurratto 

For several yea rs, the eight-ste p 

tra ining mod el has been a 

helpful gu ide that ma ny units 

have adop ted as their standard ope rating procedure . Close ly resembling 

troop-leadin g proced ures, the training 

mode l refined the existing standard into 

a straightforward method for conducting quality training. This past year, the 

86 4th Eng ineer Combat Batt alio n 

(Heavy), Fort Lewis, Wa shington, put 

the eight-step training model to the lest 

and pro ved its effe ctiveness during the 

84th's deployment to Th ailand as part 

of Co bra Gold '99. 

Cobra Gold '99 jo ined the U.S. and 

Th ai milit aries to build four multipurpose village activity centers in less then 

a mo nth. Vary ing slightly in design , 

each building rested on an 80 - by 40 ­

foot concrete pad with precast concrete 

columns. On top of the col umns was a 

stee l-framed roof support system with a 

heavy concrete tile cover. Each building 

consisted of some variation of block con ­

struction and might incl ude end wa lls, 

various rooms, or decorative block with 

steel-mesh enclosures. Built adjacent to 

existing school compounds, the new 

April 2000 

activity centers furnished much-needed 

c las sr ooms and f unctio na l meeting 

spaces to these remote and economicaJly 

depressed villages. In add ition, U.S. and 

Thai soldiers received valuable joint operations construction experienc e. 

With a firm und er standing of the 

mission's scope. the 864th began to execute the eight-step training model early 

on so as to use this valuab le training 

mission to the fullest. 

Plan the Training 

One year before the mission 's 

executio n, the ba ttalion S3 

attende d a Cobra Go ld '99 

prepIanning meeting in Bangkok and, 

in Jul y 1998, a Concept Developm ent 

Co nfe re nce was he ld in Haw aii. 

Thro ughout the rest of 1998, the battalion staff continued to co llect information and coordinate future contracts for 

the mission that was planned for May 

1999 . Meanw hile the battalio n's construct ion section gathered everything it 

could from previous Cobra Gold missio ns. After-ac tion revi ews and pla ns 

from those exercises helped ens ure that 

i	 many of the challenges faced in the past 

would not arise again. 

Train and Certify Leaders 

I n earl y J anu ar y 1999 . th e task 

forc e narrow ed the concept of the 

operation to fo ur constructio n 

sites- three would be completed by Alpha Company 's two vertical construction 

platoons. and Seabees from the 5th Nava l Mari ne Co nstruc tion Battal ion 

would complete the fourth. During the 

battalion's annual construction conference, OlCs and NCOICs updated their 

project- man agement skills, to incl ude 

learning to use the new Sure Track software program by Primavara. More import antly this confere nce allowed battalion leaders to ens ure that projec t leader s underst ood and adhere d to the 

battalion's high standards. 

As a fin al predeployment certification, each OIC gave the batt alion commander a precon struction brief that included detai ls of how the OlC planned 

to accomplish each mission. Th e briefs 

were of special importance because the 

construction sites wer e located hours 

from each other and in some of the most 

Eng ineer 11 
Soldiers from the 864th Engineer Battalion construct the foundation system 

for a multipurpose building in Thailand . 

remote area s of Thailand . Thi s meant 

that the majority of the command and 

control would rely on expertise of the 

site OlCs and NCOlCs. 

Recon the Site 

I

n February a reconnaissance team 

cons is ting of Alpha Comp any's 

executi ve officer, a site NC OIC , 

and part of the battalion's construction 

section visited Thailand to get a firsthand look at the sites. The team took 

photographs and videos and established 

the ba sis of good relations with each 

vill age leader. The team determined the 

best means of providing eac h site with 

esse ntial life-support supplies and contracts. Meanwhile, the battalion 's construction team established and finalized 

bill-of-materi al contracts and met with 

its Thai army coun terparts for each site. 

Issue the Plan 

Aft er co m piling information 

fro m th e reconn ai ssance 

team and the OIC' s plannin g, 

the task force issued a comprehensive 

plan early in March 1999. 

Rehearse 

a ensure the succe ss of a mission, there is no subs titute for 

quali ty construction rehearsals. 

So for more than a year before the execution of Cobra Gold '99, the 864th 

sought construction missions that were 

similar to tho se it would perform in 

Th ailand. In Augus t 1998, Alpha 

Company's l st Platoon completed a mission for the 3d Ranger Battalion that 

involved constructin g fo ur different 

walls at one of the ranges so the rangers 

could train on urban demolition. While 

constructing three of these walls, the 

company placed more than 1,500 concrete masonr y block s-an outstanding 

rehearsal for Cobra Gold, where it 

placed more than 3,000 blocks. Alpha 

Company's 2d Platoon constructed a 50­

by 100-foot Butle r building at the post's 

Regional Correction al Faci lity. This 

project involved pouring a 60- by 105­

foot concrete pad , which was excellent 

preparation for the 80- by 40-foot pads 

it built in Thailand. 

Before the deployment. Alpha Company focused on some of the more unique 

construction challenges it wo uld face. 

For example, the platoon s had never 

constructed the type of roof they would 

build in Thailand , so for practice they 

took on a small project in the company's 

motorpool. For years, Alph a Comp any's 

vertical plat oon s had practiced laying 

block on a small 16- by 14-foot pad. The 

battalion 's construction section designed 

and built a rooffor the pad that wa s similar to the roof design and materials the 

company would use in Thailand. In completing the roof, Alpha Company discovered many of the challenges that might 

arise and resolved in detail how to meet 

these challenges long before the COIllpa ny arrived in Thailand . 

The found ations of the buil dings in 

Thailand were also unique. With concrete footers and precast reinforced concrete columns as the struct ures' main 

support system, Alpha Company incorporated a grade beam system that tied 

eac h of the columns together. To rehearse this particular task, the company 

constructed a similar foundation system 

with only four co lumns. As an add ed 

benefit, this found ation would act as the 

company's new block training foundation, replacin g the shed it had put a roof 

on earlier. Just as with the roof, the lessons learned from constructing this new 

found ation system helped leaders avoid 

construction problems in Thailand before they occurred. 

Rehearsals such as the se offered not 

only an opportunity for lead ers to refine their plan but also gave the soldiers 

and NCOs a chance to practice and determine the best and most efficient way 

to acco mplish each task. By condu cting rehearsals that closely mirrored the 

actual tr ainin g in Thailand, the task 

force ensured that all sites could mee t 

the deadline for completing the construction projects. 

Execute 

On 15 April, the task force sent 

the construct ion sec tion and 

Alpha Company 's executive 

officer to Karat, Thailand, to ensure that 

coordination the reconnaissance team 

had done earlier was still in place. On 

20 April, the four-man advanced party 

12 Engineer Ap ril 2000 
Thai military and civilians join soldiers from the 864th Engineer Battalion at one of the Cobra Gold '99 

projects. 

teams deployed to ens ure that the footers 

were pl aced and the co lumns erec ted 

within 10 days . The main body of 85 

soldiers dep arted from McChord Air 

Force Base, Washingto n, on 28 May and 

began the 29 -hour n ight to Thailand. 

They had 20 days to com plete the remaining 90 percent of the project. By 

the time the 864th left Thailand, it not 

only had built four outsta nding struc ­

tures but also had stre ngthened relations 

with the Thai military and civilians. 

Conduct an AAR 

T hroughout the project, lCs

maintained a l og of afterac tion-review co mments, as ­

built drawings, and a record of 

additional bill-of-materials (BOM) purchases. When it returned to Fort Lewis, 

the construction section compiled this 

inform ation with its own comments and 

those of the leaders into a valuable package for the next Cobra Gold exercise. 

Retrain 

Using the lesson s learned fro m 

Cobra Go ld '99, th e 864th 

Engineer Battalion staff already 

has started to plan for the battalion's 

involvement in Cobra Gold 200 1. 

Although Cobra Gold '9 9 was quit e 

successful, everything did not go according to plan during the exercise. All of 

the sites experience d design cha nges , 

BOM shortages, and some weather problem s. Yet , the effects of th ese everpresent challenges on the overall mission were minimal because of the time 

saved and the lessons learned durin g the 

battalion's exe cution of the eight-step 

trainin g model. 

Conclusion 

P la nn ing as mu ch as 

a year before ex ecuting th e 

mission limited the numb er of design cha nges . Training and ce rtify ing 

leaders gave them the confidence and 

skill to make the right call in the face of 

adverse conditions and situ ations. Reconnaissance of the sire en sured that 

leaders knew what to plan and could provide soldiers what they needed to get the 

job done. Issuing the plan ensured that 

everyone down to the lowest level understood their role in the training's execution. Rehearsals revealed problems 

to be addressed and trained soldiers on 

tasks where they lacked proficiency. Execution gave everyone an opportunity to 

see what they could do with what they 

had learned in a real-world trainin g 

situation. The af ter-action revi ew provided quality feedback on what to main ­

tain and what to change the next time 

around when the battalion retrains during the Cobra Gold 200 I exe rcise. 

Although the 864[h was commended 

for completing one of the most successful mission s in the 18-year history of 

Cobra Gold, the success was also a tribute to the effectiveness of the Army's 

eight-step training model. W 

First Lieutenant Lurratto is a vertical construction platoon leader, A Company, 864th Engineer Combat Battalion (H ), at Fort Lewis. Washi ngton. He 

served as battalion construction office r 

for the 864th while deployed to Kosovo 

fro m July 1999 to January 2000. First 

Lieutenan t Lurzatto is a graduate ofthe 

United States Military Academy and the 

Engineer Officer Basic Course. 

April 2000 Enginee r 13 
By Captain Matt Pasvogel 

On 8 April 1999 , the first eleme nts of Alpha Company, 

40th Engineer Battalion, deployed from Ge rmany with 

Task For ce 1-6 Infantry as part ofthe initial-entry for ce 

to Alba nia. Ba sed on the initial mission analysis. our engineers 

we re pr epared to conduct high -inten sity conflict and fo rceprotection tasks. After the first few days in Albania, the situation 

and missio n expanded fr om protecting the force to establi shin g 

a for ward ope rating base for future ope rations. This bas e was 

more than 150 kilome ters from our base in Tirana, Albania. Whil e 

performing initi al route-reconnaissance missions. we reali zed 

that they were very different from the he avil y reh earsed and 

trained engi ne er obstacle -reconnaissance mission s. 

It did not take long to push forw ard the appropria te manuals 

and equipme nt to support the initi al-entry force before the rest 

of Alpha Company arrived on 3 M ay. Th e company eventually 

rec onn oitered more than 500 kil ometers of roads and several 

tunn els and ferr y sites and cl assifi ed more than 90 bridg es in 

Alba nia. Because many of today's military mission s initially 

occur in countries with underde vel oped line s of com munication. 

engineers mu st be we ll-trained in the vital mission of rou te 

recon . This art icle hi ghlights some of the important doctrine, 

tra ining, lea der development , organization, materiel, and soldie r 

(DT LOMS) issues as well as lessons we learned concerning 

route recon . 

Doctrine 

Alpha Co mpany personnel found that Field Manuals 

(FMs) 5-170 , Engineer Reconnaissance, and 5-34, 

Engineer Field Data, are packed with information that 

is essential to co nducting a successful engineer recon. 

FMs 5-17 0 (Chapter 5) and 5-34 (Chapter 3) outline several 

/4 Enginee r 

methods for conducting these mission s and descri be how to 

properly fi ll out the various reports. Our recon teams and squads 

used these me thod s 3 S guides for ga thering rou te information 

and comp iling it in an unde rstandab le format to pass on to 

high er maneuver and engineer headquarters. We develop ed a 

check1ist from the se two manuals to remi nd team leaders of the 

various aspects of recon mission s (see f igure I). Our curr ent 

doctrine, coupled wi th some mission checklists, contains sound 

tacti cs, techniques, ancl pro cedures (TTP) for acco mplishing 

rou te-recon naissance mission s. 

Recon Checklist/Limitations 

./Curves < 25 meters or 82 feet 

./Gradients > 7 percent 

./Inadequate drainage 

./Poor surtace conditions 

./Road width < 4.0 meters 

./Overhead clearance < 4.3 meters 

"/ Bridge military load class (byp ass possibilities 

and bridge degradation) 

.,/ Shoulder softness/caving 

"/ Pote ntial quarries, lumberyards. cement, and lime 

"/Turnouts/turnarounds 

./Obstacles to movement 

"/Roc k slide areas 

Figur e 1 

April 2000 
Training 

Although Alpha Comp any personnel di~ nol focus on 

route recon before depl oyin g, our junior leaders 

developed trainin g plans and constructed rehearsals 

while in Albania. The engineer battlefield assessment from the 

mission analysis and a map recon provided a good start toward 

determinin g the features we needed to classify along the route. 

After deciding on the critical features to be reconnoitered. we 

used similar fea tures within the perimeter of the Task Force 

Hawk base, if availabl e, to cond uct training and rehearsals. 

Within the base were many small bridges, sharp turns, narrow 

roads, and area s of insufficient drainage. Our sappers used 

spare time between missions to conduct butcher-board classes 

and walk-through exe rcises. It may not always be feasible to 

conduct training on actual fea tures while depl oyed, but key 

leaders must conduct rehea rsals of anticipated fea tures using 

rock drills and walk-through exer cises. 

Leader Development 

With all tbe gh in ensi ty o n ct training n.eeded at 

the home station, we found It hard to dedicate the 

time and reso urces needed to train soldie rs and 

leaders to standard on route-reconnaissance tasks. Because 

of our level of trainin g before deploying, we constan tly 

disseminated new TTP or lessons learned as they developed. 

Every time a recon team comp leted a mission, the leader back 

briefed the engineers at the tactical operations center (TOC) 

conce rning the team 's compiled data. The back brief also 

included any ne w tec hn iques th e team discovered and 

validated. The TOC disseminated that information to other 

leaders during daily operations meetings or mission rehearsals. 

Conducting thoro ugh rehearsals and sharing informa tion were 

very helpful to engi neer leaders at all levels. 

Organization 

Alpha Company categorized its engineer recons as in i~i

intermediate, or deliberate. depending on the time 

allowed and the enemy situation. Durin g the initial or 

leader's recon, there was little time for engineers to gather 

detai led data. These recons usually consisted of a senior NCO 

or plato on leader ridin g with the task-force commander to get 

an initial assess ment of the route. The engineer took digital 

phot os to use for making an initial assessment of whether a 

feature might constrain vehicul ar movement. 

After the initial recon, we tailored a team of four to six 

engineers to conduct an intermediate recon. Wh ile on this 

mission, the soldiers measured and collected data to help assess 

the route classification accurately. 

Once the route wa s classified, engineers conducted one 

final recon, ifit was needed. This deliberate recon consisted of 

heavy enginee rs, heavy equipme nt trans porte r operators, 

heavy wheeled-vehicle operators and, if they were avai lable, 

U.S. Army Corps of Engineers representatives to furth er assess 

whe the r calcula ted co nstra ints co uld be eliminated by 

constructing bypasses. upgrading roads, reducing curves, or 

repairing and/or reinforcing bridges. 

At each stage of the mission, the data gathered was passed 

on to higher headquarters to help develop a route database for 

A soldier measures a 

bridge section during a 

reconnaissance mission. 

Ap ril 2000 Engineer /5 
Task Force Hawk. In the future , whatever technique units use, could identify soldiers who possessed the skills needed to
 

they must not create "c ookie-cutter" teams. They must ensure conduct various tasks.
 

that recon elements are organized based on the task or mission.
 

Lessons Learned 

Materiel 

Almost all of the recon missions involved high-mobility, 

multipurpose wheeled vehicles (HMMWVs). At a 

minimum, the front and rear vehicles had mount ed 

crew-served weapons durin g eve ry movement. Eac h engineer 

team used similar equipment to help gather necessary data. 

The key pieces of equipment were a Global Positioning System, 

a digital camera, and a tape measure. These three items were 

part of the basic load any time a reco n team went on a mission. 

When these team s co nducted trainin g and rehearsals, they 

developed a list of equipment that would help them execute 

their drills. We recommend that units develop recon kits that 

contain equipment essential to mission success , Figure 2 shows 

a sample checkli st for a brid ge recon. 

Soldiers 

W e found that soldie rs need some basic skills or 

abilities to be part of a recon team. For bridge 

recons, especially in the mountains, soldiers must 

not be afraid of heights. They mu st be agile enough to climb 

around or lean over the edge s of bridges to measure various 

areas. In Alpha Company, each team identifie d its good 

swimmers in case the mission involved taking measurements 

over water. We picked soldiers who understood the types of 

data we needed to collect and the formulas used to calculate 

constraints or the military load class of a bridge. We found it 

necessary for a recon team to train and rehearse so that lead ers 

Bridge.flecon he lt

..;'Global ; Positionlnq . .'System . . " 

.;'Dig.tal camera
 

.;'Tape measure (1 GO-foot)
 

.;'Binocular~ .
 

.;'Safety rope ,
 

.;'Report forms
 

.;'Radio · ,,',., 

-:FMS'-170 

v'FM 5-34 

" 

'/ Map sheet 

v'Compas~~nd protractor 

v' Calculator 

Figure 2 

16 Enginee r 

A s with many real-world deployments, un its must 

develop training programs to compensate for tasks 

that are not a part oftheir mission-essential task list or 

that they could not train before deplo yment. Alpha Company 

pers onn el learned the following lessons during their deployment to Albania: 

•	 Doctrine. Learn our doctrine, because it is sound, and 

use it. 

•	 Training. Continue to develop training programs whil e 

deployed. 

•	 Leader development. Conduct rehearsals and trainin g to 

certify leaders . 

•	 Organization. Avoid "cookie-cutter" recon teams; tailor 

them to the task or mission . 

•	 Materiel. Develop checklists to complete various types 

of recons, 

•	 Soldiers. Identify soldi er skills needed for critical tasks. 

Units should develop so und training plans that support 

their missions and develop SOPs as they are needed. Our Army 

doctrine provides an excellent foundation that will allow soldiers 

and leaders to succeed . We must not send untrained soldiers 

into harm's way in real-world deployments. W 

Captai n Pasvogel commands Alp ha Company, 40th 

Engineer Battalion, Germany, and recently deployed to 

Albania in suppo rt of Operati on Nobl e Anvil, He was 

previously a training and doctrine staff officer in the Office of 

the Deputy' Chief ofStafffo r Engineering, U.S, AmlY Europe. 

CPT Pasvogel is a graduat e ofthe U.S. Military Academy and 

the Engineer Offi cers Advanced Course and holds a master 's 

degree in engineering mana gement from the University of 

Missouri-Rolla. 

Ap ril 2000 
Bv Kim Combs 

Jihe U.S. Army Engineer Museum was established at 

Fort Leonard Wood in 1989 as a part of the Engineer 

School's move from Fort Belvoir, Virginia.The museum 

consist, of an encyclopedic gallery. a chronological gallery. 

and a World War II historic comm unity. In addition to these 

displays, there is a regimental store within the museum. 

Encyclopedic Gallery 

I n an effort to support th e in st ructi on at both th e 

Engineer School and the Maneuver Support Center, pieces 

ofthe material culture of American engineers are displayed 

in the encyclopedic gallery. Five aspe cts of the Army engineer 

mission are highlighted: topographic engineering, land-mine 

warfare, tactical bridging, demolitions and explosives, and arms 

and ammunition. 

Topogra phic Engineering. The topographic engineering 

section displays the material culture of topographic engineers, 

surveyors, and cartographers from their colonial beginnings 

to the present. Gouvernor K. Warren 's 1856 Pacific Railroad 

survey is used in the dioramas to interpret early field survey ing. 

Th e cases ex hibit map -makin g, drawing, and surveying 

equipment. 

Land-Mine Warfare, This area contains American mines, 

mine detectors, and foreign materia ls that are significant to the 

devel opment of U.S. equipment. The diora mas depict an 

engineer searching for mines in Vietnam and a World War II 

German ant itank mine (the Go liath) on the Normandy 

beachh ead . In the displ ay cases are U.S . mine det ect or s, 

minefield-probing and marking materials, and American and 

foreign mines.There is a modern AN/PSS-ll mine detector set 

up where visitors can pivot the detector over mined terrain and 

listen for the different tones. Opposite the mine detector is a 

model minefield. By pressing the buttons, visitors can see 

various mine patterns from World War II to today. 

