1 

10 Forget the Standard Pattern/CPT John V. Kauffman 

14 Virginia Beach Sand Storage/Curtis W. Baskette Jr. 

18 Are Engineers Different?/MAJ Joseph P. Kish 

22 Anti-Tank Ditch Construction/CPT Hugh C. MacDonald 

25 Construction on Belvoir/CPT Richard B. Polin 

28 Universal Brigade and Group Headquarters/John M. Frank 

31 New Arrivals/CPT John B. Grecian 

34 FAESHED Countermine System/SP5 John Degel 

36 Register as a Pro/Howard S. Giberson 

38 An Engineer~s Seven Day War/Thomas J. Riggs Jr. 

1 Chief~s Briefs/ History 

2 Pipeline/ News Items 

4 Engineer Potpourri! Eng ineer Branch 

8 Helping Hands/CPT C. J . Schexnayder 

43 As We Go to Press/ Late Items 

44 Bridging the Gap/Career Notes 
Bvt. Major-General Richard Del afield served with distincti on in 

the Corps of Engin eers for 48 years. He was born in New York City on 

Se ptember 1, 1798 and became the first West Point graduate to r eceive 

a merit class standing, r anking first in 1818. As a second lieutenan t he 

was se lected topographical engi neer with t he American Commission, 

created und er the Treaty of Ghent, to established th e northern 

boundary of t he United States. 

Delafield had broad experi ence with seacoast fortifications work. 

In th e construction of Forts Monr oe and Calhoun at Hampton Roads, 

Va., he was ass istant engineer from 1819 to 1824. For a decad e 

(1845-55) he was a member of the Board of Engineers for the Atlantic 

Coast Defenses of t he United States. During that period he supervised 

the defenses of New York Harbor and contin ued their impro vemen t in 

t he earl y years of the Civil War . 

In tw o terms totaling twelve yea rs as Superintendent of the 

US Milit ary Acade my , Delafield gained a reputation as an acade mic 

administrator. He added new structures and imp roved facilities. The 

new cadet uniform first bearing the "Turret Castle" insigne was 

authorized by him. 

On April 22, 1864 Delafield was app ointed Chief of En gineers with 

t he rank of Brigadier- Gener al. He r etired on Aug ust 8. 1866. 

ichard Delafie ld died in Washin gt on. D.C., November 5, 1873. 

John Der van 

Assistant Curator US A rmy Engineer Museum 

United States Army
 Engineer School . .
 .Fort BelvoirI Virginia 

Commandant
 

MG James A. Johnson
 

Assistant Commandant 

BG H. McK. Roper Jr. 

Editor 

LTC Arthur E. Wil l iams 

Editoria I Boa rd
 

MG James A. Johnson
 

BG H. McK. Roper Jr.
 

COL Charles J. Osterndorf
 

COL John C. Chandler
 

COL Glenn C. McChristian
 

COL Hugh c: Robinson
 

LTC Edward K. Wintz
 

LTC Arthur E. Williams
 

CSM Adriano C. Benini
 

Dr. C. O. Gray
 

Production Manager 

John W. Savage Jr. 

Production Assistants
 

SP4 K. Gupta
 

Mr. William W. Behring
 

The E ngineer is an au tho r i zed q uar ter l y publica. 

tton at the U.S. A r my ng SChOOl. It is 

published to pr ov ide f act ua l an n In -dep th tororma ­ Han of in rer esr to a ll Eng ineer units. Articles, 

ph otograph s and ar t w or k at ge neral in ter est m ay be 

sub mitted for conside r a tion to : Ed ito r , The Eng l· 

nee r . USA E ngineer Schoo l} F or t Belv oir . V ir gi n ia 

22060. V iew s and op in ions expressed herein ar e no t 

necessar il y t hose of th e D epartmen t of th e Arm y . 

U 5€ of fu nds for print in g of th is publicatio n ha s bee n 

appr ov ed by H eadquart er s. Depar tmen t of the 

Army. Ja nuar y 1. '~ 7 4 . 

Subs cr iot tcns 10 T HE ENGI N E E R ar e av ai la ble 

th r-ougl'l the USA E S Period ic a l Pub lica t ion s Fu nd , 

For t Belvoir . v s, 22060. Annua l Ra tes are $4.00 tor 

domes tic an d A PO ad o r osses an d SS.OOtor overseas 

add resses . 

Engineer Magazin e Telephone : (7 03) 664.2838 ­

Autovon : 354·2838 

ABOUT OUR COVER 

Our cover shows a bird's eyeview of the dramatic and 

progressive changes undertaken at "the home of the 

complex, completed in September 1975, represents only one 

phase of the overall moderni ­

·zat ion plan. Story - page 25. 
·PIPELINE. PI
 

ENGINEER SCHOOL other training information deOFFERS	 vices, these	 may come to your TRAINING 

attention. We hope, however, MATERIALS UPDATE through use of The Engineer 

Magazine, to provide an inThe Engineer School's " Di­ formal vehicle for short-cutting 

rectorate of Educational Tech­ the long time frame involved 

nology" desires to keep you - and providing you with a 

abreast of the latest training quick overview of new items as 

materials, devices and " soft­ they become available. 

ware" available to you through 

the Engineer School. SUGGESTIONS FOR IWY Beginning with this issue, 

The Engineer Magazine pre­ OBSERVANCE

sents an "update" of such 

training support materials and lieutenant General W. C. 

sol icits your questions and/or Gribble, Jr.. Chief of Engineers 

comments concerning train ing of the U. S. Army Corps of 

support needs. Address your Engineers has issued a statequery to : The United States ment to Commanders of all 

Army Engineer School, ATTN : Field Operating Agencies outEducational Consultant li ni ng suggestions for the 

Branch, Fort Belvoir, Virginia Corps' observance of Interna22060. Au tovon 354-4172 t ional Women's Year. Actions 

From time to t ime, new in ­ incl ude presenting lobby disdividua li zed, lesson packages ; plays, tying IWY to the worldprogra m med texts, Sound / w ide mission of the Corps and 

Slide, Sound /Page, TV Tapes featuring women in various 

etc., are being developed. Corps program areas ; includEventually, through periodical ing the purposes of IWY as 

updating of catalogues and part of E EO training given to 

-------------------------- --------------~ NOW AVAILABLE FROM THE ENGINEER SCHOOL I 

T V T APES I 

NUMBE R TI T LE I 

051·0205	 Compresso r Replacemen t fo r 38,000 BTU A IC Unit I 

051·0287	 Con cr ete Con st ruct ion Tech niq ues 

051-0324	 En g in eer Balla lion Oper at ions Br ief ing 

051·0001	 E lec trica l Repa ir Test Eq ui pment , Part I : Dig ital Mu lt i · 

m eter , L CR Bridge, Tr ansistor T estor 

051·0002	 El ec tr ical Rep a ir T est Eq uip m en t , Par t I I : Va r iac and 

Osc i llosco pe 

051-0329 Soil Dens it y Det er m in at ion
 

051-0180 Ba si c Pri m ing Sys t ems
 

051·0218	 Panel in g 

051·0058	 Ana lyt ic al Photogra m m etric
 

Posit ioning Sys te m
 

Th e ab ove tapes ar e F Y 75 pr od uction s. All a r e ava i la bl e on 3/." ca ssette i 

and '11" r eel to r eel v ers ions. They m ay be r eq uest ed th r oug h y our local T A SO I or ca II A utov on 354·2177.	 J 

1-	 -­

managers and supervisors ; 

cooperating with state and 

loca l governments in their IWY 

activities ; including women in 

all plans and in responsible 

positions for celebrating our 

200th anniversary; and recognizing employees who have 

contributed to the goals of 

IWY: equality, development, 

and peace. 

NEW MERDC 

FACI LlTY USES 

SCALE MODELS 

A new facility being installed 

at the U.S. Army Mobility 

Equipment Research and Development Center (ME R 

Fort Belvoir, Va., will 

scale models of military equ i pment to develop data on how 

best to camouflage actua l 

item s from radar detection. 

Called the MACROSCOPE it 

is a compact indoor radar test 

range which uses 1/10 scale 

models of tanks, armored personnel carriers and the like to 

show how the life size counterpart looks and measures on 

radar. With this information, 

experts at the Center can design " Bui lt-in" camouflage 

treatment to destroy the image 

and deceive	 enemy radar. 

As a controlled test site, the 

MACROSCOPE provides a detail ed target analysis with 

greater accuracy and less ex ­

pense than time consum ing 

measurements under varying 

f ield conditions. 

Instal lation of the facility 

Dare Technology of San Di 

Ca.. under a $83,894 contr 

w ith the R&D Center will be 

complete by the end of 1975. 

The MACROSCOPE has been 

2 
{NE. PIPELINE.
 

in experimental opera t ion 

since 1972 at the contractor's 

plant where it was designed 

and constructed under an earIier contra ct issued by 

MERDC. 

MER DC is the Army's lead 

laboratory for camouflage 

technology and is also responsible for research, development, 

engineering and initial production buys in 14 other fields of 

endeavor to provide combat, 

mobility and logistic support 

equipment for the field sold ier. 

Projects guided by the Army 

Materiel Command range from 

bridges to detection devices 

and from generators to mobile 

water purification equipment. 

~REL CONSTRUCTION PROGRAM 

UNDER WAY 

A $7.3 million construction 

program is under way at the 

U.S. Army Cold Regions Research and Engineering Laboratory. 

Currently under construction 

is a logistics and supply facility which will include storage 

space .to replace currently 

leased areas. Construction 

started this summer on an 

addition to the existing Laboratory building. A contract 

for $2,488,000 has been awarded 

to the ED Marden Corporation 

for construction of the Laboratory addition. Currently being 

designed is an Ice Engineering 

Research Faci lity. 

The added faci lities for the 

oratory has been required 

the growth in research and 

engineering program at 

CRREL. The Ice E'ngineering 

Facility will provide larger 

scale test facilities than are 

currently available. 

NEW DESERT 

CAMOUFLAGE 

SCREEN RECEIVES 

CLASSIFICATION 

A desert camouflage screen, 

the second of three different 

color blends in a lightweight, 

modular camouflage screening 

system developed by the U.S. 

Army Mobil ity Equipment 

Research and Development 

Center (MERDC), Fort Belvoir, Va ., has been type classified as standard. A woodland 

version of the screen was type 

classified in 1972 and a snow 

version is undergoing final 

tests and modifications. 

Standard classification 

mea ns that the screen is considered the most advanced and 

satisfactory of its type available to meet current military 

needs . Bids will be sought for 

production and delivery as required. 

The desert as well as the 

woodland screen provides concealment of equipment from 

visual, photographic and radar 

detection. Both come in radar 

transparent and radar scattering versions. The latter 

distorts a radar signal, thus 

preventing identification of a 

possible target. The former is 

used when the equipment being 

concealed includes radar of 

functions thru the use of radar. 

Principal components of the 

desert and woodland versions 

of the screening system are a 

basic hexagonal screen shaped 

to approximate the symmetry 

of natural objects and a dia ­

mond shaped filler screen to 

maintain symmetry when two 

or more hexagona I nets are 

joined . The combined area of 

the hexagonal and diamond 

shaped screen is about 900 sq 

ft. 

The support netting for the 

garnish is fabricated of polyester twine. The garnish 

consists of polyvinyl chloride 

coating on both sides of a spunbonded nylon base cloth. Each 

screen is equipped with quickconnect-disconnect fasteners to 

permit rapid assembly-disassembly of the camouflage. The 

screens are reversible to ad ­

just to seasonal and color 

differences existing in nature. 

A single camouflage screen 

can be erected in about five 

minutes. Additional screens 

can be connected at about the 

same rate to form multi-screen 

assemblies. A complete 

module with basic and filler 

net, repair kit and carrying 

case weighs about 65 pounds. 

The support system which also 

has been type classified consists of poles and batten 

spreaders to give the net a 

natural drape. The . support 

system with case also weighs 

about 65 pounds . The new system perm its easier and more 

rapid handling than the large 

assortment of sizes, shaped, 

color blends and engineered 

sets found in the old burlap 

garnished system . It also offers advantages in durability 

and resistance to water and oil 

absorption . 

ME RDC, recent ly designated 

as a Development Center re o 

porting directly to the Army 

Material Command (AMC), 

Alexandria, Va., is the Army's 

lead laboratory for camouflage 

technology. 

3 
COLONELS: 

Assignments . As of 31 August 1975, we will have 292 Engineer colonels on active duty. This 

figure is short of the projected worldwide Projected Requisition Authority (PRA) for Engineer 

colonels . As a result, assignment of Engineer colonels to branch immaterial positions will be more 

limited than usual during the coming year. 

During Cy 76 about one -third of the Engineer colonels will be moving, most of them during the 

Jun-Aug timeframe. Every effort is being made by Colonels Division to project assignments six 

months in advance. Therefore, we will try to get the bulk of the moves programmed by the end of 

February 1976. No matter how hard we try to project requirements in a timely fashion, there will 

always be a few " quick" fills required, but we will try to minimize these. 

Professional Registration. As you know, the certificate of Professional Registration is no longer 

maintained in your Official File; however, you should make sure that Colonels Division is aware of 

you r Profess iona I Reg istrati on. 

LIEUTENANT COLONELS : 

Assignments. Assignment emphasis continues on putting highly qualified officers into Army 

Readiness Regions (AR R s) and Recruiting Commands (USAR ECL Most assignments require 

completion of both Bn Command and CGSC as a minimum. For most, such an assignment i 

departure from what is traditionally regarded as the route to the top ; but times have changed 

born out by the last 06 selection board. 

A review of the files indicates that many LTCs do not have a current preference statement 

available. Try as we may to satisfy your career desires, we are shooting in the dark without your 

input to the system . If you are within 12 months of reassignment, please submit a preference 

statement showing your honest desires regarding duty and location. Include your current duty 

phone number and make use of the remarks space to add other data you wish to have considered in 

your next assignment. It 's your career - help us manage it! 

Professional Registration. Profess ional Engineers, check the comment in COL's 'notes 

regarding annotation of OR Bs to reflect the State(s) and Year(s) in which you are registered. 

Appropriate data should appear in "Section X - Remarks" of your ORB , 

MAJORS: 

New Majors. Welcome to all the new majors on the latest list. You should set your professional 

goals for your "majority" of : 

• Becoming qualified in your alternate specialty. 

• Serving in an engineer troop unit. 

• Completing CGSC by resident or non-resident attendance. 

Assignments. There will be approxirnately 316 majors moving in 1976. Will you be one of those? 

If so, is your preference statement current? Regardless of whether you are a "new major" or an 

"old major", you can expect: 

•	 To be vulnerable for a non-dependent tour if you have only one non -dependent tour (in 

cases, Engineer majors will be sent on a third involuntary NOT) . 

• To be vulnerable for an accompan ied overseas tour if you have not had one or have 

rar 

overseas return date 1972 or earlier. 

•	 To be stabilized for generally 36 months on station due to PCS constratints . 

4 
I 

Predictions of possible assignment areas and commands are as follows : 

Overseas : USAR E U R, Alaska, Korea , Iran, Saudia Arabia, Liberia, Turkey, Panama, Austra lia 

(Tope). and SHAPE. 

CONUS: Most CONUS posts, DCA, DNA, ROTC Regions, Readiness Regions, FORSCOM Hqs. 

TRADOC Hqs , Svc School Instructors at Benning, Knox, Sill, AMC, ASA, and some District and 

Facility Engineer assignments. 

OPMS. DA is fully committed to OPMS. Each of us has an alternate specialty. It would be 

beneficial for each Engineer major to become qualified in his alternate specialty as soon as 

practicable, either by a duty assignment or a school. This may not be immediately possible due to 

PCS constraints and Army requirements . Each major should evaluate himself and ascertain where 

he stands in this area. It may be possible to pick up qualifications academically by correspondence 

course and /or TOY schooling from your current duty station or TOY enroute on a PCS. Review the 

Army School catalog, DA Pam 351 -4, for the opportunities. 

CGSC. Of all the professionally enhancing goals, attainment of CGSC level skills is the toughest. 

If a major is within his last 3 years of eligibility, and has not attended resident CGSC, he should 

seriously consider enrolling in NRI CGSc. The more senior an officer becomes, the heavier the 

emphasis on completion of CGSC, resident or N/R, as assignment prerequisites. We don 't care how 

you acquire thi s level of military schooling, just so you have it. Its attainment is necessary prior to 

y management and com mand assignment as a LTC. 

CAPTAINS: 

Assignments. Most captains serving on CONUS assignments can expect to remain on station 

approximately three years or longer. For the forseeable future, overseas tours in long tour areas 

will continue to be 39 months in duration with non-dependent tours continuing at 13 months on 

stations. 

Approximately 45% of all captains and promotable lieutenants request assignments to Forts 

Ord, Lewis, Carson, or Devens. Approximately 5% of the jobs available to captains are to be found 

in those locations. Officers desiring to go west or to the northeast continue to state those choices, 

however, alternatives at other posts or in other sections of the country should a Iso be given . 

Battalion size troop units are located, or will be located, at Forts Devense, Meade, Belvoir, 

Bragg, Benning, Stewart, Hood, Sill, Campbell, Riley, Leonard Wood, Carson, Ord, Lewis and Polk 

with smaller units located at Forts Dix, Jackson, McClellan, Presidio of San Francisco, Forts Bliss, 

and Knox. 

OPMS. Officers who have received an alternate specia lty designation should notify their 

assignments officer at least 15 months in advance of their DE ROS if they desire their next 

assignment to be in their alternate specie lty. Once they are within 12 months of DE ROS their 

projected assignment specialty, whether primary or alternate, will be fixed and subject to change 

only in exceptional circumstances. Overseas equity will continue to be a master criterion in terms of 

overseas opportunities. 

