United States Army 

Engineer School 

Fort Belvoir, Virginia 

Commandant
 

MG James A. Johnson
 

Assistant Commandant
 

BG H. McK. Roper, Jr.
 

Editor
 

LTC William C. Simpson
 

Editorial Board
 

MG James A. Johnson
 

BG H. McK. Roper, Jr.
 

COL Charles J . Osterndorf
 

COL J . F. Castro
 

COL Charles A. Debelius
 

COL Charles A. Kiefer
 

COL Robert S. Kubby
 

COL Thorwald R. Peterson
 

COL Edward K. Wintz
 

LTC William C. Simpson
 

CSM Lucion L. Cowart 

Production Manager
 

John W. Savage, Jr.
 

Production Assistant
 

Mr. William W. Behring
 

SP5 An thony E. Banks 

The Engineer is an authorized quarterly publica . 

non of the U .S. Army E ng in eer School. It is 

pubflsheo to provide factual and in -depth in ter rna 

tion of interest to al l Engineer units . Articles, 

photographs and art work of general interest may be 

submitted for consideration to . Edi tor, The Engi 

neer, USA Engineer School. Fort Belvoir, Virginia 

22060. Views and opinions expressed herein are not 

necessarily those of the Departmen t of the Army 

Use of fu nds for printing of th is publication has been 

approved by Headquarters, Department of the 

Army , January 1, 1974. 

Subscriptions to THE EN G I N E E R are ava i lable 

through th e USA ES Periodica l Publications F un d i 

Fort Belvoir, Va . 22060. Annua l Rates are $4.00 for 

domestic and A PO addresses arid $5.00 for overseas 

addresses. Make checks payable to : The United 

states Treasury. 

Engin eer M a g azine T el ephon e : ()03) 664-2838 ­

Aul ov on : 354-2838 

Brigadier General John Moulder Wilson was born October 8,1837' 

Washington, D.C. Upon graduation from the U.S. Military Academ 

on July I, 1860 he was promoted Br evet Second Lieutenant of 

Artillery. 

In July, 1862 Wilson transferred to the Corps of Topographical 

Enginers. He was awarded the Medal of Honor for most distinguished 

gallantry at Malvern Hill, Vir ginia in Au gust, 1862. Wilson transferred 

to the Corps of Engineers in Mar ch, 1863. 

During th e Civil War Wilson re ceived four brevets for gallantry. 

After the wa r his assignments included positions in rivers and harbors 

improvements, fortifications, and public buildings and monuments 

construction. From 1889 to 1893 Wilson was superintendent of the U.S 

Military Acad em y. 

Befor e appoint ment as Chief of Engineers on February I, 1897, 

Wilson se rv ed as Northeaster n Division Engineer. While Chief of 

Engineeers he dir ected th e Corps' activities in th e war with Spain and 

ordered official adoption of t he present seal of the Corps. He retired 

Apri1 30, 1901. 

General Wilson died lD Wa shington on February 1, 1919. 

J()H~ M. DERVA~

A ssis tant Curat or 

U.S . A rm Ij Enqine e r Museum 
THE: E:NGINE:E:R 

\JOLUME 7 NUMBER 2 APR Mt\Y JUN 1977
 

FE:~TUR€S
 

7 ENGINEERS IN THE ASSAULT CROSSING/LTC Richard Copeland 

14 THAT EXTRA EFFORT/MAJ James L. Campbell 

20 FISH STORY/Michael L. Baugler 

26 RIBBON BRI DGE IN GERMANY/Martin E. Falk 

28 THE TACTICAL ACCESS/EGRESS SYSTEM/CPT Robert Sperberg 

33 A NEW WAY TO PREPARE FOR YOUR SQT-3/
 

CPT Richard Simmons,
 

SFC Paul Christianson
 

D€PARTME:I'iTS
 

2 Pipeline/News Items 

4 Stop 16/Letters to the Editor 

6 Tactical Problem 

22 Engineer Prayer 

36 BRIDGING THE GAP/Career Notes 

42 ENGINEER POTPOURRI/Engineer Branch 

45 Reader Survey 
· PIPELINE. PIR
 

THE ARMY 

HAS A NAVY! 

As surprising as it may seem 

the US Army has a " Nav y" of 

more than 1300 vessels . Th ey 

rang e from 27 -foot bridge erection boats to 343-foot beach 

d ischarge lighters. By 1985 it 

is est imated that 85 percent of 

the Army's craft w ill have outli ved thei r l ife expectancy. The 

Army, rea lizing the gravity of 

the situation, plans to rep lace 

the fleet during the 1980' s. 

Meanwhi le. it is up-dating what 

it has on hand . 

As part of this effort, the US 

Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Com ­

mand (ME RADCOM) at Ft. 

Belvoir, Va . is providing tech ­

n ical guidance on pilot 

modern ization of a present 

Land ing Craft Util ity (LCU ). 

Technica I data developed as a 

result of this pilot modernization will form the basis for 

modernization of approximately 60 LCUs . 

The pilot craft (LCU 1579) 

now under test at ME RADCOM 

boasts new mechanical gear, 

pollution abatement equipment, new electrical system, 

navigational instruments, and 

advanced communication 

equ ipment. 

Many of the LCU 's in the 

fleet are equipped with engines 

procured during the 1950's. Replacement parts for the old 

engines became a gigantic 

supply problem . These old 

eng ines on the LCU 1579 prototype have been replaced wi th a 

diesel "Clean Air" engine. 

Federa I Water Po llution 

standards have come into being since the LCU fleet was 

commiss ioned. All cornmercial and m ilitary ships now 

m ust meet the Federal standards . The f ilm or sheen left in 

a sh ip's wake can be prevented 

by using an oil bilge water 

separator. The separator developed by MERADCOM will 

allow oily water collected in 

the bi lge to be d ischarged with ­

out affecting the environment. 

Using m inimum flush com ­

modes, sewage is ground up 

and pumped into a holding tank 

and later transferred ashore. 

The entir e electrical system 

w as sw itched ove r from direct 

current to al ternating current 

used by most ships today. 

A flying bridge cover was 

added to protect the ship's captai n and hi s crew communica ­

tion and bridge navigational 

gear. This rep laces the makeshifts t hat soldier-sal lors have 

boot-legged for years. 

The Army used tube type 

rad io sets which allowed them 

to commun icate with other 

Army craft but not Navy or 

commercial ships . The new 

VHF/FM rad io instal led in the 

prototype LCU will be able to 

communicate with all other 

ships and ground troops. The 

old com munication gear had a 

range of 50 miles. The UHF/ 

FM rad io can send and receive 

up to several hundred miles. 

A new gyrocompass and 

radar system wer e adopted in ­

creas ing the navigational 

capa bilities of the LCU f leet. 

The LCU 1579 upon leaving 

MERADCOM in February is 

scheduled for further test at 

Ft . Eustis, Va . to determine 

user acceptabi Iity of the modernized LCU craft. 

200th ANNIVERSARY 

OF 1st ENGINEERING 

SCHOOL SET FOR 1978 

On 9 June 1778, Genera l 

George Washi ng ton issued th e 

following General Order: 

" Thr ee Capta ins and nine 

Lieutenants are wanted to officer the Companies of Sappers: 

As th is Corps wi ll be a school 

of Eng ineering , it opens a 

Prospect to such Gentlemen as 

enter it and wi ll pursue the 

necessary studies w ith dillgence of becoming Engineers 

and rising to t he Important 

Employments attached to that 

Profess ion , as the d irection of 

fortified Places, & etc. The 

Qual ifications required of the 

Candidates are that they be 

Natives and have a knowledge 

of the Mathematics and drawing or at leas t be disposed to 

apply themselves to those 

stud ies. They w ill give in their 

Names to Head-Ouarters " 

General Washington's call 

for engineer education at 

Valley Forge w as the first step 

which eventually led to Ameri ca' s eng ineering pre-em inence 

in the industr ial nations of the 

world . The observance of th is 

date can serve to rem ind all 

Americans of the importance 

of engineering and engineering 

educa t ion in today' s world . 

On 9 June 1978, the 200th 

Anniversary of t he founding of 

the first Engineering School in 

2 
INE. PIPELINE.
 

America w ill be observed at 

Valley Forge, Pennsylvania . 

Gen eral Bruce C. Clarke, US 

Army Retired, is chairman of 

the planning group. This articl e is to serve as a war ning 

or der to " al l Eng ineers" mi litar y and civilian . As the plans 

progress, information w ill be 

disseminated . Start making 

your plans now . 

SYNTHETIC OILS 

STUDIED BY 

MERADCOM 

Since a lubricant can " m ake 

or br ea k" an eng ine, there is a 

contin uing search for new and 

improved engine oils . One 

g roup of such products, synthetic oils, is under investiga ­

tion at t he US Army Mobility 

Equ ip ment Resea rch and Deve lopm ent Command (M E RADCOM ), Fort Belvoir, Va . As 

indicated by a recent article in 

Sold iers magaz i ne, many 

c laims of superior serv ice have 

been m ade ab out synthetic oils. 

At least a portion of the claims 

are va lid. 

Synthetic oils are less volat i le (re sist evaporation ) and 

possess greater oxidation reo 

sistance at high temperatures. 

In add ition, they exhibit ex cellen t low-tem per ature flow 

character istics and have 

" bui lt -in" multiviscos ity properties. Other cla ims such as 

increased drain intervals, irn ­

proved fuel economy and re o 

. -=- uced wear have ye t to be 

..-- a n Not onl y is 

there a lack of data in these 

areas, but also the means to 

gen erate this informa tion presents a problem. With the ex ­

ception of actual field operation, current test techn iques 

are designed for petroleum 

products and may not be satisfactory for predicting synthet ic 

oil performance. 

Also, econom ics must be consid ered from the point of fuel 

sav ings and product cost . 

Synthetics average four, and 

can be as much as seven, times 

more expensive than petroleu m oi ls. 

Another area of concern is 

th e development of add itive 

technology for synthetic eng ine 

oil s. An invest igat ion w hich 

has just been completed shows 

most of th e commercial ly 

ma rketed products conta i n 

standard petroleum additive 

systems. Th is indicates that 

special systems have not been 

deve loped for synthetic oils . 