Tactical Bridgin g. The tactical bridging exhibit includes 

models of floating, fixed, and mobile tactical bridges. Visitors 

walk on an authentic "double-double" Bailey bridge to see 

models affi xed bridges. Across from the fixed-bridge display is 

a diorama with models of several types of tloating bridges. The 

gallery also contains several models of bridges and related 

equipment dating from the Civil War to today. 

Demolitions and Explosives. One wall in this area contains 

objects relating to the recent history of the unique aspect of 

the Army engineers' mission. In display cases are item s such 

April 2000 

as dynamite, C4, cratering charge s, and bangalore torpedoes. 

Across from the wall are two dioramas. One contains a model 

railroad bridge rigged for demolition where visitors can press a 

button to see where different types of charges are placed. The 

other diorama depicts a typical oak tree that is rin ged with 

explosives in preparation for creating an abatis. Between the 

dioramas is a 50-cap blasting machine where visitors can view 

a short video on military demolitions. 

Ar ms and Ammunition. In this section, a diorama depicts 

an engin eer outpost during World War 1. Display cases along 

the walls contain weapons used by American Army engineers 

since the 18th century. Also displayed are swords, muskets, 

rocket launchers, mort ars, and hand grenades. In the center of 

the back wall, visitors can try their hand at a piece of equipment 

the Army uses for modem marksmanship training-a laser rifle 

with a series of optic ally sensitive targets. 

T

Chronological Gallery 

he history of American Army engineers is interpreted 

in the chronological gallery. Displays concentrate on 

the Battle of Yorktown during the American Revolution, 

westward ex.pansion, and the Mexican- American War. The Civil 

War area contains an original ponton; the Spanish-American 

War display follows. In the World War I section, a trench has 

been recreated, and the World War II area shows a 0-4 bulld ozer 

in action. A timber trestle bridge in the Korean War display is 

followed by a mine-detecting jeep from the Vietnam War. The 

Desert Storm ex hibit shows an interpretation of war on the 

home front as well as in the desert. 

This gallery includes an Engineer Hall of Heroes, which is 

designed to inspire and reinforce the basic idea that e very 

individual who has proudly and honorab ly served the Army 

Corps of Engineers during the past 200-plus years is indeed a 

hero. 

I 

World War Il Historic Community 

n 1981, Fort Leonard Wood set aside 12 World War II 

tempor ary mobili zation structure s, part of th e 

installation's museum. Tills group of buildings has been 

restored and now serves as the only preserved and interpreted 

World War II company area in the Army.The grouping consists 

of four barracks, two mess halls, three day rooms , two orderl y 

rooms, and a regimental commander's quarters. Each building 

has been restored to the condition it would have been in 

(continued on pag e 36) 

Eng ineer 17 
7." AlIIIY ".00' 'Ylt"lII:
 

Oil" AlIIIY, Oil" 7M111, Oil" .talld.d
 

By Major Mauri ce E. Gissendanner 

As the Army trains its personnel dur ing the twentyfirst century, it will use Th e Army School System 

(TASS) to ensure that Active Component (AC) and 

Reserve Componen t (RC) pers onn el are trained to the same 

standard. Active and reserve training institutions will use 

identical equipment, material, and certified personnel to provide 

standardized training to the force. 

Over time, each ofthe Army components- Active, National 

Guard (ARJ'\IG), and Reserve (USA R)---develope d indep endent 

schoo lsystems, which gradua lly developed separate standards. 

Th e Army School System , formerly known as the Total Army 

School Sy stem, now creates one system with identical tasks 

and standards for all three components. 

A composite of the AC, ARNG, and USA R institutional 

tr aining sy stems , TA S S is c omposed of ac credited and 

integrated AC. ARNG , and USAR schoo ls that provide standard 

institution al training and edu cation to Army personnel. 

Using TRADOC Regulation 351-18, The Army School 

System, as a guid e, the Army 's goal is to pro vid e standardized 

tra inin g and education through the efficient use of­

• Faciliti es, equipment, personnel, and time. 

• The Army Training Requirements and Re source System 

(ATRRS) , for entering training requirements and constraints. 

• Total Army Training System courseware (TATS-C) . 

• Titl e XI personnel (The Title XI Progr am is the 

con gressional action that autho rizes and requires the use of 

acti ve-duty commissioned and noncommissioned officers for 

dedicated support and evaluatio n of reserve units. Title Xl 

personnel are assigned to proponent schools, TRADOC 

inte gration elements, and the RC TASS battali ons.) 

TASS Battalions 

Curr e ntly, TASS is focu sed on the RC trainin g 

institutions. In 1994 , RC TASS battalions began 

to replace the U.S. Arm y Re serve Force (USARF) 

school battalions. Since then, RC engineer TASS battalions 

have reclassified 12,287 soldiers int o the Engi neer Regiment. 

Command and control of the RC TAS S battali ons resid es 

with the U.S. Army Reserve Command (USA RC) and the 

National Guard Bureau (NGB). However, several major changes 

occurred when RC TASS battalions implemented the new school 

system . Th ey­

• Became functionally aligned with their proponents for 

accreditation and instructor certification (for examp le, the U.S. 

Army Engineer School aligned with Engineer School battalions). 

18 Engineer 

III Teach functionally aligned courses using onl y prop onent 

courseware (for example, TASS engineer battalions te ach onl y 

engineer courses). 

• Became responsible for trainin g all customers who reside 

within their region (see figure , page 19). 

There are nine eng ineer RC TASS batt alion s. Seven reside 

within CONUS and two reside OCON US (the Combat Support 

Battalion in Puerto Rico and the 4960th Multifunctional Training 

Brigade in Hawaii). All RC TASS batt alions within CONUS are 

accredited. The two OCONUS battalions are scheduled for an 

acc reditation evaluation during FYOO and FYOI , respecti vely. 

AC TAS S batt ali on s will be incorpor ated int o the TASS 

accreditation schedule during FY02. 

TATS-C 

I mplementation of TATS-C will en sure that AC and RC 

training institut ions train sold iers to the same standard . 

TATS-C will repl ace the AC co ursewa re an d the RC 

co nfigured co urseware (RC3) that wa s for merly taught in 

USA RF schoo ls. RC3 primarily includ ed those task s needed to 

prepare rese rvi sts for mobili zation, not necessarily all the tasks 

for which AC soldiers trained. Performance standards differed 

and trade-offs were made for reser vists because of the ir time 

co nstraints. 

TATS-C will have littl e impact on how AC TASS battalions 

operate, but it will signi ficantly imp act inactive-duty training 

(IDT), weekend drill, and phase 1 of military occupational 

specialty qualifi cation (MOSQ) training for RC TASS battalions. 

Currently, under RC3,RC school battali ons teach only combat 

engineer trainin g (CET) during IDT. This is norm ally completed 

with in two or three monthly drill periods. TATS-C has added 

som e technical training to pha se 1 of MOSQ training, whi ch 

requ ires RC TASS battalions to conduct additional IDTs. 

Annual training requirements for RC TASS battalions will not 

chang e. 

Engineer TATS-C is due out to the Engineer Regiment no 

later than 4th quarter FYOO (less the 5 1T IO, 51130, 62N40 courses 

and the En gin eer Cap tain's Car eer Co urse) and w ill be 

implemented no later than Ist quarter FY02. 

Accreditation 

he Engineer School's TASS Division began offic ial 

accreditatio n evaluations in 1997 . According to a 

sc hed ule set up by TRADOC, every three yea rs 

proponent schools will evaluate the TASS battalions that are 

fun ctionally aligned with the m. 

Ap ril 2000 
TASS Battalion Locations
 

Region G
 

1/3/104th D iv(lT), Sioux Falls, SD
 

1/16 4th RTI , Devils Lake, ND
 

Region A 

1/3 /98th Div(IT) 

New W indsor, NY 

B 

Re gion B 

1/3 /80th Div(IT) 

Camp Dawson , WV 

Region C 

Region D 1/3/1 08th D iv IT 

Fort Leonard W ood , MO 1/3/100th Div(lT ) C Fort JaCk son ,(sb 

0 <7,-,:'4- Kn oxville , TN '-' 7"; ./ Combat Support Bn 

':: ',r~ 4960th MTFB, USARPAC ':'"7!'; 8th MTFB/1 08 Div(lT) 

\,I') Honolulu , HI San Juan , PR 

During an accreditation year, an evaluation team (comprised 

of Tille Xl and RC perso nnel) evaluates at least one annual 

traini ng period of a TASS battal ion and at least one-third of its 

lOT peri ods. All training sites must receive a "GO" rating for a 

TASS battalion to become accredited . 

The evaluation team uses checklists from TRADOC 

Regulation 351-18 to evaluate the TASS battalions. One checklist 

coverstraining support, which includ es requisition procedures, 

test-control procedures, and student and instructor record 

keeping.The other checklist co vers conduct of training, which 

inc ludes classroom and field instruction , instructor techniques, 

and use of equipment and training aides. RC engineer TASS 

battalions are well on their way to consistent ly providing 

standardized training to enginee rsoldiers, which translates into 

accreditation for the battalions. 

Distance Learning 

Eve ntua lly, TASS will take on the dimen sion of 

providing distance learning (DL) to soldiers, At the 

center of the DL concept is the DL Classroom, an Army 

initiative to place high-tech classrooms throughout the military 

community.The currentTRADOC plancalls for fully implemented 

DL by 20 1O.By that time,TRADOC expectsthat 66 percent of our 

soldiers will receive OL and that 99 percent of our soldiers in 

CONUS will be located within one hour of a DL facility. 

Conclusion 

Under TASS, the Engineer Regiment wiJl be able to 

apply multiple means and tec hnologies to deliver 

standardized training to soldiers and units at the right 

April 2000 

place and time. No matter where our soldiers are located, they 

will be able to receive the same trai ning taught by proponent 

certified instructors. 

To make TASS successful, we need your feedback on what 

is working and what needs to be improved in our individua l 

traini ng courses. Th ese courses belong to you, and TASS is 

your schoo l system. Use them effectively to ensure that our 

soldiers get the training they deserve . 

Send comments and suggestions to Commandant, U.S. Anny 

Eng ineer School, ATTN: ASTE-DOT-SS, 320 Engineer Loop , 

Suite 336, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri 65473-8929: or via 

e-mail to gisscndm@ wood.army.mil. The telephone numbers 

are DSN 676-4106 and commercial (573) 563-4 106. W 

Majo r Giss endanner is chi ef (~ The Arm)' Scho ol System 

Division, U.S. A rmy En gineer School. Previous assignme nts 

include platoon leader and exe cutive officel; 175th Engineer 

Company (TOPO); platoon leader, 362d Engineer Company 

(CSE); executive officer; /OOth Engineer Company (TOPO): 

S2 and assis tant 53, 536Th En gin eer Bat talion tCombut 

Heavy): commander, Al536th Engineer Battalion: and p roject 

off icer, Gal veston District. U.s. Ann)' Corps of Engine ers. 

Refer ences: 

1. TRADOC Regulation 35 1- 18, The Army School System , 31 

March 1999. 

2, 'T otal Army School System," Engineer. December 1996, 

3. TRADOC	 memorandum, subject: "Total Army Training 

System (TATS)." 25 March 1996, 

4.TRADOC TATS/DL Workshop. 29 April - 2 May 1996. 

Eng ineer 19 
T eArmy Engineer Diver
 

By Captain James Kisiel and Master Sergeant Marcus King 

Yes, the Army has divers. Unlike 

the combat diver additional skill 

identifier held by soldiers in the 

Special Forces, engineers have milit ary 

occupational specialty (MOS) OOB divers. 

Apart of career management field 51,MOS 

OOB is a low-densit y MOS. Th e rank 

structure for this MOS ranges from private 

to master sergeant. However, since there 

is a constant need for new divers in the 

field, specialists and below may qualify for 

reclassification into MOS OOB. 

Department ofthe Army Pamphlet 611­

21, Mili tary Occupation Classification 

and Structure, and A rmy Regulation 611­

75, Management ofArmy Divers, list the 

requirements for diver application . The 

training required to become a diver is very 

de ma nding but a lso very rew ard ing . 

Pha se One is a nine-day course taught at 

Fort Leo nar d Wood (see Eng ineer 

Update, page 48). Phase Two is a 26-week 

course taught by a multiservi c e 

20 Engineer 

instruc tion team at the Naval Diving and 

Salvage Tra ining Center, Panama City, 

Florida. 

Capabilities 

Dive teams are a critical asset to 

commanders. Both Force XXI 

and Army After Next units will 

have to cross rivers and overcome the 

problems that involve rivers in areas of 

operation. Engineer divers can conduct 

waterway reconn aissance , which will 

save time for brid ging units and prevent 

damage to their limited assets. Divers can 

provi de ne arsh ore and ear shore 

topographic and hydrographic reports, 

measure and plot river depths to reveal 

the true chann el, and measure possible 

nearshore and fa rshore exits. Maneuver 

commanders mu st know if brid ges will 

support maneuver-force traffi c. Divers 

can make th is determinati on quic kl y, 

allowing the force to keep its momentum. 

rn add iti on to secur ity and rive rcro ssing missions, divers can dismantle 

or create waterborne ob stacles, which 

make s th em a counter m obilit y and 

mobili ty ass et down to the task-force 

level. Di ver s ca n emp lace pr eci sion 

dem olition charges to deny the enemy 

access to key structures and facilities, 

such as bridges and dams, and stop his 

momentum. Divers also can emplace and 

remo ve mines in shallow- river minin g 

operations. 

Dive Teams 

Engineer Regiment has four 

light dive teams (each with 22 

so ld iers) and tw o heavy d ive 

teams (each with 25 soldiers). The light 

te ams arc sta tio ned at Fo rt Eustis, 

Virginia, along with one heavy team. The 

other heavy team is stationed in Hawaii. 

Th e teams at Fort Eustis are configured 

by FORSCOM as a provisional compa ny. 

Ap ril 2000 
Light Dive Teams 

Engineer light dive teams support the 

scuba and surface-supplied-air diving 

(helmet diving with air hoses from the 

surface to the diver) requirements of 

maneuver commanders. Light teams 

emplace and reduce underwater 

obstacles and minefields; repair damaged 

bridges, locks, dams, pipelines, canals, 

and levees; and construct underwater 

bridge structures. obstacles, and floating 

barriers. Some of these capabilities are 

required in humanitarian -assistance 

operations but, inevitably, most will be 

required in any theater during war. 

Light dive teams have nonarrnorcd 

veh icles and are highly mobile. They can 

con duct many missions without external 

aid but depend on support from other 

units, such as scouts and mechanizedengineer and combat-support-equipment 

companies, to perform construc tion and 

salvage missions. 

ApriL 2000 

An Army diver decends into a partially sunken wreck. 

Hea vy'Dive Teams 

Engineer heavy dive teams support 

the scuba and surface-supp1ied-air 

diving requirements of commanders in 

charge of ports, harbors. and coastal 

zones. These teams enable commanders 

to construct port and logistics-over-theshore structures and facilities as well as 

floating barriers. Heavy teams also can 

repair damaged piers, docks, wharfs, 

seawalls, and breakwaters; clear and 

mark inland navigational waterways: and 

Collect underwater terrain and structure 

information. 

Heavy dive teams also have 

nonarrnorcd vehicles and are mobile. 

They can conduct many missions without 

external aid but depend on support from 

other units, such as engineer-portconstruction and combat-supportequipment companies. to perform 

construction and salvage missions. 

The primary differences between the 

construction and salvage capabilities of 

light and heavy dive teams are the focus 

and the command-and-control assets. 

Heavy teams have additional specialized 

equi pment and focus on construction 

and heavy salvage in ports and harbors. 

More experienced senior leaders of 

heavy teams are used extensively to plan 

and manage theater diving missions. 

Protecting the Force 

Dive teams have been a part of 

numerous operations but 

often are overlooked because of 

their size and relative obscurity. The 

performance of di vers during their 

deployments to Operation Desert Storm 

and Operation Restore Democracv arc 

two prime examples of how they have 

protected the force. In Operation Desert 

Storm, dive teams provided waterborne 

security for ports in Kuwait and Europe. 

They conducted hull surveys on cargo 

ships and barges to ensure that vessels 

were not mined. These surveys were 

critical because of the nature of the 

explosive cargo on many of the vessels. 

Si mil ar ly, in Operation Restore 

Democracy, di Vt teams provided 

waterborne security for Army vessels 

that entered unsecured ports in Haiti. 

Engineer light and heavy dive teams 

are critical assets to the Engineer 

Regiment. These teams assist maneuver 

and port commanders in a variety of 

missions that focus on the onward 

movement and protection of U.S. forces. 

Water does not have to be an obstacle or 

a security threat to our soldiers. Enlist 

the help of engineer divers, and command 

the water space! W 

Captain Kisiel formerly commanded 

the Engineer Dive Company at Fort 

Eustis, Virginia. 

Master Sergeant King is the Senior 

Career Management NCO, CMF 5/,.f()/" 

the Engineer Personnel Proponency 

Office, U.S. Army Engineer School. He 

\Vas previously the first sergeant of 

the 518th Engineer Company, Fort 

Kobbe, Panama. 

Engineer 21 
En_Ineer Doctrine 

Hierarchy and 

Publications lenumberln_
 

By Li eutenant Colonel Harry Rossander 

The u.s. Army En gineer Sch ool 

and TRADOC a re revising 

the Anny doctrin e hierar chy and 

numb ering system to be more in line with 

the Joint doctrine hi er ar ch y a nd 

numb er in g sy ste m . Changi ng th e 

method of numbering and titling Army 

doctrine manuals will ensure a seamless 

link between Army and Joint doctrine. 

TRAD OC personnel an tic ipa te that 

these re vision s will help groom young 

Army officers for Joint , interagency, and 

multi nati onal mili tary operations; help 

Army headquarters plan, prepar e, and 

conduct Joint operations; and enable us 

to mo ve i n co nc ert with th e Join t 

doctrine system and the NATO doctrine 

system as they embrace improve ments 

related to the twent y-first century. 

The new doctrine hierarchy consists 

of a three-tie r system for placement of 

field manuals (FMs) (see Engineer, April 

1999, page 27). The top tier contains FMs 

with a direct lin k to a specific Joint 

publ icati o n, or th e scope of th e FM 

Proponent 

(JOint Numbers) 

3-34.
 Mission Content 

1 . Combined Arms/Capstone 

2 - Engineer Operations 

3 - 4 - Reference 

Figure 1. Numbering Convention 

22 Engineer 


 Mission Content 

1 - 2 - Combat Engr 

3 - Topographic Engr 

4 - Bridging 

5 - Planning and Mgt 

6 - Horizonta l 

7 - Vertical 

8 - Speciality 

34 and will be 

follow ed by a 

th r e e-num b er 

exten sion . The 

only exception to 

this rule will be 

the e ng ine ers' 

capstone manu al, 

FM 5-100 , wh ich 

will be renumbered 

as FM 3-34. The 

addresses multiservic e and com bin ed ­

arms oper atio ns. FMs 5-100, Eng ineer 

Operation s, and 90- 13- 1, Combined-A rms 

Breaching Operations, are ex amples of 

manu al s on this tier. Th e sec o nd ti er 

contains proponent publica tio ns that are 

branch -sp ecific and address ho w th at 

bran ch figh ts or sup por ts the fight. An 

example is FM 5-7 1- 100, Divisio n 

Engin eer Comb at Operatio ns. Third-tie r 

publi ca tio ns are pri mari ly technical in 

natu re, such as FMs 5-34, Engine er 

Fi eld Da ta , and 5-4 34 , Earth mo ving 

Op erations . 