LI EUTENANTS: 

Assignments. The current professional development of Engineer lieutenants is reflective of 

ignment stability, declining number of overseas tours and a stable promotion system. Officers 

can expect to remain on CONUS stations for approximately 36 months. The trend of send ing 

lieutenants to EOAC after a long tour overseas or 36 months at a CONUS stations is expected to 

continu e. This is compatible with the promotion rate to Captain, AUS, which is still 4 years of active 

5 
duty commissioned service. The criteria for EOAC remains the same: good performance with 

troops and availability. Selections are made on a competitive basis . 

FOR ALL: 

Professional Engineer Registration. Professional Engineer Registration is important to you as 

an officer in the Corps of Engineers ; get it if you can . Although Professiona I Registration is not a 

prerequisite for any Engineer assignment, it is considered when assigning officers to positions in 

Facility Engineer and Engineer District organizations as well as to some research positions . 

Professional Registration is important in increasing the credibil ity of the Corps, especially in those 

areas where close association with civilian engineering organization is common. The Corps of 

Engineers offers assistance in several forms to those officers preparing for the Profess ional 

Engineer examinations. The Department of Army Wide Training Support, USAES, Fort Belvoir, 

offers the Professional Engineer Preparatory Correspondence Course. An excellent opportunity to 

take this course is as an elective while attending the resident Engineer Officer Advanced Course. In 

addition, for those officers assigned to the United States Military Academy, the Department of 

Eng ineering offers refresher courses to assist in review for the examination . 

ORB Corrections. As a continuing effort to make th e Officer Record Brief (ORB) a completely 

useful tool as an assignment aid, we encourage each officer be diligent and persistent in insur ing that 

your ORB reflects necessary and correct infor m at ion. You may audit your ORB during the ann 

audit cycle or when sign ing in at a new duty station. If errors are detected, they should be addres 

to your servicing m ilitary personnel office, not OPD. The reason for asking you to contact yo 

personnel officer is that they mainta in the change submitted . This prevents a double loading of the 

data base and insures your DA Forms 2 and 2-1 are also corrected . 

Your Correspondence Address. In most assignment actions, attempt is made to correspond with 

the officer at his home address . It is your " Officia I Mil itary Address" wh ich is used , as reported by 

you to your personnel office. The address should be your resident address, not your home of record 

(unless the two are the same) . Please help us, and yourself, by performing this check . 

Where Do You Want To Go? Although many officers have not yet realized the importance of the 

" dr ea m sheet", here's a chance to explain the importance of the preference statement. Yes, it's a 

DA Form 483, Officer Assignment Preference Statement. It is our way of knowing what your desires 

are and serves as a vital planning tool in making assignments. Although, recognizing that 

assignments are made based on Army requirements, it's quite possible to satisfy both the needs of 

the Army and desires of the individual. Two important areas of the preference statement should be 

mentioned here: 

•	 Make sure you put your complete present mailing address in item 8(a) . 

•	 The date assigned refers to the date you were assigned to a CONUS installation or a unit 

overseas. 

If your last preference statement is more than a year old ; you don't have one on file, at all; or, 

some major changes have occurred in your life - send us a new preference statement. You say the 

form doesn 't fit your needs? Send us a letter! 

Engineer Personnel Managers in OPO. 

Colonels	 Division : (DAPC-OPC-AE)
 

Engineer Assignments, LTC Thomas Sands, 325-7871
 

LTC Division: (DAPC-OPL-AS)
 

Engineer Assignments, LTC Henry Covington,· 325-0423
 

Ma [ors Division: (DAPC-OPM-AS)
 

•

Engineer Assignments, MAJ Ted G. Stroup, 325-8109 

6 
Combat Support Arms Division: (DAPC·OPF) 

Division Chief COL Carl P. Rodolph 325-0628 

Engineer Branch Chief (DAPC-OPF-E)	 LTC Charles E. Eastburn 525-7434 

CPT Assignments	 MAJ James E. Corbin 325-0650 

Lt Ass ignments	 CPT Milton Hunter 325-0651 

Professiona I Development (DAPC-OP F- D) MAJ Martin Suydam 325-7426 

Warrant Officer Division : (DAPC-OP F-D) 

Engineer Assignments CW4 Jean L. Derby 325-7837 

(For Autovon dial 221 and the last four d igits)
 

The mailing address remains the same: 200 Stovall street, Alexandria, Virginia 22332
 

GOOD NEWS FOR AVIATORS! 

During September 1975, the DCSPER, DA, approved Aviation as an alternate specialty under 

OPMS. This change is expected to be fully implemented in early 1976 and will be keyed to meeting 

field grade aviation requirements. The main features of this concept include the following: 

•	 Aviation will become an Advanced Entry Specialty designated in the beginning of the eighth 

year of commissioned service. 

•	 Aviators will be tra ined and assigned based upon their basic entry specialty. Only officers 

from IN , AR, FA, AD, EN, Sc, TC and MI branches may receive flight training. 

•	 Officers will be eligible to enter fl ight school between their 24th and 60th months of commissioned service (Engineer Officers should plan on four years of basic Engineer qualification 

prior to entering flight school .) 

The Army Aviation program must have highly qualified officers who are well grounded in the 

Combat and Combat Support Arms . This specialty will be des igned to employ aviators in aviation 

positions approximately 67% of the time as Majors, 50% as Lieutenant Colonels and 25% as Colonels. 

Captains with eight or more years service will be designated into the specialty to meet projected 

requirements at the 0-4 level. 

Further developments and implementation of the approved Aviation Specialty will take 

approx imately six months. Additional details will be publicized as they become known. 

CORPS OF ENGINEERS DESIGNATED COMBAT ARMS 

On 12 September 1975, the Chief of Staff, Army approved an action which designated the Corps of 

Engineers as Combat Arms . The Combat Arms category now includes Armor, Infantry, Artillery, 

Air Defense Artillery and Corps of Engineers. This significant decision resulted in the Corps being 

the only branch in the Army to be classified as Combat, Combat Service, and Combat Service 

Support . From a personnel viewpo int, what is the impact of this designation? Actually, it is very 

little. The Corps of Engineers will continue to recruit female Engineers for service with Combat 

Support and Combat Service Support units. Designation of the Corps of Engineers as Combat Arms 

ou ld. however, insure a more equitable share of C&GSC / AFSC mil itary schooling opportunities. 

There is no current OPD plan to realign the assignment and professional development of 

company grade Engineer officers from the Combat Support Arms Division to Combat Arms. 

Particularly since Engineers have the distinct opportunity to serve in all three Arms . Watch for 

additional information in The Engineer magazine. 

7 
r
 

There are projects in ever y community which 

lend themselves to the limitations of Na tional 

Guard and Reserve units. The primary limitationabili ty to actually work on th e pr oject only one 

week end a month, necessitates that th e activities 

can be spread over many months or a year, and in 

some cases a longer time fram e is required. 

Company B, Franklinton-Covington, of the 205th 

Engineer Battalion (Const), Lou isiana Army 

National Guard, is pr esently involved in a major 

ve rtical constr uct ion project whi ch is providing 

On-the-Job Training (OJ T ) for carpenters, electricians, plumbers, masons, concrete sp ecialists, and 

even a few equipment operators. 

When girl scouts of th e South east Louisiana 

Girl Scout Council, New Orl eans, La ., were faced 

with major r enovati on of one of their camps, they 

turned to the 205th En gin eer Battalion for 

assistance. Camp Covington, a nine-acre r etreat 

hidd en by towering pine trees and located seven 

miles north of Covington, needed a new kitchen 

facility, renovation of the adjoining dining hall , 

two new bath houses, gener al r epair, and r eroofing of t he existing camper cabins. After returning 

from annual training in July 74, Company B, was 

assign ed the camp project for work during weekend drills. Arrangements were made by the Girl 

Scou t Council for the Compan y to purchase the 

needed building materials from ar ea suppliers. 

Work began with the demolishing of the 

deteriorated kitchen. A dozer was hauled in to 

push the found ation of an old fire place out of the 

wa y and level the site. Rou gh carpente r s fr am ed 

and complete d the r oof of the new kitchen. Then 

the finis h carpenters moved in to complete the 

int erior , includ ing cab inet construction. After the 

majority of the kitchen construction wa s compl eted , r enovation began on the adjoining dining hall, 

whi ch wa s design ed to accommodate 60 people. 

Th e old ro ofing material wa s stripped off, rott en 

lumber repl aced, and a new shingle r oof installed. 

One of th e new bath hou ses is pres ently un d 

constr uction on the oth er sid e of th e camp near t 

A He lping 

C J . 

8 
e GUI
 

sleepy Bougue Falaya River. Because of th e river, 

which is used as a swimming hole , care had to be 

taken in laying out th e field lines for th e septic 

tank. Th e Comp an y has no TOE backhoe, so a 

member brought his personal one out to use in 

diggin g th e field lines and installing th e se pt ic 

tank. Another member donat ed the gravel. This 

attitude has infected t he en tire Company because 

they are accomplishing something t hat will have a 

truely beneficial effect on their community. Classr oom instruction or make wor k pr ojects will never 

accomplish what one meaningful OJT project can 

do for tr aining an d unit esprit. Th e project will 

r equire sever al years to complete as the re is a 

second bath house t o start, the cabins to r epair, 

and possibly a new caretaker house. Th ere hav e 

been months wh en the Compa ny could not wor k on 

th e Camp becaus e of ot her training r equirements 

and a "call-up" for Hurricane Carmen, bu t every 

summer th e happ y sounds of more and mor e 

eerfu l brownies attending day camp replaces th e 

unds of noisy buzzing of the car pe nters saws . 

Captain C. J. Schexnayder is Company 

Commander. CO B, 205th Engr Bn (Const}, L uisiana Army National Guard. He has served as a 

Tactical Officer, L ssistant roject Officer and

Project Engineer both in the CONUS area and in 

Thailand. He is a graduate of Engineer Officer 

Advanced Course and is presently -nrolled in the 

Command and General Staff Officer Course. He 

holds a BCE and MS degrees in Civil Engineering 

from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is a 

registered professional engineer in Louisiana. He 

works as an Area Engineer with, Covington, L' 

firm of engineers. 

Hands 

Set der 

9 
FORGET 

THE 

STANDARD 

PATTERN 

This article is an ev alu ation of th e two different 

methods of installing landmines that are recognized to be presently par t of US landmine warfare 

doctrine and policy. It must be understood that 

the comparisons made are based on hand emplacement of each method. There are new mechanical 

and scatterable methods of installation that are 

currently in the system or th at are soon to be in 

the system that would r equire less time, manpower and logistical effort than either method 

using hand emplacement. There are, however, 

limitations to these systems that would preclude 

t heir us e one hundred percent of the time. There 

ar e situations where the hand emplacement of 

mines will still be necessary and practical. 

During recent years , the cur rent procedures for 

hand emplaceme nt of landrnines and use of the 

standard pattern have been criticized by commanders at all levels. The main objections are it 

requires too much time, manpower and logistical 

support and is too complicated a system for most 

people who do not deal with it on a daily basis. 

Man y commanders feel that a reversion to the row 

method of installation would be more advantageous than the standard pattern for the following r easons: 

CPT John V. Kauffman 

• It requires less time for installation. 

• It requires less manpower to install. 

• It requires less logistical effort, and the 

method of installation is less complicated. 

Are these assumptions on the part of the commanders valid? To answer this question each 

reason will be examined individually. However, 

there are a few terms that need to be clarified. 

1. Row Method of Installation - Using this 

method, the mines are laid in rows with regular 

spacing (not less than 6 paces/meters between 

antitank mines). Distances may vary between 

mines in different rows, but should remain constant within one mine row. See Figure A. 

2. Standard Pattern Method of Installation ­

In this method, the mines are laid in the NATO 

cluster system, that is, a regularly spaced number 

of clusters on alternate sides of a strip centerline. • A cluster consists of a base mine with zero to four 

mine s surrounding it within a two meter/pace 

radius semicircle. See Figure B. 

3. Front - The straight line distance betwe 

the right and left extremities of the minefields. 

4. Desired Density (D.D.) - The average 

number of mines. by type. per meter of front of a 

minefield found from the front to the rear of the 

10 
• • 

ROW 

----------4.........--.---1c
 

F IG . A 

STANDARD PATTERN 

( FIG . B 

field. This is usually expressed in three numbers 

indicat ing ty pe of mine, i.e., 1 ant itank mine (AT), 

1 antipersonnel fragme ntation mine (AP F ), 1 

antipersonnel blast mine (AP B), or specifically a 

1-1-1 desir ed de nsity. 

These two terms, front an d desired den sity, 

are graphically portrayed by Fi gures C and D. 

5. roE - Irregul ar Outer Edge - The first 

strip of a min efield installed to the standard 

pattern. It consists of a base line with a number of 

short strips bran chin g off toward the ene my . It 

consists of generally one-third as many live 

clusters (clus te rs that cont ain mines) as a r egular 

lettered str ip . Figure E shows graphically t he 

roE in relation to t he r egular strips in a minefield. 

6. IOE Rep resen t ati ve Cluster Composition 

(RCC) - The number of mines, by type, contained 

in each live cluster of t he roE . It is usually 

written in a three number format similar to 

desir ed de nsity, viz , 1-2-2. However, desir ed 

ensity is average mines by type per met er of 

ont and cluster composition is number of mines 

y type in a live cluster. 

To compare standard pattern and row minefields, three ass umptions have to be ma de: 

• The desired density will be th e sa me for each 

meth od of inst allation. 

• The front will r emain constant for eac h 

method. and 

• Bot h meth ods will be manually inst alled 

usin g tr oops of equal ex perience . 

The fir st st at ement to be examined is, "Row 

mining requires less time for insta llation th an , 

standard patter n." En vision a one-hundr ed meter 

front min efield inst alled to the standar d pattern 

with a desir ed density of 1-2-2 (1 antitank min e, 2 

antipersonnel fragmentatio n mines, and 2 antiperso nnel bla st mine s per meter of min efield 

front). The IOE r epresen ta tive cluster compo sitio n will be 1-2-2 also. Using the curr ent method 

of determining manh our s, a calculation is mad e of 

the number of mines, by ty pe, needed to achieve 

this densit y. Figur e F explains the calculations . 

Having ascertained number of mines necessary, 

we can calculate the manhours using certain 

constants. For example, one man , on the average, 

can install four ant itank mines in one hour, eig ht 

antipersonnel fragme ntation mines in one hour, or 

sixteen ant ipersonnel blast mines in one hour. 

Using t he se as constants, divide each into th e 

corresponding gra nd total of each t ype of mine. A 

twenty per cent facto r is t he n ad ded to t he t ot al to 

account for t he time spe nt in siti ng (includes 

F IG . C 

ROW 

DD '= 1·0-0 

Front 

. 1m .. ..

- .. ... .. 

- - ..

- ... 

.. .... 

.. ... 

STANDARD PATTERN DD = 1-0-0 

Front 

... 1m .. T , 

r r • 

i • i

• • 

F IG . D 

1l 
i 

13E 

F I G. E 

Desired Den sity ( D D ) 1-2-2 

IOE 100 -7- 9 "" 12 li ve clu sters i n IOE RCC "" 1-2-2 

AT APF APB 

ID E 12 2' 24 

Regu la r Stri ps. lQ.Q.. 200 ,00 D D X Fr on t 

SU BT OT"'L 112 224 224
 

locYo A dde d for t er r am
 

& unserv iceab le m ines 12 23
 

G R A N D l OT "' L 124 247 

F IG F 

AT APF APB 

G R"' N D T OT AL 124 .- J 2' 7 - Il 247 - 16
 

MH R S 3\ 31 + 16 7B
 

78 x 1 20 = 94 MHR S 

FI G . G 

physical layout ), marking and recording. This is 

shown in Figure G. 

Usi ng t he row method, if the effectiveness of 

th e IOE is to be mai ntained in line with comparable desired dens ity, a comparable number of 

mines must be installed, by t ype, in the rOE r ows. 

Also, an equivalent number of mines must be 

pr esen t in th e r emainder of the field to main tain 

the same density. The ins tallation r ate constants 

4, 8 and 16 are not depende nt on t he installation 

meth od; t here fore, the manhours are det ermined 

in exactly th e same way for row mining as they 

are for the standard pattern meth od. It therefor e 

follows t hat the r ow meth od does not r equir e less 

time for installation t han does t he standar d 

pattern. 

Th e se cond and thir d statements, "Row minin g 

requires less manpower to install tha n does t he 

standard patt ern" and "Row mini ng r equires less 

logistical effor t than standard patt ern" are dir ectly 

r elated to the ma nhours require d to install either 

t ype, if the manh ours required to install applicatio n of t he standa rd pattern are commonly r ecognized as being more complicated t han t hose that 

EDITORS NOTE: The author reaches his conclusion on an analysis of hand emplacement of 

mines against a 1953 threat force. The develor 

ment of the M-57 mine planter for use with th 

M -15 mine significantly increases laying rates 

of Anti-Tank (AT) mines . This is particularly 

true using the row pattern, with one pass per 

strip as opposed to the standard pattern requiring 2 passes per strip. The concept of protecting the AT mine from dismounted troops is 

not as critical as previously perceived, in light 

of Soviet mechanized, doctrine to remain 

mounted during the assault. The Family of 

Scatterable Mines (FASCAM) Study recom ­

mends a ratio of 1 Anti-Personnel (AP) (fragmentation) mine per 2 AT when confronting a 

mechanized threat. The combination of me ­

chanical emplacement and reduction of AP 

requirements have increased the desirability of 

row mining . 

govern the r ow method. However, the actual 

physical installation process for either me thod 

does not vary significantly. Even though the 

standard pattern does have more complex rul es 

for employment, it does not require an y added 

time , manpower or logistical effort. 