Synthet ic engine oils are ex ­

pected to play an increasing 

ro le in the lubri cation of Army 

equipment . Alth ough future oil 

specifications may not speclflcally require t heir use, the 

performa nce criteria wi II 

necess ita te sy nthetic or hybrid 

(s ynth etic-p etroleum) ma o 

teria ls. 

Synthetic oil is already being 

used as an eng ine lubricant in 

arctic reg ions. ME RADCOM 

progr ams are spec if ical ly dir ected towards expanded appl ications for aII season Iubri cat ion and extended oil drain 

in ter vals. 

NEW TV TAPE 

AVAILABLE FROM 

USAES 

The USAES has produced a 

new 26 minut e color TV tape, 

titled " The Eng ineer System:' 

051 ·0191. The tape was produced for General Off icer Designees to U. S. Army Active 

Div is ions. The fi lm wi ll be 

shown at the Armor and lnfantry Schools to all fu ture 

Di v ision and Assis tant Div ision 

Com ma nd er s effect ive March 

1977 at Fort Kno x and Fort 

Benning. It contains an introduction and conclusion by Gen ­

eral Johnson w ith a m idd le 

f ilm account on the engineer 

mobil ity, countermobi l ity and 

sur v ivabi li ty m issions to in· 

elude a w rap-up of future sys ­

tems being developed . Tem ­

porary loan copies are 

ava i lable from the Fort Belvoir 

T ASC, Stop 16F, and permanent copies can be ordered by 

submitting a blank 30-minute 

3/4// tape, r equest by num ber 

and title t o this agency, Fort 

Bel vo ir, VA 22060. Primaril y 

designed for non-eng ineers it 

can be used for eng ineer au ­

diences at the entry level to 

ex pla in th e com bat eng ineer's 

mission. 

3 
~top 16
 

NOTE: If you are a member 

of EOBC 13-56, please read 

the fol lowlnq article. 

SIR: 

Thank you for your sending 

the two diplomas for me. I iust 

receive them today. I am 

broke now because aII my 

property was sunken when I 

got onto the fishing boat and 

helped my children to escape 

by using the inner tubes as life 

rafts . 

Would you please help me 

now to find out the address of 

our fellowship of 13 EOBC so I 

may ask them for some help 

while waiting here to go to the 

United States, or you may give 

me the photograph of my classmates took all together. 

Thank you again for your 

prompt attention. May God 

bless you and your family . 

TRAN-HI EU TRAI 

VIETNAMESE 

REFUGEE BOAC 3 

SONGKH LA THAI LAN D 

SIR : 

Reference is made to Colonel 

Moellering 's article in your 

No v ember-December 1976 

issue: " Some t h i ng is Very 

Wrong" (pp. 9-10). I agree 

with the title, and I bel ieve in 

its message: There is not 

enough real istic training . Too 

often the " pr oblem s of coping 

with actual (as opposed to 

refereed) problems " cause 

commanders to shelve that 

type of training to another day. 

Let's call those manana decisions what they are: a training detente. 

I al so believe the following 

passage from the January 1977 

Airman magazine : (Ivan is 

preparing to 'survive you'. It 

matters not whether you 

believe it. The Communists 

believe it:') I have indicated 

three other places in that (first 

of three parts) article. The 

first two are the reason for this 

letter to you, the Engineers . 

The first is that the Sov iets 

believe that they must be prepared to achieve total victory 

in war to include nuclear war. 

The second is that the Soviets 

are ser ious in their approach to 

Civil Defense. I believe that 

you have been lulled into forgetting the nuclear, Damocles 

sword as a result of the aforementioned training detente. 

The third place that was 

marked, mentions "surprise". 

"The Soviets believe the use of 

surprise br ings success in 

battle" . I was surprised to see 

that the Airman magazine 

article did not mention the 

benefits the Soviets achieve in 

their realistic chemical 

warfare training. I was happy 

to see masks being carried in 

the picture in Colonel Moellering's article. I hope that his 

article, with your backing , can 

assist in avoiding an unwarranted surprise on the 

battlefield. Realistic training 

could help overcome the chemical training detente. 

You not only provide engineering expertise on the battlefield but should keep poking 

the civilian communities into 

action. Where are your fallout 

shelters? Do you have one for 

duty hours when away from 

family and another for your 

family? Do you live on post 

and don 't have one for the 

fam ily? How can you go to 

work, talk, and train for war 

and then forget everything 

about the threat of war at 

quitting time? Is that the 

"good" of having a home and 

family - their ability to help 

you forget the nagging prob.. 

lem that war might cause? 

How about your doing some 

" good" for home and family 

and assisting in preparing 

them to survive if you are 

lucky enough to get to a battlefield? Or is it easier to have a 

family (civil) preparedness 

detente? 

THOMAS P. STRIDER 

LTC , USA (Ret) 
TRAINING 

NOTES 

SQT IS 

PERFORMANCE TEST 

Soldiers preparing for the 

new Skill Qualification Test 

(SQT) shouldn't just study, 

they should also practice. The 

theory behind th e new testing 

system is performance. In ­

tead of iust knowing what to 

do, soldiers demonstrate that 

they can do it. 

According t o TRAOOC, 

soldiers who practice their 

sk ills - and can perform them 

w ell enough to do the job ­

should have no difficulty passing th e SQT . In fact, if you 

want to know the questions and 

loo k at the answers on the SQT, 

it's simple. Get your copy of 

the Soldier's Manual and test 

y ours elf. 

If you are in one of the tel ­

lowing MOSs you should al ­

ready have a copy of your 

Soldier's Manual : MaS 11 B, 

l1C, 11 0, 11 E, 16B, 16(, 160, 

16H, 16J, 16P, 16R, 95B, 95(, 

950, 76J, 34E, 34F, 34G, 41(, 

44E, 45B, 45K, 45L, 63(, 63G, 

63H, 63J and 71 P. If you don 't 

have your manual , tell your 

mmediate super visor. For 

oldiers in other MOSs, manuals are being developed and 

w i ll be distributed when completed . 

The Soldier's Manual is the 

most important book you own 

to hel p you do a better job and 

to pass the SQT. The manua Is 

can also be used as a refresher 

for ski IIs ta ught in basi c tra i ning, AIT, or schools . The 

Soldier's Manual can be used 

to brush up on basic soldier 

skills. 

In addition, the Soldier's 

Manual also lists all the critical tasks required to perform 

your job. Remember, if it isn 't 

in the manual, it won't be on 

the SQT . Some soldiers believe 

the SQT will have some " t r ick" 

questions, but this isn't so. 

Ev ery question will have a 

direct practica I application to 

your job. If you need certain 

tools on the job to perform the 

task, you'll have them (or 

simulation de vices) during 

your SQT. The three components of SQT - hands-on, 

written and performance cerh ­

fication - may be included. 

That is, certain SQT ma y ha ve 

one, two, or all three components, depending on the job. 

The following MOSs are 

scheduled to be tested within 

the six month periods as indicated below. 

(W-wr itt en component ; pperformance certification ; Hhands-on component; SL-sk ill 

level ). 

APRIL-SEPTEMBER 

MOS SLl su SL3 SL4 

11B W P H W P H WPH
 

11C W P H W P H W P H
 

110 WPH W PH WPH
 

l1 E W P H W PH W P H
 

JULY-DECEMBER 

MOS SL 1 SL2 SL3 SL4 

16B W P H W P H 

16C WP H 

16D W P H WP H W P 

16 E W P H W P H W P 

1,SH W P 

16J W P H WPH W P 

16P W P H W P H W PH 

16 R W P H W P H W P H 

95 B W P H W P H WP W P 

95C W W W W 

95 0 W P W P WP WP 

Results of your SQT w ill be 

given to you , your commander 

and to U.S. Army Military Personnel Center. MILPERCEN 

will use the scores for ca reer 

management and promotion 

purposes. 

5 
TACTICAL PROBLEM 

SITUATION: In a simulated test of the 

tactical effectiveness of minefields in the anti-tank 

weapons's system, the results in the chart below 

were obtained. The defender was a Mechanized 

Infantry Platoon, the attacker a 15 tank opposing 

force company. The minefield density has .002 

mines per square meter and scatterable anti-tank 

mines used on the surface of the ground. 

TEST 

TANK LOSSES 

NUMBER 

3 

5 

4 

6 

PERCENTAGE 

20% 

33% 

27% 

40% 

Minefield Alone 

Anti -Tank Weapons's Alone 

Both Minefield & Anti-Tank Weapons: 

Minefield KillsAT Weapon KillsPROBLEM: What is the synergistic effect of 

the minefield to the anti-tank weapons system? 

Wh at is the combat multiplier of the minefield to 

the anti-tank weapon's system? 

Continued On Page 2 4 

6 
.. .. 

In 1972 the author was Chief of the Tactical 

Bridging Branch at the Engineer School. Asked 

by th e Canadian Liaison Officer at MERADCOM 

(ME RDC) to explain the US doctrine for engineer 

support to amphibious vehicles during th e crossing 

of a water obstacle, he discovered that the US has 

no doctrine. No US manual defines the who, 

what, wh en and how of the engineer missi on to aid 

amphibians. Subsequ ent research uncovered some 

ra th er startli ng facts. 

In our mod ern. mobile Army the way to get 

across a ri ver during an assault crossing, is to 

swim across in our Armored Personnel Carriers 

(AP Cs)! Th e M113A1 APC is a fine swimmer! 

Numerous exit sites with ge ntle slopes ex ist alon g 

most rivers! Wh en th e Mechanized Infantry 

Combat Vehicle (MICV) is fielded we will se e it 

speed across rivers and roar up over the far bank! 

Right? 

Don't bet on it! Wh en you compare the stream 

crossing capability of t he MICV to the actual 

terrain in which it will be employed, it may be 

a worse amphibian than the M113. An amphibian 

must be able to propel itself through the water 

and power itself up and out of the water at the far 

bank. With its water propulsion kit, the MICV 

could have negotiated currents up to 9 fps and 

surmounted a far hank with a fairl y steep slope. 