To implement the new hierarch y and 

ali gn our publications more close ly 

with Joint manu als, a new numbering 

con venti o n wa s prop osed b y the 

En gi nee r Schoo l. This new numbering 

convention fo llows guid eline s found in 

(dr aft) TR ADOC Regulation 25-36, The 

TR ADO C Doctrin a l Li tera tu re Pro ­

gram ( DLP) , and allows us to put some 

rh yme a nd re ason in to h ow our 

publicati ons ar e regim ented . 

Joint Publ ication UP) 3-34 is 

the Joint engineer 

manual. All e ngineer manu als 

will begin with 3­

first num ber in th e ex tension will be 

denot ed as sho wn in F igur e 1. Thi s 

extension numb er will make it possible 

for users to quickly determine the tier and 

the function of the ma nual. The second 

number in the extension will permit 

further segrega tion of publica tio ns by 

subje ct matter. something we have been 

unable to do in the past. The final number 

in the extension will enabl e us to put more 

than one publi cation in any category and 

will allow for future expansion. 

The new hi erarch y a nd num bering 

convention was specifically designed so 

pub lica tions can be track ed acro ss all 

ti ers and fu nct ion al ca te gories . In 

addition, with this new system, we can 

more uniformly align with existing Joint 

doctrinal publi cation s. 

Th e pl an fo r ad o pting the new 

numbering system is to intr od uce it on 

p ublicatio ns as th e y ar e r evis ed , 

beginnin g with FM 5- 100. However. for 

at least one pu blication cycl e, both the 

old and new numb ers will be shown 0 11 

the cover. In addition, a cross-reference 

system will be developed to enable users 

to find a publication by either the old or 

the new number. 

Currently, engineers have the sec ond 

largest publications library in the Army, 

with respon sib ility o r pro pone ncy for 

more th an 90 manuals . In addition to 

implementing the new doctrine hierarchy 

and numberin g system, Engineer School 

personnel ar e reducin g the number of 

manuals to 70 or less in the next two years 

(see Figure 2). This will be done through 

review, validation, and consolidation of 

existing doctr ine. Th e Engine er Sch ool 

will be seeking subject-ma tter e xperts 

from both the schoo lhou se and the fie ld 

to help review and revise many of the 

ex isting publications. III 

Lieutenant Colonel Harry Rossander 

is chi ef of the Do ctr ine D evelo pm ent 

Di vision in the Directorate of Training, 

U.S. A rmy En g in eer Scho ol, Po rt 

Leonard Wood. M issouri. Hi s e -ma il 

address is rossandh towo od.a rmy.mil, 

Aprif 2000 
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FM 5-100 

(FM 3-34) rM90-13-1 I FM 90-7 

FM 5-103 

3-34 .112 I FM90-13 , ! I FM20"32 II FM20-3J IF

FM 5-114 

(FM 3-34 .210) 

FM 5-116 

(FM 3-34.211) 

17M 5-170 4--+- FM 5-170D 

(17M 3-34.212)1 I(FM3-34.212D 

I'" 17M 5-250 ::::~

(17M ~34.2 4)

17M 5-490 

(FM 3-34 .216) 

FM5-10 

(F~'f\/t3-34~2?P 

17M 5-7-30 17M 5-7-30D 17M 5-7J-3 17M 5-71-3D . 17M 

(17M 3-34.223) (17M 3-34.223D) 34 (17M 3-34.224D) (17M 3-34 .225

. M: 17M 5-71-2D 

3~ 22 . (17M 3-34.222D . ­ .. ' , 

'O ~1 ~~ t-~M 5-100-15D 

(FM,3-34:226) (17M 3-34 .226D 

17M 5-105 

(FM 3-34 .230) 

17M 5-104 II FM 5-71-XX 

(FM 3-34.250) FM 3-34 .221 

Arrow 

grated 

TM 5-245 .Il FM 5-446 

,(17M 3-34.333) _1 3-34.343) 

FM 5-430-00-1 j FM 5-420 17M 5-4

(FM 3-34 .461) (FM 3-34.471) (17M 3-34

FM 5-430-00~ FM 5-424 17M 5-4

(FM 3-34 .462) (FM 3-34.472) . (17M 3-34 

FM5~43t .'/ 1 F;M,5-426/ l' FM 5-4

(17M ~31 ~6~) ·· ,.(Fty1 .~34

FM 5-4

(FM 3-34

Vertical 

17M 5-428 

(FM 3-34.474) 

FM 5-434 

(FM 3-34.464) 

Horizontal 

FM 5-410 

(17M 3-34 .353) 

FM 5-478 

(FM 3-34 .352) 

FM5-474 

(17M 3-34.351) 

.._-­ ------, 

Planning 

and 

Management 

FM 5-412 

(FM 3-34.350) 

Bridging 

17M 5-150 

(FM 3-34.34P) 

.FM 5-'152 

(F:M 3-34;34 1) 

'FM 5-.156 

(17M 3-34...342)) 

FM 5-510 

(17M 3-34 .330) 

Topographic 

Engineering 

17M 5-540 

(FM 3-34.332) 

FM 5-532 

(FM 3-34.331) 

Combat 

Engineering 

TC20-32-3 

(1";93-34:320) 

.,,.., I?} :'. , 

; ,17M 5-125 

M3, 34 11 ) 

17M 5-34 

(FM 3-34.310) 

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T,C 20 ·4

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I Pink - Current I 1 7 

I., Gni y - Hi.wiew j 26 

I White - Working I 18 

- t'Jeed rewrite I 09 

FM 5-472 

(17M 3-34 .354) 

17M 5-432 

(FM 3-34.465) 

I (FM 3-34.466) 

';', 

Fry1 5-499 

~(F!V1 3-34 ..467) 

,M ·9'-7~q , (~M3~34 .475) . ; : . ' Y''''.(~ '~ '<,,,,,; .' 

I7'tVrS-323' e­

(FM3-~ ,476) 

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Figure 2. New Hierarchy for Publications 
Book Review
 

Flam e On.' U.S. Incendiary Weapons, /91 8-1945, by 

John W. Mountcastle, White Mane Books. Shippenburg, 

Pennsylvania, 1999, 206 pages, list $29.95 (hard cover). 

Available on-line from http t//www.Ama ron .com . 

This book is a detailed, scholarly work by the former 

Chief of Military History for the U.S . Army, Brigadier General John W. Mountcastle. Beginning with incidents in the 

Old Test ament, the author describes the early history of 

flame weapons. He includes information on such interesting topic s as the use of a primitive flamethrower by attacking Boeotians durin g the siege of Delium (424 B.C., during 

the Peloponnesian War) and the development of "Greek 

Fire" by the Byzantine engineer Kallinokos. However, the 

development of flame weap ons remained episodic until the 

German manpacked flamethrower made its combat debut 

in World War 1. 

Richard Fiedler, a chemical engineer in Berlin, invented 

the first modern flamethrower prototype in 1901. Early in 

the devel opment, the German Army recognized that to function effectively the ungainly flamethrowers required carefully trained operators and mechanics. When the Germans 

mounted the first attack with flamethrowers on 26 Febru ­

ary 1915 against French troops in the Malancourt Forest 

near Verdun, the French tled in pani c. As a result, the Germans organized the Third Guard Pioneer (combat engineer) Battalion, under the command of Captain Redemann. 

As the war progressed, the pione ers' flamethrowers 

became an integral part of German "storm-troop tactics." 

The early manpacked flamethrower was a difficult and 

dangerous weapon to use. However, when combined with 

other technical innovations (such as modern grenades, 

trench mortars , chemical warfare and, belatedly, the first 

German tank s) and the tactical flexibility inherent in the 

pioneer corp s, the result was a highly effective combinedarms team at the company and battalion levels. Led by their 

"sturmpionier," the German storm troopers were able to 

restore operation al man euver to the deadl ocked western 

front by usin g flexible , dismounted-infantry tactic s at the 

same time the Allies were turning to the tank , an inventi on 

of British Royal Engineer Edwin Swinton. 

Another item of note was the use of a specialized workshop unit to maintain and modify the pioneers' equipment 

as necessary, further enhancing their flexibil ity and timeliness. This stands in stark contrast to the standard development processes of the American procurement bureaucracy. 

As latecomers to the First World War, the Americans had 

to play catch-up in a number of areas. In the American Expeditionary Force, the Gas Service (the predecessor of today 's 

Chemical Corps) was the responsibility of the Corps of Engineers. The 30th Engineer Regiment (Gas and Flame) under 

the command of Lieutenant Colonel Amos Fries (Corps of 

Engineers) was formed to provide support in this new area 

of chemical and incendiary warfare. The 30th Engineer Regiment (renamed the lst Gas Regiment in August 191 8) 

developed a close working relationship with its British counterparts, the Royal Engineers of the "Special Brigade." However, Lieutenant Colonel Fries had a strong bia s against 

flamethrowers and preferred to focus on gas countermeasures. After the war, Congress authorized the establishment 

of the Chemical Warfare Service, with Fries as chief. During 

the interwar period, he continued to favor the development 

of chemical warfare agents over flame weapons. As a result, 

the United States continued to neglect developments in this 

area. However, this was not the case within the resurgent 

German military of the 1930s. 

German pioneers , as well as their British counterparts, 

have historically maint ained a strong intere st in closecombat "assault engineering ." This was demonstrated well 

in the stunning German victories over the West in 1940. 

Once again , the German attack wa s led by the pioneers. 

Indeed , a platoon of about 80 airborne pioneers (under the 

command of Lieutenant Rudolf Witzig, later the chief of 

the postw ar Bundeswehr Pioneer School) mad e a dawn 

glider assault on the 700-man Belgian fortress of Eben 

Emael. This fort block ed the advance of the north ern 

German pincer into the Netherlands and was considered to 

be one of the strong est forts in the world . Using 

flamethrowers and shaped charges (the latter was a secret 

weapon making its combat debut), the pioneers shocked 

24 Engin eer April 2000 
the world by neutralizing the fort in 30 minutes. Th rough made their Pacific deb ut on lw o Jima, where the first eight 

the insightful writings of Captain Paul Thompson (U.S.Corps proved the ir worth. By the time the attack on Okinawa 

of Engineers), this victory served as a wake-up to Ameri­ was launch ed, the 713th Armored Flamethrower Battalion 

can s on the importance of fl ame weapons and close­ had been formed with 54 name tanks. Th e battalion was 

combat assault tacti cs. cred ited with 4,788 kills, with no losses of its ow n. As one 

magazine summed it up, "There are few arguments about Indeed , Thompson ca lled for the American Corps of
 

En fire ; it saves U.S. lives and kills Japs."
 gineers, whic h historically had a more construction-service-oriented outlook than their British and German breth ­ Although th e U .S . military co ntin ued to use 

ren , to adopt a more aggressive role in combat and the new flamethrowers in Korea and Vietn am, these highl y useful 

combined -arms philosophy. The Chemical Warfare Service weapons were recently relegated to war stock (if not reresponded by beginning to develop flamethrowers. Regret­ tired), apparently for reasons of "po litical correctness." 

tabl y, the Corps of Engin eers missed the opp ortunity to Indeed, flamethrower tactics were dropped from u.s. field 

thoroughly shake off the peacetime, civil-works ment ality manuals when FM 20-33, Combat Flame Operations, was 

of the interwar period and did not formall y develop any superseded by FM 3-11, Flame Field Expedients, in 1990 . 

specially train ed engineer ass ault troops, forcing these to Given the increa sed likelihood of havin g to conduct operabe improvised by combat engineers serving in the field . By tions on urban terrain in the near future, it is a shame that a 

the time American troops entered the ground war during modern-day General Marshall did not stand up for the good 

Operation Torch (November 1942), the Chemical Warfare of the American soldier and defend the retention of these 

Servi ce was able to equip each divisional engineer battal ion useful weap ons. The unpalatable fact is that there is curwith 24 Ml flamethrowers. However, eng ineers lacked the rently no antiseptic way to conduct the se operation s. In 

doctrine and training to use the new weap ons effectively, fact , some of the most successful operations on urban terwhi ch also suffered from lack of care and proper mainte­ rain were undertaken by the Germans toward the end of 

nan ce .The development of vehicl e-mounted flamethrowers World War TT. These operati ons gave the Germans the opalso suffered due to a strong aversion by the U.S. Army to portunity to implement a number of lessons learn ed from 

the development of special-purpose armored combat­ the bitter battle in Stalingrad. They employed small 

engineer vehicles (CEVs). combined-arms assault team s, whi ch included pioneers 

Th equipped with flamethrowers and man-portable fuel- air ex­ e lack of armored n amethrowers in Europe may have 

plosi ves. These teams were supported by Stunntigers (simi ­ co ntributed to the diffi culties American s had on Omaha 

Be lar to the old CEV), remote-controlled vehicles , and ach on D-Day. Indeed, during the adva nce acro ss northwe pioneer half-tracks firing hea vy rockets (nicknamed "Foot stern Europe, the y had to requ est support from British 

Crocod Stukas"). ile flamethrower tanks to redu ce German fortifications. The Americans found that often ju st a demonstration Operations in urban terrain are-and prob ab ly will 

of a flamethrower within sight of the defend ers was enough rem ain- bru tal, primitive, close-combat affa irs. For our 

to induce surrender or withdrawal. In fact, General Patton national strategy to be more than a piece of paper, the U.S . 

was forced to improvise flamethrower tanks in the fie ld Army must have the means of making it a reality at the 

and was quite pleased with the results. tactical level. Given the pro ven lack of public tolerance for 

U.S. casua lties in strategically questionable undertakings in In the Pacific Theater, however, the preva lence of closethe Third World, we must do everything reasonable to mini­ combat operations aga inst the Japanese in prepared defenses 

mi ze our losses. If we are to succeed in urban combat, force d American units in the field to develop effective flame 

while minimizing the loss of American lives, we would be tactics. As a result, thoroughly trained, properly led provi ­


well-advised to retain the [lamethrower,
 sional flamethrower units were developed in the fie ld by 

the infantry and engineers of the Army and Marines. In­ Although this revi ew foc used on the flamethrower, the 

deed, the Marines stated that manpacked flamethrowers book also provides an extensive discussion of air-dropped 

were responsible for breaching the Japanese defenses on incendi arie s and the moral issue s involved in using fire 

Tarawa in November 1943.When some soft-hearted Ameri­ bombing, particularly aga inst citie s like Hamburg, Dresden , 

cans protested the use of flame weap ons, General George Yokohama, and Tokyo. 

C. Marshall stood up for the lives of American citi zen s Combat engineers should find this book to be fascinat ­

serving on the line in combat and stated, "Vehement pro­ ing reading. It is recommended to all combat-anus leaders. tests I am rece iving against our use of flame throwers
 

don't indic ate an understanding of the meaning of our Lieutenant Colonel William C. Schne ck, P£., commands
 

dead on . .. Tarawa ." American armored flamethrowers the 276th Combat Engineer Battalion, Virginia Army Na­

(fabri cated in workshops on Hawaii using Sherman tanks) tional Guard.
 

April 2000 Engineer 25 
Understandinq ACt C
 

Assignments
 

By Major Diane T Cummins- Lefler 

"M y n ex t assignmen t wi ll p ro bably b e a n A ctive 

Compo nent/Reserv e Component (AC/RC)joh. Isn 'ttha t taking 

me away from soldiers? " 

Man y of us, office rs and enlisted, find ourselve s 

repeating those or similar phrases. Too often we 

allow rumors of the past to determine our views on 

various assignme nt positions instead of conducting our own 

research. After ser ving for more than a year as a company 

comm ander in lst Battalion (Training Support)(Engineer), 395tb 

Regiment, at Fort Hood , Texas, I have a better understanding 

of what it means to be in an ACIRC job and how important this 

assignment is to the Co rps of Engineers as well as to the Anny. 

The purp ose of this articl e is to help you to better understand 

ACiRC assignments. 

Background 

During th e Gu lf War , th e Ar my had di ffi culties 

depl oyi ng th e Nation al Gu ard's "rou nd- out 

bri gades" and high-priority combat-arms units. Th e 

old meth ods and criteria of reportin g readin ess showed that 

the units were co mbat reaely. However, when they arri ved at 

th eir mobilization sta tio ns, th eir readiness report s we re 

dismissed and the units were put through an extensive trainup period that includ ed a National Training Center rotation. 

The entire mobilization and train-up process revealed numero us 

problems with the units' readiness, how readin ess was tracked 

and rep orted , and how the AC interacted with the RC. There 

had to be a better way. 

These experiences led Congress to push for a new system 

of training and evaluating RC units.In 1992 and 1993,Congress 

dev el op ed the Ground For ces Rea dines s Enhancem ent 

program . whic h dedicates extensive personnel and material 

resources to ensure that RC units are trained and ready for 

deployment. Congress directed realignment of the AC support 

to the RC with a focus 0 11 selected high-priority RC units. The 

Ground Forces Readiness Enhancement legislation resulted in 

the dedication of 5,000 experience d AC soldiers to train and 

eva luate RC units. 

In the Engineer Regiment, this is an extremely vital mission, 

because 76 perce nt of the regiment is in the National Guard or 

Army Reserves. Th e co rps -lev el units tbat all division al 

26 Engineer 

engineers depend on for support re side in the RC and deploy 

with us when we fight. To train these units, there are six engineer 

training support battalion s that work directl y with combat 

engineer and bridge units. Th ese battali ons are de voted to 

helpi ng eng ineer units reach and maint ain combat readiness. 

(No te: Combat heavy, topographic, and othe r "noncombat " 

eng ineers rece ive similar supportfrom combat-service -support 

training-supp ort battalions tha t (Ire manned by Army Reserve 

soldiers with only ajew active-duty team members.) The combat 

engineer trainin g-supp ort batt alions are located throughou t 

the United States (Fort Hood, Fort Lewis, Fort Carson, Fort 

Knox, Fort Meade, and Fort Jackson) and train all of the priority 

RC engineer units. 

In addition to the six engineer training-support battalions. 

there are resident trainers, AC officers, and NCOs who live and 

wo rk with selected priority units eve ry day. The foc us of these 

teams range s from individual and crew-level trainin g to 

mentoring NCOs and officers at the compa ny and sta ff levels 

on training management. The majority of the se resident teams 

are in the 15 enhanced separate brigades of the Na tional Guard 

and force-support-pack age Army Reserve battalions. Together. 

the training-supp ort batta lion and resident team help the RC 

commander achieve his readiness goals. 

Operations 

The Ist Battalion 's mission is to teach, coach, and 

men tor co mba t en gine er RC units . We d o this 

through a vari ety of training events that culminate in 

combined- arm s lanes -training exerci ses that are as close to a 

combat-training-cent er experience as we can repli cate . To set 

un its up for success at these events, we tran sport mobile 

train ing teams to unit drill locations to teach tactical skills and 

to certify unit lead ers on critical tasks. We also conduct a 

weekend or an inactive-duty training (lDT) lanes exercise where 

we take the unit throu gh the crawl -and -walk phases of the 

lanes-tr ain in g pro cess. Th is com bination of teach in g and 

assessing led to the title of "observer-controller/trainers 

(OCrrs)," which captures the flow of our training year with the 

unit as well as our focus. 

In the training-support battalions, we are all ocrrs .We teach 

units their mission-essential tasks, co nduct crawl-and-w alk 

lanes durin g IDT, and then ass ume the full OC role during their 

April 2000 
a nnua l tr ai nin g (AT) rot at ion s. 

Mobile train ing teams focus on trainthe- train er sessions. Th is met hod 

rei nforces th e un it s' c hain of 

command by allowi ng them to teach 

their soldiers the tasks instead of 

having the ocrrs do it. We instruct 

company and pl at oon leaders in 

doctrine or specific mission-trainingplan tasks. At times, mobile training 

teams may also ge ne rate so me 

individual or crew-l evel training on 

systems such as the MK 19, Volcano, 

Modul ar Pack Mine Syste m, and 

arm ored vehic le-launc he d bridge. 

While these systems have been in 

the AC inventory for years, many RC 

units are just now receiving them. 

Mob ile train ing teams no rm ally 

consist of two or three soldiers who 

go to a unit and provide instruction-s­ Soldiers conduct an after-action review with the 395th Battalion command group. usually in a classroom environment. 