ROW FI G . Hl

I IOE 

A 

B 

F 

o 

c 

E 

8m mi n imu m I 

I 8m m in im um 

8m mini mum I I 

I 8m m in im u m 

I I 

8m m ini m um I 

f I 8m 

minimum 

I 

STANDARD PATTERN 

__----------_----.­ IOE 

T . . 15m rrururnu rn 

1 

. ! 15 rru ru m u rn 

1 

F IG . H -2 

12 
Furthermore. there is one concept that the 

itics of the standard pattern have either forott en about or have just disregarded - effectiveness. In discussing the effectiveness of the 

standard pattern. the "how" and "why" of the 

cluster pattern's development needs to be briefly 

explored. Emphasis on mine warfare, with regard 

to doctrinal concepts, arose during and immediately 

following the Korean War. The Second Mine 

Warfare Panel which met at Fort Belvoir, Va., in 

1953, developed the cluster pattern. Some procedures in doctrine have changed, but the basic 

cluster pattern is essentially the same today as 

when it was first introduced. The cluster pattern 

was developed to make antitank minefields a 

formidable obstacle for combined arms forces to 

breach, specifically armor coupled with foot troops. 

It is acknowledged that neither method (row or 

standard pattern) presents a more effective obstacle than the other to an enemy force equipped 

with mechanical or explosive breaching equipment. Also, since both minefields have the same 

density, the probability of encounter by an armored vehicle moving through either field will be 

essentially the same. However, the cluster pattern has been recognized as much more effective 

ainst manual detection and breaching by foot 

fantry. The whole concept of the cluster pattern 

as designed to protect the antitank base mine 

with the antipersonnel fragmentation and antipersonnel blast mines. This can be seen graphically in 

Fig. 1. 

Antipersonnel 

Antipersonnel Fragmentation 

Blast Mines Mines 

Antitank
 

Mine
 

·FIG I 

It becomes obvious that it is much more 

difficult to manually breach this type of pattern 

than a purely row pattern as seen in Figure J. 

With the antipersonnel fragmentation and antipersonnel blast mines surrounding the base mine, 

e actual detection of any consistent pattern 

comes more difficult. Even after detection has 

een accomplished, this configuration, standard 

pattern, becomes a more formidable obstacle for 

manual breaching than does the row configuration. 

With this understanding, then, there seems to be a 

Antipersonnel Antipersonnel 

Blast Mine Fr ag m en tat ion 

Mine 

Antitank Mines FIG. J 

trade-off point in the selection of one method of 

installation over the other. This trade-off is that 

the commander must sacrifice some effectiveness 

of the obstacle for the simplification of rules 

governing installation and vice versa. 

It can be argued that criticisms of the standard 

pattern have arisen due to a lack of understanding 

of its principles and also due to fallacies of 

judgment in selection of row over the standard 

pattern. To eliminate the standard pattern and 

revert to the row method would effectively 

deprive the commander of a basic tool of defense. 

It has been shown that it does not require more 

time, manpower or logistics to install the standard 

pattern. It has also been shown that the standard 

pattern offers a level of effectiveness that the row 

pattern cannot. Complicated? Somewhat. However. is it not the commander's responsibility to 

see that his subordinates are familiar with and 

proficient in mine warfare principles? A closer 

examination of the principles that make up the 

standard pattern reveals that it r eally isn't the 

huge dark ogre that everyone thinks it is. A 

complete understanding can be achieved with 

limited study. Also, once a decision has been made 

with respect to where a minefield that is hand 

emplaced is to be sited and its intended mission, it 

makes more sense to put in the more effective 

standard pattern. It seems that a total reversion 

to the row method will occur if the critics of the 

standard pattern continue to adhere to the current 

misconceptions. 

CPT John V. Kauffman graduated from the 

Engineer Officer Basic Course in January 1970. He 

attended the Construction Planning and Operations Course prior to being assigned to the 23rd 

Engineer Battalion, 3rd Armored Division in 

Hanau; Germany. He returned from Europe in 

June of 1973 and became the Adjutant of the 3rd 

Battalion, US Army Engineer School Brigade. 

CPT Kauffman was an instructor in the Mine 

Warfare Branch of the Department of Applied 

Enqineerinq at the US Army Engineer School. 

He holds a BS degree in education from Indiana 

Unioersii.q of Pennsylvania. 

13 
VIRGINIA BEACH
 

SAND STORAGE
 

Curtis W. Baskette, Jr. 

Virginia Beach is the major public beach in 

Virginia on the Atlant ic Ocea n. It is va luable from 

both a recreational and economic standpoint. But. 

as is ty pical of most shorelines along t he easter n 

seaboa rd. beach eros ion is a per sistent problem . 

In an effort to combat t his problem. local, state 

an d fede ra l inte rests have been working together 

in an attempt to main tain an adequ ate recreational 

beach thro ugh peri odic r epl enishmen t of sa nd. 

The Norfo lk District, D. S. Army Corp s of 

Enginee rs. which administers the federal inter ests 

in th e pr oject, also has the r esponsibility for 

keeping navigation channels ope n into the harbor 

of Hampton Road s, including the Thimble Shoal 

Cha nnel at th e mouth of th e Chesap eak e Bay. 

Material obtained from maintenance dr edgin g of 

the cha nnel, normally dumped at se a, was tested 

and found to be high quality. coarse sand . suitable 

for beach nourishment. Armed with these t est 

re sults. the Corps developed a plan to recover this 

sa nd for use on the beach. 

Both the beach nourishmen t and channel 

dr edging are Congressionally-authorized feder al 

projects and combining them had the advantage of 

pr ovidin g an environmentally desirable solution to 

the perennial pr oblem of where t o deposit dr edge 

spo il. Th e first phase of t he pr oject include d 

pumping the excavated sa nd ashore to a st orage 

area on Cape Henry for lat er tra nsfer t o th e 

eroding beaches of th e r esor t city. A significant 

contribut ion on this civil works project was 

pr ovided by the D_ S. Army' s Tran sportation 

Cente r at For t Eu stis, Virginia. The Army 

supp lied both manp ower and equipme nt necessar ' 

to discharge the sand onto th e shore. Concurre 

ly, the operation provi de d a va lua ble trainin 

opportunity in a wide r an ge of logistics. port 

construc t ion. and ope rating tec hniques. 

Pumpout Operation 

Dre dgi ng of t he ll-mile long Thimble Shoal 

Navigat ion Channe l was accom plished by the 

Cor ps ' owne d-a nd-ope rat ed h opper dr ed ge 

GOETHA LS , which has the requ ired pumpout 

capability. After obtaining a full load of sa nd in 

her hopp er bins, the dr edge connected to an 

intricate moori ng syste m offshore from Cape 

Henry, re ver sed th e eng ines and pumped t he 

rnaterial ash ore to a beach st orage area on Fort 

Sto ry Military Reservation. The mooring sy stem, 

located in 30 feet of water to accommodate the 

dr ed ge's dr aft r equirements. included a floatin g 

mooring barge which prov ided the connection 

between th e dr ed ge a nd the submerged pipelin e 

leading to shore . Suitable anchorage of the 

moori ng barge in the exposed ocean enviro nme nt 

of Chesapeake Bay was a cr itical factor in the 

ope ration. Th e aid provided by the 497th En gineer Company (port constr uction), For t Eusti s. in 

furn ishing and ope rating a self-elevating DeLo 

Pier was essential to success. Th e pier was r ais 

above the water by pn eum ati c ja cks on each of its 

t en caissons. Each caisson or spud is 78 feet long 

and 6 feet in diameter wit h Ilh-inch thick st eel 

walls. Once out of the influence of th e sea. the 

pier provided a stable platform to which t he 

moor ing barge was sec ure d. The principal dim ensions of the two barges are: 

Mooring Barge Delong Pier 

L ength 250 feet 300 fee l 

Width 60 fee t 80 f ee t 

Draft 3 teet. 4 inch es 3 feet 

Deck height 10 fe et 13 teet 

Weight 1500 ton s 2300 tons 

Mor e t ha n 1100 feet of 28-inch diam et er sub ­

merged pipeline was placed on the bay bottom 

between th e mooring system and t he shore. 

Anothe r 2700 feet of shore pipe was r equired 

along the shore line to the stockpile area. 

The sa nd purnpout and sto rage operation toIto." 

place betwee n 6 October and 25 November 1974, ' 

period of abou t 50 days. Dur ing th at time. ove e450,000 cubic yards of high qu ality sand was 

pumped ashore . The stockpile extend ed over a 

14 
28-acre area with a t op elevation ap pr oaching 30 

, .e t above mean sea level, Transfer of the material 

th e project shoreline at Virginia Beach. some 8 

miles away , began during J anuary 1975. In all. a 

3- to 4-year supply of beach nouri sh ment material 

has been made available. 

Th e 497t h Engineer Company 

For med in 1942. t he 497t h En gineer Company 

is the only active port constr uction unit in the 

United States Ar my. It participated in num er ous 

campaigns and constr uction efforts during World 

War II and in Viet Na rn. As an ele me nt of t he 7th 

Tran spor tation Gro up at Fort Eusti s, its primar y 

mission is to construct, improve an d r ehabilitat e 

waterfront facilities, including piers, whar ves, and 

offshore anchorage systems; the installation of 

submarine and floati ng pipelines; marine salvage; 

and vessel repair. In additi on to the nor mal 

mari ne construction equipme nt which t he unit has 

unde r its command, the 497t h also has charge of a 

self-elevating DeLong Pier. Used successfully in 

Vietnam as an "instant" pier or wharf for offloadi ng marine carg o. the DeLong Pier provided a 

ready means of stabilizing t he moor ing facilities 

for the sa nd pumpout. 

Success of the pumpout-san d storage project 

18 dependent on bein g ab le to locat e and elevate 

e pier in about 30 feet of water, and with in a 

reasonable pump ing distan ce to the stockpile area. 

Test installations of the pier were begun in early 

Augu st 1974. Sufficient soil bearing capac ity to 

raise th e pie r was not found within the upper bay 

bottom imm ediately offshore of the site. After 

conducting a geo physical survey of t he near sh or e 

zone using a se ismic pro filer, another se ries of test 

installations was conducted by the port constr uction unit. A suitable area was located and the 

DeLong Pier was raise d approximately 1100 feet 

offshore and 2700 fee t east of the stockpile site, 

we ll with in t he effi cient pumping capab ilities of 

th e GOETHALS. 

A sp ecialized fende ring system was installed 

between t he floating moorin g barge and elevated 

DeLong P ier to absor b wave a nd ship-induced 

ener gy . Two sepa rate fend er units were constr ucted, each consisting of 15-inch diam et er 

ru bber fen de rs hun g hor izontally fro m th e deck of 

the DeLong Pier; a series of te n ve rtical timber 

piles; and cylindrical foam-filled fende rs, measuring 4.0 feet by 7.4 feet, shackled together and 

floatin g- between the moor ing barge and timber 

les. Th e fen dering system was installed by the 

7th E ngineer Company. Th e untreated oak piles 

vere driven about 15 feet int o the bay bot t om by a 

40-ton crawler crane from the deck of the DeLong 

P ier. 

...'.- .r _.- -~ : ...•.-. r' ,,' .
 

. 
 

. -:;­

'; .. ' 

." - -.{~1:~'~ •• lo"

,"'

lo-Ton Fork Lift Installing Section of Shore Pipe 

Yo kohama Fender Being Airlifted Aboard 

LARC LX Amphibious Vehicle for Transport to 

Mooring Facilities 

> 

> , 

15 
After four days of operation. significant winds 

and waves developed out of the northeast. Th 

foam-filled fenders were damaged considerab 

with separation resulting around their ends. 

Mooring Barge Secured to Delong Pier Offshore of Fort Story, Virginia 

Dredge GOETHALS docking to Mooring 

Facilities 

though additional foam fenders were available for 

replacement, a more substantial fender was necessary in view of possible major storm damage. Two 

Yokohoma ru bber pneumatic fenders, measuring 8 

feet by 18 feet were borrowed from the U. S. 

Coast Guard at Elizabeth City, North Carolina. 

Even though winds exceeding 40 knots and waves 

exce eding 7 feet were experienced, no further 

damage to th e fenders or barges resulted. 

The 1100 feet of 28-inch pipeline was floated in 

a single section to the site from a Corps of 

Engineers facility inside Norfolk Harbor. The 

pipeline was positioned between the mooring 

faciliti es and shore and lowered to th e bay bottom 

by gradually filling it with water. A large LARC 

LX amphibious vehicl e towed the pip e through the 

surf zone onto the beach. Corps-owned shore pipe 

was carried' to the site in 16-foot sections by 

flatbed trucks. Two weeks were r equired by the 

engineer unit to assemble the 2700 feet of pipe 

paralleling the shoreline to the storage site. The 

The forklift simplified a,\ assembly was accomplished through the combined 

use of two D-7 bulldozers, a 20-ton mobil e crane, 

and a 10-ton forklift. 

exp edited the installation process considerably I 

a result of its mobility in the sandy terrain an / 

effectiveness in handling and positioning the pipe. 

Th ese same pieces of equipment were used 

throughout the pumpout operation for adding pipe 

and shaping the dikes around th e sand storage 

area to retain th e discharg-ed material. 

Another major role played by the port construction unit pertained to the docking of the 

dredge GOETHALS to the mooring barge and the 

ma ting of the discharge pipeline to the dredge's 

pumpout system. Under the supervision of personnel from the Corps' Philadelphia District, the 

soldiers were re sponsible for the operation of the 

four automatic tensioning winches which secured 

the dredge to the mooring barge. Two additional 

winches controlled the discharge pipeline for its 

mating with the dredge. The dredging-pumpout 

acti vities were conducted around-the-clock, seven 

days a week throughout the two months of 

operation with an average of four hopper loads a 

day being pumped ashore. 

Roles of Other Military Units 

Several other units of the Transportat, 

Center wer e instrumental in providing support ' 

th e preparation and accomplishment of the san 

storage operation. Tug assist ance was provided 

by the 73rd Floating Craft Company in th e 

16 
movement of barges, floating pipelines, and ot her 

nater ials required for th e proj ect. Div ers of th e 

t h Transpor tation Batt alion mad e r econnaisance investiga tions of t he bay floor during the 

process of locating a suitable positi on for erection 

of the DeLong Pier and alignment of the submerged pipelines. They also accomplished t he 

und erwater main ten ance of the submerged pipeline and its conn ections. 

Beside s furnishing the land upon which the 

sand was st ored, th e 79th Transportation Battalion 

at Fort Story also contributed both logisti cs and 

transpo rtat ion. For t Story is t he only Ar my 

ins tallation in the United States suitable for 

amphibious tr aining, for th e conduct of logisti csover-the -shore (LOTS) exe rc ises, and for the test 

of amphibious and LOTS ope rational concepts and 

eq uipme nt. The primary amphibious vehicl es 

utilized at the installation are of the LARC class. 

These ve hicles affor ded an efficient means of 

transfe rr ing men , eq uip ment and materials from 

t he shore to the moor ing facilities and dredge. At 

least one manned vehicle was stationed on t he 

beach twenty-four hour s a day for th e possible 

eme rgency evacuation of men from th e offshore 

facilit ies. Fortunately, no severe emergency arose 

dur ing th e operation. 

By th e effective combination of two se parate (	 vii works projects, t housands of cubi c ya rds of 

and, normally lost by dump ing at sea, were 

recov ered for the r eplenish men t of eroding shor elines. The ph ysical and economic success of th e 

operation was mad e possible by th e significant 

support of troops and eq uipme nt of the United 

States Ar my, who ga ined valuable training and 

exper ience from the va rious technical as pects of 

their effor t s. Through the joint civilian and 

militar y endeavors, not only were the citizens of 

Vir ginia Beach, Virginia, supplied wit h muchneed ed beach nour ishment sa nd, but optimum 

conse r vation and use of a natur al r esource was 

achieved with minimum impact on the environmen t. 

Curtis W Baskette, Jr. is a project engineer in 

the Water Re sources Planning Branch, Engineering Division, for the U.S. A rm y Engineer District 

in Norfo lk, Virginia. His responsibilities include 

the f orm ulation of reports and administration of 

projects relati ve to coastal enqineeritiq and beach 

erosion, navigation, flood control and related 

water resources projects. He obtained his bachelor of science degree in civil engineering at 

'rginia Polytechnic Institute and State Univerty and his master 's degree in coastal and oceanographic engineering at the Unive rsity of Florida. 

He has been with the Norf olk District office since 

1967. 

Aerial View of the Sand Stockpi Ie on the Fort 

Story Military Reservation on Cape Henry 

D-7 Bulldozers Removing Shore End of Submerged Pipel ine 

17 
ARE 

E GINEERS 

REALLY 

DIFFERENT? 

MAJ Joseph P. Kish 

EDITOR's NOTE : This article is published in 

the interest of provoking discussion . The 

USAES is in the process of rewriting the 

current family of field manuals. These manuals will include discussions of command and 

support relationships, which are being modified 

to reflect changing doctrine on "How to Fight." 

Have you ever tried to explain to a combat 

arms officer the "best" way to employ your 

engineer unit? Even if your recommendation was 

technically and tactically sound, have you ever 

tried to justify your decision based on official US 

Army doctrine? If the answer to both these 

questions is "yes", you have already experienced 

the problem area I will discuss. 

If you are a member of a divisional engineer 

battalion, your doctrinal organization for combat is 

quite clear. An engineer combat company is 

normally placed in support of each committed 

brigade, while the remainder of the battalion 

supports the division as a whole . 

But what happens when nondivisional engi ­

neers are supporting your division? Doctrine is 

quite consistent in recommending that the nondivisional engineers be placed in support of, or 

attached to, th e division. That's all right as far as 

establishing a command relationship. But what 

about the combat support tasks and the coordination to be accomplished by the supporting unit? 