The Army has dr opp ed th e r equirement for the 

propulsion kit. Although t he MICV ma y be a 

better swimmer t han the M1l3, it will be twice as 

hard to get up over t he far bank! 

The mission or problem of getting amphibians 

up over the far bank is th e job of the combat 

engine er s. 

An amphibian's ability to cross a water obstacle 

is a function of: 

• Stream conditions - primarily the current. 

•

IN' 

LTC Richard Copeland 

• Bank conditions - especially the far bank. 

The two conditions are interrelated. Let us 

assume for this article that amphibians will get 

across the river unaided. The second condition 

brings the engineers into the act. Perhaps t hat 

statement should be rephrased-this is where the 

man eu ver commander ex pect s the engineers to 

come into th e act! 

For example. in Field Manuals (FM's) 5·135, 17·1 

and 31-60, it is sp ecified that: The divisional 

engineers hav e th e primary mission of supporting 

th e assault units durin g th e assault phase by 

br eaching obstacles , ope rat ing assault boats, preparing entr ances and exits for vehicl es, and aiding 

fording and swimming vehicles. If supporting 

personnel are not immediately availa ble, it may be 

necessary to change the ord er of crossin g or select 

a different crossing site. 

FM 17-1 views pessemistically the ability of the 

engi neer s to enhance fri endly mobility, 

Poor banks can oft en be improved by use of pioneer tools or dozers and cordur oying (laying 

logs ). Track pads should be r emoved in ord er to 

provid e better traction. It is seldom possibl e to 

improve banks on the far sid e of th e stream. 

The problem was recognized in th e USADC 

Engin eer Ag ency Study, ENGINEER-75 which 

admitted that, 

Mor e effor t must be expended in the reconnaissance of ford s, improving bottom conditions , and 

providing aids to tactical vehicles for entry and 

exi t for wet and dry gaps ... The current M1l3. 

or its followup vehicle, has a swimming capacity 

in moderate currents but exper iences difficulty 

in entering and exiting we t gaps having steep 

sloped banks. 

Th e 1964 Armor Agency Study defines the 

existing constraint very clearly. 

7 
co 

VEHICLE STREAM CROSSING CAPABILITIES 

VEHICLE STREAM CROSS

TYPE NOMENCLATURE HP WGT 

(Tons) 

HP/ 

TON 

(PSI) 

GND 

PRES 

SPEED IN WATER 

APC's 

FV 432 (BR ) 240 15.1 15.7 11.1 Tracks - 5.6 fps 

M113 (A l ) (US) 215 12.3 17.5 7.6 Tracks - 5.6 fps 

MICV's 

MICV (US) 450 22.7 19.8 7.1 Tra cks on Iy - 7.2 fps 

With propulsion kit-9.0 fp

AMX lOP ( F R) 276 13.8 19.7 8.0 Tracks only ­ 5.9 fps 

With propulsion kit ­ 7.2 f

MARDER (GEl 600 31 .0 19.0 11.0 Tracks only* - unknown 

ENGINEER 

SUPPORT 

VEHICLE 

UET (US) 285 16.0 17.8 8.3 Tracks only - 4.5 fps 

CET (BRl 320 17.1 19.0 6.25 

--

Waterjets - 8.2 fps 

ENFRAC (FR) 550 30.0 18.1 8.6 Waterjets - 9.2 fps 

.. T he M ARDER ca n swrm on ly wi tn a tloa tat ion k '11 The M A R D E R c an f or d a 2 me ter stre am (with ford ing k i1 carr ied on ve h ic le ). 

TABLE 1 
Since th e successful completion of mission and 

se izure of an obj ecti ve will in many cas es depend on a successful stream crossing, t he fact or s 

effecting the vehicles' stream crossing capabilities must be considered. In view of the swimming and deep fording capabilities of t he vehicles 

organic t o Armor and Armored Cavalr y units, 

these factors ar e determined to be: 

• Stream width 

• Stream depth 

• Water velocit y 

• Ban k height 

• Bank slope 

• Traffi cability 

• St ability of stream bottom 

• Enem y action 

• Weather 

Wh en th ese factors were analyzed, ba sed on 

ex per ience with swimming and fording ve hicles 

an d discounting enemy action, it wa s found that 

the dete rming factors aff ecting stream-crossing 

capabilit ies for both swimming and fording vehicles in most operations. ar e th e slope and trafficabilit y of th e banks and condi tion of soil adjacent th ereto. Additional determining factors 

Waterline 

22° (40% slope) to 27° 

are: tracked vehicles-depth of water; swimming ve hicles - st ream velocit y ... It may be 

ge ne rally stated, however, that few locations 

which have not been sp ecifically prepared will 

allow ar mor ve hicles to enter and exit from the 

water with th e desired ease and speed . . . Expedient means of getting the vehicles out of t he 

water must be accomplished with dispatch to 

reduce vulne r ability and exposure time to 

enemy fire. Eliminati on of underwater demolitions and obstacles will remain a task of Engine er troops. 

Th e ex iting problem was also outlined su ccintly 

in an article written by a British Officer in Military 

Review in 1963. 

Never t heless. t he fact that a vehicle can float 

does not mean that it can cross ri vers without 

assistance. Such vehicles will always encounter 

difficulti es in getting in and out unassisted. of 

any river but one with gently sloping banks. 

Su ch rivers are r ar e, particularly in highly 

developed countr ies where th ey ma y be canalized. In any eve nt the re are likel y to be only a 

very few places where unassisted cross ing is 

possible. Even wh en such cr ossing sites exist. 

2' 

60° to 80° ( Near ly Vertical)	 bank 

slope 

7' of 

approach 

slope 

(50% slope) 

So il Co nd i t ions: 

c = a to 0.5 psi 

o = 35° to 25° 

C. I . = 80 to 120 

BANK SLOPE PROFILE
 

FIGURE 1 

9 
the large volume of water brought out of the 

river by the amphibians as they emerge is likely 

to make them unusable in short order. 

The article presumes that the problem will be 

overcome through engineer support, stating, 

Considerable development effort is going into 

overcoming this inherent weakness of amphibians, but there is no doubt that earthbound 

vehicles will always require considerable engineer assistance in the assault crossing of normal 

European rivers. 

The problem definition and possible solution 

appeared in Armor in 1973, 

But the river crossing problem is more than 

sp eed. If a major factor in mobility is speed, 

then it must be overall speed in many enviroments. What good is a high speed amphibian if 

it cannot exit on the other side'? Perhaps the 

most significant increases in river crossing performance will come from improved exiting 

techniques. These exiting improvements may 

come from increased thrust in the propulsors 

(for we know already that good water thrust 

materially aids exiting). They may also come 

from improved vehicle traction components. 

Some feel we must develop improved winching 

techniques. But the greatest promise, at present, appears to be in a radical change in vehicle 

configuration. Perhaps we should develop a 

river crossing "pioneer" vehicle. This vehicle, 

with the most advanced river exiting aids, 

would proceed the main force , exit and provide 

assistance to following elements by towing them 

up the bank or by excavating the bank to create 

a formidable obstacle. 

As shown in Table 1, the M113 APC can climb a 

30% riverbank slop e. The M113 can therefore 

surmount approximately 15% of the riverbanks of 

Western Europe. If the far bank happens to be 

clay or loam, as are 50% of the riverbanks of 

Western Europe. the M113 has about a 10% 

chance of making it over the far bank. 

The required capability of an amphibian to 

surmount an exit slope is rarely specified. In the 

case of the MICV the required capability is defined 

as a 40% slope with 50% capability desired (figure 

1). If the 50% capability can be achieved the 

MICV will be able to surmount approximately 40% 

of the riverbanks in Western Europe. If the MICV 

attains the more likely 40% capability, the vehicle 

will be able to surmount, unaided, only 30% of the 

banks. The constraint is more severe in Western 

Europe than in most other ar eas of the world due 

to the extensive canal construction which has been 

accom plished. 

In any area of the world the exit is a very 

difficul t operation, as described in FM 17-1. 

When exiting from the water, the vehicle should 

start up the bank at a constant speed never 

allowing excessive track slippage. Once traction 

is lost the tracks will dig in and the vehicle will 

stall or the vehicle will slide in the water. 

FM 7-10 warns that we must, 

Approach the land squarely, Approach the land 

at reduced speed (approximately 3 kmph). 

The Armor Agency Study concluded that, 

Closely related to the problem of negotiating a 

river bank at a given height, is the actual degree 

of slope in contact with the track of the vehicle 

and the nature of the soil. An unassisted exit 

by a swimming vehicle from a stream with a 

wet, muddy bank, with any appreciable slope is 

not probable, without prior bank preparation. 

The studies have found that, within reason, the 

height of the bank step (Fig 1) is not the governing 

constraint. Once the vehicle gains traction on the 

bank slope. it should be successful in surmounting 

the bank step. It should be recognized, however, 

that 60% of the bank steps in Western Europe are 

greater than the 2 foot step shown in Figure 1. 

The British Army conducted trails in 1962 and 

1963 to determine specific aids to amphibians. 

Th e tests used Class 30 trackway, rocket propelled 

grapnels, hand placed anchors and JATO type 

rockets for thrust. 

Further trials were conducted by the British 

Army of the Rhine in 1971-72. The trials resulted 

in the adoption of the following aids to amphibians: 

• Applique Propellor 

• Hub Winches and Hand-Emplaced Anchors 

• Rocket Propelled Anchor 

• Trackway 

• Fixed Line Equipment 

The applique propellor is a waterwheel-type 

devi ce attached to the drive sprockets of the 

vehi cle . The limited thrust provided by applique 

propellers is insufficient to propel the MICV over 

most banks. 

To date, hand-emplaced anchors have not been 

able to develop sufficient holding power to permit 

a MICV winchout. The MICV is heavier than the 

British FV 432 and the M113 (Table I). The rocket 

propelled anchor system or any "hold fast" installed on the bank would require the use of a 

winch on th e MICV. 

The current US Army engineer capabilities are 

unimpressive. The following methods are currently available to aid the existing of amphibians: 

10 
FIG U RE 2
 

FI GUR E J 

11 
• Tra nsport engi nee rs to the far bank on an 

APe/MICV/ assault boat. Th ere, usin g pione er 

tools, reduce t he exit bank slope . This method is 

inordina tely time consuming. 