IDT is geared to collective-task lanes training, which focuses 

on the sapper platoon and takes the unit from the concept-ofthe-mission training team to at least the crawl-and-walk phase. A 

normal IDT lasts two days. from 0800 Saturday to 1600 Sunday. 

AT is the premier training event of the year, and everything we 

do is geared toward this training.Ideally, this is where we bring it 

all together in a combined-arms exercise. Each ocrr covers a 

platoon, and the NCOIC and commander cover the company 

headquarters. Normally, the operations tempo allows ocrrs to 

rotate out of the field every third day for resupply runs. 

After every IDT and AT, we produce a take-home packet, 

which is our primary written feedback mechanism to the units 

we assess. Th ese packet s are ve ry high-qu ality, automated 

produ cts that include ­

•	 A cover letter from the commander. 

•	 Platoon- and company-level training and evaluation outlines 

with comments and recommend ations for training. 

•	 A company summary for the entire training period that lists 

strengths and areas in need of improvement. 

•	 A Training Assessment Models report. 

ocrrs can expect to spend more than 100 days each year on 

temp orary duty or in the field, mostly between March and Jul y, 

for TDT lanes and AT. More than half ofthe 100 days are limited 

field time.The remainder of the year issimilar to that of any unit 

in garrison. 

Engineer training-support battalions normally have three 

companies-each commanded by a branch-qualified senior 

captain (their second command) and five seasoned NCOs (all 

with successful squad-leader and platoon-sergeant time). The 

April 2000 

NCOIC's duties are simi lar to those of a first sergeant. Every 

soldier in AC/RC assign ments brings a wea lth of know ledge. 

OC/Ts are pi cke d based o n their pe rformance a nd 

ex periences and go thro ugh a series of classes and testing 

before being certified. In our briga de, the cert ification process 

is a five-pha se program that is monitored and trac ked annually. 

In addition, we certify each o crr on an extensive list of comb atengineerskills, to include using modernized demolition initiators 

and live mines. Th e final phase of our battalion 's ocrrtraining 

is a "right seat" rot ation at either the Joint Readiness Training 

Center or the National Training Center. 

Conclusion 

An AC/RC ass ig nment ca n be chall enging an d 

demanding . We operate on the basis of soun d 

doctrine and tactical and technical proficiency. In 

addition, one must have superior communication skills to teach, 

coach, and mentor leaders at the platoon level and higher. If you 

are looking for a rewarding,fast-paced, engineer-specific, doctrinedriven experience, look no further. Continue to make a difference 

in the future of engineer soldiers. Accept an AC/RC assignment 

and help achieve the One Army, One Standard goal. III 

Major Cummins -Lefle r is an obs erver-controller/trainer (OCIT)fvr C 

Company, lst Battalion (TS) (Engineer), 3951h Regiment. Fort Hood. 

Texa s. Previous assignments include PERSCO M . DA Secretariat 

Recorder. Alexandria, Virginia ; and Comm ander; A Company, 35th 

Engineer Battalio n, OSUT, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri. A graduate of 

Howard University, Washington. D.C . MAl Cummins-Lefler has been 

selected for CGSC For more information on this organiration, visit 

their web site at http://wlVw.!wol!·pao.army.mil//B nTSEn g_395/hRegtl. 

Engin eer 27 
The safe disposal of waste mat eri als is an increasing 

con cern in the United States and aro und the world. 

Even with the hei ghtened awareness of the importance 

of recycling, the difference between the volume of waste 

mat erials generated versus the amount recycl ed continu es to 

grow. Alth ough many existing dispo sal facilities are reaching 

ca pacity, appro val for addition al facil ities is becoming more 

difficult to obtain be cause uf restrictive enviro nmental regulation s and obj ecti ons by local re sidents. To help address these 

issues and provide inform ation on one possible so lution to the 

problem. the U.S. Army de veloped Engineerin g Techn ical Letter 

(ETL) 1110- 3- 503 , Use rd Waste Materials in Pave m ent 

Construction. 

State and fede ral govern me nt regul ations and policies have 

a strong influen ce on wheth er waste materials are used in 

paveme nt construction. Federal programs such as the 197 6 

Resource Con ser va tion and Recov ery Ac t and the 19 84 

Hazardous and So lid Waste Ame ndme nts promoted the use of 

was te material s or recycling. Federal interest in recycl ing was 

exemplified in the 1991 Interrn odal Surface Transporta tion 

Efficiency Act that initi all y required all sta te Dep artment s of 

Transportation (D OTs) to use a ce rtain percentage of crumb 

(ground) rubber in asphalt mi xtur es. This requirem ent wa s later 

28 Eng ineer 

(onstructing 

PavemenU 

With Recycled 

Waste Materiah 

By Jam es E. Sho enbe rger 

re scin ded becau se ofsignifica nt oppos ition from ma ny states. 

Un fortunately, most sta te DOTs and other agenc ies handle 

requests for using waste ma ter ials on a ca se-by-case ba sis. Su 

without the benefit of an estab lished approval procedure , it is 

oft en diffi cult to use the materi als. 

Using waste ma terials in pavement construction not on ly 

reduces the amount of waste material s requiring disposal (which 

is costly) but also provid es co nstruction materi als with possibl e 

sav ings over new materials. Because of the large volu me of 

mat e rial s re qu ire d for constructing pavements. they ar e 

favorable struc tures for rec ycling a wi de range of waste 

materials. 

Rec ycling may mean the reuse of mat eri als rem oved from 

pre viou s pavement struc tures. such as recycl abl e asp ha lt 

pavement, recycl able- portland ceme nt co ncrete, and various 

base co ur se materi als. Recycling may also involve usin g 

materials that do not origi nate from pavem en ts; example s are 

slags, ashes, and various polymer materials. Existing de sign 

and analysis procedures are often inapp ropriate for mixtures 

containing waste ma terials; therefore , new procedures mu st be 

developed or existing procedures must be modi fied to make an 

application successful. 

Apri/2000 
Specifications 

Specifications exist for reclaimed asphalt and concrete 

pavem ents, scrap tires, iron and steel slags, fly ash, and 

plastic wastes. These materia ls have been widely used, 

particularly in areas of the country where they are produced. 

Construction specifications for using materials such as foundry 

sands for fills are the same as those for gra nular backfill 

materials. These specifications provide requireme nts for lift 

thickn ess and compaction. One requ irement for satisfactory 

specifications is that suitable test and evaluation methods are 

available. In many instances, test methods develo ped for design 

and co nstruction specificat ions are not readil y usable in 

standard specificati ons. 

The Corps of Engineers has a guide specification that covers 

the use of reclaimed asphalt pavement in hot-mix asphalt (Corps 

of Engi neers Guida nce Spec ification 02749). Te chnica l 

Instruction 822-08 and Technical Manual 5-822-7, Standard 

Practicefor Concrete Pavements, address the use of reclaime d 

asphalt and concrete pavements, iron and steel slags, and fly 

ash. The Co rps of Engineers Handbook for Conc rete and 

Cement contains standards CRD-C 255 and CRD-C 256 that 

pertain to specifying, sampling, and testing fly ash. These 

standards are also available in American Society for Testing 

and Materials C 6 18 and C 31 1. 

Environmental Considerations 

Possible environmental effects of using waste materials 

must be co nsidered when planning pavement projects. 

This includes the effects of preparing the materials for 

use as well as the effects of constructing and using pavem ent s. 

Investigat ions ha ve been conducted into the environmental 

effects of many waste materials durin g pavement applications. 

These material s require special consideration since many of 

them are considered hazardous when used or stockpi led in 

nonpavernent applications. 

Cost Considerations 

The economics of usin g waste mater ials in pavement 

applica tions must be favorabl e for their wides pread 

use to be come a re alit y. Eco no m ic benefits 

can be obtained through improved pa vement perfo rmance 

or fr om redu ced land fill s. Con siderati on must be give n to 

the effec t that waste material s may have on pavement once 

it deteri orate s to the point ofrequiring rehabilitation. Using 

waste materi als in pa vem ent co nstruction will hinder fut ure 

recycling if it means tha t the entire pavement str ucture must 

be co nsidered hazardou s. 

Many claimed cost savings are based only on initial rather 

than life-cycle analysis. Accurate life-cycle cost analysis for 

most waste materials is difficult because of the limited number 

of applications of a particular material. True life-cycle analysis 

must include the initial cost, increase d perform ance, and the 

Ap ril 2000 

effect s of the waste-material recyclability of the pavement 

materials at the conclusion of its useful life. 

Types of Wastes 

The various types of waste materials can be divided 

genera lly into four categor ies: industr ial, domestic, 

mineral, and agricultural. With time and changes and 

develo pments in technology, some of these materials will 

disappear from production, while new types will appear. 

Industrial Wastes. As a gro up, these waste materials are 

probably the most widely reused. Industrial wastes generated 

in tbe United States exceed 400 million tons annually. 

Domestic Wastes. The United States generates more than 

200 m.illion tons of domestic wastes annually. About 185 million 

tons are household or commercial wastes (trash or garbage ). 

Of this amount, about 75 percent is placed in landfills, II percent 

is recycled, and 14 percent is incinerated. 

Mineral Wastes. These wast es-about l .8 bill ion tons 

annually in the United Sta tes-are by-products of various 

mini ng processes. They have had limited usc in pavement 

construction, mainl y because of transportatio n costs . 

Agricultural Wastes. Produced in the United States at a 

rate of more than 2 billion tons annually, these waste mate rials 

are generally used where they are produced . They have a very 

limited use as part of a pavement struct ure. 

Summary 

Waste material s can be recycl ed to produ ce valuab le 

co nstr uc tio n mat er ial s for pa vem ents. Many 

different types of waste materials have been and 

are currently being used in this application. The challenge is to 

recognize potential uses of the various waste ma terials and to 

apply e ngineering so lutio ns for the ir use in p avement 

construction. Specifications that are developed Should address 

the environmental aspects of using particular wastes. 

The availability and generation of waste material s is not 

constant. While some materials will cease to be produced. new 

ones will appear. The satisfactory use of larger volumes of 

these and other types of waste material s through proper design 

and constructio n procedures can provide enormous eco nomic 

and environmental benefits. 

Mr. Sh oen berger is a research civil eng inee r in the 

Materials Analysis Branch. Airfields and Pavements Division, 

Geotechnical Laboratory, Waterways Experiment Station, u.s. 

Army Engin ee ring Resear ch and Developmen t Ce nte r, 

Vicksburg, Mississipp i. He holds a master 's deg ree in civil 

engine ering fro m Miss issippi Sta te University and is a 

registered profe ssional engineer in Mississippi. 

Engineer 29 

III 
Sets, Kits, and Outfits:
 

Technical Trades and Topography
 

By Alan Schli e 

In the f inal offour articles on sets, kits, and outfits (SKOJ. 

the foc us is on the technical trades and topography. The f irst 

article discussed tool sets f or construction trades; the second 

concentrated on pioneering, mine warfare, and dem olition 

tools; and the third addressed bridg ing, diving, lighting, and 

fire-fig hting tool sets. 

General Engineering 

l:he Field Sketching Set, 1'63238, is a collection of 

pencils, protractors, draftin g scales, paper, and 

erasers in a box, with a small drawing board mounted on 

a collapsible, wooden trip od. The set's most technological 

component is a solar-powered calculator. With the advent of 

Land Warrior, the need for this set in combat units is limited ; 

but in units that cann ot expect to receive Land Warrior, some 

type of field-sketching capability is a must. The set is being 

completed revised and is awaiting software-integration funding. 

The set will contain a belt-wearable computer with pen tablet ; 

laser range finders with digital compass and vertic al angle 

capability; a digital recording device ; and numerous software 

application s for surveying, draftin g, earthwork estimation, and 

construction plannin g. 

The Drafting Set: Battalion Char ts, G44569, contains both 

the older. manual drafting implement s and a newer computeraided design (CAD) capability. Next scheduled for review in 

2003. this set is critical to commanders' construction-planning 

capability. Supporting the draftin g set is the Reproduction Set: 

Diazo Process, R84689, which provide s a capability 

to produce engineerin g drawin gs and prints in the 

field. The Diazo process require s an ammonia-base d 

chemical, which complicates its use within enclo sed 

areas and makes clea nup in the field difficult . Newer, 

mul tiple-s cal e engineering copi er s are av ail able 

commercially and have other advantages in additi on 

to their environmentally fr iendl y toners and 

developers. The ne xt generation of eng ineering 

plotters will be digital. full-color, multiple-scal e. LI nd 

scann er-c apabl e. The reproducti on set is bei ng 

reviewed at this time . 

Material test sets include the Concrete Test Set, 

V7 1587. used to test ag gregates and concrete : 

Asphalt Test Set, V64463, used to test aggr egates, 

aspha lt materials, and asphalt paving; and Soil Test 

Set, V92959, used 10 determine soil trafficubility, 

compression, or foundation stre ss. With a few 

exceptions, the components of the three sets reflect 

equipment used in high school science labs in the 

I960s. All are being reviewed this year and will include 

moderate upgrades in technology. The future intent 

is to eoJJoeate these three sets. the dra fting set, and 

the reproduction set in an expandable military sheller 

to create a true job-site plannin g and materialsA soldier uses the Field Sketching Set to digitally record and testing lab. 

display the geographic positions of objects. 

30 Engineer April 2000 
General-Purpose Surveying Set, U70179, is used by 

so ldiers to conduct surveys essential to road , airfield, building, 

and utilit y construction. A three-soldi er surveying team collects 

point data in the field using the automated integrated survey 

instru me nt (AI5I), The data is downloaded and manipulated 

by Tcrramodel software and pro vides the product s necessar y 

for construction planning, designing, and estimating. The set, 

which is c apable of producing third-order surve ys, was 

reviewed in 1999. 

M

Maintenance 

ost of us refer to it as the "conta ct truck," but it is 

actually the Contact Maintenance Shop Equipment 

Set: Truck-Mounted. Your unit may have the MS80 

truck-mounted set , TlO13 8; or the commercial utility cargo 

vehicle (CUCV)-mounted set, 530914; or the latest version on 

a hi gh-mobilit y, multipurpose wheeled-vehicle (HMMWV) 

chassis, S25681. Each se t provides org anizational and directsupport maintenance teams an on-site repair capability for 

e nginee r equipment. The se ts contain oxyacet ylen e and arc ­

welding equipment, po wer tools, diagnostic equipment, and 

hand tools. Th e older models carried portable generators for 

the electric-welding capability. The HMMWV model's power 

requirem ents are met int ernally with 200-amp elec tric arcwelding capability and 4-kilowatt, 120- volt, 60-cyclc , 

alternating-current po wer for tools. Th e Ordnance Sch ool is 

fielding the HMMWV-mounted se t. The M880 and CUCVmounted se ts are no longer being fielded and are scheduled 

for revie w this ye ar. 

We call this one "th e Batmobile," but in reality it is the 

Organizational Repair Shop Equipment Set: Light-TruckMounted, T13152, when mounted on a truck or the GeneralPurpose Repair Shop Equipment Set, TIOS49, when mounted 

on a semitrailer. The model of the truck may change, or it may 

be mounted on a semitrailer, hut the on-board tools include an 

air compressor, lathe , battery charger, drills, welding machine, 

and hand tools to support organizational ma intenance and 

direct-support maintenance of engineer equipment. Power is 

provided throu gh a power takeoff or external 240-volt AC pow er 

source. The dynamotor engin e for the welder connec ts to the 

truck engine or, on the semitrailer version , to the on-board 

generator.A machinist, a specialty MOS trained by the Ordnance 

School , operates both systems. Th e sets are being reviewed at 

this time, 

Precision Instrument Repair Tool Kit, W4930, is designed 

to be used by soldiers tasked to repair surveying instruments, 

However, with the fielding of AISl, surveyors are not required 

to perform other than ope rator-level maintenance on the 

instrument s. This set will be declared obs olete in the future. 

Hydraulic Systems Test and Repair Unit (HYSTRU), 

T30377, is a trailer-mounted shop set containing maint enance 

tools and test equipment for diagnosing, maintaining, and 

April 2000 

repairing hydraulic systems. The operator can fabricate hose 

and tube a ssemblies, measure pressure , flush and c lean 

hydraulic fluids, and transfer fluid. It will he reviewed in 2003 

with the intent to mount it along with the contact maint en ance 

truck on the chassis of one of the family of medium tactical 

vehicles (FMTVs). 

U

Pipeline 

ntil the decision is made on wh ether the Army will 

use only alum inum pipeline and speed co uplings for 

distribution of water and petrol eum, oil, and lubricants, 

the need remain s to repair ex isting pipelines reg ardless of 

construction material. Those sets include the Pipeline Welding 

Radiographic Inspection Equipment Set, N95306; the Pip eCutting and Grooving Tool Set: 6-, 8-, 10-, and 12-inch Pipe, 

W48485; the Pipeline Constructi on Tool Kif: Wel ders 

Supplemental, W56 91O; the Pipeline Con s/ruction Tool KiT: 

Grooved Co up ling , W4 8896 ; the S upple men ta l Pip eline 

Pumping Station Tool Kit: 4-, 6-, and 8-inch Pip e, W65884,' and 

the Welded Pipeline Construction Tool Kit: 4-, 6-, and 8-inch 

Pipe, W58006. Two storage-tank erecti on sets used in conjunction 

with pipeline construction (Erection Outfit: Low Bolted Storage 

Ttmk, H 14389; and Erection Outfit: High Bolt ed Storage Tank.. 

H14252), that may remain in the inventory for some time to come. 

These SKO, which are located in engineer pipeline companie s 

and quartermaster petroleum-pipeline and terminal-operatin g 

companies, arc scheduled for review in 2001 . 

T 

Aggregate Production 

h e o ng oing fielding of the 125-(on s-per-hour 

Crushing, Screening, and Washing Plant, F49673, 

will allow quarry uni ts to produce qual ity 3/8- to 4­

inch aggrega te for construction projects, The plant repl aces 

all crushing, screen ing, and washing equipment. The plant 

con sists of 20 pieces of major equipment that require 375 

kil owatts of electri cal power to operate a nd meets 

Environmental Protecti on Agency du st-abatement and noise 

standards, When the Hydraulic Excavator II (HYEX-II) is 

fielded beginning this ye ar, it will replace the curr ent RockDrilling Equ ipment, 503225; and the Pneumatic Tool Outfits, 

(600-cubic-fec l-per-minute), P 12140. The Pn eumatic Tool 

Compressor Outfit: (2S0-cubic-feet-per-minute) , PI 1866, will 

be ret ained in many units and will be joined by the Hydraulic 

Ele ctric Tool Outfit (HETO), W58486, to provide multiple 

po wer sources for hand tools. 

Railroad 

wO engineer 5KO support the principal tasks of the 

};Transportation Corps Railroad Battalion . The Railway

Enginee r Company contains two platoons of carpenters 

tasked to lay and rep air tra ck and construct railroad bridges, 

structures, and facilitie s with the Railway Construction Set: 

Engineer 3 1 
Soldiers from the 249th Engineer Battalion (Prime Power) unload a 7SD-kilowatt, lightweig ht generator. 

Railroad Track; R05441. And the Railway Equipm ent 

Maintenance Sections repair rolling stock with the Railway 

Equipment Maintenance Tool Sct; W63281. The ne xt 

scheduled review for these SKO is 200 3. 

A

Prime Power 

t a recent conference, pr ime-powe r s ubjec t-m atter 

ex perts co nduc ted a comprehe nsive review of the 

SKO supporting their missions. The battalion 's mission 

is to provide up to 18 megawatts of electrical power for faciliti es 

such as command -a nd-control sites, hos pital s, weap on 

systems. and logistic-support areas. The power plant operation 

and maintenance team s rely on the Power Plant Service Kit, 

5 78722. [ 0 establ ish , ope rate , and maintain power plants. 