As an example, FM 5-142, paragraph 3-8a, states: 

"... Corps engineer combat brigade elements 

operating forward into divisional areas on a task 

or area assignment coordinate major activiti 

with the division engineer through their engine _/

combat group headquarters. When attached to or 

in direct support of a division, they coordinate 

with the division engineer. " 

Here, however, we encounter the common 

doctrinal confusion of discussing command relationships intermixed with mission assignments. A 

task assignment and an area assignment are 

tactical missions; whereas attachment and direct 

support are command relationships. This confusion also exists in other engineer doctrinal 

referenc es (FM 5-1 and FM 5-162) where terms are 

defined in the first few chapters, but are confusingly intermixed. 

I propose the adoption of a system which 

specifically designates the various command relationships separate from the mission assignments. 

This system is similar to the technique used by th e 

field artillery . A summary of some combinations is 

furnished at the end of this article (Tables 3 and 

4). No handy matrix of all inherent responsibilities 

has been developed, due to th e myriad employment combinations possible. Such a system is 

compatible with the format of the five paragraph 

operation order. In fact, it is based on th 

operation order format specified in FM 101-5. 0 

combat arms brethren think and organize th e 

activities in accordance with the operation order 

format, so why should we insist that engineer 

18 
employmen t doct rine be different? 

Man y of you may qu estion the advisa bility of 

kering" with a system th at has served us 

.thfully th rough out the years. True, t he engineers have always been abl e t o re solve disputes. 

However, man y tim es these r es olutions hav e 

bewildered maneu ver commande rs who could not 

fully und erstand the intricacies of th e sys tem. The 

followin g propos al sh ould clarify future working 

r elationships. By clearly specifying the differences 

between a command re lationship and a mission 

assignm ent. the suppor te d unit as well as the 

su pporting engineer unit would clearly und erstand 

their mutual r esp onsibilit ies, pr erogatives, and 

command channels. Hopefully, it would also clarify 

relati ons hips with ten an t units not r eceiving 

support . How many times in Vietnam did that 

nondivisional engi nee r company comma nde r hav e 

to de ny r eque sts from senior officers wanting to 

use a grade r for "just an hour"? 

In or der to clar ify the following proposal. as 

we ll as to save the r ead er r esearch time, the 

discuss ion include s certain definitions found in 

curr ent doctrine and AR 310-25, Dic tumaru of 

United Stat es Army Terms. Th e command r elationships are t hose to be specified in th e Task 

Organi zation of th e app ro priate operation ord er; 

ilc the mission assignm en ts ar e th ose to be 

( .ified in an ap pr opriate subpar ag raph of parae> , ph 3, E XE CUTI ON, of th e same ope ration 

ord er. 

Command Relationships 

Engineer units will ha ve a command re lations hip establishe d with high er head qu arters. The 

com mand r elationships of orqanic and assignment 

are r elatively pe rmane nt and ar e specifi ed by TOE 

or in appropriate gene ral order s. Sin ce th ese tw o 

command relationships are not subject t o cha nge 

hy an ope ration or der , th ey will not be discussed 

in detail. The command r elati onsh ips of attachtn enl., operat ional control, and direct suppo r t ar e 

subject to fr equ ent change and are specified in the 

Task Organization of t he appro priate operation 

ord erI plan. A brief discussion of t hese last three 

ter ms follows . 

A ttachm ent is th e tem por ar y placem ent of a 

unit under a command other than its assigned 

command . Unless ot he rwise specified in the 

attachment or der, the commander of t he unit 

re ceiving the attachme nt exercises the same 

degree of comma nd and contro l as he does over 

/i its an d per sons or ga nic to his command . ~w

.; , th e r es ponsib ilit y for transfer and promotion 

erso rine l, as we ll as the administ ration of 

military justice. will normally be r et ain ed by the 

parent uni t. 

Operational Control is the pla cement of a unit 

under a commande r or staff officer for th e 

accomplishment of sp ecific missions. or tasks, 

which are usually limited by fun ction, time, or 

locati on. It does not includ e aut hor ity to assig n 

se parate employment of compo ne nts of th e unit s 

concerne d. In addition, it doe s not , of itself, 

includ e resp onsibility or authori ty for combat 

se rvice su pport , administration, internal or ganization, or unit training. 

Direc t Suppo rt is a temporary command relatio nship r equiring pr iori ty support to be provided 

by a uni t, not attach ed or und er oper at ional 

contr ol of the supported unit . Th e paren t or ganiza tion of t he su pporting engine er eleme nt r etains 

command of, and r esponsibilit y for administrative 

and logis ti c support of the support ing element. 

Direct support is not clearly specified as a 

command rel ati onship in current en gineer doctrine . However FM 101-5, Appe ndix F , clearly 

specifies it as such and requires that "DS" be 

indicated when appro priate in the operation or der 

Task Or ga nizatio n. 

Th e five possibl e command r elati onships ar e 

stat ed in Tabl e 1. 

Command Relationships 

Organic 

Assignment 

Attachment* 

Operational Control* 

Direct Support* 

' T h ese com m and r elation sh ips are sp ec if ied in th e Ta sk Orqaru . 

zation of a n ope r a tion order / p la n . 

TABL E 1 

Mission Assignments 

Wit hin t he fr ame wor k of the comma nd r ela ­

tionship , th e combat support responsibilities t o be 

execute d by en gine er units are de signa t ed by the 

assignme nt of support missions and/o r work 

assignments. Th es e should be discussed together 

in doctrinal r eferences as "miss ion assignments"; 

since the y ar e th e missions sp ecified in an appropriate subparagraph of paragraph 3, EXECU· 

TION, of th e operation order. In addit ion t o the 

mission assignme nts, engineer employme nt is 

oft en fur t her clarified by designating work priorities for the var ious missions assigned. A brief 

ex planation of the mission assignments follows. 

Direct Support is a missi on characterized by 

close liaison and coordin ation between the suppor tin g and th e suppor te d uni t. It assures that 

the priority of enginee r effor t is applied as needed 

19 
to th e requirements of the supported command, 

without fragmenting or dilutin g control of the 

engineer support unit by its par ent organization. 

Th e suppor t of a DS unit cannot be withdrawn or 

diverted without appr oval by th e commande r over 

both t he suppor te d unit and th e parent en gin eer 

unit. The parent engineer headquarters maintains 

techni cal supervision of th e direct support unit. 

General Support is that support whi ch is 

pr ovided to th e suppor ted forc e as a whol e and not 

to any particular subdivision. This mission assignment is applicabl e to en gineer elements not 

pr oviding priority suppor t to a particular subdivision of the major headquarters concerned. 

General suppor t takes adv ant age of the centralized 

planning and technical supervision capability of 

th e parent en gine er headquar ters. 

Coor dination of engineer combat suppor t frequently requires th e specification of work ass ignmen ts in addition to specifying a direct support or 

a gener al suppor t mission. Th e wor k assignments 

which may be assigned ar.e t ask, area, or a 

combination assignment. 

Area Assignment is th e designation of respons ibilit y to an engineer unit for general engineer work within a specific geographic area. The 

limits of r esp onsibility may or may not coincide 

wit h tactic al boundaries; they are primarily bas ed 

on the estimat ed engineer r equirements. If an 

informal boundary is required t o establish area 

r esp onsibility, an engineer forward work limit 

(FWL) is establishe d by comm on agreement between enginee r commanders. (The use of th e term 

"FWL" t ypifies th e problem t ha t I would like to 

eliminat e. It is commonly used in enginee r 

doctrinal referen ces as well as USAES lit erature. 

How ever, a non -engineer could be extremely 

confu sed since this t erm is not recognized in AR 

310-25 or AR 310-50.) 

Task Assignment is th e assignment of Ii 

speci fic project or pr ojects to be accompli sh ed by 

an engineer unit within the area of operations of 

th e support ed unit. Task assignment has the 

ad van tage of clearly defining the job to be accomplished and permits a degr ee of centralized 

control. 

Combination Assignment includ es both the 

missio ns of task and area assignment for a 

par ticular engineer unit. Tasks can also be 

assigned within th e ge ogr aphical ar ea of responsibilit y of anothe r enginee r unit. 

As indic ated previously, work priorities may 

also be specified for dilin eated tasks. However , 

the ove rall prior it ies can only be spe cified by the 

headquarters directing the suppor ti ng en gineer 

effort. Thus, th e command r elationship establish ed also has impli cati ons r egarding th e specification of priorities. 

With in t he fram ework of the command r elationship, the five possible mission assignme nts are 

sta te d in Tabl e 2. 

Mission Assignments 

D ir ect Sup por t 

Genera I Sup por t 

Ta sk Ass ig nment 

A rea Assignment 

Com b ina t ion Ass iqnrnen t 

TA BL E 2 

Divisional Eng in eer Employment Responsibilities 

Type Mi ssions 

(Task s) 

Suppor ted Who May Wor k Who Provides 

Command Relation 

Unit 

Ma y ASSign 

Chan ge 

Mission 

Esta b lish 

Liai son w I 

Pr iorit ie s 

Established by 

Admi n/Log 

Support 

Requ est s for 

ASSistance through 

Techni cal 

Super vision by 

Organ ic. Assignment or Atfached 

DS 

GS 

Task 

Supported 

Unit 

Supported 

Uni1 

Sup por ted 

Uni l 

Supported 

Unit 

Suppor ted Un,! 

Cha nnel s 

Di v En gr 

Area 

Com bina tion 

Oper ationa l Con ­ DS Common Cdr Supported Supported Par en t Supported Unit Di v Engr tro l GS of eng r & Sup. Un i t Unit Engr HQ Cha nnels Task ported Unit
 

Area
 

Comb ina tion 

Direc t Suppor t DS Com mon Cdr Suppo rted Sup por ted Par en t Engr Div En gr Task of eng r & Sup . Unit Uni t Eng r HQ Cha nnel s Area ported Unit" to Parent HQ Comb ina tion 

Unu t.!L! C-i.l p<'l t/il flie s r'rli'\y oe emp loy ed by par ent engr HQ .. eter coord inati on w ith tbe sooocrr ee un'l • 

20 
---

Ty pe M issions
 

(Tasks)
 

Supported
 

Un it Ma y
 

Command Relation Assign 

Attached OS 

GS 

Ta sk 

Ar ea 

Com bi na tion 

Operat iona l DS 

Contro l GS 

Ta sk 

Area 

Combin a tion 

Dire c t Suppor t OS 

Task 

Ar ea 

Com bination 

Ass igned or GS 

At tached to Tas k 

En gr Bde or Gp Are a 

Combinat ion 

Ass igned or GS 

At ta ched to Task 

Eng r Bde or Gp Area 

Comb ina ti on 

Nond ivisional Engineer Employment Respon sibilities
 

when supporting a Division or Sepa rate Br igade
 

Who May Who Pr ovi des
 

Chang e Esta blish
 Pr i or ities Admin / Log Req uest s for Tech nica I M ission Li ai son wi Establ ished by Support Assist an ce th rough Supervision by 

Supported Div Engr Suppor ted Suppor ted Div to Cor ps Div Engr Uni t & Unit Uni t ( Com mand 

Supported channel s) Un it 

Cor ps Div Engr Suppo rt ed Parent Div to Cor ps Di v Engr
 & Un it Engr HQ (Command
 

Supported channels )
 

Unit 

Corps" Di v Engr Suppor ted Parent ncn -di v -enqr Di v Eng r & Unit En gr HQ channels 

Sup por ted 

Un it 

Parent Di v Engr Cor ps Pa re nt non-div-enqr Paren t Engr HQ	 Engr HQ channels	 Engr HQ & 

Di v Engr 

Combat Ser v ic e Support Ta sk s ( Constr uct ion & Installati on Supp ort) 

Pa r ent Div Engr Cor ps Pa ren t non-div -enq r Parent En gr HQ Engr HQ channels Engr HQ 

"U l11lo;r d C.:l pn l) i~ e~ ~ Y I'll';' cmc tov cc by p<1 r~:I\t en q r HQ ,)f ' c r ccc-e .oooco w ith Ih (1 su ocort ec Im !1 

mmary 

An outline of some of t he inhe re nt responsibilities for various combinat ions of command r elationships a nd mission assignme nts is contained in 

Tables 3 and 4. Table 3 applies to divisional 

eng ineer unit s. Table 4 applies to nondi visiona l 

engineer uni t s oper at ing in a divisional area of 

operations. Since some of t he r esp on sibiliti es 

cha nge for com bat se rvice suppor t tasks (constr ucti on an d installation sup port), t hese tasks are 

list ed se parate ly . 

Conclusion 

T he pr evious discussion was int ended to summa rize what ever y experien ced Army eng ineer 

has found to exist in an actual theater of 

ope rations . Nothing cont r ary to curre nt doctrine 

has been int roduced . How ever, by rigor ously 

separ ating t he command r elationsh ip fr om the 

mission assignment in doctr inal r eferences, we can 

assist the newer Army engneers in visualizing 

the ir essential combat support contributions in any 

fut ur e theater of operations . The cur r ent em ploy ­

ment flexibility is maintain ed , yet t his proposal 

(} the additional advantage of explaining eng ir suppor ting procedures in t erms familiar to 

c combat ar ms . Hopefully , it will assist in 

pr ev enti ng fut ure misunderst andings with sup ­

ported unit s, as we ll as te nant un its not r eceivi ng 

sup port. 

Once an engineer project is underway in a n . 

area of oper ations, man y in t erest ed commande rs, 

both engi neer a nd non-en gineer, will be keeping 

ab r east of the pr ogress. It is esse ntial that t he 

eng inee r comma nder on t he site cle arly understands t he head quart ers that can adjus t his 

prior ities, as well as t he cha nne ls he uses to 

request additional assist ance . If the se cons ide rations are evaluated pri or to the eng inee r troops 

arr iving on t he site , and if t he comma nd r elat ionship and mission assignme nt is disseminated to all 

interest ed units, th e enginee r tasks can be accomplished r apidly and with a minimum of confusion. 

Engineer employm ent doctrine is not r adically 

diff erent from other combat support, let' s just 

ens ur e that we state it as such. 

Major Josep h P. Kish holds a BS degree from 

Purdue University and a MA from Michigan 

S tate University. He is also a graduat e of the 

Engineer Office r Basic and Advanced Cours es, and 

the Command and General Staff College. His 

military assignments include being a Company 

Commander (bot h at Ft Belvoir and overs eas); 

Administrative Officer.. lAGS Paraguay Proj ect; 

RO TC Instr uctor, Michig an S ta te Universit y; District Senior Advisor, MR I V, R VN; and Senior 

Engineer Tactics Instructor, US Army Air De ­

fens e S chool. 

21 
Il is 0430 hrs, The stead y roar of heavy 

en gine er ear- th moving equipme nt ushers in the 

first chilly light of daw n. Th e last 40 hours have 

not heard this roar cea se . Less than two days ago, 

a fast app roaching enemy ta nk division had an 

unimp ede d aven ue of approach over t he ver y spot 

across t he plain upo n which this eq uipment work s. 

Rut now , afte r the movem en t of ove r 50.000 to ns 

of earth, a two kilomete r anti-tank ditch nears 

completi on. It's pr esen ce alone adds va lua ble 

hour s of reaction lim e for th e friendly for ces. 

Th e above situation could hav e been a r eality 

in a Soviet block invasion acr oss the plains of 

Europe or an Arab tank ass ualt over the deserts of 

th e Sinai P eninsul a. It occur red, how ever , in a 

recent field training exe rcise conduct ed by t he 

79th En gr Bn (Const) in May 1975 at the 

Lamper t.h eim Training Ar ea near Mannhe im, Ger ­

many. The training throughout. the exercise was 

geared to the engineer role in count ering enemy 

armor operations. One of t he goals of t he training 

was to determ ine the feasibility of constr uct ing an 

anti-tan k ditch of realistic proportions, with in a 

limited perio d of time, in unfamiliar te rrain. 

Th e need for anti-tank obstacle constr uction 

training arises d ue to the heavy enemy armor 

th rea t. faced in Western Europe today. Lessons 

learned during the 1973 "Yom Kippur" war in the 

Mideast. furthe r emphasize the need for this 

training. To quote the r ecent Combat Battalion 

(Heavy) ARTEP, Th e long rang e high ve locity tank 

22 

. ..... 

CONSTRUC"~-. ' .' .\ 

cannon and long er range anti-tank armor missile 

systems dominate th e modern battlefield. The' 

rang e capabilities are such that virtually an ythi 

that can be seen can be tak en under fi re and hit . 

They are so lethal that virtually anything that can 

he hit carl be killed . Th us, a primar y engineer role 

aga inst ar mor attack is to slow or stop t he enemy 

tank force long enough t o pe rmit engagem ent by 

friendl y for ces. 

Previously conducte d tests have proven th e 

effectiveness of th e anti-ta nk ditch. Th e principles 

are simple, A ditch 5 meters wide, 1.5-2 meters in 

dep th , is cut across the direction of th e enemy 's 

advance . Th e spoil from t he cut is spread along 

th e friendl y side of the ditch, as close to the bank 

as soil conditi ons permit. Th ough a tank can get 

into th e ditch, an entry perp endicular to the line of 

the ditch will stop all for ward movemen t once the 

tank is inside. Th e sh eer face of the fri en dly bank 

preclude s the ene my tank from directly climhing 

to the fri endly side . Th e narrow width of the ditch 

imp edes turning th e t ank . Th e tank is th erefor e 

vir tually frozen long enough to be engaged by 

friendly fir e. An entry pa rallel to th e line of th e 

ditch allows the tank freed om of movem en t inside 

the ditch. However. it s we apons syst em s ar e 

practica lly ineffecti ve. Its restricted freedom of 

movement allows it to be more ea sily ta rgeted 

friendly fir e. Finally, any attempt t o bridge t 

ga p by AVLB or ea rthe n r amp r esult s in two 

discouraging factors: 1) Lan es across the ditch 
become well defined allowing concentration of t he 

friendly fire; 2) The climbing of the earth wall on 

e fri endly side exposes the vulnerable underelly of t he armored vehicle to friendly fire. 