• Tran sport engineer s and log deadman to the 

far bank. Usin g pioneer tools, ex cavate for and 

install the "log deadman" anchorage . This method 

is enormo usly time cons uming and ass umes a 

winching capability on th e ex iti ng veh icle. 

• Transport engineers and chain -picket holdfas ts to th e far bank. Install the chain-picket holdfasts. This method is tim e consuming, but not 

nearly as mu ch as th e above meth ods . The 

me th od assumes a winch ing capabil ity on th e 

exiting vehicle. An alternative would be to install 

a gro und-mounted powered capstan winch on th e 

far bank but none ex ist with mor e tha n a two ton 

pull. 

• Helilift an airmobile tractor to the far bank. 

The tractor would eithe r: 

- Reduce the exit bank slope . 

- Excavate for a "log deadman" . 

- Act as a "light" deadman. 

Red ucing the exit bank slope or installing a log 

deadman using the tractor is less time cons uming 

t han usin g pioneer tools. If in the unlikely case 

that test ing det ermines that the tractor has 

sufficient "deadman" capacity to hold an exiting 

MICV , a winch could be moun t ed on the tr actor. 

This method pr esupposes that: 

- The airmobile tr acto r , or ganic only to 

airmobile units, will be ava ilable for the mission. 

- Cargo helicopter s will be deplo yed in th e 

vicinity of the line of contact. 

- Th e weather will permit t he flying mission. 

En gin eers could pr ovide ade quate assistan ce to 

amphibians if pr ovided with the following equipment: 

• A modified Universal Engin eer Tractor 

(UET). Th e VET could be outfitte d wit h th e 

r ocket pr opelled anchor. Once on t he far bank, th e 

VET would be abl e to t ak e on soil balla st in order 

to be able to act as a deadman or to winch out 

am phibians (12.5 ton winch). The VE T would have 

to be mod ified, perhaps unrealistically, in order to 

be ab le to negot iate high ri ver cur rents and exit 

steep ba nks . 

• The Combat Engineer Tractor (CET) (Fig. 2). 

The CET, being developed by the Bri tish Army , 

has t he following cha racteristics: 

- As an amphibious vehicle, propelled by two 

powerful r ear moun ted water jet units, it can 

maneuver with accuracy in high cur rents. 

- Excep tional cross-count ry mobility and is 

abl e to exit unaided on all but the most difficul t 

sites. The rocket pro pelled anchor, a standard 

part of the vehicles' eq uipment, adds to th e 

vehi cles own considerable exit potent ial. 

- An 8 to n winch can be used to help othe r 

vehicles t o exit. 

- Good ea rthmoving performance which can 

be used to improve the ex it banks. 

- Th e ability to carry and lay Class 60 Trackway. 

• The Engin D'Aid e Au Enfranchissment 

(ENFRAC) (Fig. 3). The ENFRAC, bein g developed by th e French Army, is an enginee r 

amphibious tracked vehicle and has been designed 

solely to solve the far bank problem. The vehicle 

..... -=====-- .~~-. ------_._--_... 

The ENFRAC 

Exiting A Vertical Bank 

FI GUR E 4 

12 
THE PIONEER VEHICLE 

----­,.-- ._-­

FIGURE 5 

has th e followin g capabilit ies : 

Earthmovin g (t o r educe t he exi t bank 

slope) . 

Win ching. 

Road obstacle clearing. 

Transp ort for enginee r t eam s. 

Th e ve hicle se lf-exits th e far bank (Fig. 4) usin g its 

"a nchor izing foldable arm." Th e ENFRAC mounts 

a "4 in 1" scoop loader. 

• Th e P ioneer Vehicle - an M723 with prop ulsio n kit and rocket-propelled an chor (F ig. 5). 

- Provide divisional engineer squads th e 

MICV (M723) chassis (minus th e weapons turret) 

with propulsion kit permanently install ed. 

- Each Pioneer veh icle would mount a 

r ocket-propelled anchor. Additio na lly th e ve hicle 

wo uld mount a winch und er th e splas hboard. 

- In or de r to ens ure th at th e Pi oneer ve hicle 

ca n hold fast whil e win chin g out MICVs, it ma y be 

necessary to mount a dozer blade on th e fr ont. 

In summat ion, th e exit conditions at streamban ks (i.e ., slope, bank step height, soil condit ions , 

et c.) of streams in Western Europe are docu­

\'• • im ente> d. Th e r equired exiting capa bility of th e 

MIC\' will ena ble the vehicle to exit, unaided, only 

30% of the streambanks of Western Europe . The 

exiting constraint to amphibians can be overcome 

by the use of external aids and those aid s curr ently avail able in t he US Army do not adequately 

mee t the r equired ope rationa l capability. 

Items of equipme nt are under development 

which meet th e r equir ed ope r ational capability. 

Thus if the 'lJS Army is se r ious about conducting 

the assault river cro ssin g with APCs/MICVs, we 

have a serious capability gap. Will th e US Army 

Engineers take t he initiativ e to fill this ga p? LET 

US TRY. 

LTC R ichard L. Copeland is assigned to the 

Office of th e Deput y Chief of Staff fo r Research, 

Development and A cquisition, HQDA. He comman ded Co A , 10th Engineer Battalion, 3d Infantry 

Division (Mech ) and the 553d Engineer Compan y 

(Float Bridge), and served as S-3 and XO, 577th 

Engineer Battalion (Construction). A mechanical 

enq ineerinq graduat e of Northeas tern Unive rsity, 

he holds the master of ar ts from East ern Michigan 

Univer sity and the mast er of science in administration from George Washington University. LTC 

Copeland is a graduate of the Engineer Off icer 

Adoonced Course and the Command and General 

Staff College . 

13 
That
 

Extra 

Effort 

Th e old Cavalry spir it rides high in th e 1st 

Cavalry Division (FIRST TEAM)! As the Division 

Engineers for th e FIRST TEAM, some of that 

extra effort required by the Cavalr y spiri t rubbed 

off on the 8t h Engineer Battalion (Skybeav ers). 

The primary mission of the FIRST TEAM is to be 

able to go any where, anytime and win the first 

battle. To achieve this goal, consid erable trainin g 

is r equir ed. This training can be ordinary or it can 

he spiced with man y activit ies that not only 

r esults in a combat ready unit ... but is fun also! 

Over the past few ye ar s, th e FIRST TEAM 

ENGINEERS have develop ed a training pr ogram 

t hat has three comp onent parts. Technical En gineer training fr om ARTEP's is comb ined with 

support to maneuv er units in ARTEP training, 

and a heavy construction program. Th ese three 

types of trai ning consume about 60% of the available effort with the r emainin g 40% split between 

maint en anc e, housek eeping details and support to 

ot her non-divisional units and schools. 

The most important item in training management is th e t hre ad th at ties it all together. The 

FIRST TEAM ENGINEERS weav e a pr ogram 

that challenges both the tr ainers and th e trainees 

to perform at high stand ards. The annual pr ogram 

includ es all unit levels of ARTEP tasks . The SQT 

is not yet ava ila ble for the 12B seri es. but th e HE 

and 118 and 12B dr aft SQT's are used in indi vidual 

training conducted by the NCO's of th e battalion. 

The thre ad th at ti es th e ARTEP training t ogether 

is t he number of projects that can be fund ed . The 

number of timber trestle bridges , bunkers. culverts. r evetmen ts and other it ems ar e man aged to 

insure that each unit gets equal challenges in 

compl eting them. Oth er items includ ed in th e 

trainin g pr ogram ar e Spouse Day , NCO Responsibility Da y, Officer Training Day, New-Comers 

Day, Dining-Ins , Monthly Battalion Award 

Parades. Professi onalism Seminars for NCO·s. 

P er sonal Effecti veness Trainin g for Leaders, Hot 

Shot Squad competit ions, SERE Training, and 

dynamic movemen t training t hat includes act ual 

air movem ent. 

Programmed throughout th e cycle are all th e 

weapons and demolition ranges. Pride is taken in 

the volume and frequ en cy of our support of t he 

maneu ver battalion ARTE P's. Operator training 

on the full spectr um of our equipme nt pr ovides 

operators wit h both main ten an ce and dri vin g 

trai ning. Civic action includes support to Boy 

Scouts, Girl Scouts and local age ncies. Mes hed 

with the for egoing tactical tra ining are man y 

constr uct ion proj ects. Last year $390.000 of 

construct ion ben efitted both t he FIRST TE AM 

14 
and Fort Hood. 

All of thes e events will be more fully described 

in the r emainder of the article. This full training 

pro gram did just not happen ... it was the result 

of consid erabl e planning and coordination. Any 

unit can conduct a similar program if they sit down 

NOW and block out the events to happen over the 

next six months. The planning within the battalion is reasonably firm six months hence. Thus 

the events described in this article are planned 

and r epeated , with new touches added , on a six 

month cycle. 

Hopefully. these examples will provides some 

ideas for commanders to use when providing 

guidance to the ir staffs on training programs. 

ARTEP TRAINING 

The climax of the trairung cycle is the annual 

battalion level ARTEP. Two different methods of 

achie ving this goal have heen tried. A multi-level 

sys tem of doing squad, platoon and company level 

ARTEP tas ks combine d with SQT tasks has been 

tried, with all conducte d concurrently throughout 

th e year. The other method (cyclic training) uses 

a progr es sion of squad to platoon to company to 

" 

battalion level ARTEP tasks. Ideally the multilevel method should work best. However, the best 

method for our unit turned out to be the cyclic 

meth od because of the personnel turbulence and 

junior leader shortage problems. In th e cyclic 

train ing cycle, the year is divided roughly into 

quarter s. During the first quarter. the training 

focuses on squa d level ARTEP tasks, th e sec ond 

quarter on platoon level tasks, the third quarter 

on compa ny level ta sks. and the final quarter is on 

battalion level tas ks. Each quarter builds on the 

previous quarter so that, for instance, platoon and 

sq uad tasks are included with the company tasks 

during the third quarter. The thread tying th e 

training t ogether is construction projects which 

pr ovide visible ev ide nce of having achi eved unit 

and individua l proficiency. During th e annual 

cycle, each pla toon gets th e opportunity to build a 

tim ber trestle bridge, hunker, timber loading 

platform, several culverts, helicopter revetment or 

oth er lar ge constr ucti on training projects. All of 

th es e constr uction items are financed thru th e 

trainin g budget and not by the Director of 

Faciliti es Engineering at, Fort Hood. Because they 

ar e training facilities. they can be destroyed by 

demolition or othe r expedient methods in training. 