Power-lin e team s construct and ma intain up to 60 miles of highvoltage transmission line. To complete their mission, they use 

the Power-Line Maintenance Service Kit: Transmission-Line 

Po we r-Lin e Team, 5 78712. a nd th e Electrical Power 

Transmission Tool Set: Railway Maintenance, W60952. The 

Power- Line Mai ntenance Serv ice Kit: Distribution-Line 

Utilit ies Team, 578702, is used f or constructi on an d 

maint enance of lin es between transmi ssion lines and buildings 

and struc tures . Th ese SKO will be reviewed in 2002. 

T

Topographic
 

he Topographic Section Surveying Set, U71275,
 

pro vide s s urvey ing , dr a fting , computin g , and
 

offic e eq ui pmen t for use in pr ep aring sketc hes,
 

32 Engineer 

drawings, and maps and furn ishing geodetic control to the 

field artillery. The most recent supply cata log combined this 

set and the Topographic Platoon Surveying Set: Supplemental, 

U71138. The set wa s reviewed in J999 ; the next review will 

co nside r con solidating the co nstruc tio n surveying set and 

drafting set with this set. 

Transportable Lightweigh t Printing Plant: Special 

Warfare, P61665, is used by psych ol ogi cal operatio ns 

(PSY O PS) te ams to c reate , ph otol ith ogr aph , and print 

pamphlets, leaflets, and posters. Mounted on two trucks towing 

IS-kilowatt generators, it is capable of printing 8,000 singlecolor, ] 1- by 17-inch products per hour. It is now one of thre e 

modules developed for the PSYOPS Mo dular Print System. 

Prop onency will be transferred to the Special Warfare Sc hoo l. 

The Topographic Support System (TSS) con sists of 22 

separate sets, each mounted on a sem itrailer. It successfully 

mobilized what had been an immobile plant ope ration for 

creating, updating, and printing maps and other terr ain-anal ysis 

products. Th e TSS has done a yeom an 'sjob since initial fielding 

in 1987 . but it retlected the technology of the 70s when it was 

devel oped. Some of the sets are alre ady being turn ed in, but a 

few will be retained La meet specifie contingencie s, such as 

map prod uction. 

The Digital Topographic Support System (DTSS) will 

provide timely and accur ate digital and hard-copy geos patial 

informati on to meet comm ander and staffreal-time requiremen ts 

for topographi c support. The DTSS supports the col lection, 

ex traction , and exploitation of the ph ysical charact eristics of 

April 2000 
the surface of the earth in order to build a found ation for the 

common knowledge of the battlespace. The DTSS provides 

the commander with tools to enhance battle-management 

capabilities. The benefit is that the commander's situational 

awareness of the baulespace is visualized as never before. 

The DTSS consists of four configurations to provide specific 

products at different command levels on the battlefield. The 

DTSS-Light provides digital equipment to respond rapidly to the 

commander's need for topographi c products and to quickly 

process low-volume reproduction of large-format, high-resolution, 

multicolor topographic products. The DTSS-D eployable was 

previously known as the MultrSpectral Image Processor (MSIP). 

It manipulates digital terrain data and provides it to commanders 

to support tactical decisions.The DTSS-Heavy consists of a larger 

mix of equipment to support more workstations.The DTSS-Base, 

also called the Terrain Imagery Integration Prototype (TIIP) 

prov ides equi pment ena bli ng the eche lo n-a bove-corps 

topographic unit to respond to the commander in chief's 

requirement for generating terrain data, analysis, and production 

of graphics,maps, views, and other products.Basis of issue plans 

have been completed, and fielding of the various systems is 

underway. Although DTSS are issued in set configuration, they 

are not true SKO in that reviews and supply catalogs win not 

follow SKO procedures. 

E

Miscellaneous 

ngineers are proponents for some unique SKO. Fire 

stations are ta sked to repair the hoses and refi ll! 

echarge ca rbo n dioxide fire extingui shers. This is 

accomplished using the Repair and Refilling Kit: Carbon 

Di ox ide Exting uisher, R724 84 . In circ ums tances where 

deployment is likely to an area where native timber can be 

harve s ted for theater-o f-operati on co ns truction, a 

Supplementary Equipment Set: Forestry, U59373, provides 

pioneer hand tools to support the forestry team 's 60-in chdiameter sawmill. (Numerous combat-engineer battalions were 

opera ting sawmills in the Ardennes when called on to contain 

the German offen sive, referred to as the Battle ofthe Bulge, in 

the winter of 1944.) The Tool Kit Rigging Wire Rope: CUTting, 

Clamp ing, and Splicing, W50266, is found wherever wire rope 

or cable is used on winches, anchorages, or slings. It contains 

the items necessary to cut, clamp, or splice 3/8-, 112-, and 5/8­

inch-di ameter wire rope. Soldiers involved in driving piles use 

the Portable Jetting Set: Pile-Driving Operation, L16026, to 

aid in the final positioning and aligning of piles before they are 

capped for work platforms, or bents, or as posts for retaining 

walls, dikes, levees, breakwaters, abutments, or footings. The 

Sign-Making Kit, S70984, is found in every unit with a need 

to provide information, instruction, or directional signs. The 

oddes t set in the engineer arsenal of soldie r tools is the 

Amphibious Lighter Tool Set: LARC V Organizational 

Maintenance, W31223 . No longer an engineer responsibility, 

it is at the top of the make-it-obsolete list. 

April 200 0 

Comments 

he Tool Imp rovement Program Suggestion (TIPS) has 

be en comb in ed with th e Suppl y Maintenan ce 

Assessment and Review Team (SM ART) suggestion 

program.TIPS still focuses on tools, while SMART focuses on 

organi zations and processes. Use TIPS to report tools that 

should be deleted from the system, added to the system, can' t 

stand up to use, or need to be modified to work better. Both 

programs provide monetary awards in many instances. Put your 

SMART ideas on a DA Form 5533 and TIPS on DA Form 2233, 

or on plain paper, and send them to Project SMART/TIPS , 

Director of Combat Developments for Combat Service 

Support, 390 1 A Avenue, Suite 220, Fort Lee, Virginia 2380 1­

1809. You can also call DSN 687-0363/2406/2399 or e-mail 

SMART@lee. army.mil. Th e web site I S http :// 

www.cascom.army.mil/mulr i/project_smartl 

Comme nts on too ls wit hi n engi nee r SKO ca n also be 

addressed to the Directo rate of Combat Developm en ts, 

Engineer Division, ATTN: ATZT-CDE-O , 320 Engineer Loop, 

Suite 141, Fort Leonard Wood, Missouri 65473-8929. 

Telephone numbers are DSN 676-6191 or commercial (573) 

563-6 19 1. You can also e-mai l your comme nts to 

sc hlieatiswood .army.mil or th e web site a t http :// 

www.wood.a rmy.millWeh CommentFo rm.htm. We don· tgive 

monetary awards, but there is a faster response. 

The Army is always looking for better, faster, cheaper, and 

safer ways of doing business, whether it's supply, maint enance, 

transportation, or engineers. 

l:

Summary 

hiS final article of the series gives a glimp se of the 

magnitude and diversity of the SKO managed by the 

Engineer School. And it hints at the impa ct SKO have 

on the battlefield as each soldier 's tools of the trade , the 

absence of which would result in less mission accomplishment. 

As the four articles have discussed, considerable effort is being 

expended to update engineer tool sets. Much work still remain s 

if we are to provide the right tools for the job. Unit commanders 

have been given the task of obtaining these tools within the 

constraints of operating budgets. There is no requirement for a 

unit to have all the newly configured sets immedi ately. The 

intent was to neither cause readiness problems nor break the 

piggy bank but to provide tools for soldiers to accomplish 

their designated tasks quickly, profe ssionally, and with pride. 

W 

Mr. Schlie is a fo rce de velopm ent analys t with th e 

Directorate of Combat Developm ents. U.S. Army Enginee r 

School. A retired command sergeant major; he has served in 

various capacities in Europe, Korea, and CONUS throughout 

his career. 

Engineer 33 
GIS - The Bridge Into the
 

Twenty-First Century
 

By Lieutenant CoLonel Tim Rensema, Mr: Craig Erickson, 

and Captain Steve Herda 

"Terrain visualization is the responsibility of commanders and staffs across the spectrum of today's Army. To 

effectively see the impact that terrain has on units conducting and supporting military operations, all commanders and 

staffs must be aware of the effects of terrain . 111e terrain expert is the engineer: " 

Major General Robert B. Flowers 

Commandant, U.S. Army Engineer Scho ol 

I t is the .responsibility of engineers 

to advise leaders of the effects that 

terrain may ha ve on unit operations. 

The U.S. Anny Engineer School offers 

valuable trainin g in understanding these 

effects and the tools that are available to 

analyze terrain . Among these tools is the 

PC-based TerraBase II, version 3, which 

performs terrain-ev aluation function s 

such as line-of-sight displays, weapons 

fans , slopes, oblique and perspective 

views , fly-throughs, sunli ght/moonlight 

data, and distance measurements. Army 

topographic units have the Di gital 

Topographic Support System (DTSS). 

Engine e r terrain- analy si s teams 

(military occupational specialty 81T) use 

th e DTSS to provide Geosp atial 

Information and Ser vices (GIS) support. 

The terrain teams are the critical support 

c lement for terrain complex analys is in 

support of the military decision-making 

process (MDMP). The terra in teams are 

currently allocated down to each division 

in the Arm y. In the digital force, the 

DTSS has a much-expanded role that 

includes digital terrain data management and disseminatio n. In the 

expanded role , terrain teams and equip ­

ment are allocated to each maneuver 

brigade. 

Hi gh-end GIS tools like the DTSS 

combine remotely sensed data , 

conve ntional gro u nd s urv eys, and 

cartography on various computer-based 

syste ms . Th e Army's GIS , w hi ch 

continues to evolve, relates real-world 

positional data from the battlefield to 

positions on a known grid reference so 

that attributes such as slope, vegetation, 

34 Engineer 

and bridge capacity may be analyzed. The 

GIS databases can be ac cessed , 

manipulated , and tran sformed in a n 

interactive process that allows commanders. decision makers, and planners 

to explore the battlefield and obtain the 

range of consequences of a plan before 

mistakes are irrevocably made. 

For the majority of units in the Arm y ' Re serve Component, acce ss to the 

benefits of GIS may seem out of reach . 

However, this capability to move from 

acetate and grease pencils to a computermaintained, digital spatial-managem ent 

system is within our grasp today. 

Advantages 

The potential advantage s of the 

GIS go beyond just vie wing 

terrain information. By using 

spatial data from a variety of sources, 

GIS programs can reduce analysis time, 

simplify complex decisions, and reduc e 

the time on the objective for reconnaissance teams. GIS data layers afford 

additi onal functionality in expediting 

various decision matri xes required by 

staff elements. As an exampl e , the se 

programs could support obstacle-plan 

de vel opment , route reconnaissance , 

force protection , and other tactical 

operati ons. 

Another benefit of the GIS is its 

ability to e valuate all avail abl e data 

(including elevation), which increases 

the potential to provide spatial decision 

criterion to commanders. Additional 

data can be incorporated into the GIS 

database to allow more accurate analysis 

at tactical operations centers. 

Integrating administrative data layers 

with the tactical requirements of 

maneuver commanders is a concept 

worth testing. The Integrated Training 

Area Manag ement (lTA M) program has 

already e stabli shed an exp erienced 

operator ba se with the equipment to 

apply GIS to environmental, facility, and 

tr aining-site management. M ost 

installations already have Ar cView? to 

an alyze data layers for their training 

areas.Through lTAM. active and reserve 

installations can provide spatial-analysis 

systems to maneu ver commanders 

wanting to expand th eir battlefieldanalysis capabilities. 

Testing the System 

The Minnesota Army National 

Guard at Camp Ripley has one 

of the most ad vance d GIS 

databases in the Army National Guard. 

Personnel there have created more than 

75 data layers to better support trainin gsite personnel. During its 1999 annual 

training at Camp Ripley, th e 164th 

Engineer Battali on (C)(M) from Minot, 

North Dakota, used a Mississippi River 

crossing operation co nducted by its 

957th Engineer Company (Assault Float 

Bridge) from Bismarc k, North Dakota, 

to develop and test the concept of using 

administrative GIS data layers to support 

ta cti cal operatio ns . Camp Riple y 's 

hardware, software, and personnel were 

used to develop this exercise. Using Field 

Manual (FM) 90- 13, River-Crossing 

Op eration s, as a reference , battalion 

personn el identified data necessary to 

determine th e best cross ing sites. 

April 2000 
Pe rti nent evaluatio n informa tion for 

river cros sings incl udes slop es, soi l 

type s, riv er width and dep th, curre nt 

velocity, vegetation cover, obstacles, and 

the enemy situation. 

Workin g with the Minn esota Army 

Natio nal Guard CIS staff. 164th 

personnel reviewed existing data layers 

to determine the support data that was 

avai lable for developing a river-crossing 

scenario, using the analytica l Arc view" 

capab iliti es wi th the sp atia l-a na ly st 

extension. We found that most of the 

evalua tion inf orma tion needed wa s 

ava ila ble within ex is ting data laye rs 

obtained through remote sensing. While 

the capability to determine water depth 

and curren t velocity is curr ently not 

available, software is constantly being 

impro ved to obtain these variables based 

on factors such as drainage basins,slope, 

and discharge of the river. 

Figure I shows a layout for the rivercrossing exercise that was produced by 

usi ng the GIS . It dep icts the corridor 

co ns ide re d for river- cros sing site 

anal ysis- a 3-ki lorneter buffer of the 

main river channel adj acent to Camp 

Ripl ey training sites. This buffer defines 

the area to which analysis pro gram s will 

be limited . While the entire area could 

u nde rgo ana ly sis , this buffer area 

reduces analysis time and represent s all 

possible cross ing sites. 

The second analysis phase involved 

de ve loping crossi ng-site eva luation 

criter io n . We app li ed a s uitability 

an alysis me thod that comb ined slope, 

taken from a di gital elevation model 

(OEM), and soil texture data to evaluate 

areas along the entrance and exit banks 

that met FM 90-13 requirements. Figure 

2 shows the terrain-ra ti ng layer, the 

resultant data layer of this analysis. 

From the terrain-rating data layer, the 

best river-c rossing sites were visually 

ide nti fi ed . Other potentia l anal ysis 

requirem ents for site se lec tion wer e 

identified also, such as river width, road 

netw ork s, cover and concea lment, and 

salients in the river course . 

River width was taken from satellite 

data provided by the Na tional Imagery 

April 2000 

Figure 1. The corridor outlined in black depicts the area considered 

for river-crossing site analysis; this area is a 3-kilometer buffer of the 

main river channels adjacent to Camp Riley training lands. 

Figure 2: This terrain-rating layer, created from slope and soil-texture 

data, was used to evaluate the area along the entrance and exit banks 

that met slope and soil requirements . The circled areas were considered potential crossing sites. 

Mappi ng Agency. Road networks, wh ich wea ther, and id ent ifie s what we 

define how we ll a site ca n support a determi ned to be the best river-crossing 

maneuv er-unit crossing, and cover and site. Analyzing da ta layers using the GIS 

crossing area . Figure 3, page 36, depicts may never completely replace the need 

the area of operation and captures all of for ground reconnaissance, but it ca n 

this data . wi th the ex ce ption o r the reduce the time spent at the site. 

Engineer 35 
Figure 3. Road networks, lakes, rivers, wetland~ and w~odlands were used to individually evaluate potential crossing 

sites. This is a close-up view of the southernmost potential 

crossing site. 

Other hel pful information used in 

determining risks was obtained thr ough 

DEMs. This incl ude d lin e- of-site 

analysis, which enabled us to determine 

where the brid ge site wa s exposed to 

enemy direct fire and to identify enemy 

posi tion s in defilade on the oppos ite 

shore. Once enemy emplaceme nts of 

artill ery and mortar were kno wn , the 

artillery ran ge could be ove rlaid on the 

project location usin g the GIS program. 

We used this tool to determine whether 

our crossing site came under indirect fire 

fr om kn own enemy d ivi sional and 

regimental artillery groups. OUfselected 

site wa s out of the effective range of the 

regimental artill ery group but within the 

divisional art illery gro up ran ge . Our 

friendl y fire support also could have 

been includ ed as a dat a layer to 

determine the direct- and indirect-firesupport coverage we could expect. 

Especially crucial to the success of this 

test was having the proper requirements 

in place. such as a we ll-defined operational scope, appropriate hardware and 

software, a GIS-competent operator, and 

a resident database. 

T

Conclusion 

he De puty Chief of St aff for 

Op eration s ha s org aniz e d 

regi on al suppor t ce nte rs to 

pro vid e a consiste nt da ta ba se fo r 

trai ning -site manag ement. It co ntains 

"core" data layers that are also conducive 

to tactical operations, With the addi tion 

of layers and modifications provided by 

analyses of other units, man y different 

tactical scenarios can be "played" using 

existing GIS ope ra tions. Terr aB ase II 

provides terr ain- evaluation tools based 

on elevation data, digital imagery data, 

and digital map data. For more complex 

analys is requirernents, an interactive 

GIS pro gram like ArcView? ca n help 

maneuver commanders benefit from GIS 

even if the DTSS has not been fielded to 

their units. W 

Lieutenant Colonel Rensema is a War 

Co llege Fello w a t th e A rmy 

Environ m ental Poli cy lnstitut e in 

Atlanta, Georg ia. H e p rev iousl y 

co mma nded the 164th Engin ee r 

Battalion (C)(M), Minot, North Dakota. 

Mr. Erickson is the GIS Specialist at 

th e Ca mp Ripley Training Sit e 

Env iro nmen ta l Offi ce, Little Fa lls, 

Minnesota. 

Captain Herda commands the 957th 

AFB Company, Bis ma rck, North 

Dakota. lie previously IVa.\' the plans 

officer for the 164th Engin eer Battalion 

(C)(M). 

(continu ed from page ' 7) 

1943, the peak year of training at Fort 

Leonard Wood. Th e interior of one of 

each type of building has been restored. 

Al so, th e interior of one barracks 

building has been restored to interpret 

ba sic training ba rrack s in 1967 . This 

Cold War int erpret ati on dr amatically 

illustrates the ada ptive reuse of World 

War II temp orary buildings to support 

the training b oom o f th e Vietnam 

conflict. 

Other rest ored buildin gs in the 

complex hou se a va rie ty of ex hibits 

supporting the history of Fort Leonard 

Wood. One restored dayroom has a display 

dealing with the life and career of MG 

Le on ard Woo d , th e in st all ati on's 

namesake. In another restored barracks 

is an interpretation of the German and 

Itali an prisoner-of-war ca mp, whi ch 

operated at Fort Leonard Wood from 1943 

to 1946. The most recent addition to this 

area is a historic chapel. By preserving 

this collection of World War II buildings, 

I	 Fort Leo nard Wood has created a time 

cap sule of the history of the train ing 

experience from 1941 to the present. 

Regimental Store 

JLoc ated in the lobby of th e 

museum, the Regim ental Store , (which is operated by the Army 

Engineer Association) offers a un ique 

lin e of gifts. Merchandise primarily 

features engineer regiment al crests and 

the engineer castle. Proceeds fro m the 

store help support the adjacent engineer 

Regimental Room. Steeped in engineer 

history, the Regimental Room proudly 

displa ys colors and spe cial plaqu es of 

deactivated engineer units. 

Com e and v is it yo ur Eng in eer 

Mu seum . III 

MI: Combs is the Engineer Museum 

curator. 

Located at the com er of South Dakota 

and Nebraska Avenues, the museum is 

open to the public, free of charge, from 

1000 to 1600, Monday through Saturday. 

The telephone number is (573) 596-0780 

(DSN 581-0780), the e-mail address is 

combsk@wood.anny.mil, and the web site 

is wwt\l, Od. ann .m il/m . . ..1 

36 Enginee r	 Apri/ 2000 
Past in Review
 

A Genius for Fortification:
 

Vauban and the Future of Positional Warfare
 

By Dr. Burton Wright!!! 