The 79t h Engr Bn set out t o de termine the 

feasibilit y of constr uct ing an anti-ta nk ditch during 

a simulated wartime sit uation. A two kilomet er 

long ope n plain in t he Lamperth cim Training Area 

was chosen to be the site of the test. Th e t est area 

was approximate ly 100 kilomet er s fr om t he un it' s 

home station. 

At 0330 hours, 2 May, the operation or der for 

th e construction of th e ant i-ta nk ditch wa s iss ued 

to t he constr uct ion units in garrison. Th eir 

mission was to convoy to the Lamper th eim site 

and pr ovide ge neral enginee r su pport to defen sive 

ope rations. Specific tasks include d a 2000 meter 

anti-ta nk ditch, t o be completed NLT 1200 hour s, 4 

May, as we ll as oth er enginee r defensi ve operat ions . 

Th e ditch was divided int o two areas of 

r esp onsibility - the nor thern half t o be constructed by C company an d t he southe rn half to be 

the r esponsibility of B company . Dit ch dimension s 

were five meters wide with a minimum dep th of 

1.5 meters. The spoil was to be stockpiled on t he 

friendly ba nk of the dit ch. Th e units were read y 

o convoy by 0530 hours. A s urvey party depar ted 

orne station pri or to the convoy. It located and 

stake d the ditch line by 0830 hours. The construction units began arriving near t he sit e at 0930 

hour s. Site reccns, unlo ading of eq uipme nt, and 

personnel briefings took less th an two hours . 

Constr uction began in earnest by 1130 hours. Th e 

operati on proceeded on an around-the-clock ba sis. 

An average of seven 290Ms with scrapers, eight 

D7E doz ers, and 2 graders were in operation at 

anyone time. Each compa ny worked two ope rator 

crews, each cr ew working 12 hour shifts. 

Th e logistical support for the exerc ise was 

operational by 1600 hours. It was centrally locat ed 

100 met ers to th e rear of t he ditch an d consisted of 

seco nd and third echelon maint enance teams, fuel 

point , aid station and Bn S-3 For ward. 

By 1900 hours, 2 May, B company was 32% 

complete with their sector of th e ditch. Th ey cut a 

path about 30 em deep along the entire length of 

the dit ch, and t he n star ted working from t he far 

southern part of their sector working towar d the 

dit ch center, usin g two crews of two 290M s 

pushloaded by dozers. C compa ny was 35% 

complete. Th ey started at th e far north ern end of 

their sector, using a system of progressive cuts 

orking to the cent er of the ditch. The scrap ers 

ere loaded in series pushing each ot her with a 

dozer at the rea r pushing the last pan. 

By 0200, 3 May, B company was 40% complete 

and C company was 45%. Each uni t continued to 

use t he same meth od of cutting the ditch t hat t hey 

started with. Ligh t sets which had been se t up to 

illumina t e the ditch during darkn ess prov ed to be 

more of a safety hazard th an an aid. Th e glare 

from the lights occasio nally blinded the operators. 

caus ing production t o slow to a cr awl. Th ey were 

subsequent ly shut off, and vehicle ligh ts only were 

used. 

By nightfal1 3 May, both of the se ctors were 

85% complete. During th e day, C company 

conti nued to use progressive cutting. B company. 

however, ex perimente d with cutting the dit ch one 

pa n width (appr oximately 4 meters) wid e an d 

deep er tha n the required 1.5 meters, t he n had 

dozers periodically cut the fri endly bank t o widen 

the ditch to t he specified width . This meth od 

increased t heir production and ena bled t hem to 

dr aw equal with C compa ny by nigh tfall. 

Th e r emainin g 15% of th e ditch in both se cto rs 

was complete d by 0300 hou rs, 4 May. Shaping of 

the spoi l on t he fri endly bank and additional 

cutting in those portions of t he dit ch t hat did not 

quite meet the 1.5 met er dep th specifications 

requir ed some additional time. Constant vib ration s cause d by th e heav y eq uipment in the ditch 

and t he dozing of the spoil as close as possible to 

the ditch bank caused occas ional time-consuming 

cave -ins. Th is problem wa s more acute at Lamperthei m than would normally be expected becau se 

23 
Left: Anti-Tank Ditch perspective; Above : 

View looking into extreme north end of ditch ­

100%; and, Bottom: Cross-section of finished 

Anti- Tank Ditch 

th e soil was a uniformly graded sand . By 0730, 4 

May, the mission was officially completed. A tota 

of 22,750 yards of ea r th had been moved in 

hours. A 2000 meter anti-tank ditch now lay in th 

pa th of the advancing enemy for ce. Completed 4 112 

hours ahead of the desired schedule, t he operation 

was an unqu alified s uccess. 

Th e primary conclusion drawn from this exercise is that constr uction of an effective anti-tank 

ditch obstacle can be accomplished in a very short 

tim e span. The effectiveness of the obstacle could 

be further increased through mining and/or filling 

it with barbed wire. While it is r ealized that the 

ditch in itself is not by any means an impenetrable 

obstacle. it does serve to impede and /or channelize 

th e enemy's advance, drawing them into a killing 

zone of' lethal fire. Considering th e present 

adva nced state of tank and anti-tank weaponry. it 

could very well provide the edge th at could turn 

th e tide of a battle. 

CPT Hugh C. MacDonald is a graduate of 

USMA Class of 1971 . After graduation he attended 

th e Engineer Officer Basic Course and A irborne 

School bef ore joining the 79th Engineer Battalion 

(Const). CPT MacDonald has served as platoon 

leader of Earth Moving Platoon, C Co, 79th Engineer Battalion, and as the Cons truc tion Officer and 

Pipeline Engineer in the S-S Section, HHC, 79t' 

E ngineer Battalio n (Construction). / 

24 
The wide variety of assignments available 

within today's Army not withstanding, it has been 

said that an Engineer's first look at Fort Belvoir 

will not be his last. Naturally, a few members of 

the Corps have never visited the "home" of the 

U.S. Army Engineer School, and probably never 

will. The average soldier, though . should he 

choose to remain an Army Engineer, either has 

seen, or soon will see, the "Fort on the Potomac." 

For those who have been away for several 

years or longe~, a return to Belvoir will undoubtedly include a surprise or two. New, improved faciliti es, which have replaced many of the 

familiar World War II vintage structures, have 

provided a most welcome face lift. In addition to 

the obvious need to maintain that which is of 

ilitary significance, the impact of a volunteer 

rce upon housing and recreational facilities has 

een substantial. 

Perhaps the most noteworthy of the billeting 

improvements is the enlisted barracks complex on 

North Post. Completed in late 1975, these billets 

represents only a portion of the $10 million 

construction package. Included also are consolidated company administration and supply buildings, branch dispensary and PX facilities, and a 

central energy plant. A second phase of the 

project, still awaiting funding, includes an identical 

1200 man barracks, a gymnasium, a chapel, a new 

mess hall, and a battalion and regimental headquarters. The new barracks will have private 

baths and common living room areas. Enlisted 

grades of E7 and above will have private quarters, 

while in no case will more than three soldiers 

share a room. 

In an attempt to upgrade living conditions for 

bachelor and unaccompanied officers, a 227 room 

BOQ has recently been completed across from the 

Humphreys Hall parking lot. This five story 

concrete and brick building is complete with 

central heating and air conditioning, carpets, 

elevators, private kitchens, lounges, laundries. 

storage space, and additional parking. 

25 
If you have a family, a pro ject to improve 

exist ing housing for mor e th an 400 units at Fairfax 

Village an d Dogue Cr eek is sch eduled for co 

plet ion by the fall of 1976. The contract calls f 

air conditioning and complete kit chen improvements, to includ e such it em s as new sinks and 

cabi nets, buil t-in dish washers and garbage disposal s, and r elocation of wa sher-dryer units. The 

Directorate of Facilit ies Engineering has confir med th at plans ar e underway to provide similar 

improvements for t he r emainder of Belvoir's 

famil y housing units. 

Housin g improvem ents will not stop th ere" 

however . Another project, auth ori zed and fund ed 

by Congress and scheduled to sta rt late 1975, will 

provide some 1445 new units. Of these , 850 are 

ea r marke d for Ar my personne l. They will include 

628 t hr ee , four and five be droo m tow nhouses and 

duplexes, and 222 two be droom ga r de n apartme nts. Nine ty will be for officers and th eir 

families, six ty for se nior enlisted personnel, and 

th e remaining 700 for E4s and E5 s. 

The Navy and the Coast Guard will receive 595 

dupl exes and townhouses similar to those being 

built for th e Army. Twenty-five of these will be 

for officers with t he r em ainder bein g provided for 

enlisted personnel. 

One ot her billet ing project sche duled for th e 

near future is t he construct ion of a medi c. 

barracks for EMj E W assigne d t o DeWitt rm~

Hospital. The three story br ick building should be 

complete d by th e summer of 1976 and will house 

tw o people per room, as well as provide privat e 

baths, a da yroom, a lounge, and a laundry room . 

Re creational facilit ies hav e not gone unnoticed 

at Fort Belvoir . An ind oor swimming pool was 

complet ed in mid 1975. Th e pool measures some 

26 

45 feet by 75 feet and also includ es locker rooms , 
showers, toilets, an office area, and a parking lot. 

so under construction is a 500 seat theater. 

e air conditioned theater is located on North 

ost , thereby providing a much needed source of 

entertainment for the troops who reside in that 

area. 

Other recreational facilities recently completed 

include a recreation center and a crafts shop. 

The recreation center, located next to the main 

post theater, is a brick faced, steel framed, CMU 

block, air conditioned building with 23,150 square 

feet of floor space. In addition to the normal 

lounge and dayroom activities, the club offers a 

beer and pizza shop, several acoustically controlled 

music rooms, and a small multi-purpose room with 

a stage. 

Recent contract work at Fort Belvoir has also 

resulted in the construction of a number of important military facilities. Included among these is a 

1200 man US Army Reserve Center, scheduled for 

completion in 1975. Located on North Post, the 

two story, 48,600 square foot center and a one 

story, 7,550 square foot motor repair shop will 

provide a much needed training complex for 

reserve units in the northern Virginia area. 

One of the more costly projects has been the 

Communications/Electronics Evaluation and TestAgency, completed this past winter. This 

D facility cost some $12 million to construct 

. nd will be used for training personnel, and testing 

and evaluating communications and electronics 

equipment. ' Some other significant military facilities completed within the last year include a Coastal 

Engineering Research Center costing six million 

dollars, and a Topographic Research and Development Laboratory at $5.5 million. The Research 

Center provides extensive testing and storage 

capabilities, while the R&D Laboratory offers 

some 91,000 sq uare feet for the Engineer Topographic Laboratories to continue their studies in 

the field of topography. 

In addition to what has already been mentioned, a number of other projects have been authorized and funded through fiscal year 1977. One of 

these is the central air conditioning of the Defense 

Mapping School's Wheeler Hall, scheduled to be 

completed by the summer of 1976. Another is the 

electrical and mechanical upgrade of DeWitt Army 

Hospital, which, because of the operation of the 

hospital, will be phased over a period of two years. 

Two water purification control projects will be 

completed by this winter. One will eliminate 

waste water disposal, and the other will provide 

for sanitary sewer improvements. A new Night 

Vision Systems Laboratory will be built at 

MERDC. Construction of the 104,000 square foot, 

4 story building, with a 38 foot high bay machine 

shop will start this summer and should be finished 

by mid 1977. Also due to commence this year is an 

Aircraft Supply Building at Davison Army Airfield. The 15,300 square foot, one story, CMU 

combination warehouse and administration area is 

schedudle for completion by the Spring of 1976. 

Remaining tasks which will be performed with 

FY 76 and FY 77 funds include two energy 

conservation projects for a total of 261 buildings, a 

32,800 square foot Camouflage Laboratory at 

MERDC, and an 8,040 square foot Flight Simulator Building at Davison Army Airfield. 

In order to help create the spaces for many of 

the new facilities, DFAE personnel at Fort Belvoir 

have been busy overseeing the removal of many 

temporary wooden structures. Near1y all of the 

work is being done by troop labor utilizing 

demolitions, once the buildings have been stripped 

by Facilities Engineering personnel. 

It becomes obvious, then, that not only do the 

people and programs change, but also that the 

physical setup of the post is subject to alteration 

through the years. Much of what is being 

accomplished now is the result of careful planning 

processes begun many years ago. The next time 

you are at Belvoir, remember that the new office 

where you work, or the new quarters where you 

live, evolved as part of an ongoing program to 

constantly improve the status quo of the facilities 

on post. 

Captain Richard B. Polin is presently enrolled 

in a graduate program at George Washington 

University. He earned a BSCE degree from 

Lafayette College and is a graduate of the 

Engineer Officer Advanced Course, 1-75. He has 

served previously with 12th Engr Bn, Germany 

and US Army Engineer District, Far East, Korea. 

27 
I~~ -a I, , 

Universal Brigade 

and 

Group Headquar ers 

In April 1971, the OCE St udy, "New Concepts 

in Organi zation and Employment of Nondivisional 

Combat En gineer Units," examine d the problem 

"To determine the requirement for a 'Universal' 

Engineer Brigade Headquarters capable of assignmen t to a Corps, Army or ENCOM to command 

engineer groups which ma y be made up of a mix of 

comba t and construction batt alions." Also, "To 

determine the requirement for an Engineer Group 

Headquarters which has the cap abiltiy to manage 

a var ying mix of combat and construction battalions." In both study efforts, it was concluded that 

the concept of a "universal" brigade/group headquarters be adopted. 

The st udy was vague as to the method of 

accomplishing the change oth er tha n to suggest 

that a const r uction augme ntation be added when 

th e unit was operating in the communications 

zone . Much study and effort went into developing 

tabl es with augmentations, but it developed that 

these were not as satisfactory or efficient as the 

se parat e tables. Then in January 1974, the 

Engine er Strategic Studies Group published a 

study, "The Construction Battalion in the Combat 

En gineering Role." The analysis showed that on 

some combat zone tasks the constr ucti on battalion 

John MFr.­

is more effective than the combat battalion. With 

some equipment augment at ion, dual training of 

select personnel, and additional unit training, th e 

construction battalion can be more effective on 

most combat engineering tasks. This report led 

the Chief of Engineers, in March 1974, to r ecommend to the Army Chief of Staff that th e present 

const ruct ion battalion be renamed the Combat 

Battalion (Heavy) , and that it be given th e 

additional mission to perform defensive operations 

as infantry when required. The Chief of Staff 

approved the recommendations and the construction battalion has now been renamed the Combat 

Battalion (Heavy), a Category I unit with a mission 

to fight as infantry. 

Th e change in t he role of th e construction 

battalion to a Combat Battalion (Heavy) with 

possible assignmen t fr om the FEBA to th e 

waters edge caused a reexamination of the miss ion 

for construction brigade and construction group 

headquarters. Now th ere is a need to also 

supervise combat activities. Similarly, the combl'" 

brigad e and group headquarters also may have 

supervise the construction capabilities inherent _) 

the Combat Battalion (Heavy ), The basis for a 

truly "universal" brigade and group headquarters 

I 

28 
became quite app ar ent. 

On 18 November 1974, a seminar group from 

ss 1-75 Engin eer Officer Advanced Course was 

nve ned to attempt to de sign a uni versal brigad e 

and group headqu arters. On 27 February 1975, 

the group pres en ted its findings to the Engineer 

Center Team at Fort Belvoir. Th e consensus of 

opinion was that a universal headquarters whi ch 

combine s all the combat and construction functions 

of t he existing headquarters should be developed 

for th e bri gad e (wit h a variation for Cor ps, 

Air borne Corps and Th eater Army) and for the 

gro up (but wit hout va riat ions ). 

At the presen t time , the US Army Engineer 

School is developin g TOEs for th e univ ersal 

brigade and group headquarters. Th ese TOEs will 

combine the fun ctions of both th e combat and 

constr uction brigad e and group headquarters, 

eliminate overlapping functions, and add those 

fun ctions which do not appear in either unit, such 

as t he int elligence functi on. 

Th e TOE for t he engineer brigade headquarters is being developed on t he ba sis that the 

engin eer headquarters are th e first engin eer 

command and control headquarters introduced 

into a theat er of operations, followed by a 

engin eer gro up headquarters as t he span of 

contro l increa ses. A single TOE with three 

va riations is proposed since it is necessary to 

pr ovid e for a corps enginee r staff whe n the 

brigad e headquarters is em ploye d in the corps , bu t 

not in th e communications zone and the current 

airborn e variati on must be preserved. 

The briga de headquart ers company is or gani zed as shown in Figure 1. Th e ope r ations se ction is 

a combination of th e operations and intelligen ce 

and engineer and plans section in the old HH C 

engineer constr uction brigade. As was men ti oned 

befor e, the univ ersal brigade has a se pa rate 

int ellige nce section. The aviation section has 2 

OR -58 and 1 UR-l helicopters with 2 OH-58 in 

augmentat ion. 

Recognizing that th e corps is now an administrative and logistical headqu ar ters as well as a 

HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY
 

ENGINEER BRIGADE
 

CORPS OR AIRBORNE CORPS
 

OR
 

THEATER ARMY
 

HHC 

I I
 

Co Hq Op Sec

Admin Sec 

I 

Bde Hq Hq Co 

I 

Mat Sec Avn 

Comm Sec 

I I 

Sec RR/EO Sec

Staff Engr * Intel Sec 

Sec 

' Sta ff Eri qmeer Sec tion au thor izec on l y to r Engineer Br iga de . Corps or A ir bo rne Cor ps. 