For instance. of the seven multi-span timber 
trestle bridges built in past year and a half, five 

hav e been blown by demolition . Th e others are 

sche duled for demolition on th e coming ARTEP 

cyc le. 

Each level of ARTEP train ing is concluded with 

a test using ARTEP guid elines to insure the 

battalion commander that the companies have 

ind eed met their standards. Th e En gineer Milita ry Stakes are conducted at th e conclusion of the 

squa d training quarter. Th is is a round robin 

ev en t with fourteen stations that test th e proficiency of all squads in th e battalion. The test 

ta kes three days and the squad bivouacs at the 

event locations while-being t ested . All squads are 

evalua t ed concurrently so there is no opportunity 

to compare notes between squad lead ers. The 

compe tit ive spirit is enhanced by making intermedi ate r esults available so th e squads can 

compare t he ir ove rall sta ndings . Th e best squ ad 

in eac h event is r ecognized as well as th e best 

ove rall squad. 

Platoon t ests signal th e conclusion of th e platoon 

training cycle. This event is conducted in a three 

day period during which each platoon goes thru 

nine ARTE P events. The last test includes a 

hasty protective minefield, a light tacti cal raft 

(L1'R) construction, a bridge demolition, ginpole 

and boom derrick construction , an infantry platoon 

assault , a field fortification exercise , a maintenance 

eve nt and a communication eve nt . The competition challenges the participants to excel]. The best 

platoon for .ach ev ent, and for all was se lect ed and 

recogni zed. 

Th e Skybeavers support all th e ot her ARTEP's 

in th e Division. Man euver units have one or two 

engineer platoons supporting their ARTEP. Often 

enginee rs are used with th e opposing for ces 

(OP F OR) to provide a better challenge for the 

"fr ien dly" engineers. Artillery units include a 

river crossing operation usin g mobile assault 

bridges (MAB's) during their ARTEP's. 

ROLL OUT EXERCISES 

To r etain the keen r eadiness edge required for 

combat employment , frequent Em er genc y Deploymen t Readiness Exercises (E DRE) are conduct ed. 

Th ese have ranged from simple aler ts to full scale 

aerial movements. 

One roll-out began at 0200 hours with the alert 

notifi cation. At 0430 hours the Battalion assembled and mov ed out with th eir vehicles from the 

motor pool. After a trip ar ound a pr edetermined 

route, all platoons received mission s. Two platoons r elocated to a C5A and actually combat 

loaded their equipment includ ing a CEV. Eight 

other pla toons were heli-Iift.ed to a field location 

and required to hike back to the cantonment area . 

Anoth er pla toon r eceived a mission to tear down 

an old building whil e two other platoons went thru 

th e POR processin g set up by the -Battalion PAC 

section. 

Another EDRE required all companies to static 

load a C5A and C141 per their loading plans, and 

to load C-130's and mak e a combat landing on a 

nearby ass ault st rip. Th e troopers really enjoye d 

the opportunity to fly with their equipment. 

Need less to say, for a battalion to undertak e 

such compl ex coordination to make these exer cise s 

a suc cess requires cons ider able lead time and 

fairly st able training plans. 

HOT SHOT SQUAD 

One training eve nt th at combines both ARTE P 

tas ks and physical training is th e HOT SHOT 

SQUA D competition. It is conducted during the 

squad and platoon por tion of the cycle , about once 

a qu arter. This comp etition consists of havin g all 

thirty-six squads compete simultaneously doing 

the same identical engineer tasks whil e racing 

against eac h ot he r for both time and quality of 

constructi on. Th ere are usually five events in th e 

two hour compe tition. Some of the events have 

includ ed assembly of CMP culvert, constructi ng 

hatten board s, building a machine gun emplace ­

ment , building a knif e r est gate, building a ginpole, 

filling sandbags and running with th em, building 

an expedient an t enn a and ent er ing a comrnunica ­

Lion s net , sa wing railroad ties into several sections 

and similar ty pe ev ents that require a minimum of 

quali ty control ye t can be done in a competitiv e 

spirit. At th e end of th e afternoon, t he squads 

know pretty well of t heir we ak ar eas in or ganization and plannin g. Th ey have really tried hard to 

win th e event . . . and had fun doin g it . 

SPOUSE DAY 

Each six months, the FIRST TEAM ENGINEERS ha ve a spouse day. The wiv es an d 

children ar e invited to share a da y with th eir 

husb and . One Spouse Day was sp ent in a tour of 

th e battalion faciliti es, motor pool, billets and a 

welcome by the Batta lion Commande r. 

Anothe r Spouse Da y included a demonstration 

of an En gin eer Company at work supported by th e 

Hea vy Equipmen t Platoon, a rappeling demonstration and a fire power demonstration of all wea pons 

or ganic to th e battalion. The third Spouse Day 

was a deliberate river cro ssing of a company using 

MAB's, swimming th eir APC's and supported by 

16 
17
 
the demoliti on of obstacles on th e far shore. All of 

th ese events we re more th an s Spouse Day 

they wer e good training t hat wa s real and 

different for all th ose involv ed. All were condu ct ed in a thr ee to four hour time span so 

moth ers could be home whe n thei r school ag e 

children r eturned from school. All of th ese events 

had attendance of over 60% of the battalion wives 

. .. a good attenda nce . 

SERE TRAINING 

Survival, evasion, resistance and escape tra ining 

is an excellent opportunity to test the individu al 

trai ning of the trooper . In t his two day train ing 

event, th e soldie r was give n inten sified surv ival, 

escape and evas ion classes. For the eve ning meal, 

a Ji ve ra bb it and some vegetables were t urned into 

engi neer stew for each five man tea m. After the 

evening meal , th e company was-air assaulte d to an 

obj ective, were sur r ounded and had to evade for a 

distan ce of twelve kilomet ers to t heir r ally point. 

The area was infested with th e scout platoons 

from the maneuver battalions. Whe n an engineer 

was caught, he wa s ta ken to a POW compo und 

ma nne d by the Military Police and inte rrogators 

fro m the Military In telligence Compa ny . After 

sufficient interrogation , the engineers were give n 

t he oppo rtunity to escape and cont inue th eir 

evasion to th e rally point. Th is was well received 

by all even t hos e picked up lost going in the wrong 

dir ect ion. 

NCO RESPONSIBILITY DAY/OFFICERS 

TRAINING DAY 

One day, t he office rs did not come to wor k. 

Rather , the NCO's took over and r an the ba ttalion. 

Th e officers began t he day wit h an early breakfast , 

t hen had th e opportunit y to attend a class on 

ope rati ng enginee r equip me nt such as t he CEV's, 

AP e's, graders. cr anes, and bulldozers. After a 

CRation lun ch , t he officers the n r appe led, shot 

pistols and were airlifted to a lak e where they had 

the opportunity t o actually operate t he Mobile 

As sa ult Br idges . 

An oth er such day saw the Officers conducting a 

ri ver crossing operation in t he Fort Hood Battl e 

Simulation Center usin g te rr ain boar ds, and 

several of th e same wargames used by t he 

man eu ver uni t s in their training. 

ADVENTURE TRAINING 

Th e day t o day humd rum of activities can get 

eve n t hos e involved in a high pitched training 

program down . To pro vide the cha nge of pace, 

severa l activities have been tested. The AVLB 

pla toon too k a week tr ip down the Colora do River 

in rubber assault boats. Anoth er comp any took a 

week hiking/rafti ng trip thru a Natio nal Par k. 

They also re t urned four months later to build 

rustic bridges using native timbe r. Anot her unit 

boate d on a large near by lake. All adve nt ure 

training provides a challenge for the staff to get it 

all coord inated; however , t he be nefits rece ived , 

ma ke ad ve nture tr aining a wor thwhile change of 

pa ce. 

CONSTRUCTION 

Another unpor ta nt facet of training is constr uction. In FY 76, over $390,000 of constr uction pr ojects wer e fina nced by t he Dir ector of Facilities 

Engineering for t he physical enr ichment of the 

FIRST TEAM and Fo rt Hood. The battalion's goa l 

is to have one major construction proj ect per 

platoon under way at all times. Th is provides t he 

platoon leader wit h an alte rnative to field training . 

By accepting post level projects wh ich have no 

comp letion da te specified, t he platoon leader can 

grapple with th e conflicting priorities and determine what his platoon will do, training or a construction project. 

Constr uct ion pr ojects ar e not all work either. 

One proj ect r equired six woode n te nt floors and 

fra mes to be buil t. Rath er tha n doi ng them 

succ essively , a contest was organized. One day, 

six plat oons assemb led around a pile of lum ber and 

whe n given the signal, began construction. Ten 

hours later, the first of t hes e te nt floors and 

fra me s were . completed . Th e str uct ures we re 

scored for both qualit y as well as spe ed, Similar 

ideas hav e bee n used on other projects. So . . . 

construction can also be t raining .. . and fun to do. 

INDIVIDUAL TRAINING 

Not all of t he individu al t raining conducted can 

be discuss ed in this limited ar ticle. Several key 

individ ual tr aining programs sho uld, however, be 

discussed. 

To insure the maint en ance is kept at a high 

level, a semi-annual cycle of operator training is 

conducted. Th is trai ning last two to thr ee days 

and is conducte d for eac h of th e fifte en t ypes of 

vehicles and equipment in th e battalion . 