T oday positional warfare is a longforgotten art, Armies of the future 

will nev er allow them selv es to 

become bogged do wn in redu ei ng 

fortresses or, for that matter, in building 

them. Such anachronisms can he bypassed 

by vertical envelopment or destro yed by 

precision munitions.' Speed and violence 

of exec ution are the ten et s of today 's 

doctrin al manuals. Picks and shovels 

belong in museums. Or do they? 

W hen he became king, France's 

Louis XIV j oined with 

Inspe ctor Gen eral Jacques 

M artinet 2 and the Mini ster of War, the 

Marquis de Louvo is, to create an excellent 

standing army of200,000 men.' Although 

it was the best-drilled and best-equipped 

in Europe, in the long series of dynastic 

wa rs that followed, Louis' army became 

very adept at maneuver and fortifications. 

This expertise was the result of the genius 

of one man-an engineer named Sebastian 

Ie Prestre de Vauban. 

Born of poor land owners, Vauban was 

orphaned in childhoo d and brou ght up 

by pea sants. He retained many aspects 

of their culture throu ghout his life. At the 

age of 17, he enlisted as a priva te soldier 

and was eve ntually commissioned a 

li euten ant. His tal ents we re so 

o u ts tand i ng that he a ttr ac te d th e 

atte ntio n of the Marquis de Louv oi s, 

who did not let the lack of blu e blood 

stan d in th e wa y of promot ing good 

men." Th rough hi s bri lli ance and 

professionalism, Vaub an worked his way 

up to the rank of Marshal of France . Over 

four decades, this engineer compiled a 

series of spe ctacul ar victorie s-in both 

attac king massive forts and in defending 

them fro m attack-that has never been 

ma tched. 

Before Vaubari 's time, fortifications 

were somew hat primitive and consisted 

of h igh wa lls protected by a moat or 

ditch . In the Middl e Ages, simple linear 

walls of stone were enough to keep those 

in sid e safe and so und . But with the 

in vention of the cann on, the idea of 

fortificati on s too k a new turn . Wall s 

became massive and imp ervious to direct 

infantry assault. Engineers ofLouis XIV's 

day wen t even fur the r in devel op in g 

defensive positions, makin g it much more 

difficuIt to conquer a city in a short time. 

Sieges became long and bloody affairs.' 

Fr ance's principal en emies during 

Louis XlV's reign were the English and 

the Dutch . Both pro vid ed formi da ble 

opposi tion to the king's dyn astic plans 

for Euro pe. Most of the major fighting 

during his num erous co nflicts with his 

nei ghbors took pl ace in and a ro und 

Be lgi um and th e Nethe rl an ds . Both 

nations have terr ain th at is more 

adap table to the use of fortifications to 

den y an in vader en trance th an to 

maneuver warfare.vIt was for this type of 

war that Vaub an was most suited. 

One of Vaubans defen sive tec hniqu es was to build forts in the shape of 

a sta r and place them on critica l terrain in 

advance ofthe main wa lls ofthe city (see 

Figure I). This forced an enemy to redu ce 

the fort befo re taki ng on the city. The 

star shape allowed the garriso n to use 

In addition to strong construction, the 

ability to mass fires was one of the most 

formidable means of defense. 

Most forts had cleared fields of 

fire for hundreds of yards around 

the fort to make it difficult for the 

enemy to emplace artillery or 

achieve surprise. 

Star forts were surrounded 

by ditches and/or moats, 

which were difficult for 

attacking infantry to cross. 

Figure 1. A star-shaped fort. 

April 2000 Engineer 37 
First Parallel 

Third Parallel 

Second Parallel 

Figure 2. The parallel method of attack. 

flanking fire and to sweep the glacis of 

attacking infantry. The defenders' 

cannons were placed in embrasures to 

give them prote ction whil e they tired . 

Star-sha ped fort s had both inne r and 

outer defen ses; if one was breached, then 

the other provided safety for the garrison 

to continue the resistance. (Note: If you 

f ly over man y of the harder To wns of 

France, Holland, and Belgium, you can 

see numerous intact exa mples of starshape d forts. Most of these were built 

and designed by Vauban.) 7 

During the Middle Age s, one of the 

way s to breach fortificati ons was to dig 

a sap or tunn el (he nce the term sappe rs) 

under a wall and explode gunpowder in 

the tunn el so the waJl woul d co lla pse . 

Many of Vaub ans forts were constructed 

so that this breaching method would not 

collapse the walls. He used large amounts 

of packed earth combined with masonr y 

and stones [ 0 c reate a powerful line of 

fortifications. The only way to attack wi th 

some expectation of success was to use 

a parallel method that Vauban pioneered. 

Vauban's parallel method of breaching 

co nsisted of parallel Ii nes dug at right 

angles to a line of fortific ations and then 

turned at right angles. much like a zigzag 

design (sec Fig ure 2). Gibbons (round, 

dirt , protecti ve rolls, often enclos ed by 

woven rop e or straw) wer e pushed in 

front of those digging the parallel. When 

the parallels we re close enough to the 

38 Engin eer 

fort, guns were situated so as to put that 

part of the fort under fire , then the second 

par allel was begun. At the end of the 

seco nd pa rallel, more po werful and 

sho rter-rang e gun s we re placed to 

support the third parallel. This brou ght 

the inf antry near the walls, which allowed 

a direct attack. This system could take 

weeks or even months to accomplish, 

becau se usually more than one parallel 

was planned against a fort. 

Vauban made his reputation at the age 

of 40 with the siege of the great Dutch 

fortress town of Maestricht, where he 

first used his par allel system of attack. 

When his para llels reached below the wall 

of Maestricht, Vaub an approached the 

commander of the city and reque sted that 

he surrender. The commander refused, 

so the French army set off mines and 

other explosions to crea te lanes through 

whic h in fantry ov e rwhelmed th e 

defenders. 

In Holland, where much ofLouis XfV 's 

Thirty Years' War took place, roads were 

few and in terrible condition. so canals and 

riv er s se rved as logi stic al lifelines. 

Possessing fortified areas along one of the 

critical canals could mean the difference 

between defeat and victory. Year after year, 

France fought England and Holland for 

these important fortif ied towns and the 

strategicalcontrol they offered. The capture 

of Maestrichr allowed the French to use 

the inner waterways of Holland for moving 

troops and supplies. Several months later. 

Vauban successfully forced the surrender 

of Trier.This gained for France the control 

of the Mo sell e Ri ver and enabled the 

co untry to supply one of her grea test 

generals, Turenne, while he campai gned 

in Germany, 

Toward the end of several great battles 

between the Fre nch army and the army 

of the Duke of Marlborough, the French 

built a series offortified lines in Belgi um 

that was too stro ng to dir ectly attack . 

Vauban's geniu s helped to fashion those 

Jines, and they we re never penetrated to 

any extent. The French army, und er the 

aged hut crafty Marshal Villars, was able 

10 lise the lines as an area to retreat to 

when pressed by the British and Dutch 

forces. The army rarely ventured beyond 

these lines. 

Defensive warfare can help pre serve 

an army from disaster when time is the 

most important factor. The French knew 

that eventually both the Dutch and British 

would tire of the war and seek a negotiated 

peace. Queen Ann e dismissed Marlborough and, after a few small battles (the 

last of which was Demain), the war ended. 

The Peace of Utrecht foJJowed. 

Without the genius and professional 

skill of Vauban, many of Louis XIV's 

campaigns in his various wars to make 

France the strongest co untry in Europe 

would ha ve come to naught. As long as 

Vauban was alive, France was assured 

that he and his engineers would domin ate 

the war of fortresses. 

Who knows, a futur e Vauban may be 

serving in our Arm y right now ') Since 

te rrain dictates tactics, if the ene my 

chooses to use dominant terrain, then we 

ca n be sure that fort ifications of some 

kind will be built and, more importantly, 

have to be breached . 

For example, durin g World War II in 

Italy, Field Marshal Albert Kesselring 

conducted a masterful defensive battle up 

the Italian boor by fortifying dominant 

terrain and annihil ating the Allies as they 

attempted to take it. And during the long, 

bloody battle 10 take the dominant heights 

Ap ril 2000 
of M onte Cassino, the British, American, 

and Polish armies were all forced back . 

Finally, the Polish army hroke through, but 

the cos t in cas ualties was enormous. 

In Vietnam in 1967, the U.S. Army 's 

173d Airborne Brigade faced du g-in and 

fortified North Vietn amese forces at Dak 

To . Before the ba ttle began, U.S. soldiers 

found co m municatio ns wire and steps 

cut int o the hillside, which told them the 

e nemy's le vel of prepar a t ion. Th e 

sold ie rs knew th e No rth Vie tna mese 

waited in de ep. camoufl aged bu nkers. 

The 173d had not mov ed eve n 50 yards 

up the hill when they became invol ved in 

heavy combat. 

It is still possible, giv en the terrai n in 

which the U.S. Army might have to figh t, 

that we may face ene my fortifications that 

eve n Vauban would find formidable. Since 

it is engi neers who mu st hel p neu tralize 

the m, we can only hope that there will be 

a Vauban in the engineer ranks. Believe it 

or not, po sitio nal warfare still has a future . 

Don't throw away your pick and shovel. 

You may need them ! 

Dr. Wright is th e Che mical Cor ps 

historian at Fort Leonard Wood. 

Endnotes: 

'Clearly from ex perienc e during the 

Gul f War, pre cisio n mun ition s are very 

useful a g a inst s pe c if ic ty pes o f 

fortification s and bunkers. However, the 

Ira qi forc e s u ndergroun d. where 

fortifications were not readil y visibile, 

were not damaged significantly by these 

att ac ks. Robe rt H. Sca le s. Certain 

Vietory: The u.s. Army in the Gulf War. 

Londo n: Brasscy 's Inc, 1998 . 

2The term "rnartinent" comes from this 

man. His traini ng of the new army was 

exact. and French uni ts mo ved with an 

al m ost stra igh t lin e . D isci pline was 

severe . Many of Frederick's so ldiers were 

tra ined u nder thi s s yste m . Lyn n 

Montross. War Throu gh the At:es . New 

York: Harper and Bro thers , 1955. 

3 Wh at made this Am1Y so un ique was 

it was a " standing ar my." Most of the 

armies of the peri od were not as large 

and usuall y were the king 's or emperor's 

personal gua rd . Sold ie rs were formed 

on ly when neede d . They a lso wore 

specific unifo rms for specific du ties as 

Gu sta vus Ado lphus had pioneered with 

his Swed ish Army. Arche r Jon es. The 

Western Way ofWar. Ne w York: Pen guin 

Books, 1985. 

4 Th e Minister of War was amo ng the 

first of his type to recogni ze talent in othe r 

than the nob ility and to promote so ld iers 

o n th at basis. Napole on was soo n to 

follow this example. Man y of his best 

lead ers, such as Lannes and Davo ut, 

were drawn from the middle class. Alistar 

Hom e. So Fur From Austerlitz. New York: 

William Morrow, 1999. 

, Montro ss. 

6 For a good und erstandin g of the use 

of terrai n , see Da v id Cha nd ler. 

Ma rlborough as Militarv Commander. 

New York: Charles Scribner's Son. 197 3. 

Pp.77-92, 151-165. 

7 Montross and Chandler. 

The Engineer Writer 's Guide 

We think engineers take a special pride in their profession, and Contributors are encouraged to include black-and -white or color 

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share their expertise , experience , and ideas. the article. Include captions for allY photographs submitted. HardIf you are a potential contributing writer, here are a few "writer' s copy photos are preferred, but we will accept digital images origiguide" tips to steer you in the right direction. nally saved at a resolution no lower than 200 dpi. Please do not 

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We're especially interested in articles that have a "how-to-do­ Include your full name. rank, current unit, and job title. Also it-better" theme. For instance, we're not looking for articles telling include a list of your past assig nments, experience, and education; readers how you conducted a routine field exercise. BUlif you think your mailing address: and a fax number and commercial daytim e 

you have a "new-and-improved" way of conducting a tactical op­ phone number. eration, training exercise. or other operational procedure that may Reviews of books on engineer topics are also welcome. 

prove helpful to other eng ineers. that's what we need. 

Articles should gen erally come from con tributors with first­ Articles or book revie ws may be mailed to: Editor. Engineer 

hand experience of the subject being presen ted. Articles should be Professio nal Bulletin, 320 Engi neer Loop, Suite 2 10, Fort Leonard 

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Length should rang e from 2.000 to 4,000 words, and text should All subm issions are subject to editing. be double-spaced . Genera lly. each such page should contain from 

If yon have que stions about an artic le you're work ing on-or 200 to 250 words. Manuscripts should be originals or clear copies . considering writing-caJl Shirley Bridges or Lynne Sparks , at DSN Provide a 3 112-inch disk in Microsoft Word. Rich Text Format. or 

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Articles containing attributable infor mation or quotations articles that have been accepted jor publication by ather Army 

not referenced in the story should carry appropriate endnotes. profess ional bulletins. 

April 2000 Engineer 39 
I 

~()II(~ I)
 

By Captain Sam Hudson 

n the past seve ral years, the Engineer Offi cer Basic Co urse 

(EOBC) and the Engineer Officer Advanced Course (EOAC) 

ha ve undergone several changes. Because of these 

change s, many officers in the fie ld may be unaware of the 

specific types of skills and the actual depth of knowl edge that 

recent gradu ates of the EOBC and EOAC possess. This article 

outlines the ROBC and EOAC programs of instruction and 

briefly explains recent and prop osed changes in the courses. 

EOBC 

The EOBC prov ides general instruction on the basics of 

Army engineering. The 17-week course , which includes 

two weeks for in-processing and out-p rocessing, is 

divided into four phases: 

•	 Com m on Core. This thr ee -week phase co nsists of 120 

hours of in struction an d covers topics in leadership, 

mi litary just ice , training mana gement, and s up p ly 

ma nagement. Engineer students receiv e instru cti on 

alongside che mical and military police offic ers in many 

of the cl asses. 

•	 Co m bat Eng ineeri n g and Ta cti cs. This six-week phase 

consist s of 238 hours of in struction, which in cludes 

bridging, demolitions, mine warfare, and combined -arm s 

tactic s. 

•	 Battalion Field Trai ning. This three-week phase consists 

of 345 hours of instruction and includes land navigation, 

Sapper Stakes, a fo ur-day situational trai ning exerc ise 

(STX), and a five -day field training exercise (FIX). 

•	 C ons t r u ct io n E n gi neer in g. This three-week phase 

consists of 120 ho urs of instructio n, whi ch covers both 

horizont al and vertical construction . 

focusing more on the " ha nds-on" ap plicat io n of the 

student s' newly learned skills, only 37 percent of the total 

course comes in the form of classroom instruction . The remaining 

63 percenr is practical exercises (PE), the STX, and the FTX. In 

additi on , a basic two- hour offensive/defensive comp ute r 

exercise (CPX) allows students to integrate their tactical plans 

into a task-force plan . 

Probably the most significant change to the EO BC was the 

switch fro m a " tracked" to a " straig ht-lined" program of 

instruction in 1997 . Until then , students received two week s of 

specialized instruction based on their follow-on assignm ent 

(such as combat engineering and tacti cs for combat engineers 

vs constru ction training for combat-heavy engineers). Now, 

in stead of spec ia lized trai n ing, students receive genera l 

inst ruction in all areas of engineering, regardless of their 

upcoming assignments. So it is important to realize that none 

of the students anive at th eir first unit with an in-depth 

knowledge of anyone area. To more fully devel op their 

40 Engi neer 

kn ow ledge and skills, new officers mu st receive guidance , 

mento ring, and professional dev elopment from fellow officers 

in their new unit. 

EOAC 

Und er TRADOC's Captain 's Professional Mi litary 

Ed ucatio n (C PT PM E) pl an , the EOAC is now 

considered Pha se J of the En g in eer Captain's 

Career Co urse (ECCC) and is primarily designed to prepare 

engineer captains to command engineer companies and serve 

as staff office rs in combi ned- arm s task forc es. While many 

officers perceived the old 22-week EOAC as a "gentleman' s 

course," this is no longer the case. As of 1999, the course 

length wa s redu ced to 18 weeks but maintained essentially the 

same amount of materi al. Thus, current EOAC stude nts must 

cover a comparable amoun t of information in four weeks less 

than their predecessors. 

In an attempt to integrate the branches and services of our 

armed forces, and to improve cooperation with other coun tries, a 

typical EOAC class consists of about 67 percent active-duty 

engin eer officers, 16 percent intern ational students. 8 percent 

nonengineer officers, 5 percent Reserve Component (RC) officers, 

and 4 percent Marin e Corps officers. Under the CPT PME plan, 

all active-dut y officers (except some who are pursuing advan ced 

degrees) attend the six-week Phase II of the ECCC (the Combined 

Arms and Services Staff School, or CAS 1

) at Fort Leavenworth 

immediately following completi on of EOAC. 

EOAC is composed of five modu les, with one week dev oted 

to out-processing and graduation: 

•	 Leadership Foundations. During this three-w eek modul e, 

students receive instruction on leadership, Army values/ 

ethi cs, and unit cohesion/team building . In many of the 

classes, engineer officers are gro uped with chemical and 

military police officers. 

•	 Con struction Engineering. Duri ng thisfive-week mod ule, 

students ar e taug ht the ba sics of de sig ning, planning , 

and procuring materials for construction projects in a 

the ate r of operations. The climax of this module is 

a construc tio n capston e PE using a " rea l- w orl d" 

proj ect scenario. 

•	 Commo n-Core Tacti cs. This two -week module pro vides 

the tactical foundation neces sar y in a combined -arms 

environment up to the brigade level. Students also develop 

a company mission-essential task list and plan a company 

STX . 

•	 Engi nee r- Specific Ta ct ics. Th is six-wee k module focu ses 

heavily on the military decision-making process, knowledge 

of opposing -forc e equipment and capabilities, intelligence 

preparation of the battlefield, and the engineer battlefield 

Ap ril 2000 
Eose 

Week 1 2-4 5-10 11-13 14·16 17 

r:: - a r:: .­ 0­

:;:; 

a. -c ... ... o .­ ... -0

0:"0 III 

Common 

Core 

Combat 

Engineering 

Tactics 

Battalion 

Field 

Training 

Construction 

Engineering 

en 

r:: r:: '0; a f/):;:; 

... o '" :J 0-0 

... 0. ... '" 

!iCl 

0 

EOAC 

Week 1 3 4-8 9-10 11· 16 17 18 

Module A 

Leadership 

Foundations 

Module B 

Construction 

Engineering 

Module C 

CommonCore Tactics 

Module 0 

Engineer 

Specific Tactics 

Module E 

Warfighter III 

Simulation 

r:: 

0 

:;: 

'" :J 

-0 

Cl 

assessme nt. In addition , b ased on the pr emise that all 

eng ine er s ar e " te rr ain exper ts," thi s mo du le pl aces 

inc reased focu s on TerraBase II te rrai n anal ysis and 

requesting terrain-vi suali zation and im agery pr oducts. 

Students ultimat el y a pply their ne wl y gained kn owledge and skills to produce oral and writte n eng ineercompany operation orders (OPO RDS) and engineer annexes 

to t ask -Iorce/bri gade OPOR DS fo r both de fen si ve 

and offensive operations. 

•	 Warfighter III Sim ula tion. Durin g this one -week modu le, 

stude nts se rve as m an euver and e ng ineer b attali on 

co mmanders and staff, where they plan both de fensive and 

offe ns ive co mbine d-a rms battl es using the de libe rate 

mil itar y deci sion-makin g process. On ce th e pla ns are 

complete, they exe cute them in two separate CPXs. 

The EOAC is structured so that roughly half of the instruction 

is lectures and discussions. Th e second hal f is small-gro up 

instru ction , with a teacher-to-student ratio of no greater than 

1:16. The military decision-making pro cess is continuously 

emphasized in all aspects of trai ning, and while stude nts are 

ultimately evaluated on the final products they produ ce, much 

attentio n is paid to the process by which staffs produ ce their 

products. 