F IGU RE 1 

29 
ta ctical headquarters and that th e cor ps has 

top og-raphic and r eal property maintenance r esponsibilit ies, th e corps enginee r staff section wa s 

increased from 16 people to 29. bu t this is les s than 

the 39 in the Army enginee r section of th e Ar my 

br igad e. The total strength of the new brigad e 

headquarter s with a cor ps engi neer staff section is 

167. As a COMZ brigade. it runs 134. 

Th e organization of the group headquar ters is 

as shown in Fi gu re 2. Again, plans and oper ations 

ar e combined in one section and a se perate 

intellige nce section is includ ed. The groups 

aviation sec ti on is authorized 2 OH-58A helicopters 

and 2 are in augmen tation. 

Th e group is organized as a command and 

contr ol headquar t ers. It ha s ver y little planning 

and design capability, only enough to allow it to 

supe rv ise engineer ba ttalions assigned. Total 

stre ngth of th e group headquar ters will be around 

100. 

Th e draft plan TOE for th e bridgad e and group 

headquarters are und er field r eview. Early commerit s indicate a desire for more mobility and more 

communications. Th e DA puts a clear limitat i 

on th e mobility of t he units as does the DA f 

communicat ions. Be assured that eve ry ve hicle 

an d eve ry radio allowe d by both th ese studie s will 

be provided for th e units. It is es timated th at the 

ent ire r eview an d publication process will ta ke 

about 6 months wit h implementatio n of t he new 

ta bles t o take place ea rly in FY -77. Also, it should 

be und erstood that t he RRIEO Se ction is mandated from Depar tm ent of Army. 

This action eliminates one brigade and one 

gro up headquarters from the force str ucture and 

provides the enginee rs and the Army with greater 

flexibility, in tha t. it provides headquarters 

capa ble of assuming command of any mix of 

eng-ineer units. 

Mr John M. Frank, a 21-year aciiue duty 

veteran, is th e Chief of the Orqanization Division, 

Deputy Commandant for Combat and Training 

Developm ent , USAES. 

HEADQUARTERS AND HEADQUARTERS COMPANY
 

I
 

Company
 

Headquarters
 

ENGINEER GROUP
 

Headqua rt ers &
 

Hea dquarters
 

Company
 

I
 

Group
 

Headquarters
 

r 

Intelligence
 

Section
 

Adm inistration
 

Section
 

Oper ations
 

Section
 

Headquarters 

Company 

I 

Materie l 

Section 

)
 

I
 

Av iation
 

Section
 

Communications
 

Section
 

Race Rela tion s 

Equa I Oppor ­

tunity Section 

F I G U R E 2 

30 
-

--

_-22l§i§;i5!!!!!

.-...;

--

-

e: _"=" _...._ -= __ --=-=__·9.__ -=:-: =--: ££ .;r:

• 

CPT John B. Grecian 

.. 

.-

.­

--

-­-

---

-= ...-.;

-; April 28, 1975 started out as a fairly routine 

=. day for the 5th Engineer Battalion (C)(A) at Fort 

=. Leonard Wood, Missouri. During afternoon parade 

:;: pr actice the situation changed, th e battalion was 

:=. placed on alert for a possible unit move, loading 

and movement plans were activated, rumors as to 

whe re the move would take t he battalion were 

being conjur ed up all over th e post with Southeast 

Asia in the front, running just ah ead of the Middle 

_ _ :::::s= East. The Battalion Commander and two selected

members of his staff went to th e airfield, boarded 

'_.-:':'::::­ __ ­.- . a U8 and flew south. 

Wh en th e unit movement plan was activated, it 

was as though a giant sponge had soaked up all of 

the normal red tape at Fort Leon ard Wood. 

Members of the Post Finance section, Staff Judge 

Adv ocate office, Adjutant General Records 

_ =se ction, and Provost Marshal office came to the

battalion are a and began out-processing per sonnel 

--:­ for shipment. At the end of th e processing line, = MEDAC per sonnel che cked individual shot records 

= and brought t he m up-to-date, if needed. Post 

-.":'2 Supply personnel expe dit ed the fill of r equisitions 

.=for C-r at ions, POL, and other needed supplies, 

Requisitions for ammunition were proces sed, and 

- .= ammunition was pla ced in the ammo holdin g area 

_ _ ..-. in the eve nt th e movement ord er sp ecified am­

- -"" munition would be carried with the unit. Ei ght 

. hours aft er notification, two companies of the 5th 

were complet ely loaded, processed for movement, 

'el. 

, 

1

-.I 

tr­

"t. 

r _ _ -=-r"' - .............. 

.: 

. 

.

--SO: r4f .­ ; 

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THE SCOPE OF THE WORK UNDERTAKEN is shown here. Left top and bottom : 

Chlorination Holding Pond Site, before and after. Right top and bottom : Views of the installed 

aeration system . 

Th e mission assig ned to Compa ny D, 5th 

Engineer Battalion (C)(A) and 515th Engineer 

Compa ny (P L)(CS) (attache d) was to move t o Fort 

Chaffee , Ar ka nsas, and suppor t Ta sk Force "New 

Ar riva ls" for pr ep ar ati on of the post to receive , 

pr ocess, house, and ca re for twenty -four th ousand 

Vietnamese refu gees wh o were part of the gr oup 

evacuated fro m th e Republic of Viet Nam during 

the communist Lake -over. Th e Battalion Commander retur ne d the evening of 28 April with as much 

information as could be gained from initial liasion 

with Task For ce personn el and the Car etake r 

Detachme nt at Fort Cha ffee. He elected to 

accompany th e two units with a ba ttalion command eleme nt and r emain with them at Fort 

Chaffee until the cr isis-oriente d part of the post 

prepar ation was completed. 

The Battalion Advance Party departed from 

Fort Leonard Wood at 0200 hours, 29 April 1975 

and arrive d at Fort Chaffee by 0700 hours on the 

29th . Th e main bod y, whi ch consis t ed of t he 

Battalion Comma nd element, Co D, and 515th 

En gr Co, arrive d shor tly thereafter. Within t hree 

hours of arrival at Fort Cha ffee , th e engme ers 

wer e working on assigne d pr ojects. 

Preparation of Fort Cha ffee for refugees wa s a 

momentous task . Units came from all over the 

country to form the Task Force. The en gineer 

missions consisted of re novation and dewinterization of 188 barracks buildings, constructing partitions in the ope n ba y barracks to form family 

units, r enovatin g and r estorin g the utili ties service 

to th e post hospital complex whi ch had been in 

stor age for eleven years, installin g beds in Lhe 

Vietnamese living quarters, constructing two concre te chlorination holdin g pond s and an ae ra t ion 

system in t he post sewage lagoon for compliance 

wit h En vir onm en tal Protecti on Agency standa r ds, 

and th e constr uction of a new fifty eight acre 

sewage lagoon with ae rat ion syste ms t o accommodat e the increased popul ation. Th e initi al . 

priority for completion wa s, of course, the bil' " 

pr epar ati on a~d the hospi t al. ~rr a cks ar titi ) 

wer e prefabncate and stock piled whil e oth er 

crews hauled th em to billet s where bed s had been 

erecte d and installed t he m. Th e Battalion Combat 

32 
front v iew of the installed Air Control & 

tribution Manifold : Sewer Lagoon Aeration 

stem . 

Cons tr uction section and eleme nts of th e 515th 

renovated the hospit al and re -established the 

steam heating and hot water utilities. Company D 

const r ucted the chlor ination ponds and the aer ation sy stem at the existing sewage lagoon. By 

workin g two twelve hour shifts da ily on a twenty 

four hour , seven day operat ional basi s, the mission s were accomplished . The Vietnam ese "New 

Arrivals" we re rece ived, housed, and well cared 

for with such efficiency that the refugees were 

una war e of th e fra nt ic preparation effort an d the 

mon umental logisti cs support requi r ed be hind t he 

scenes. 

The new sewage lagoon presented spe cial 

problems for the 5t h, sin ce heavy ea rth movin g 

equipment is not organic to the battalion. This 

wa s allev iated by attaching the ea rth moving 

too n from t he 593d E ngineer Company at Fort 

, Oklaho ma, to the 5th Engineers. Th e site for 

e lagoon was adjacent to t he existing one . The 

are a was ma rshy and construction was complicated 

by unseasonally heavy r ain s during the month s of 

April, May , and J une. 

l!- Jf :.t ...$J' ­

"' 4'9.r 4J;: 

A BIRD'S EYEVIEW of the existing sewer 

lagoon with th e aeraton system insta lled is shown 

on t he top. Bottom : The completed instal lati on 

of t he constant pressure blowers which charge 

4" PCV pipe with air which, in turn, is released 

into the lagoon w a fer. 

The r eacti on time and r esp onsiveness of the 

battalion. coupled with the va ried and in some 

cases technical aspects of the proj ects, particularly 

the se we r lagoon aeration projects and th e renovation an d r estoration of t he hospital boiler plant and 

steam system, are testimo nials to the versatility of 

t he combat engineer soldier. Th e mission at Fort 

Chaffee is conti nuing for the 5th Eng ineer Batta lion, and the 593d is continuing wit h construction 

of the new sewer lagoon, howev er , the first two 

weeks at F ort Chaffee ha ve once again proven that 

Combat Engineers can get the job done, an ywh ere, 

anytime, under any circumstance. 

Captain John B. Grecian is presently Commander, Company B, 5th Engr Bn (C)(A l, Fort 

Leonard Wood. He is a graduate of Auburn Unive rsity, Alabama, the Officer Rotar y Wing Aviator 

Course, and the Engineer Officer Advanced 

Co urse. He has seroed as Company Commande r 

and Battalion Ex ecutive Officer in Germany, 

Vietnam and the CONUS area. 

33 
• • FA SHED C un ermine ys.em
 

In a continuing study of the combat rol e of 

mine -countermine me a sur es, res ear ch ers at 

MASSTER (Modern Army Selected Systems Test, 

Evalu ation and Review) are examining two helicopter-de livered systems which can be utilized to 

qui ckly and efficiently clear ene my minefields and 

emplace "fr iendly" minefields. 

Th e two systems - F AESHED (Fuel Air 

Explosive Sy ste m, Helicopter Delivered ) and the 

M56 Mine Disp ersing Subsystem - are similar in 

meth ods of prep aration and deliver y. Since t he 

two systems are so similar in methods of preparation and delivery. the tests are bein g run concurren tl y in an effort to reduce manpower r equirement s and costs. An estimated 40% reduction in 

manh ours and eq uipme nt usage will be sav ed. as 

well as an approximate $10,000 to $16,000 in costs. 

F AESHED is a newly develop ed counter-mine 

measur e designed t o br each a min efield without 

caus ing the cr aters usually r esultin g from an 

explosive-type demoli tion cha rge. Th e F AESHED 

is a modified Navy bomb containing three bomblets. Each bomblet contains 72 pound s of ethy lene 

oxide an explosive gas. 

Th e bomblet has a four-foot electronic probe , 

which causes th e bomblets t o explode at t he 

desired level once th e pr obe comes in contact with 

the ground. 

The r esultant ethylen e oxid e cloud is detonated 

by mean s of two delayed-time detonators which 

are thrown to each sid e of the cloud, creating a 

SP5 John Degel 

surface ove r pressure of 300 pounds per square 

inch. Th e cloud of one bomblet can effective ly 

cover an area of 1,960 square feet. 

The F AESHED, due to its over pr essure , is also 

effective in dealin g with the enemy's minefields. 

Th e 300 pounds psi easily demolishes most anti ­

tank, anti-vehicular or an ti-per sonn el devices used 

in th e field. Also, because of its comp osit ion, t he 

FAESHED can penetrate tunnels, collap sing th em 

once the cloud is detonated . The only after-e ffect 

is the depression left by the collapse d de fensive 

positi on. 

Anoth er potential us e of FAES HED is as an 

offensive weapon against ene my air defense artiller y posit ions , radar installations , airc raft and 

airfields, and enemy defen sive constructions . 

"In short , FAE SHE D can be used effect ively 

against any blast se nsitive t arget. Dropped within 

100 feet of a helicopter or airc ra ft , th e F AE SHED 

can effectively destroy that airc raft's combat 

usefuln ess with out dam aging the airfi eld or landing pad," said one of the Test Officers for t he 

MASSTER test. 

For test purposes at Ft. Hood, a MK-1 

pract ice bomb, which has a smoke cha rge in t he 

nose , and th e same aer odynamic features as one of 

the bornblets, is bein g used in the MASSTER 

study . Th e MK-106 weighs only 12 pounds, 

makin g handling and te st ing mu ch ea sier. 

When th e MK-106 hits the ground, th e smoke 

cha rge detonates, allowing th e r esearchers t o 

determine the accuracy of the missil e by judging 

A mine dispenser is shown attached to an Army helicopter during testing of the M56 Mine Di spers 

Subsystem . The helicopter - delivered minelaying system is currently being eva luated by 

MASSTER (Modern Army Selected System Test, Evaluation and Review) as a possible means of 

quickly and efficiently implanting a minefield in a combat situation . 

34 
An Army helicopter is shown with a MK 106 practice bomb mounted to its side for testing the 

FAESH ED mine clearing system. This system will help soldiers rapidly eliminate enemy 

minefields. 

th e distan ce of th e smoke fro m the intended 

target. 

How ever, a fuJI siz e mockup of th e FAESH ED is 

d by amm unit ion supply point personnel to 

aluate t he labor and time that would be 

expended in arming and loading the actual device 

in a combat sit uat ion. But once th e FAESHED 

mockup has bee n loaded and the data accumulated, 

th e device is r emoved and replaced with the 

practice bomb. 

The oth er system being t ested at MASSTER ­

the M56 Min e Dispersing Subsy stem - is similar 

to F AESHED in the sense tha t both are helicopter -de livered, but differs entirely in purpose. 

The M56 system is designed to rapidly distribut e 

mines in a specific area to r estrict the movement 

of ene my troops and equipmen t. 

Th e subsyste m consists of t wo disp en sers on 

the helicopter, each containing 40 cannisters. Two 

6-pound min es ar e in each cannister , giving a tot al 

delivery capability of 160 min es. 

Th e two basic types of mine are anti-tank and 

anti-vehicular. Th e system also cont ains a few 

s ur prises for th e opponent who might atte mpt t o 

neutrali ze t he m - sev er al roll-resistant and an tidisturbance mines are distribut ed among t he 

mines. 

An anti-disturbance mine is designed to deto­

'e e if someo ne a ttempts t o pick it up or move it 

n it s r esting pla ce. Th e roll-resistant mine ha s 

= eve n more com plex purpose . . . th e 1'011­

resistan t mine is design ed as a count er- me as ure 

agains t the roller type min e detector and detonator 

favored by som e military for ces in the field. 

Wh en t he tank or armored vehicle - equipped 

wit h a heavy r oller bar (attached to the front) rolls 

over th e min e, it does not e xplode in the short 

time it is und er the we ight of t he r oller bar. 

Instead, aft er a shor t fusing sequence, the 1'011­

resistant min e is designed to detonate under the 

sustained pressure of the tank. 

"In th e minefield , the arming sequence works in 

this manner: one to two minutes after the mines 

are se ed ed, t hey ar m themsel ves," explained the 

MAS STER t est officer for the M-56 portion of th e 

t est. "After a ce rtain period of time - if they 

haven't been detonated by a target - the min es 

will self-destruct. The battery powered mines, 

equipped wi th a sencing circuit, self-destruct wh en 

the batteries run down. The min es will also selfdestr uct if a ny attem pt is made t o disarm them or 

to remove th e batteries." 

As in the F AESHED system, the M56 is 

helicopter-deli vered. In fact, except for minor 

changes, the loading and dispensin g racks are th e 

same for both devices. Onc e aga in, the ammunition supply point personnel are called upon t o 

perform t echnical preparation ac tiv it ies necessary 

for th e loading and arming of the M56 devices . 

Test personnel involved in th e MASSTER 

research come from MASSTER's Combat Support 

Directorate, the 4th Battalion, 9th Cavalry of the 

6th Cavalry Regiment; the 1st and 2d Battalions of 

the 67th Armor, both from the 2d Armored 

Division; and th e 664th Ammunition Company, 

fr om th e 13th Cor ps Support Com mand . 

35 
I

• 

Howard S. Giberson 

Profession al r egistration is an important step 

in th e car eer development of officers of th e U. S. 

Army Corps of En gineers. In assignments such as 

Engineer Districts or r es earch and development 

activities, officers associate with enginee rs in 

private industry and other government agencies in 

performing their professional duties. Registration 

as a profession al engineer lends stature to the 

military enginee r and enha nces his image among 

his civilian contemporaries. 

Registration and licensing of professional engineers is a function of the State governments and 

the rules and regulations pertaining to registration vary somewhat from state to state. However, 

th e r equirements for registration are basically 

uniform and generally provide for three alternative qualifying standards: 

• Graduation from an approved engineering 

curriculum plus four years or more of satisfactory 

engineering practice, and a 16-hour written examination. 

• Eight years or more of satisfactory engineering practice plu s a written examination, if not a 

graduate of an engineering college. 

• Twelve year s or mor e of lawful engineering 

practice. for candidates who are at least 35 years 

old. Most states require at least an 8-hour written 

exa mination for applicants in this category. 

Although registration is a state function, the 

trend is toward uniform examinations prepared by 

the Uniform Examining Committee of the National 

Council of Engineer Examiners. Even those states 

which pr escribe their own t est generally follow 

the format of the uniform examinations. The 

uniform examinations are written tests and are 

given on successive days twi ce each year, usually 

in April and November. 