Officers atten d a 45 min ute class eac h week to 

hone their skills in various subje cts as well as to 

practice giving classes and learning prop er 

meth ods of instruction. The Chaplain cond ucts 

eight three-day sessions of Personnel Effect iveness Train ing (PET) for NCO's eac h year . Twi ce a 

year, the Battalion Commander cond ucts a day long 

18 
Professionalism Seminar for all NCO's to r efresh 

their leader sh ip skills. Wh en the new FM 5-34 

was iss ue d, sever al hundred copies were obtained 

and a tw o hundred question ope n book test was 

given to all NCO's and officers. Ph ysical training 

is not neglect ed eit her. A pr ogram of dail y PT 

coupled with a two hour A & R program, once a 

week, insures physical r eadiness. 

The range program includes both familiarization 

and qualification on all weapons not only duri ng 

the day but at nig ht and in protective masks . Fo rt 

Hood has a Musketr y Program for infantry units 

tha t begins at the squad level and pr ogresses th r u 

a company team of a mechani zed infantry compan y, a ta nk platoon and COBRA-TOW support. 

To insure the Sk yb eaver 's can perform the seconda ry mission of fighting as infantry, the batta lion has completed t he sq uad portions of the 

Musketry program. Over the coming year. t he 

battalion will progress thru the program to hopefully achieve t he ability to serve as a mec hanized 

infantry company . 

AWARDS CEREMONY 

Th e start of each month is gr eeted with a Battalion parade called the Awards Ceremony . A 

scor ing system is used to evaluate t he compan ies 

in the area of communication, safety, ma intenance . 

sup ply, best areas, most Esp irit-de-Corps, sec ur ity, adm inistra tion and the best ove ra ll company 

for the month . The scoring criteria is arra nged so 

that all subjects in an area of in terest receive 

emphas is during the year. Thus wh en AGIJORI 

time comes, eac h area has been thoroughly inspecte d and corrected. Plaques are award ed to 

the unit commande r. Also. individu als are 

recognized wit h letters of appreciation , certificates 

of achieveme nt. Army Medals. ce rtificates for 

maximum score on t he PCPT test and the best 

driver and mechanic for the month. The formation 

also prov ided th e Battalion Commande r with the 

opport unity to recognize the outstanding and not 

so outstanding events of the previous month and 

set the to ne for th e coming key eve nts. 

CONCLUSION 

Hopefully, some of the ideas and concepts in this 

article th at have be en helpful to t he FIR ST TEAM 

ENG INEERS could also be help ful to other units 

t hat are looking Ior activities t hat will provide a 

real se nse of accomplishment, achieveme nt and 

pa rtici pation on the part of all unit mem bers. 

Other ideas and comments from ot her units t hat 

have been successful could be beneficially share d 

in such a form at as th e ENGINE ER pro vides. 

Us ually, ideas such as these have to be "r einvented" with eac h succeeding command group 

beca use no consolidated source of these dynamic 

training ideas is collected and mad e avail abl e to 

other units. 

A1AJ James L. Ca.mpbe ll is curren tl y assigned 

as xa of the 8t h Engineer Bat talion , 1st Cava lry 

Division. In th e tw o years he sp ent as S 3 of the 

8th Engin eer Battalion, MA J Campbell organ ized 

se veral of th e training cy cle s describ ed in this 

article. 

Pre vi ous assignments ha ve included tours ici th. 

the Engin eer Studies Group. aCE and the Engineer Command-Vietnam. He has als o served as 

platoon leader and com pa.ny com m ande r in both 

Construction and Combat Eng-ineer Battalions. 

MAJ Campbell received a B.S. degree from 

So uth Dakota S ch ool of Mines and a Mast ers 

degree from Tex as A & M University. He is also a 

graduate of th e Engine er Offic er Advanced 

Course , Command and General Staff College and is 

a R egistered Prof essional Engineer. S evera l of his 

other articles ha ve been publis hed in In fantry, 

Military Engineering and Th e Engineer. 

19 
Two weeks after last summer's flood waters had 

subsided to within th e banks of the Big Thompson 

River, members of th e U.S. Army Corps of 

Engineers Emergency Disaster Team discovered 

an unsuspected tragedy. 

Abou t 20 feet from wher e th e Big Thompson 

was now gentl y flowin g, stood an isolated pool - a 

r emnan t of heady flood 

water s. This shallow pool, 

about three picnic tables in 

size, boiled with t he 

activity of soon to die fish. 

It seemed 

t hat as th e rampagin g waters crashed 

down and eas twa rd from Estes to Lo

veland, native 

fish soug ht r efug e from wh erev er offered. This 

pool, gouged from beneath 

whe re U.S. 34 had been, 

must hav e offered some 

r espite -at leas t 30 fish 

remained th er e still. 

A provider of sa fet y durin g the flood, t his deep 

20 
shelter wa s now a sh r ink ing pud dle of suffocation. 

As dange ro us waters r ece ded. th e pool became 

isolated. Ther e "vas no infl ow of fresh, life sustainin g water a nd there was no avenue of es cape. 

\ Thr ee members of t he Cor ps' Om aha District 

ha pn .-ned up on th e small ba sin as th ey inspe cted 

t ho area we st of Ce dar Cove in north-central 

Color a do . 

Out of the ve hicles, wh ere t he highwa y had be en 

eroded to less than a footpath, th e trio trekked 

upstream alo ng th e roadbed . Drinking in t he 

flood's d e vastation, they hardly noticed t h e brief 

drizzle. 

From th eir vantage (where the road had b een), 

th e hi gh wat er mark co uld be easily s e en, 300 yar ds 

ac ross th e ca ny on . Bark w as stripped fr om trees , 

r oot s bared a nd the can yon wall eroded - all to 

th e same lev el - making a distinct lin e t o foll ow. 

On t he ir side of t he river the de vasta tion was 

more dramatic. 

Th e road was shor n away . The two-la ne bl ackt op was over-swept, undermined and car r ie d off. 

Wh er e there had be en road was now a 25-foot 

dr op . 

All had be en co ns um ed: r oadway, base and 

mor e. 

It wa s a t th e bottom of this de structi on , below 

l hl'I11, l hat t he a Horney a nd t w o e ngineers spied 

the isolat ed poo!. 

Aft l' a fe w minutes of sc a nning the wat er (each 

co un ti ng and searching for surfa cing fish ), t he 

thre e sta rt e d do w n to th e pool. 

Tlw rece nt s p r ink ling proved a lmost t oo helpful 

in ha st.enin g th eir desce nt . A twisted culver t pipe 

helped break th eir slid e . 

Qui l'kl y s urv eying th e sit ua t ion. Bob a nd P ete 

q~ :tn rlig-gin g a small channel from t he downstream side of the pool to th e river. It would 

provide the fish with a n escape route from the 

pool . 

Alth ough th e plan was simple enough , the men 

found t hemselv es ill-eq uipped for th e excava tion 

work . A small crow ba r a nd a staff from a road 

sign served as their only tools. Mo st of the work 

had to he don e wi th bar e hands. 

They du g, pried a nd sc ra pe d to make t he escape 

ro ut e de ep and dire ct e no u gh for the fish (non e 

les s th an 10 in ch es had been s e en). It was slow 

wor k since t he s ho rt pa th was not all sa nd as it 

appeared to be ; th e cour s e was laden wi th 

four-inch stones . 

This exit channel was soon compl eted, hut it 

proved a ntir-lirnactic since not a single fish made 

his esc ape through their e ffor t. 

Thinking that the fish needed e ncoura gem en t 

t hey started disturbing th e opposite end of the 

po ol, They tossed pebbles and stomped while 

prodding the distan t end wi th the staff - hoping 

t o force them ou t. 

Terrified by t h is clamor, the fish huddled ­

petrified , 

For th eir effor t t he water b ecame more muddied 

a nd th e ch annel r emained untravelled. 

Disappointed, but not discouraged, th e trio 

beg-a n to di g' again . 

Th is time a s mal l div ersi on of th e Big Thompson 

int o th e upstream side of th e po ol would provid e 

fr esh wate r for t he fis h. 

A lt ho ugh part of t he 20-foot rou te was d ownhill, 

t h is cha nnel would he far mor e di fficul t t o 

excavat e since t he re wer e seve r a l barriers . 

Inst e ad of work in g- in a predom inantl y sa ndy 

zo ne . l his was a n a rea of sto ne. And of this, t here 

was a seve ral-foot section com pr ised of rocks up to 

20 in ch e s in diame ter. 

Tho wor k was hard and the r ocks heavy . E a ch 

lo ok his turn with the cr owbar a nd staff. wrestlin g 

th e small bould ers fr om t he trenc h's co urse . 

As a t e am, t he work went quickly. ea ch co nt.ribu ting so that they worked a s one, 

Soon th e las t stone was r emo ved and t he water 

be to trickl e - run - ru sh t hrough th e tren ch . 

As th e fre sh water str ea med into th e pool, the 

th n 'e loo ked up a t each other and he a ved a br ea th 

of sile nt sa tis fact ion. T he wa ter le vel began t o 

ri s e . 

They had d one t heir best. Two channels had 

be en ven ted into th e eva poratin g pool and the fish 

g ive n a ch ance to sur vive. 

As th ey clambered back up to th e r oad. sever a l 

tr ou t scurried throu gh the firs t ch ann el. 

Broad gr-i ns s pread over th e fac es of Ron a nd 

Bob a nd P e t e. 

i\. sile nt applause ec hoe d through t he ca nyon. 

- Omaha Dis trict ­

2\ 
"" 

"" 

THE ENGINEER PRA YER

Our Father, who has designed and bui

universe in which we dwell, we realize tha

call us to build a house where you can dw

in our midst. We are grateful for the task

Lord, and yet we must confess that we ha

mislaid your plans. 

We thank you, LorOthat you continue 

"--­ 
""-

	 and that your work serRs to remind us of 

greatness. 

We thank you for the food we are to re

we thank you for this occasion that honors 

engineers and that brings us all together. 

Help us, 0 Father, to build homes tha

love, to construct industrial plants that se

needs of mankind, and erect courthouses t

to your justice. 

w	 '" 

AMEN 
ANSWER -, TO 0 6 

SOLUTION: The syner gistic effect is 2 tanks 

or 25%. t he combat multiplier is 2. The total of 

the two separate syst ems is 8 ta nks destroyed. 