Th ere are several proposed initiatives to increase the quality 

and rele va nce of the EOAC program of instruc ti on. For 

in st an ce, th ere a re plans to be tter in corpor ate mil itary 

operations in urban terrain and stability and support operations 

into lesson plans. Additionally, ther e are plan s to increase the 

emphasis on light eng ineer operations and update the practic al 

exe rcises to better represent some of the current operational 

enviro nments. Finally, with rap id increases in technology, future 

studen ts may cover some course materi al via distance learning. 

In conj unction with the EOAe. selected students have the 

o pport un ity to earn a maste r 's de gr ee in enginee ring 

man agement, civ il engin eerin g, or environ mental engineering 

from the Univers ity of Missouri-R olla or a master 's degree in 

public policy administration from the University of MissouriSt. Louis. Students co ncurrently attend night classes during 

the EOAC and then imm ed iately attend Phase II of the ECCC 

April 2000 

(CAS3) after EOA C Onc e ECCe. Phase Il , has been completed , 

stude nts pursuing ad vanced degree s return to Fo rt Leonard 

Wood for various length s of time to complete their studies, 

with the exception of students obtaining degr ees in civ il and 

env ironme nta l enginee ring . These students finish their degrees 

before attending ECCC, Phase Il . 

T

EOAC-RC and ECCC-RC 

he Engi nee r Sc hool divide s the EOAC fo r Reserve 

Component officers (EOAC-RC) into two phase s. These 

two phases constitute the first half of a fo ur-phase ECCe 

for Re ser ve Component officers (ECCC-R C) . Phase I consists 

of 207 hours of correspondence courses and is comp leted at 

the office r's hom e station. Phase II is a two-we ek resident cou rse 

at Fort Leon ard Wood designed to rein for ce the kn owledge 

and skills lea rned during Phase I throu gh application and PEs. 

According to the CPT PME, officers must begin Phase II within 

one year after completing Phase 1.During Phas e III ofthe ECCCRC , officers return to their parent units and co nduc t annual 

training . This helps alle viate the po ssibili ty of an office r's 

extended absence from his/her unit. Phase IV of the ECCC -RC 

is equ ivalent to Ph ase II of the ECC C Students atte nd eith er 

the six -wee k reside nt co urse at Fort Leaven worth or at U.S. 

Army Reserve sch ools in their area . Students should comple te 

Phase IV within two years after co mpleting EOAC-RC 

B

Summary 

oth the EOBC and the EO AC will undoubtedly undergo 

more changes in the up coming months and yea rs. But 

with the inform ation contained in this article , office rs 

in the field, es pecially company and battalion commanders , 

will have a better understanding of exactly what these new 

off icers ha ve to offer their units. W 

CPT Hudson is a training developer/writer in the Depart ment of 

Instructi on . Directorate of Training, USAES, Fort Leonard Wood. 

Pr evious assignm ents include company executive officer; B Companv, 

2d Engineer Battalio n, Camp Castle, Korea; and platoon leader. 5th 

Engineer Batta lion, Fort Leonard Wood. CPT Hudson is a graduate 

of the ECCe. His e-ma il address is hudsonstiswoo d.armv.mil. 

Engineer 41 
I CC Notes I 

Battle Command Training Program 

Scatterable Minefi eld Request and Report Procedures 

By Major Fred Erst 

Cornba t e ng ineers are inc re asing their r eli anc e o n 

scatte rable mi ne s to shape the battlefie ld . However, 

unl e ss corps an d division co mm ande rs spe ci ficall y 

dele gate emplacement autho rity to them, current Army doctrine 

does not provide brigade and task forc e commanders the authority 

to emp loy scatte rable mines as tac tical or situational obstacles. 

Sho uld the corps or division commander wit hho ld sca tte rableminefield emplac em ent authori ty, existin g doctri na l publi cations 

do not pro vide a consiste nt procedure to request pla nning or 

em plac eme n t authority from the authorizing headqu art er s and 

do n ot clearly r equire units to submit sc attera ble-mine field 

warnin gs (SCATM IN WARNs) before emplacing a scatte rable 

minefield. As a result, engineers at corps, div ision , brigade, and 

task-For ce le v el s often ha ve a wi de in terpre tation o f the 

req uirements for reques ting and reporting sca tterable minefieJds. 

A reco mmen ded solution to this doctrinal problem is for units to 

establish procedu res that incorpora te a report matrix for tracking 

sca uerable-minefie ld requ ests, warn ings, and records. 

Doctrinal Considerations 

Current d octr in al publi cat ion s d o not clea rly an d 

co ns is te ntly define sca uerable-rni nefie ld requ est and 

rep on requirements. FM 5-7 1-2, Armo red Task Force 

Engin eer Combat Opera/ ion s. Change J, 13 November 1997, 

includes a situational-obstac le execu tion matri x but do es not 

spec ify s catterable -minefie ld d imensio ns, planned life cycle, 

trigge rs, obse rve rs, or purpose as requir ed planning information. 

FM 20-32, Mine/Counirrmi ne Operation. 29 May 1998, states 

tha t the SCATMINWARN and the scatterable-minefield /munition 

field report and record (SCAT MINREPO RT/SCATMTNREC) are 

the only two reports required for use wit h scatte rable minefield s 

or munition field s. The problem is that FM 20 -32 comb ines the 

19-1 ine SCATMI NREPORT/SCATMTNREC work sheet into one 

document (Figure 8-7 , page 8-2 3) without adequately explaining 

tha t i t c an be used as both a report (~f intention to request 

emplacement authority and a record after a scatterable minefield 

is emplaced. The fo rma t is ve ry effective when it is used as a 

SCATMINREC. However, when it is used as a report of intention 

or a s a re q uest, the fo rmat does not pro vide a uthori zi n g 

headq uarters with the essential planning information to comma nd 

and control scatte ra ble -minefie ld em ploy me nt. Th is planning 

informat ion includ es trigge rs. obse rve rs, o verwatchin g un it , 

purpose. and the fie ld-a rtillery target number if the scatterable 

minefield is an area de nial arti llery mun ition s/rem ote antiarmor 

mine system (ADAM-RAAMS) . 

Additiona lly, FM 20 -32 doe s not co nsistently require uni ts to 

provide a SCATMINWARN before emplacing minefields. Chapter 

3, page 3-10, directs that a SCATM TNWARN will be sent to all 

42 Engineer 

affected units before emplacem ent. However, Chapter 8, page 

8-24, states that a SCATM INWARN can be sent either before 

or immedi ately after mines are emplaced. FM 5-34, Engineer 

Field Data, 30 August 1999. describ es the same scatterableminefield request and report requirements as shown in Flvl 

20-32. 

A recent publi cation, FM 101-5 -2, U.S. Army Report and 

Message Formats, 29 June 1999, established it new report. 

the scatterable-m inefield reques t (SCATM INREQ ) that is 

used to request authority to plan emplacement of sca tterable 

mines. Howe ver, the SCATMINREQ is not addressed in any 

current eng inee r publication s. Additionally, the formats for 

the SCATMINWARN and SCATMTNREC spec ified in FM 

101-5-2 are different from the reports outlined in FM s 20-32 

and 5-34. While FM 101-5-2 states that the report formats are 

dir ective and prescripti ve, it also states that branch-specific 

or technica l reports complement the repo rt forma ts specified 

in the manual and are not considered superseded by it. 

FM 101-5-2 does attempt to establish a procedure for units 

to r eq uest and rep ort scatterable mi nes in the ge ne ra l 

instructions of each report. The problem is that FM 101-5-2 

does not clearly describe the overall process and does not 

specifically require units to dissemin ate a SC ATMINWARN 

to subordinate units befor e execution. As a resu lt of these 

differences in Army doctrinal publications, the lack of a clearly 

defi ned requ est and rep ort procedure often compo unds the 

problems that most brigade and task force enginee rs already 

have wit h plann ing and rep orting scatterable min efi elds. 

Brigade Warfight er Exercises 

Rece nt BCTP Br ig ade Warfig h ter exerci se s have 

show n that many br igade and task for ce staffs do 

not adequately plan and sync hro nize employment 

of scanerable mines as tactical or situational obst acles during 

the military decision-making proce ss. During the fight, this 

oft en ca uses brigade and ta sk for ce eng ineers to devel op 

and su bmit additio na l "9 11" emergency re q uests fo r 

un pl ann ed sc atte r able mine fie lds or e lse to exec ute 

scat ter able minefie lds w it ho u t re cei vi n g emplacemen t 

au th ori ty. Sta ff en gineers often have difficulty com ply ing 

with sc atterable m inefie ld re por ting requiremen ts and 

struggle with tracking the status of SCATMI NWAR Ns an d 

SCATM INRECs. Ty p icall y. th e res ult is a n incre ased 

occu rr en ce of minefield fra tric ide s be cause of lim ited 

situational awareness and a decreased obstacle effect on the 

enemy's maneuver. 

BCTP Procedures 

T he p roc edu re s adopted b y BCTP 's Operation s 

Grou p C to man age scauerable-rninefield re quests 

and reports during Brigade Warfigh ter ex ercises 

includ e a three-step process that parallels the doctrinal 

report flow for conventional rninefields found in PM 20 -32, 

Aprif2000 
Chapter 5. This process uses a standard format for scatterableminefie ld requests, which is based in part on the 52d Infantry 

Division's situational obstacle request form that the Sidewinder 

Team uses to train brigades at the National Training Cente r at 

Fort Irwin, California. This three-step process is also~o

with the standard formats and genera l instr uction s for the 

SCATMINREQ , SCATMINWARN, and SCATMINREC reports 

outlined in FM 101-5- 2. Units can use these procedures when 

the division plans to withhold emplacement authority for all 

4-hour-duration scatterable minefields and the corps withholds 

emplacemen t authority for all others. Units can also apply or 

modify the same procedures to maintain obstacle control when 

sc attc rable -mine f'ie ld emp laceme nt autho rity has been 

delegated to subordinate command ers. 

These procedures also incorpo rate a matrix for both the 

units and autho rizing he adqu art er s to tr ack scatle rableminefi eld re qu est s, warn ing s, and record s to ensure rapid 

disseminati on of essential information (see figure on page 44). 

Emplacing units use lines 1 through 17 of the matrix to provide 

th e req ui re d pl an ning in form ati on th rou gh th eir high er 

hea dquarters to th e a uthori zing headqu arte rs. Each 

headquarters uses the last 5 columns (lines 18 through 22) to 

track the scatterable-rninefield reques t and report process. 

Emplacin g un its (brigades/task forces) use the followin z 

thr ee-step proce ss to request sca tterable-rninefield an nin and emplac eme nt authority and to report execution through 

their higher headqu arters (division/brigade) to the authoriz ing 

headq uarters (corps/division). 

Step 1: Sub mit SCATML'\REQ (se rves as a Report of 

Intention ). Wh en a unit plans to emplace scarterable minefields, 

it submits a scatterable-mincfield request (lines 1 through 17) 

for planning authority through its higher headquarters to the 

authorizing headquarter s. Th e SCATMINREQ includes the 

obstac le number, scatterable-rninefield empl ac ing system , 

dimen sions , grid loc ations of the comer points, safety zone, 

type of min efield marki ng, unit obse rv ing/overwatching the 

minefie ld with fir es, obstacle effe ct, purpose, life cycle, 

ernpl acing unit, tri ggers, and observers for each sca tterablc 

mi nefi e ld used as a tactica l or situational obstacle. If the 

scatterable min efi eld is an ADAM -RAAMS, the request also 

includ es the fie ld -art ille ry target num ber, aim points, and 

minefi eld altitude in mils. Th e emplacing unit sub mi ts the 

required information throu gh its higher headqu arters to the 

authoriz ing headqu art ers, The unit can revise this request or 

submit an additional request sho uld the plan change during 

the fight. The G3/S3 of the authorizing headquarters ev iew~

the information to ensure that the planned scatterable mineficlds 

do not interfe re with future operations and either approves ur 

disapp roves the req ues t. 

Step 2: Submit SCATMINWAR N (serves as a Report of 

Initiation}. Before cmplaci ng sca uc rable minefie lds, a unit 

submi ts a co mple te SCATMI NWARN thr ough its high er 

he adqu art ers to th e aut ho rizing he adqu art ers. The 

SCATMIN WARN informs bo th headqu art er s th at the unit 

intends to execute a spec ific sca tterablc minefield that was 

April 2000 

previou sl y ap proved for pl an nin g. The uni t may submit a 

SCATMINWARN anytime after receiving approval but sho uld 

submit it at least 30 minutes before execution. This techniq ue 

provide s obstacle co ntro l to the authorizing headquarter s so 

the commander can rapidly delegate or withhold emplacement 

authority based on the current situation. It also all ows both 

headquarters suffi cient time ( 0 furt he r dissemi nate the 

SCATMThrwARN . Th e unit then receives authority to emplace 

a scatterable minefield after the au tho rizing he adqu arters 

acknow ledges receipt of the SCATM LNWARN . The unit can 

cancel a SCATMlN WARN for any min efield at any time and 

submit a new SCATtvUNWARN for other scatterable minefields 

that have been previously approved for planning. 

Before executing the minefield, the ernplacing unit should 

dissemin ate the SCATMINWARN via PM radi o on command 

nets and operations and intelli gence nets to notify subordinate 

and adjacent units that the area is no longer safe for friendl y 

mo vem ent and maneu ver. On com mand net s, th e 

SCAT MINWAR N sho uld include the obstacle num be r, type 

of sca tlerable minefield , plann ed life cycle , two 6-dig it grid 

locati on s, and the safety zone at a mi nimum . Un its should 

provide a more detailed SCATMI7\T\VARN on operations and 

intelligence nets. FM 101-5-2, Report Number S0 15, shows the 

most current form at for the SCATMI NWARN. 

Step 3: Submit SCATM1NREC (se rves as a Rep or t of 

Completion). Th is report indicates that the scatterable minefield 

is complete and functional. After execution, the ernplac ing unit 

must submit the SCATMLNREC through its higher headq uarters 

to the authorizing headqu arters so all uni ts can track se lfdestruc t times and actual location s of sca tterable mi nefie lds. 

Refer to Report Number S005 found in PM 101-5-2 for the most 

current SCATMINREC form at. 

D

Planning Information 

ur ing BCT P Bri gad e War fighter exerc ises, th e 

division (autho rizing headqu art ers) docs not always 

Immediatel y a pprove th e re qu est for p lannin g 

authority if the brigade does not submit all of the req uired 

informa tion on the SCATMlN REQ . Units often have difficulty 

in defining the sc atte rable -minefield dime nsions, ob stac le 

effec t, purpose , trigger, and observer. As a result, brigade and 

task force engineers should emphasize the following information 

during the pl annin g process: 

Minefield Dimensions. This re fe rs to the lenzth and width 

of the scatterable minefield in me ters (rn) rather than the safety 

zone. For example, ADAM-RAAM, 200 by 200 m, 400hy400 m, 

or 200 by 800 m; Ground Volca no, ! ,110 by 120 rn, 277 by 120 III 

or 440 by 555 m; Air Volcano, 1,115 by 140 m, 278 by l 4()m, or 

557 by 440 m; Modular Pack Mine System (NIOPMS), 35 by 70 

m per dispenser, 280 by 70 In, or 280 by 105 m. The minefield 

dimensions sho uld also match the six-digit grid location s for 

t he co rne r poin ts at th e start and end of ea ch sc uttc rahle 

minefield. 

Obstacle Effect. This refers to the obstacl e effect on the 

enemy (disru pt, fix, turn , or bluck). 

Eng ineer 43 
BCTP Brigade Warfighter 

Line 1: DTG of 500 m......­

Line 2: UI1Il Submitting Request:J.§.2QJQJ.ML 
 


 

gt 

rt.

..., 

-...... 

N 

C)
 

C)
 

C)
 

Line 15_Action: Request Au1l1ority to Plan Scatterabte 

Scatterable Minefield Request and Report Matrix 

.. Nole: tnto

Scattera ble Minefield Reauest (Lines 1· 17) 

Line Line LIne uno Lme Line Lino Line Line Line uno Line line Line Line Line Line 

3 4 5 6 7 8 9-A 9-B s-c 10 11 12 13·A 13-B 14 16-A 16-B 

Obstacle III Q) 

Scatterab le III III ,,: TI C: Comer Corne r Aim" TIc ~g' g>:Q '" III '" '" 

Numb er '" '" ~~ - 0 <ii~ ", !!! u ti Vl u c OJ 

Mine c: c PT PT PT 'tri >­ '0 :'::: 

-g ca> a> '" OJ U -,!! c: tn 

III :> Start End Ce nter 1;; ::::: '" 

Ernplacmq := c: OJ 

" C> c: '" => Vl C: 

" O-=> 

Target" ';:( n, .S 8~ Sw E 

System « 'S - Grids Grid s Grid 2," c, 

Number - « 0 :.::i w 

(J) 

1001 ADAM · Yes Yes 0 400 NK NK NK 1500 None TM A Isolat e 4 Eastern CO 

El ·S FOl RAAMS mils x 505929 509929 550927 x 1-12 1-IN OBJ FLA nrs co c: 3-T80/8-BMP 

Medium 400 m 1500m from OBJ Cll Repositions to 

~c(

AE1001 Dun suy NK NK TEXAS vic "" lL West VIC NAI-

505925 509925 TAI-20 (NJ54 90) 

f-­

1001 Air Ye s Ye s N/A 1110 NK NK N/A 235 m None TM D Disrupt 4 Enemy Res 

E2"SV02 Volcano x 5009<10 51194 1 Ail 2-25 1 IN Ene my hrs 3·T80/8 -BMP 

160 140 m Sides CATK VIC U) c: CAT K V IC NAI

Canisters NK NK TAI-25 in (NJ5595) 

500 939 511940 Decision PT-3 

100 1 ADAM· Yes Yes 800 400 NK NK NK 1500 None TF Separate 4 Eastern CO 

B I'SFOI RM MS mils x 525928 528925 525925 x 1·1 2 1·I N l si & 2d hrs co c: 3-T80/8-BMP 

400 m 1500 rr Echelons Cll

Re positions 10 

Medium '";" c( 

AE20Dl Density NK NK by 30 min " lL Wcst v ic NAI-

523925 525923 VIC TAI·22 (NJ5490 ) 

1001 Ground Yes Ye s N/A 555 NK NK N/A 235 m 4­ TM B Tu rn 1s1 48 4-Sid ed Fral 

550850 556850 All 2-252 IN Echelon hrs c 

B2ASVOl Volcano x Sided ~o:l Fence comple

160 440 m Side s Frat mto EA o Execute NLT U)52' 

Canisters NK NK Fence Viper <C W 121400NOV 

550846 555846 

1001 Ground Yes Yes N/A 555 NK NK N/A 235 m None T M B Turn 1sf 4 Enem y FSE 

B2ASV0 2 Volcan e 554844 550844 All 2-252 IN Echelon hrs - c: 3-T80/8-BMP 

x Cll

160 440 m Sides into EA cros ses PL 

", '" 

Caniste rs NK NK V ip er Bush vic NAI 1

554840 560840 (NJ54 00) 

1001 Ground Yes Yes N/A 277 NK NK N/A 235 m None TM C Destr o y 4 Enemy FSE 

B2BSVOl Volcano x 560840 56384 D All 2-252 IN FSE vic hrs - c: 3-T80/8-BMP 

40 120 m sides EA Cobra crosses PL 

m '" Bush vic NAI 1

Ca rnsie rs NK NK ~LIi 560838 563838 (N.J5700 ) 

1001 MOPMS Yes Yes N/A 70 NK NK N/A 50 m None TM D Close 4 Enemy: AGMB 

B2CSM01 x 570840 571840 All 2·252 IN Lane Blue hrs Cro sses PL Do

III 

z -Drspenso rs 50 m Side s vic PPI ~Q) Friendly_A/ 2-25

o c: 

uSing RCU NK NK !£'W completes 

570839 571839 c( RPOL 

vic PP1 

Mlnelie lds.
 