The first examination, generally called th e 

Engineer-in-Training or EIT examination, is pr epared for machine scoring, r equiring a selection 

from a gr oup of pr edetermined answers. T 

morning session consists of 150 unrelated qu 

tions which cover a broad area of engineering 

fundamentals. All questions are to be answered 

and the score is based on th e number of correct 

answers. The afternoon portion consists of a 

number of problem sets in each of the following 

areas of engineering fundamentals: Economic 

Analysis, Dynamics, Mechanics of Materials, 

Thermodynamics, Electrical Theory, Statics, and 

Fluid Mechanics. The problem sets consist of an 

introductory stat ement and have ten independent 

machine scor able questions which relate to th e 

introductory information allowing partial credit. 

Each examinee is expected to answer five problem 

sets in at least four of the major areas with not 

more than one problem set in Economics. 

The second examination, generally called th e 

Professional Engineer or PE examination, includes 

the following twelve disciplines of engineering: 

Chemic al Industrial 

Civil P etroleum 

El ectrical Sanitary 

Mechanical Nuclear 

Manufacturing Structural 

Ceramic Agricultural 

All tw elve disciplines ar e combined int \\ 

single examination booklet for th e four-h our mo f) 

ing session and another booklet for the four-hour 

afternoon period. Each ex amination booklet contains one problem in the area of Economics and 

36 
about nine problems in each engineering discipline. 

ch examinee is required to solve any combinaof four problems in the morning and four 

oblems during the afternoon. 

A candidate for professional registration should 

begin by obtaining from his State Registration 

Board the rules and regulations pertaining to 

registration in his particular state. A listing of the 

State Boards, with addresses. is included in the 

U. S. Army Engineer School pamphlet on the 

Professional Engineer Preparatory Correspondence Course. This pamphlet may be obtained by 

writing to the Commandant, U. S. Army Engineer 

School, Fort Belvoir, Virginia 22060, Attention: 

Department of Army Wide Training Support. 

After determining the State requirements for 

registration, the PE candidate should formulate a 

plan of preparation for t he examinations. The 

younger less experienced officer will undoubtedly 

find that he is required to take both the EIT and 

PE examinations, while the older officer with 

more experience may only be required to pass the 

latter. The preparation plan might well include 

enr ollment in the correspondence course described 

in the aforementioned U. S. Army Engineer 

School pamphlet. The course includes a group of 

subcour ses to help prepare for the EIT examinaand another group to assist in preparing for 

PE examination. The purpose of these subcourses is not to teach th e subjects that an 

engineer must know; rather, the subcourses are 

designed to help him review what he has already 

learned. Officers who have recently taken the 

examinations in Virginia have found the correspondence course a valuable aid for preparation for 

the tests. 

The officer seeking registration should begin to 

prepare his application for certification about 90 

days before the scheduled examinations. Application forms are provided by the State Board and 

require the compl etion of a form including personal data, education, and experience record. 

Most states require that the candidate send a 

form to his college to be completed and returned 

to the Board. Up to five endorsers who are 

licensed Professional Engineers may be required. 

The application and all other necessary forms have 

to reach the Board approximately 60 days prior to 

the examination date. The State Board evaluates 

the candidate's record and notifies him of the time 

and place of the examination and what examination he is required to pass. 

Both the EIT and PE examinations are open 

tests. Generally, any bound reference is 

_ mitted. Time is an important factor, however, 

and the examinee should be able to locate information rapidly in his references. Slide rules or 

battery-powered calculators may be used on both 

examinations. 

Although there is no law or other authority for 

f~deral or national professional engineer registrabon, th~ Army Organization Act of 1950 requires 

~hat. officers engaged in the performance of profess!onal work have professional competence 

equivalent to that of persons performing similar 

work in .private or civil practice. It is becoming 

more evident that professional competency is not 

en~ugh to fulfill this requirement. Registration is 

an Important step to professional development. To 

quote t~ Na~ional Society of Professional Engineers: By going through the registration process, 

an engineer gains two important benefits: (1) he 

receives authority to practice engineering before 

the public and (2) he establishes his professional 

standing on the basis of legal requirements." 

On the day of the examination, the candidate 

should arrive at the designated place about fifteen 

minutes before the specified time in order to 

organize his references and work area. After the 

instructions are given by the examination monitor 

th e test will begin. On recent EIT examinations in 

Virginia, officers have found it advisable to work 

th~ou~h the 150 problems in the morning session, 

skipping any problems which they could not solve 

immediately. After going through the test in this 

manner, they then returned to those which had 

been passed and, using references as necessary, 

attempted to solve these problems. Finally, since 

grade is based on number correct, they recommend a guess at the answer to all problems not 

solved within the time limit. In the afternoon 

session the first step is to select the five problem 

sets to be solved. Naturally, one should select 

those sets that are easiest for him, consistent with 

the rules. Again, it is better to simply guess at an 

answer than to leave a blank since no penalty is 

assessed for wrong answers. 

At the PE examination, the recommended 

procedure is to look through the problem booklet 

and select the four problems to be worked. It is 

advisable to look at all problems because some 

require much more time for solution than others 

and time is important. All work must be shown 

and, in some cases, it is advisable to cite the 

reference used, if any. 

If you are interested in being a registered 

Professi?nal Engineer start TODAYl Remember, 

the Engineer School stands ready to assist you in 

any way possible. 

Howard S. Giberson is a correspondence course 

editor in the Department of Army Wide Training 

Support, USAES. He retired from the Army 

Reserve (LT~, USAR-Ret) and holds a Master of 

Art.sDeflree mEducationfrom George Wash ington 

Uniuersitu. 

37 
Thomas J. Riggs 

AN 

ENGINEER'S 

SEVEN 

DAY 

WAR 

Editor's Note: 

Mr. Rigg's article is a true story which, until 

now, has never been told. Although it portrays 

only a small segment of the actions of WWII, it 

exemplifies the versatility and importance of 

engineers as part of the combined arms team . 

It is a particularly timely article, in that, DA 

has recently redesignated engineers as combat 

arms. 

Training, youth, and discipline are key factors 

in most pursuits in life; they are crucial in a 

military career. 

My military career began in February 1941 

when I graduated from the University of Illinois 

and received a ROTC commission, as a second 

lieutenant, in the Corps of Engineers. After 

attending a refresher course at the US Army 

Engineer School, I was assigned to the Engineer 

Replacement Training Center, Fort Belvoir, as a 

platoon leader in a training battalion. The following two years moved by rapidly and during this 

time I received a Regular Army commission, 

completed the Engineer Officer Advanced Course, 

and became a battalion commander with the rank 

of Major. 

By 1943, I was becoming impatient with my 

role in training, and I began investigating the 

possibilities of a transfer to the Paratroopers, or 

the Rangers, or some combat division. My opportunity came in the spring of 1943, when I was 

ordered to the 81st Engineer Combat Battalion as 

the Executive Officer. The Battalion Commander 

38 

was Lieutenant Colonel William J. Himes, who had 

rec ently returned from duty on the Alaska 

Highway. 

The 81st was part of the 106th lnfan 

Division being activated at Camp (now Fort} 

Jackson, S.C. Most of the enlisted men were 18 

year old draftees, so the average age of the 

Division was under 22. With an excellent cadre of 

officers and noncoms, the Division was enthusiastic and receptive to tough training standards. I 

remember being impressed with the fact that the 

Chief of Staff of the Division was Colonel William 

C. Baker, Jr., formerly of the Corps of Engineers. 

By late summer of 1943, I had been ordered to 

establish an Engineer Combat Battalion in Camp 

Gordon, GA. LTC Himes insisted that I hand select 

the best officers from the 81st to make up my 

cadre. Sixty days after we had started to train the 

new battalion, I was ordered back to the 81st to 

replace LTC Himes who was moving on to 

command an Engineer Corps. 

We continued our training at Camp Jackson in 

preparation for maneuvers in Tennessee during 

January -March of 1944. We had inserted some 

Ranger training in guerilla warfare which helped 

sharpen the individual instincts of our young 

group. 

From Tennessee, the Division was ordered ­

Camp Atterbury, IN, to continue training , 

await deployment. Shortly after our arrival 

Camp Atterhury, I was ordered to the Command 

and General Staff College at Fort Leavenworth, 

KS. I returned to the Division shortly before we 

were ordered to the embarkation port. In my 

absence, the Division had supplied over 7,000 

enlisted infantrymen, or 60% of its trained men, to 

an overseas replacement center. Fortunately, the 

Engineers lost only four officers and no enlisted 

men in this transfer. There was to be no time to 

adequately train the enlisted infantry replacements for the Division. 

Prior to the embarkation, I was met by a fellow 

staff officer who informed me that I was to turn 

my battalion over to my Executive Officer, MAJ 

Marshall, and that I, as the Division Engineer 

Officer, was to be sent to England with the 

Division Commander, his staff. and three infantry 

regiments. In t heor y. we were to continue training in England and to be used as an infantry 

combat gr oup. Without the service units, and 

particularly th eir artillery. neither mission was 

that practical. The support units followed 30 days 

later. 

By late November, the 106th was assembled 

England as a Division and by 1 Decem 

embarked for the channel crossing. A few da " 

later, th ey debarked in Rauen in mud and rain and 

moved by unit convoys into a combat sector 
around St Vith, Belgium. We relieved the 2d 

antry Division which was being deployed to 

nch an attack through the 99th Infantry DiviSIOn . 

The relief of th e 2d was accomplished in three 

days, man -for-man, and position-by-position. The 

two sectors occupied by th e 422d and 423d 

Infantry Regiments, of the 106th, were astride the 

old Sie gfri ed Line in the Schnee Eifel mountain 

range. 

As the 81st relieved the 2d Engineer Combat 

Battalion, there was a lot of banter from these 

combat vete rans about the "country club" atmosphere of the position due to the daily exchange of 

fire bu t no real action. From an engineer support 

point of view, t he re was th e difficult task of 

maintainin g the r oads which were cr itical for 

re supply. We inherited th e fortifications, mine 

fields. and barbed wir e which had been originally 

established by the 4th Infantry Division and 

reinforced by th e 2d. 

By 12 Decemb er, the 106th had taken over the 

se cto r and began to review th eir mission and 

mean s. Th e mission of th e Division was to defend 

a sa lient t hat wa s over 20 miles wide and extended 

8 miles into the German lines. To accomplish this. 

e 422d, 423d, and 424th Infantry Regiments wer e 

line fr om nor th to sou th. 

Th e 424th adjoined th e 28th Inf antry Division 

to th e sout h. The 14th Cavalry Group, r einforced. 

occupied the northern five miles of the front and 

wer e tied into the 99th Infantry Division to the 

nor th . In addition, the Division had the following 

attached units: 275th Armored Field Artillery 

Battalion, 820th Tank Destroyer Battalion, 634 

AAA Battalion, and the 168th Engineer Combat 

Battalion . The last unit was assigned to maintain 

th e road net in the rear of the sector. 

Th e 81st Engineer Combat Battalion attached a 

company to each of th e Infantry Regiments. The 

Battalion CP was in Heu ern , about four miles east 

of St Vith, on the Schonber g r oad. 

We were still reconnoitering and improving our 

positions, when a heavy artillery barrage hit the 

sec tor at about 0530 hours. After putting the staff 

on alert, I went to the Division CP in St Vith to 

check other r eports. St Vith was being hit from 

what wa s described as r ailroad mounted artillery 

capable of firing up to 14 inch rounds. 

From th e G-2 section, I learned th e whole fron t 

was under heavy attack by enemy infantry 

supported by tanks and artiller y. The Division 

' 's attempt to conv ey this information to t he _ I Corps was misunderstood. VIII Corps ob­

, ously thought that as "green troops," the 

Division was exaggerating the int ensity and scope 

of th e action. Even an attack plan, taken from a 

captur ed German officer , confirming t he scope and 

nature of the attack was either not recognized or 

never arrived at Corp s. 

Since the l 06th had no infantry in reserve, I 

was asked by th e G-3 to assemble and prepare the 

81st Engineer s for th eir secondary mission as an 

infantry r eserve. I returned to the Bn CP about 

0800 hours and found that one platoon of Company 

A and an of Companies Band C had alr eady been 

committed as infantry reserves by th eir regiments. This left only the Headquart ers and 

Service Company plus the headquarters and two 

platoons of Compan y A. 

CPT Harmon, Company A, wa s the only line 

company commander on hand at the Bn CP to 

attend a me eting, and he was called back by the 

422d Regimental Combat Team to defend his 

Company CP in Auw. Auw was already under 

attack by enemy infantry in white uniforms and 

supported by tanks . By 1500 hours, Auw was lost 

to Germans, and remanents of Company A were 

working the ir way back to St Vith . 

Company B, whi ch had its headquarters in 

Schonberg, was or der ed by t he CO of th e 423d 

Regimental Combat Team to clear the village of 

B1eialf. Our last contact with Company B was 

th rough Chief Warrant Officer Carmichael. Bn S-4, 

who wa s expediting delivery of ammunition to the 

Company. He also located a few selfpropelled tank 

de stroyer guns which eliminated some enemy 

strong points in the village . Carmichael re turned 

to the Bn CP by early evening before Company B 

wa s cut off by the German advance. 

Meanwhile, at the Bn CP in H euern , phone 

communicatio ns were out and radio channels were 

jammed. Schonberg and Heuem were being 

shelled. Auw had fallen, and CPT Harmon had 

esca ped with only a dozen men . Co C, in the 

meantime, had been committed as infantry to 

defend the east side of Heckhalenfeld and later to 

fill in a gap in the line between Heckhalenfeld and 

Winter spelt. 

All r eports continued to show a deteriorating 

situation for the 106th Division. The 14th Calvary 

Group had fallen back in some areas west and 

north of .St Vith so that the north ern flank was 

wide open. It had also become clear that the 

Division was being hit by at least four to six 

divisions, including two Ranger Divisions - not 

t he two Volkszrenadres Divisions originally identified. 

Around midnight . Corps and Army were finally 

convinced of th e true situation and were comnutting Combat Command B (CCB), 9th Armored 

Division, and CCB, 7th Armored Division. The 7th 

Armored would arrive at 0700 on the 17th of 

Decemb er and be assigned t o attack through the 

St Vith -Schonberg road to the entrapped 422d 

and 423d regiments. 

39 
17 December 1944: 

I returned to the Bn CP to instruct Headquarters arid Service Company to clear the St VithSchonberg road and to evacuate the engineer 

heavy equipment from Schronberg to Rodt, just 

west of St Vith. The remanents of Company A 

and Headquarters and Service Company were to 

hold in Heuem. 

The previous day of heavy combat action left a 

very confused impression on me . We had lost 

many men in Company A. Communications, both 

internal and external, were confused and growing 

more difficult by the hour. Rumors were growing 

and difficult to dispute without facts. Unit commanders were jittery. Some service units, such 

as Corps Artillery, were starting to move to the 

rear without their artillery. At the Division' CP, I 

could sense the desperation of th e Commanding 

General for his two regiments that were being 

cut-off and his relief when given th e two armored 

CCBs. Meanwhile, the commanding officer of the 

14th Calvary Group was desperate and unable to 

marshall any organized resistance in his critical 

sector on the north flank. 

I felt frustrated because most of the 81st 

Engineers were under other command s, and th e 

sole function of the Headquarters and Service 

Company was one of resupply wh ere th e roads 

were stilJ open. Although the men of the 81st 

40 

were fighting as infantry, we were not doing it as 

a unit. 

Later, in the early morning, I returned to 

Division CP in St Vith. The situation in front of u~

Vith was becoming more fluid. By 0830 hours, my 

headquarters had lost contact with Company B 

beyond Schonberg and were preparing to evacuate 

the CP at Heuem in the face of approaching enemy 

infantry and tanks. At 1000 hours, I was ordered 

by th e Commanding General, Alan Jones, of the 

106th, to organize a task force to defend St Vith. 

The 168th Engine er Combat Battalion was attached to the 81st with orders to assemble all 

available men from both units as well as division 

headquarters personnel. We were to hold St Vith 

for th e counter attack of CCB, 7th Armored, 

through, our positions. After relaying these 

ord ers to th e 81st and the 168th, I left for Heuem 

and met my staff and part of the 168th command 

group on a natural rise about a mile east of St 

Vith. Th ey were being followed by an enemy task 

force of infantry and tanks which had cleared 

Heuem. That particular location, in addition to 

havin g a line of woods at the top of the rise to the 

north, had a good field of fir e back down the 

Schonberg r oad for 1000 yards. To the south side 

of the ro ad was a 20 feet wid e fire break runnin 

parall el to th e wood line on the north and lea d' 

to an opening and a farm house about 200 yard 

the south . 

As units arrived from th e 91st and 168th 

Engineer Combat Battalions, th ey were placed 

astride the road and a skirmish line of engineers, 

converted to infantry, gradually dug in with some 

automatic weapons. Knowing that the counter 

attack by CCB, 7th Armored, would be through us , 

I elected to place several daisy chains of mines 

across the road and placed 2 bazooka teams in the 

woods for cover. A 37mm anti-tank gun was 

placed with an engineer squad to cover them. This 

gun was lost in the first exchange of fire. 

We were fortunate to have a platoon of six 

tank destroyer guns which were set up in the edge 

of the woods to the north of the road. Before the 

position was consolidated, we had an exchange of 

fire with the enemy. By about 1600 hours, the 

position had been consolidated and four tanks plus 

an estimated battalion of infan try began to ad ­

vance on us from the woods about 1000 yards 

away. The tank destroyer platoon engaged the 

tanks by bore-sighting the guns which had been 

re ceived in the morning. Whil e they did not 

disable the enemy tanks, they did for ce them 

retreat to the woods with their infantry. The t 

destroyer platoon was then ordered to shift th 

position north on the leading edge of th e woods for 

future action. They moved north and out of our 

sector without reporting. This was th e first of 
several units that left our sector to join a 

vement to the rear. It was this kind of attitude 

t increased my determination to hold our 

sition. 