Th e tanks destroyed when the two systems ar e 

combined is 10 tank losses. The ext ra 2 losses is 

th e synergistic effect t he minefield provides th e 

an ti-tank weapons in the defendin g platoon. The 2 

compared to the 8 expected is th e 25% synertistic 

effect. It makes no difference if the 2 extra kills 

are a r esult of mines, AT weapons, or both as in 

this example. 

The addit ion of mines doubled loss es from 5 to 

10 of the anti-tank weapons. So the combat 

multiplier is 2, it is also 100% but a multiplier is 

not given in a percentage. The multiplier includes 

th e syne rgist ic effect and the pure minefield kills. 

24 

Oth er observations are only academic. The 

ant i-tank weapons do not multiply the effect iveness of th e minefield . (If it did . it would be 3113 ). 

The 3 tanks. 20% loss factor of mines is a test or 

control figure only. Th e tankers for ced the 

minefield and only ran over min es they did not see 

or could not st op or ste er away fr om in time. In a 

r eal situat ion. once t he minefield was detected. 

engineer s would be called to breach a lane. Total 

losses would be r educed to 1 or O. So if you 

ex tr apolate that min efields alone, without cover 

and observation, are effec tive to stop 20% of a 

tank force. for get it . Cover and observation are 

vital today. as 30 years ago. to mak e any minefield. .. including scatte r able minefields, effective. 
Tankers and engineers at Ft. Bragg merged 

/	 talents on range 79 recently to test the firepower 

l	 of an M551 Sheridan Airborne Assault Armored 

Reconnaissance Vehicle against an ti-tank obstacles 

in a live fire training exercise - the first of its 

king here . 

Company C, 27th Engineer Battalion (Combat) 

(Airborne), worked through the night building 

barricad es specifically de signed to halt the advanceme nt of a large armor ed vehi cle. 

Reconnaissance vehicles from Company A, 4th 

Battalion, 68th Armor, 82d Airborne Division, 

moved onto the range the next afternoon to link 

up with the engineers. 

"WI! went down and took a look at the obstacles 

pri or to firing;' said Sergeant Terry L. Garner, a 

Compa ny A tank commander. "We saw how they 

wer e constr uct ed and how we could do the most 

dama ge:' 

Firing from 600 meters with 152mm, High 

Explosive Anti-Tank (HE AT) rounds, the tankers 

destroyed a triple concertina fence and a double 

apron fen ce with the first three rounds. 

They also succeeded in blasting a path through 

log obstacles. However, they could not successfully cross a 10-foot trench. (

, 

"We just couldn't get across that trench - even 

the manuals say you can only cross a 7-foot trench 

successfully," said Sgt. Garner. He admitted that 

being able to see the obstacles prior to firing was 

an advantage they normally wouldn't have. They 

also used more ammunition than would normally 

be used. 

"But the first three to four rounds demolished 

the obstacles enough to cross them, so the training 

exercise proved we can do it;' he said. 

The training exercise also proved the engine ers' 

effectiveness, said Company C First Sergeant 

Elias Rosas. 

"Our goal was to detain their aggression as long 

as possibl e, forcing them to use as much ammunition as possible. From our standpoint, it worked. 

although th e engineers build obstacles all the time 

during field exercises. they've never had the 

opportunity be fore to see the tankers in action . It 

helped us quite a bit:' 

The tankers echoed this feeling. according to 

Sgt. Garner. "This exercise was a little more 

realistic because it was out in the woods, with real 

ammunition and real obstacles. We weren't firing 

at artificial targets and it made a difference ." 

Troops interviewed agreed that it was a worthwhile experience - unique in every way. Both 

companies felt the exercise was an outstanding 

training opportunity. 

25 
26 
EDITORS NOTE: 

After taking seven years to progress from 

the initial concept on a drawing board, through 

prototype fabrication and testing, through 

initial production and initial production testing, 

the Ribbon Bridge made its first appearance in 

the hands of the user in August of 1976. The 

first unit to be issued the bridge was the 814th 

Engineer Company, 559th Engineer Battalion in 

Hanau, Germany . 

The Ribbon Bridge was developed in response to 

the realization that, with the introduction of the 

PMP bridge, the Soviet Union and other Soviet 

Bloc countries had tactical bridging capabilities 

which far exceeded those of the United States in 

terms of deployment time. The M4T6, mainstay of 

US bridging equipment, was slow and cumbersome to erect. Since it took over six hours to erect 

a 120 meter bridge, the element of surprise was 

virtually eliminated and the bridge was vulnerable 

to enemy fire. The PMP, on the other hand, could 

be erected at rates of up to 6 meters per minute, 

allowing a bridge to be built before opposition 

could be mounted. This capability was subsequently demonstrated by the Egyptians in the 

Yom Kippur War of 1973. 

The American Mobile Assault Bridge could 

compete with the PMP in terms of erection speed 

but, due to its high cost, it could only be used in 

limited quantities to provide assault capabilities. 

The Ribbon Bridge was developed by the US 

Army Mobility Equipment Research and Development Command (MERADCOM); Ft. Belvoir, Virginia and, not surprisingly, it looks and works 

almost exactly like the PMP. The principle difference is that, while the PMP is a steel bridge, the 

Ribbon Bridge is made of aluminum to save weight 

and permit a 5 ton truck to transport it. The main 

advantage of the "ribbon" type bridge is that it is 

27 
essent ially pre-assembled and ea ch 6.7 me ter long 

module or "bay" is tran spor t ed on a modified M812 

5 ton truck chassis which can aut omatically launch 

a bay in less t han one minut e in most conditions . A 

minimum of man powe r is r equired and the latch ­

ing and pinning operations r e quired to connect one 

bay to anot her ca n be accomplishe d in about one 

minute. 

Aft er the bay , which is transported in the folded 

condit ion, is launched. a bridge erection boat ti es 

up to the bay and moves it to t he bridge center 

line whe re it is connected to ot her bays to form a 

bridge. Othe r means of erection include const r uct ing a series of r aft s and then connecting the 

raft s togeth er t o form a bridge, and constr ucti ng 

the bridge along one shore and swinging t he wh ole 

bridge into positi on. Er ection rates of fro m 3 to 6 

meters per minute are possible depending on 

conditio ns and the meth od of assembly. The end 

or "ramp" bays are eq uipped with hyd raul ic 

cylinde rs which allow t he tip of the ramp to be 

raise d ab out 1.3 met ers above t he water Line to 

adjust to various hank conditi ons. Th e bridge 

bays can also be connected int o rafts for ferrying 

material across t he wat er. A bridge or raft can be 

disassem bled almo st as qu ickly as it is assembled 

since t he transpo rter virtually se lf-loads a bridge 

bay in two or three minut es . A complete bridge 

can car ry a class 60 load in cur rents up to 2.5 

I • 

meters per second and a five bay r aft can carry up 

to 75 tons in similar cur re nts. Du e to its streamlined sh ape, ver y littl e anchor age is r equired and 

normally en d anchorage or bridge er ect ion boats 

are su fficien t t o maintain bridge alignmen t. 

A special cradle was develop ed to pe r mit t he 

bridge transp orter to carr y. launch. and r etrieve 

t he bridge ere ct ion boat without the use of cranes. 

The boat can be laun ched in one minut e and 

re tr ieved in five minu t es or less. A pallet wa s also 

developed to allow the tra nsporter to haul cargo 

whe n it is not carr ying bridg e bays or boats . Th e 

pallet can be laun ched and retrieved while loaded 

with car go. 

Th e 814th received 30 In t erior Bays, 12 Ramp 

Bays, 14 Boat Cra dles, 56 Tran spor t ers an d 56 

Cargo Pallets. Th e Ribb on Bridge was fielde d 

und er th e US Ar my Materiel Developme nt and 

Readin ess Comman d's (DARC OM) "Project Ha ndOff:' Under this program, DAR COM or contra ctor 

re presentatives stay with a newly delive re d syste m until the user is satisfied t hat all problems ar e 

solve d and t he system is performing well. In 

order to insure proper tra ining and user satisfactio n, a New Eq uipme nt Train ing Team (NETT) 

was se nt to Ha nau by the US Army Troop Support 

Command. St. Louis, MO. Th e NETT was assisted 

28 
by personnel from MER ADCOM. Th e un ique 

asp ect of the training program was that a bridge 

com pa ny from t he Army of t he F ederal Republic 

of Ge r many (FRG) was invit ed to participate. Th is 

invit ation was ex t ende d in r esponse to a r equest '.	 [rom t he FRG for an opportunity to use t he 

Ribbon Bridge and evalu ate it for possible adopt ion by t he ir Ar my . 

Th e joint training ex er cise was broken down 

into four phases, eac h one su bjecting th e equipment and the oper ato r s to increasingly diffi cult 

condit ions . Phases I an d II were conduct ed at 

Hanau , with th e Ge rman troops billeted in th e US 

facili ti es. P hase III was conducted on th e Rh ein 

Ri ver at Leeh eim with all troo ps bivouaced at th e 

site . Phase IV was based at the FRG's Pioneer 

Kaserne in Ingolst adt on the Danube River. 

Du ring t he first phase , from 8 Sept ember 

t hrough 17 Septembe r, the NE T t eam in structe~

officers , NC Os and civilians in th e fund am entals of 

launching and retrieving bridge er ect ion boats, 

connecting bays together and handling bridge bay s 

and r afts i.n th e water. Th e Germans used their 

own br idge erection boa ts at all times. Alt ho ug h 

some class room preparati on was necessary at the 

st art, th e great maj ority of t he time was spent 

act ua lly op er ati ng th e eq uipme nt on a pond and on 

the Main Ri ver. The st udents were give n as much 

practice with th e equipment as possible and th ey 

generally found t hat launching th e eq uipment and 

connect ing the bay s t oge th er was ex treme ly ea sy . 

Retrieval was not so easy . Coor dinating t he boom 

and winch cont ro ls is mor e of an art than a science 

and most stude nts required quite a bit of practice 

befor e ma st ering the process. At the conclusion of 

this two week period th e "key personn el" whi ch 

ha d been instruc te d wer e familiar with t he equipmen t and t he y we re r ead y t o assume th eir rol es as 

instruct or s during th e next phase. 