Line 17. Authentication; _
 
Purpose. This refers to the "targeting" aspect of planning 

scatterab le mine s as tact ical or situational ob stacles. The 

purpose cl early defi nes the tacti cal effect on the enemy's 

maneuver. Two examples of a clearl y defined purpose: "Disrupt 

enemy counterattack at Targeted Area of Interest (TAl) 25" or 

"Separate the enemy's 1st and 2d eche lons by 30 minute s at 

TAl 3." 

Trigger. Th e trigger sho uld be int egrated int o a decision 

point on the man euver commander's decision support templ ate. 

Typically. the trigger is an enemy action at a specific location, 

such as a named area of interest (NA T). The trigger should 

consider the time it takes for the enemy to move from the NAI 

to the TAL The trigger allows the cmplacing unit enough time 

to decide, emplace, and arm the scauerable minefield. An 

example of all effective trigger: "Enemy reserve 3 ranks/S BMP 

counterattack at NAI 20." An exa mple of a less specific trigger 

is "Adv ance guar d main body (AGMB) @ Phase Line (PL) 

Gold." Som e scatterable minefields may also require a friendly 

event in the criteria suc h as "Team A completes rearward 

passage of lines (RPO L) at passage point (PP) 2. Units should 

not use a time-based trigger to avoid emplaci ng a scatterable 

minefield too early or too late. 

Observ er. Specify the unit that is tasked to observe the trigger. 

Often, engineers can use the same scouts and observation points 

(OP) from the reconnaissance and surveillance plan or the combat 

observation lasing team (COLTs) locations from the fire-support 

plan. The unit observing or overwatching the scatterabJe minefield 

with direct or indirect fires may sometimes be designated as the 

observer for the trigger. 

B

Conclusion 

rigade and task force engineers who incorporat ed the 

scatterable-rninefield request and report matrix during 

BCTP Bri gade Warfi ghter exercises demonstrated a 

defi nite improvement in employin g and tracking scatterable 

minefields. Armywide, engineers must continue to impro ve the 

employment of 4- and 48-hou r-duration scatterahle minefields 

in support or the hrigade and task force fight. At BeTp. engineer 

trainers remain committed to developing tactics, techniques, 

an d pr ocedu res for plannin g, preparing . and exec uting 

sc atterabl e minefi eld s to successfully shape the battlefi eld. 

Major Erst is an en ginee r train er in BCT? Oper at ions 

G roup C. 

National Training Center (NTC) 

By Se rgeant First Class Steven Bell and Serg eant First Class 

Robert Neal 

On today's battlefields, engineer leaders are, more and 

mor e , pressed for time. Therefore, they must make 

work efficiently betwee n missions to reconsolid ate, 

resuppl y, and prepare soldiers and equipment for future operations, Two recent trends in these areas have been identified 

Ap ril 2000 

durin g trammg at the Nati onal Training Center. First, 

companies and plato ons often lack effective SOPs for tactical 

assembly area (TAA) operations. Second , too little focus is placed 

on preparing the unit 's equipment for continued operations. 

Engineer Platoon TAA Procedures 

Issue: Engineer platoons frequently do not have an SOP for 

TAA pro cedures. 

Discussion: Engineer platoons often do not employ all 

chemical defense equipment (CDE). They also frequ ently do 

not establish tactical wire communicati ons , protective obstacles, and listenin g posts/ob servation pos ts (LPs/OPs) for 

early warning. 

Recommendation: En gineer platoons should develop specific SOPs for TAA procedures. The SOPs should be based on 

the company and battalion SOPs and doctrinal references such 

as FM 5-34, Engineer Field Data , pages 1-1 3 and 1-14. Emphasis should be placed on establishing pri orities of work that 

enhance force protec tion. Se curity can be enhanc ed by perfor ming quarterin g party operations, cmpl acin g key weapons, 

empl acin g COE, establishing tactical wire (HOTLOOP) com ­

munications, maintaining radio listening silence on platoon PM 

net s, and performing "stand-t o" pro cedures. 

Volcano System Maintenance 

Issue: Engineer Volcano crew s frequently conduct inadequate preventiv e maintenance check s and services (PMC S). 

Discussion: Vibration during cross-coun try travel in the 

M548 chassis often causes bolts, nuts, and electrical conn ections to loosen during movement. This can result in three types 

or failures: mechani cal failure of the mountin g hardware resulting in damage to the launch er or display control unit (DCU) as 

the launcher shifts; electrical connectivity failure between the 

DCU and the launcher panels; and connectivity failure between 

the laun cher panels and the canisters. 

Recommendation: Units should conduc t dail y PMCS ac ­

cordin g to Training Manual 9-1095-208-10-1, Operato r's Manu al 

for Dispenser, Mine, M 139 w/Mo unting Kits. Uni ts sho uld 

co nduct combat chec ks according to Graphic Trainin g Aid 

(GTA) 5-10-42, Volcano Pre ventive Mai ntenance Checks and 

Services , during extended hauls. Crews should conduct PMCS 

accordin g to GTA 5-10-42 and condu ct a full built-in test (BIT) 

on the DCU in the assault position before execution. At a minimum , crews should conduct daily inspections of all mountin g 

hardware for rightness and conduct a daily BIT Lest. especially 

aft er cross-co untry movem ent. 

SFC Bell i~ all enginee r company train er. SFC Nea l is all 

en gin eer platoon train er. 

Eng inee r 45 
M ENGINEER UPDATE

Commercial numbers are -	 - - - ­ (573) 563-xxxx and Defense System 

Network (DSN) numbers are 676-xxxx unless otherwise noted. 

Deputy Assistant Commandant (DAC) 

Engineer School Organization Under the MANSCEN. With the formation of the Maneuver Support Center 

(MANSCEN), the Engineer School has undergone a significant reorganization.The charts below show which organi zations 

fall directly under the Engineer School and which fall under the MANSCEN, which provides general support to the 

Engineer School. The commandant of the Engineer School retains proponency for all doctrine, training, leader 

development, organizations, materiel, and soldier (DTLOMS) issues. It is through a matrixed organization-MANSCENthat this support is provided in a synergistic (win-win) manner to the Engineer School. 

POC is COL William Van Horn, -6192/8060 . 

USA ES Organization Under MANSCEN 

,-----------,­ DOT 

OS uT J OSUTI Corps 

Insr 

si.c AIT A IT Mech 

EOB C ECCC	 CTSCI HDTC 

DA C - Deputy ASSista nt Comm and a nt EOBC Engineer Officer Basic Course 

DO T - Director of Tra ining EC CC - Engineer Capt ains Career Cou rse 

TSM . TRADOC Syste ms Mana ge r for Co mbat Sys tem s WO - Warra nt Office r 

DO I De par tme nt of !nstructl on AIT - Adva nced lndrvi du a l Tra ining 

TASS - The A rmy Sc hoo l System OS UT - On e-Station Unit Training 

EPPO - Personnel Prop on en cy Office CTS C - Co unterrnme Tr aining Support Cente r 

STA MIDS - Sta ndoff Mi nefield Detectroo Sys tem HDTC . Humanitarian De rmnmq Training Center 

SLC - Sapper Lead", Co urse 

I - _ 

I TA~S i I EP~O I Gnnly STAMIDS wofvenn e Ho rne t 

EOBe
 

EcCe
 

wO AIT 

MANSCEN M at r ix ed Support 

MSBL 

DCD 

DCLT 

DOTD 

MSBl 

- Director of Co mbat Devel opment 

- Director of Com mo n Leader Training 

- Director of Training Devel opment 

- Maneuver Support Battle Lab 

MANSCEN Web Site: http://www.wo od .army.mil/ 

USAES Web Site: http ://www.woo d.army.mif/ esc hool/ 

46 Engineer	 Ap ril 2000 
Directorate of Training Development (DOTD) 

Field Manual Update. The following field manuals are at ATSC awaiting printing and distribution. They are currentl y 

available on the MANSCEN Publications Page at http://www.wood.army mil/PUBS/newpubs.htm. 

•	 FM 5-472, Materials Testing. This manual supersedes FM 5-530, dated 17 August 1987. It contains up-to-d ate 

technical information on how to obtain samples and perform eng ineering tests and calculations on soils, 

bituminous paving mixtures, and concrete. Many of the DD forms used to record and calculate samples have I	 also been updated. 

1 

• FM 5-436, Paving and Surfacing Operations. This manual supersedes TM 5-331D, dated 21 April 1969; TM 5­

337, dated 21 February 1966 ; and TM 5-337-1 , dated 29 March 1971 . It contains current inform ation on 

construction materials and equipment and the mix design, production, placement, and repair of concrete and 

bitumin ous pavements. 

•	 FM 5-434, Earthmoving Operations. This manual supersedes FM 5-434, dated 26 August 1994 and FM 5-164, 

dated 30 August 1974. It contains current methods and equipment used in planning, designing, and constructing 

earthwork in the theate r of operations. 

POC is Sandra Gibson, -4100. 

Draft Changes to Doctrinal Publication s. Another addition to our web site this month is seven draft changes to 

doctrin al publications supporting the 4th Infantry Division and the Division Capstone Exercise. Each draft change 

document addresses tactical operat ions conducted in a Force XXI (FXXI) digital environment. They serve as guides for 

FXXI engineers who use digital systems to plan, coordinat e, and conduct digitized engin eer oper ations . The draft 

change documents posted to http://www.wood.armymil/PUBS/fxxi.htm and listed below are not stand-alone manu als 

(except for FM 5-105 , Topographic Operations). 

•	 C1, FM 5-71-100, Division Engineer Combat Operations (Digital - CD) 

•	 C1, FM 5-100-15, Corps Engineer Operations (Digital - CD) 

•	 C2, FM 5-71-3, Brigade Engineer Combat Operations (Armored) (Digital - CD) 

• C2, FM 5-71-2, Armored Task-Force Engineer Combat Operations (Digital - CD) 

w C1, FM 5-10 , Combat Engineer Platoon (Digital - CD) 

•	 C2, FM 5-170 , Engineer Reconnaissance (Digital - CD) 

•	 FM 5-105, Topographic Operations 

POC is MAJ Ron Zimmerman, (573) 596-0131 , ext 3-7332. 

Tactics, Techniques, and Procedures (TIP) Web Site. To provide units with updated information and gain unit input 

to current doctrine, we have created the following web site for posting newly developed TIP that support the various 

working axes (DCX, JCF, LCD, I-BCT): http.//www.wood.army.mil/PUBS/ttps/engrttps.htm. In the near future , we will be 

posting survivability TIP from the Waterways Experiment Station for various types of equipment. Please send comments 

and recommendations related to these TIP to fmcommnt @wood.army.mil. 

POC is MAJ Ron Zimmerman, (573) 596-0131 ext 3-7332. 

2000 Engineer Unit Directory. The directory, which is updated periodically, is availabl e at http://www.wood.army.mil/ 

PUBS/dsd/dsd.htm . Units may submit chang es /corrections at any time vi a e- ma il to Jennifer Morgan at 

morganj@wood.army.mil. 

POC is Jennifer Morgan , -4104 . 

April 2000	 Engine er 47 
1st Engineer Brigade 

Engineer Diver MOS 00810 Course, Phase One. Previously taught at Fort Eustis, Virginia , this course has moved 

to Fort Leonard Wood , MissourLThe first nine-day course began on 20 February 2000. Phase Two, a 26-week course , 

is taught at the Naval Diving and Salvage Training Center, Panama City, Florida. For all reclassification requirements, 

see DA PAM 611-21, Military Occupation Classification and Structure ; AR 611-75, Management of Army Divers; and 

AR 614-200, Enlisted Assignments and Utilization Management. The web site is WWw.wood.armymil/mosoob.htm. 

POC is SFC Patrick Andrews , DSN 581-2679, commercial (573) 596-0131 ext 6-2679. 

Combat Engineer Vehicle (CEV). The CEV has been brought out of retirement for use in the Waco investigation .The
 

CEV and crew will be sent to Fort Hood , Texas.
 

POC is CPT Kevin Hicks, DSN 581-8940, commercial (573) 596-0131 ext 6-8940/0224.
 

TRADOC Program Integration Office-Terrain Data (TPIO-TD) 

Digital Terrain Data Requirements. TPIO-TD, which coordinates the Army's requirements for digital map data , is 

currently reviewing digital terrain data requirements submitted by numerous Army agencies and units. Requirements 

include high-resolution imagery, digital elevation models, and "smart" vector maps . TPIO-TO is consolidating thes e 

requirements and will forward them to the National Imagery and Mapping Agency this summer. These geospatial 

information requirements will be a topic of a breakout session at this year's ENFORCE Conference. 

POC is CPT Tom Stroud, DSN -5180, commercial (573) 596-0131, ext. 3-5180. 

TRADOC System Manager (TSM) 

Hand held Stan doff Minefield-Detection Syste m (HSTAMIDS). This hand-held mine detector combines groundpenetrating radar and improved metal-detection capabilities to provide a robust probability of detection (Pd) for large 

and small metallic and nonmetallic antitank and antipersonnel mines. HSTAMIDS will significantly improve detection of 

the smaller, low-metal antipersonnel mines , such as the PMA-3, with a Pd that exceeds 95 percent. HSTAMIDS will 

reduce the frequency of false detections associated with detector operation in a metallic-cluttered environment, allowing 

the detector operator to "tune-out" metallic clutter that affects the AN/PSS-12 . Six HSTAMIDS prototypes have been 

purchased by the Army to support contractor developmental testing scheduled for Yuma and Aberdeen Proving Grounds 

in April and May 2000. The Basis of Issue Plan for HSTAMIOS will be determined before Milestone 111, Production and 

Fielding (FY03), based on training complexity and the level of soldier certification required to operate the system. Due 

to cost and training implications, HSTAMIDS fielding will supplement AN/PSS-12 systems already in the field and will 

not replace them on a one-for-one basis. 

Basic Hornet and Improved Hornet. The Hornet is a smart munition design ed to help the maneuver commander 

dominate his battlespace. The Basic Hornet engages tracked vehicles only and may be armed manually or by the M71 

Modular Pack Mine System Remote Control Unit. Preplanned product improvement will result in an Improved Hornet 

munition with an advanced control stati on that operates through a standard Single-Channel, Ground and Airborn e 

Radio System (SlNCGARS). The Improved Hornet will include a remote on/off/on control to provide safe passage of 

friendly forces during counterattack, retrograde, or withdrawal ; recovery and redeployability of munitions before arming ; 

munitions with a built-in Global Pos itioning System ; two-way communication between munitions and the control 

station ; a more lethal sublet munition; and an improved probabil ity of kill of both heavy wheeled and tracked vehicles . 

The primary recipient of the Basic Hornet, which is in production now, will be the 82d Airborne Division . The basic load 

of Hornets for a combat engineer battalion is 260 munitions. The current program schedule calls for the Army to receive 

the first Basic Hornet munitions in 4QFYOO. The entire force will receive the Improved Hornet, with fielding to begin in 

4QFY04. Improved Hornet control stations will be fielded to units as a Class VII item beginning in FY03. The Basis of 

Issue Plan for the control station is being developed. The expectation is that mechanized combat engineer units will 

receive one control station per squad , and light units will receive one per platoon. Maneuver units will receive one 

control station per company and one per battalion headquarters. 

Information on both systems may be obtained at the TSM web site at http://www.wood.army.miIITSM. 

POC for both systems is MAJ Mark Thompson , (573) 596-0131, ext. 3-7347 . 

48 Engi nee r April 2000 
By Command Sergeant Major Arthur Laughlin' 

U.S. Army Engineer School 

I 

Have a Little Faith 

'I n March, I had the opportunity to brief LTG Ohle, the 

DCSPER. For me, this was a true education. It allowed 

me to see the workings of the Army at the highest levels. 

I came away from the briefing with the discovery that 

regardless of the level, things really don't change that much. 

To my surprise, I saw firsthand the concern LTG Ohle had 

about what youngsoldiers and sergeants in our Army were 

saying and thinking. He asked ifour regiment's soldiers were 

aware of Chief of Staff GEN Shinseki's initiative to change 

the structure and man the field Army at 100 percent. He wanted 

to know how our soldiers reacted to that. He also asked how 

we were doing in the growing of our young s~rgeants and 

what percentage of our specialists were on the promotion list. 

I told him the results of my many conversations.with our 

regiment's senior NCOs, but I knew he had puthis finger on 

a great weakness in our regiment-a weakness we NCOs can 

fix by having a little faith. 

Our regiment falls dreadfullyshort of the Sergeant Major 

of the Army's guidance to put 35 percent of eligible specialists 

on a promotion list. In nearly all of our MOSs, we fall short 

of where we need to be to build our sergeant ranks. We must 

do better. As NCOs, we must have the faith in our specialists 

toknow they will be able to accept the responsibilities placed 

upon them. We also must give ourselves credit for being who 

we are and what we are capable of as NCOs arid trainers . Our 

specialists will emulate their leaders, of that you can be sure. 

Throughout my career, I have rarely seen an individual 

who is fully qualified before receiving that next stripe . The 

real training begins with pinning on the new rank. With the 

additional responsibility, these young leaders grew in ability 

and attitude to accept the challenges. They became junior 

leaders and better NCOs because mentors worked with them 

to be, know, and do. Mentors coached, guided, and forgave 

mistakes as each young leader grew in experience and 

knowledge. I know this was true in my case and for my 

generation of NCO leaders. Our senior leaders had a little 

faith in us and, through their senior leadership and risk taking, 

we became the NCOs we are today. So I ask you, why should 

it be any different today? 

As NCOs, we have always prided ourselves on seeing the 

potential in our young soldiers . We saw and developed the 

qualities necessary to be a good leader. lL wasn't always an 

easy call and, in some instances, we took a chance on soldiers 

and promoted them anyway. 

Now, either we are afraid to promote and train, or We 

don't really see potential in most of the soldiers we recruit. 

April 2000 

I don't believe the problem kin the recruns;s~ theproblem 

must be us. If that is indeed true,how do we change that? 

How do we regain the ability to see the potential of these 

. future NCOs? How do we accept the challenge to have a little 

faith? This is our challenge. NCOs must be willing to invest 

in our subordinates, allowing them to join our ranks. 

As I visit soldiers in the field,I hear first sergeants, platoon 

sergeants, and squad leaders tell me that soldiers must meet 

certain unit criteria to get boarded-criteria like appearing 

before soldier-of-the-month boards or successfully serving as 

team leaders or squad leaders. Great, but only if you are using 

these tools to identify talent really early. These are excellent 

tools to develop soldiers before they are eligible for the primary 

or secondary zone of consideration. 

Don't use this unit criterion to hold back eligible specialists 

from promotion. Here is where you have to have a little faith 

or else you are holding your subordinates to a higher standard 

than J was or you were. Our regiment is irt need of sergeants . 

It is up to us to train, board, promote, and train some more. 

So what are your standards? NCOs across the regiment have 

to be willing to invest in the potential of their subordinates. 

Take time and a little risk and have faith; your subordinates 

will follow you. The odds of success are in your favor. 

Beginning 1 May 2000, your MANSCEN NCO Academy 

will begin an associate degree program. This is the first time 

I have seen such a program. If you are an NCO attending 

BNCOC or ANCOC, you will have an opportunity to earn an 

associate degree before returning to your unit. This is a great 

step forward for your professional development. More 

information is available at http://www.wood.army.millmncoa/ 

engin.htm. 

It is with great pleasure that I am able to announce the 

selection of CSM Bill McDaniels to be the new MANSCEN 

NCO Academy commandant. CSM McDaniels comes to us 

from the 864th Engineer Battalion in Fort Lewis , Washington. 

He has big shoes to fill after the outstanding leadership of 

CSM Jesus Gomez, but I am sure he will excel at this position. 

Please pass your congratulations and support to him. He will 

assume his duties in June 00. 

Finally, the next time you encounter a subordinate, peer, 

or superior who doubts your ability to get a tough mission 

done, just look him or her in the eye and say. "Have a little 

faith . We can do this." Then, watch the twinkle in their eyes. 

Our specialists deserve a twinkle from us! 

Essayonsl 

Engineer 49 
-_._­