Later in th e afternoon. th e Division Air-Ground 

Liaison Officer made contact with the only Ameri­ ' can aircraft th at we wer e to see. We assumed that 

th e ene my tank s and infan try were hidden in the 

woods to our front and had r equ ested a mission to 

be fir ed by th e Division Artillery, but they were 

not abl e to respond. I got on th e r adio with the 

Air-Gr ound Liaison Officer to guid e the P-47 over 

the woods. According to CPT Ward , CO of Headquarters and Ser vice Company. the plane mad e 4 

passes before sighting th e tank s. He then made 

sever al straffing passes over th e area and hit one 

tank. 

At ab out 1700 hours, a Major Boyer arrived 

with t he first elements of B Troop, 87th Reconnaissanc e Sq uadron, CCB, 7th Armored Division. 

to support our position. I did not like th e idea of 

putting this fine mobile unit in a fixed defense 

position, but th eir heavy automatic weapons were 

ideal for th e ample fields of fir e in fron t of th e 

wood ed position to th e north of the road. As they 

moved in, Headquarters and Ser vice Company. 

st En gineers, plus part of A Company were eed to th e sout h of the 168th En gineer Combat 

talion to exte nd that flank. Some medium 

tanks had arrived and were ordered to hold in the 

defilad e back of th e hill crest. 

Boyer r eported th e roads to the rear were full 

of r etreating vehicles and the r emainder of CCB, 

7th Arm or ed. would be delayed until the 18th at 

the ea rliest. 

As the Headquarters and Service Co. Sl.st, 

were deploying into th eir new position, they were 

engaged at close range by an enemy tank and 

infan try. A daisy chain of min es disabled the t ank 

and th e infantry was driven off by small ar ms fire . 

CPT Ward requested the fire support of some 

Amer ican medium tanks in his area; however, 

th ey r efuse d because of th e deadly 88mm gun on 

the enemy tank. I suggeste d that he and his 

officers "ride" t he top s of th e tanks to steer them 

into position . He "rode" the lead tank into position 

and was knocked off by the first 88mm round. but 

he scrambled to safety. The American t anks then 

knocke d out th e enemy tank and withdrew to 

defilade again. 

At about 1900 hours, an enemy combat patrol 

pene trated our lines and got within thirt y yards of 

CP o I gathered about four people in th e CP _ 

". ran up th e hill to th e point of penetration. 

. sed th e gap and ord er ed a clean-up of the 

infiltrators. I found that th e gap in the skirmish 

line had been mad e by men fading to the ' rear. 

From that point on. I visited our front line every 

hour or so, particularly at night, to let th e men 

know that their commander was there . 

Later in the evening, the Forward Obser ver 

from the Armored Field Artillery Battalion r eported that his unit was in the area and wanted to 

provide artillery support. The unit could pr ovide 

close support fire. but tree bursts would create 

casualties for us as well as the enemy . To combat 

this problem. we covered th e foxh oles with logs 

and earth with a space to roll under wh en an 

incoming mission was signaled. It worked man y 

times for us. 

As units of the 38th Armored Infantry began to 

arrive, a staff meeting was held at about midnight. 

The meeting included officers of the two engineer 

battalions, B Troop. 87th Reconn aissance Squadron. 38th Armored Inf antry, th e attached platoon 

of medium tanks, and the Armored Artillery 

Battalion. It was decided to mov e Company B. 

38th Armored Infantry. into the position s occupied 

by the 168th Engineers. The 168th Engin eers, 

which by now was reduced to two comp anies, 

would move into a gap on the right flank of t he 

position in order to connect th e line with a 

company of the 23d Armored Infantry, CCB, 9th 

Armored Division, to the south. This action was 

carefully organized and executed by digging a 

parallel line of foxhol es behind th e 168th Engineers position. The engineer platoon lead ers then 

led the infantry forward to individually relieve th e 

engineers so as to prevent an int ernal fire fight. 
18 December 1944: 

By 0300 hours, the position was fairly well 

co~solidat~d This finished the second day of 

battle testing for me. In the previous 24 hours, I 

had seen blood. bravery. fear. and death. It was 

also confirmed that th e two infantry regiments. 

the 422d and 423d, were now completely surrounded. and we were their closest possible 

contact. We were still expecting a counter-attack 

by the 7th Armored, but they seemed to be 

gradually absorbed in our defense. 

19 December 1944: 

Early in the morning. the enemy began a series 

of probing attacks. About 0930 hours. they 

launched a company size attack and supported by 

a Tiger tank. The attack was directed at th e 

clearing south of the fire break which was 

defended by the remaining men of Co A, 81st 

Engineers. The attack wa s repulsed and the Tiger 

tank was knocked out by three American medium 

tanks which had been placed in position behind the 

engineers. Lieutenant Rutledge, acting company 

commander of Co A. 81st Engineers. directed this 

attack. He was wounded in front of his oposition. refused first aid. and was killed tryin

pursue th e enemy him self. The loss hit hard. arre 

his actions were a gr eat inspiration to us all. 

At about 1500 hours, another company size 

attack penetrated this same area and reached our 

task forc e CPo I heard the small arms fire and saw 

soldiers crouching along the roadside. I gathered 

the officers and men in the CP and got the soldi ers 

crouching at roadside to launch a charge back up 

the hill in to the break in the line. We killed 4 of 

the en em y and closed the gap. 

At about 1600 hours, A Company, 38th Armored, arrived and was ordered to r elive B Troop. 

87th Reconnaissance Squadron, whi ch then mov ed 

to reinforce the position occupied by Co A, 81st 

Engineers. B Troop had lost 40 officers and men 

in their position. 

At 1700 hours, I received verbal information 

that the 106th Division Headq uarters had moved 

to Vielsam and that the 81st Engineer Task Force 

was being attached to the 7th Armored Division. 

This shift of CPs and command did not sound like 

the aggressive attack that we were expecting. 

By 1900 hours. Lieutenant Colonel Fuller. 

commander of the 38th Armored Infantry, arrived 

with instructions from General Clarke. Comma 

ing Gen eral of CCB. 7th Armored. Since mos 

the units in the position were now infantry, it had 

been decid ed that LTC Fuller should take command . and I was to be his Executive Officer. I felt 

a personal let-down in the change of responsibility, 

but I did get the first sleep that I had had since 

the early morning of the 16th. 

20 December 1944: 

During the day the 81st Engineers laid mine 

fields in the area in front of Co A. While we had 

prepared the bridges in St Vith for demolition, we 

did not mine the St Vith-Schonberg road in order 

to ke ep it open for the expected counter-attack 

throu gh our position. 

21 December 1944: 

. During the morning, enemy patrol activity 

increased. By 1500 hours, a concentrated barrage 

began and continued until about 1730. During the 

barrage. I was hailed by the Forward Obs erver of 

the 275th Armored Artillery Battalion to report 

that his CO wanted to talk to me . I got on the 

radio to hear LTC Clay reporting that he was 

down to his last round. I instructed him to fire his 

last round and to get out. The enemy barrage ,. 

taking a heavy toll. One tree burst kille 

comp any commander from th e 38th Armored 

Division, his supporting tank unit commander, and 

two other casualties. Being on the scene. I 
dju sted the command of the unit and committed a 

visional platoon from t he 423d to this unit's 

or. 

At about 1800 hours, LTC Fuller announced he 

was placing me in charge of the position while he 

rep orted back to Headquarters, CCB, 7th Armor ed, t o plan alternat e defensive positions. He 

nev er r eturned and our orders sto od to defend St 

Vith. 

About 2200 hours, an e nemy attack wa s 

laun ched up t he Sc honberg-St Vith road straight 

into our position. The ene my force consisted of six 

Tiger ta nks an d suppo rted by about a battalion of 

infantry. Our te mpora r y daisy chains of min es and 

bazookas were ineffective against th eir massive 

at tack. We committed four and the n a tot al of six 

Ame r ica n medium tanks to this point blank contest. 

It was r eally no contest. The German tanks 

lobbed- parachute flares to th e rear of the American ta nks and fir ed the ir 88s directly at th e 

silhouetted Am erican tanks. In three successive 

sh ot s, they disabled th r ee of th e Am erican tanks, 

and t he other t hree va nishe d in the direction of St 

Vith. 

Our position was now split, and I ordered my 

staff to fall ba ck t o St Vith. I picked my way to 

front positions and learned t hat, subsequent t o 

, rontal assault, we had lost cont acts with units 

e north and th e sout h of the original skir mish 

line of 17 December. Through the forward artillery observer radio, I r eported t o t he 7th Armored 

Division that our positi on had been pen etrated, 

and we had lost contact with our flanks. I wa s 

ordered t o or ganize an attack on St Vith and to 

work our way back to Vielsam . 

22 December 1944: 

It was now clos e to daybreak. I issu ed instructions to assemble in a nearby park t hat ove rlooke d 

St Vit h. By da wn , every incoming road to St Vith 

was filled with ene my traffic . We scout ed a line of 

ve hicles abandon ed by the 9th Ar mored at the 

base of th e hill below our position and r ecovered 

some "grease guns" (45 caliber s ub-mac hine guns) 

and ammo. With only two officers and thirty or 

forty men completely fatigu ed, an attack appeared 

hopeless, so we made terrain map s and split into 5 

or 6 man patrols. All of this gr oup were subseque nt ly captured. 

As a prisoner-of-war, I was marched with a 

20-man group for 140 mil es in 10 days to a rail 

head in Germany. I lost about 50 pounds and 

. essed the death by starvation by at least 

,

_ of the group. In Poland, I es cape d after 28 

s of imprisonment and was picked up by the 

Polish Underground . A rendezvous wa s arranged 

with th e Russian Army wh o evacuated me from 

Warsaw through Odessa on th e Black Sea, through 

Istanbul to US Army Control in Port Said, Egypt. 

I was the n moved t o Napl es for shipmen t home. 

I was te rr ibly disturbed and distressed over 

th e t errible losses t aken by t he 106th and t he 81st 

Combat En gin eers and our failure to hold our 

defensive sect or . It was difficult to believ e that 

t he units on our flank had fallen back on t he night 

of 21 December without notifying us. I had been 

so localized in that position in front of St Vith that 

I did not preceiv e th e magnitude of t he t otal acti on 

and th e strategic importan ce of den yin g th e road 

net at St Vith to th e enemy. 

I be gan th is r eport with a view on the 

importance of tr aining, youth and dis cipline. I feel 

that the infantry tr aining of the 81st Combat 

Engineer Battalion enabled it to be committed 

effect ively as a ready r es erve. We took pride in 

weapons training and sp ecial training su ch as the 

Ranger program. Most of the officers in the 81st 

Engineers were qu alified as expe rt s in every 

weapon authorized the un it. Th e high degree of 

discipline was the result of programs involving 

weapons, explosives, a nd physical fitness. 

In our totally professional and volunteer army, 

combat proficiency should cont inue t o be encouraged for en gin eer units. I know from exper ience that engineer so1diers will hav e to figh t for 

survival in many engineer s uppor t cir cumstan ces. 

Mr. Thomas J . Riggs comple ted his tour of 

active du ty in Novem ber 1947 and re tired from th e 

Army Reserve as a colonel. For 13 years, Mr. 

Riggs was Group Vice President for Textron, Inc., 

based in Providence, R.I. In October 1972 he 

became Executive Vice President of Operations 

and a Director ofKat y Indus tries, In c. of E lgin, IL 

and Boston, MA. Mr. Riggs is currently President 

and Chief Executi ve Officer of Lawson-Hemphill, 

Inc. of Central Falls, R.J. 

43 
NEW OER TEST PLAN 

BEING DEVELOPED BY MILPERCEN 

Developmental efforts toward an Officer Evaluation Report (OER) to replace the current 

DA Form 67-7 are continuing at MI LPE RCE N. 

Because of the innovative techniques incorporated in the proposed DA Form 76, it has been 

decided that extensive field testing w ill be necessary. The test - which will requ ire several 

months to conduct - has made it necessary to delay indefinitely the DA Form 76's originally 

announced 1 January 1976 implementation date. The test could result in further refinements of 

the proposed form which were explained earlier in various publ ications. 

Field testing, DA planners ag ree, not only will provide the basis for sound decisions by 

Army leadership but it also wil l assist DA in introducing a new OER that enjoys greater 

confidence with in the officer corps. Plans call for a multi-phased test as a basis for further 

evaluation of innovations such as rated officer input, the separation of information provided by 

the rater and indorser, the expanded role of the reviewer, and the focus on description versus 

quantification. 

The first phase of the test plan will begin w ith comprehensive briefings presented to 

selected major commanders (TRADOC, FORSCOM, AM(, Eighth Army, USAREUR & 7th 

Army, Health Services Command) outlining the concept and form of the proposed evaluation 

system, and sol iciting the des ignation of a limited number of command representative t 

become members of joint (DA-major command) test teams. The intent of this participating i 

to get the f ield involved from the onset in the conduct of the test, and, subsequently, to allow th e 

major commanders to playa major role in the assessment of test results . 

Next, the test wi ll be administered in selected sample rating chains. Organizational sl ices 

(approximately 45) from various commands and staff agencies representing a cross section of 

the many rating situations that involve Army officers of all grades (including warrant and 

general officers) will be tested by either a joint team or a DA team (MILPERCEN) . These 

organizational slices will include combat, combat support, [oint agencies, combat service 

support elements, staff elements, field operating activities, MAAG s. MI LGROUP s. and other 

un ique rating situations. The sl ices will be selected to achieve geographical diversity 

(worldwide) as well as environmental diversity. 

The actual test w ill include the completion of the test form, selected on-site interviews, and 

the completion of a questionnaire. The testing time for any specific organization will take 

approximately two weeks. Results of the tests will be used as a basis for further evaluation of 

innovations that are being proposed. 

Career managers and other key OE R users at HQDA will also participate in the test to 

insure the proposed form fills their needs . In addition, a worldwide random survey of 

approximately 2,000 officers wil l be conducted to obtain additional information concerning the 

officer corps' attitudes toward the evaluation techniques being proposed. Special measures will 

be taken to assure personal privacy and proper control of the test forms and to avoid any 

inadvertent mix-up with personnel f iles. 

Upon completion of the test, a detailed analysis will be conducted leading to specific 

proposals for the fol low-on to the current OER, DA Form 67-7. Major commands will then be 

advised of the analysis and asked for their recommendations. 

Phase I of the test plan - detailed briefings at major command sites - will begin in 

October. Actual testing will occur during October-December, and the test analysis w ill begin i 

early 1976. No definite target date for implementing the new OE R form has been set: DII: 

planners intend to take whatever time may be necessary to come up with the optimum form to 

assess performance and potential. Current projections envision fielding the new form in late 

calendar year 1976 or early 1977. 

44 
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FORWARDING PERSONNEL 

QUALIFICATION RECORDS 

Some Personnel Qualification Records, DA Forms 2 and 2-1, for individuals entering active 

duty as commissioned or warrant officers are still being forwarded to MILPERCEN addressed 

to the Personnel Actions and Records Directorate. 

Personnel officers and specialists should insure the forms are addressed to the attention of 

DAPC·PSS-D. Otherwise, it is possible the forms could be inadvertently placed in the officer's 

Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) and not be used to add personnel information to the 

Officer Master File (OMF) as intended. This would result in the OMF not having a complete 

and accurate record of the officer. 

SCHOOLING FOR CLUB MANAGEMENT MOS AVAILABLE 

Due to a world-wide shortage of Club Management personnel, MI LPE RCE N is soliciting 

applicat ions from soldiers in grades E-6 and E-7 for attendance at the Club Management course 

given at Ft. Lee, VA. 

Selected individuals will attend the seven-week course TOY and will be awarded a new 

primary MOS of OOJ50 upon completion. Course graduates will be assigned within their new 

MOS according to their personal preferences and the needs of the Army . 

Soldiers in grade E·5 may also be selected to attend the course but must be highly 

commended by their commanders. All applicants will be subject to a background 

investigation prior to receiving the new PMOS. 

Applications should be submitted on a DA Form 2496, "Disposition Form," and forwarded to 

the individual 's commander for recommendation . The commander should, in turn, forward the 

application to the Commander, US Army Military Personnel -Center, ATTN: DAPC- EPM-M for 

final disposition. 

VIETNAM AWARD DEADLINE NEARING 

Soldiers whose acts of heroism or meritorious service in Southeast Asia may have gone 

unrecognized can still be recommended for appropriate awards - but not for long - according 

to MI LPERCEN's Awards Br-anch . 

A 24 October 1975 deadline for recommendations for awards to be received in formal 

mil itary channels has been established by public law and is contained in DA Circular 627·1. To 

date, only 37 recommendations citing the law have been received for consideration by 

MILPERCEN. 

The law was signed into effect 24 October 1974 to allow an additional year for outstanding or 

heroic acts to be recognized . Any service member witnessing an outstanding act may 

recommend another service member for an award. Also, all recommendations will be reviewed 

und er the criteria in effect at the time of the action. 

Recommendations for awards may be made for any action in Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, or 

for personnel based out of those countries who directly supported combat activities, such as 

Hawaii-based couriers on long-term TOY missions in Vietnam . 

Ex -service members may also be recommended for actions performed while serving on 

t ive duty. If the award is approved, every effort will be made to contact the individual and 

sent the award. If the ind ividual cannot be found, the award and any additional 

ocum entat ion will be forwarded to his permanent record maintained, for Army personnel, at 

St. Louis. 

All recommendations for awards should be made on the DA Form 638, " Recom m endat ion 

for Award." Details of the program and additional criteria may be found in DA Circular 627-1. 

4S