Phase II , last ing fr om 20 September to 8 Oct ober was t he star t of training for the soldier s who 

would eventuall y operate the equipment. Two 

entire float bridge companies, one Am erican and 

one Ger ma n, pract iced over and over again, 

becoming more proficient each da y. The key 

personnel were he avily r elied upon to giv e instru ction and supervision since t he NET team 

could not possibly pay close atte nt ion to 190 men 

training a t fiv e launch sites on t he Main Ri ver. 

The rive r was flowing at one half t o on e meter per 

second, near ideal cond itions for t he firs t exposure 

to a new pie ce of equipmen t. 

Th e t hir d ph ase, fr om 11 Octobe r to 12 Novem ­

be r, wa s when the fundamentals learned were put 

to use in large scale br idging and r afting exerc ises 

under difficult condition s. Night r afting operati ons 

were conduc ted a nd complete brid ge s we r e built 

across the Main. It soon became ev ident that the 

Ribbon Bridge could be rapidly erected by troops 

ha ving only three weeks of training. The first 

bridge acro ss the Main , about 120 met ers, was 

built in on ly 65 minutes. Th is time was cut to 47 

minutes t he second t im e and 27 min utes, or 4.4 

meter s per minute. th e t hir d time! Midwa y 

throu gh this ph ase th e training site was moved to 

t he Rh ein River wh ere the stream ve locity ranged 

up to one and one half meters per second. Unde r 

th es e conditions, th e av er age rate for building a 

120 me ter bridge was 50 to 60 minut es, including 

launching the boats. The average construction 

t ime for five bay r afts was 30 minu t es. Retrieval 

took approximately the same length of time . 

Th e fourth a nd most difficul t phase began on 18 

No vember and en ded on 31 March . This training 

to ok place on the Danube Ri ver at Ingols t adt, and 

on t he nearby Naab River. Stream ve locit ies on 

the Danube ranged fr om 1.4 to 2.6 meters per 

second . Th e Naab flowed a t one half meter per 

seco nd but th e shallow wat er and poor sh ore 

conditions pr ovide d different sor ts of oper ational 

pr obl em s. On 15 February , the joint exe rc ise 

came to an end and the German Army be gan six 

wee ks of field testing to make a final determinati on on the brid ge's s uita bilit y. Approximately 25 

men fr om t he 814t h r emained with the bridge for 

adm inis trative and mainten ance purposes. Working on swift waters did not cr eate any serious 

pr obl em s but launching and retrieving the eq uipmen t wa s more diffi cul t, and the boats were oft en 

r equ ir ed to keep bridg e ba ys ali gn ed prop erl y 

during r etrieval. Th e erec tion times increased 

con siderably. Th ere was no doubt that as str eam 

ve locit ies increased erect ion r ates were ve ry 

dep e ndent on th e skills of the boat operators. 

Wh en th e exe rcise was finished t he US troops 

knew t hat t hey had a much improv ed bridge a nd 

th e FRG had obtaine d a th orough kn owledge of 

th e hrid ge's capabilit ies up on which to base t he ir 

de cision. 

I n s umma tio n, th e Ribbon Bridge was put 

through a grueling 7 mon th s of intensive use by 

Am erican and German troops und er a wid e range 

of condit ions . The r esp ons e of th e tr oops using t he 

bridge was generally ve r y favorabl e. This bridge. 

like a ny ot he r , has its def ects , mainl y related to 

retrieval in swift currents and ad apting the ramp 

section to varying shore con ditions. Th e ad van ­

ta ges far outwe igh t he defects and the Ribbon 

Brid ge will provide th e US Army and possibl y 

ot he r armies with t he ca pabilitity to bridge rivers 

in a fract ion of the time it now takes . By any 

definition , t he Ribbon Bridge is a giant step 

forw ard in the field of river crossing equipment . 

29 
Current articles concerning the challenges engineers can expect to face in supporting assault 

crossing's usually only touch the tip of a very 

troublesome iceberg. The full range of challenges 

th at engineers will have to overcome during 

tactical river crossing operations is the greatest 

test of our ability to aid an assault force's mobility 

and survivability on the modern battlefield. A 

single cro ssing operation can require more intensi ve en gineer support than any other tactical 

operati on. That is why at the US Army Engin eer 

School (US AES) (Directorate of Combat Devel opments) concentrated effor t is going into th e 

dev elopment of new concepts and materials whi ch 

will allow accomplishmen t of all th e ta sk s faster, 

better and with less effort. 

Three elements conspire to delay or stop our 

assault columns at a river; the enemy, we athe r 

and ter rain. 

At Combat Developments, we are looking at 

how all three elements int errelate to create a 

formidable obstacle which our combat engineers 

will have to overcome. A closer look at these 

three areas Will show Just how awesome our task 

IS. 

Th e Soviets consider a water obstacle as a 

natural obstruction enabling th e organi zation of a 

firm defen se. When defending river lines, th ey 

cr eate obstacles and prepare demolitions in their 

se curity zone (our cover ing for ce ar ea ). at th e 

river, on the sh or es, and throughout the depth of 

th e defen se. 

Th eir obstacl es in the water and on th e shores 

are planned as obstructions for reinforcing the 

ri ver. For this purpose. und erwater obst acles are 

set up, the riv er is re inforced, floatin g obstacles 

are used and preparations are made to de stroy all 

hydrauli c str uct ures, bridges, local cro ssing equipment. Ford s are left in a impassable condition. 

River mines (anchored, sh allow water , floating) 

and land min es are used as water obstacles in 

conjunction with non-explodin g obstacles-antitank obst ructions, antita nk obstacles. and barriers. 

Along with setting up mine field s, preparatory 

work for th e demolition of objects is conducted in 

th e de fensive zone of th eir division. Such obj ect s 

can be accessible sections of t he locality, defile s 

and road junctions. 

During combat ope rat ions in th e sec urit y zone, 

Soviet enginee r troops use harassing mine fields 

for pr otection. esp ecially along th e main ro ads. 

Mor eover. engineer troops are deplo yed for 

setting up obstacles and facilita ting demolitions of 

withdrawal routes. 

In add tion to th eir stati c defensive me asure , th e 

Sovi ets use mobil e defensive tactics to r epulse 

crossing attempts. 

An "enemy" approachin g a water obs tacle is 

tak en under fire at maximum range. Nucl ear and 

chemical we apons can be employed aga ins t concentrations of personn el. crossing equipme nt and 

our fire support means. Antitank guided missiles, 

tan ks and othe r artillery are br ought up close to 

the ri ver ban k to lay dire ct fir e into our force s 

engage d in cr ossing th e river. Once our elements 

hav e crossed the river, our hold on the near bank 

will be subject ed to counterattacks by secondechelon and re serve forc es whil e first- echelon 

forces will attempt to pr event additional units 

from cross ing and rein for cing the eleme nts alre ady 

on the Soviet side of th e riv er. 

Within th is ta ctical environment , th e eng ineers 

30 
will have to overcome the natural environment of 

weather and terrain as if it is second nature. 

To get to a river, into and across the water, and to 

clear the far shore presents a very significant 

mobility problem. Failure to move through a 

crossing area quickly will cause reduced unit 

survivability, congestion, confusion, defeat in detail and finally, collapse of the attack. 

Soft clay-silt soils, which usually surround river 

valleys, often have a high soil moisture content, 

are regularly cultivated or are covered with thick 

undergrowth and dense forests. Steep slopes, 

both at the river bank and extending inland can 

deny access to, or exit from, the crossing area. 

Though these conditions may extend throughout 

the battle area, they are especially detrimental in 

the immediate vicinity of proposed crossing area. 

In addition to the difficulties for amphibians, our 

wheeled bridge transporters can find moving to 

the crossing sites to be difficult or impossible. 

Rain, spring thaws, and seasonal variations in the 

use of the soil can make cross country movement 

doubtful. Even if our amphibians get across the 

gap, our lumbering wheeled transporters could get 

bogged down short of the river preventing erection of vital bridges for tanks, thus stranding our 

light assault echelons on the far shore. 

Movement along roads will be restricted by 

oviet actions and we'll have to rely increasingly 

on our questionable cross country movement 

ability in the vicinity of crossing sites to get to 

areas which are tactically desireable. As it stands 

now, given a normal combination of weather and 

terrain in the European theater, our crossing 

areas will be dictated not by where we want to go 

but where we can go - and the Soviets know it. 

Once a bridge or raft is in operation, repeated 

passes by he avy vehicles (possibly up to 2000 

passes at tactical bridge sites) over the ground to 

the crossing site can destroy any load bearing 

capacity of th e soil. Even after just a few passes, 

the bridge access road could become a quagmire of 

sinking wheels and tracks. The route to the 

bridge must be a sur e route, clear of obstacles and 

strong enough to support the traffic expected to 

pass over it. 

In the past, the preparation of bridge access/ 

egress routes by pioneer methods could normally 

be completed before the bridge was emplaced 

because of the slower assembly times associated 

with older bridges. (For example, a 20 meter M4T6 

float bridge required approximately five and onehalf hours to assemble and emplace). Today, 

owever, modern float bridges such as the Mobile 

Assault Bridge (MAB) and the Ribbon Bridge have 

reduced time and manpower requirements to the 

extent that, once the equipment is on site, a 120 

meter bridge can be emplaced in 45 minutes or 

less. 

Obviously, the advantages of the new generations of float bridge will be lost if an inordinate 

amount of time and effort is required for the 

bridge transporter/launcher to gain access to the 

crossing site, or if five and one-half hours are 

required to open bridge approaches to traffic. 

To aid combat engineers in meeting the challenge, we are well into a research and development effort, the Tactical Bridge Access/Egress 

System. This development effort in combination 

with procurement of the Universal Engineer 

Tractor offers solutions to the problem. Weare 

addressing all the interrelated problems which 

cause rivers to become such formidable barriers. 

Part of the effort has already been funded and 

preliminary work is underway at the US Army 

Engineer Waterways Experiment Station, Vicksburg, Mississippi, awaiting signing of a formal 

Letter of Agreement (LOA) for Advanced Development of the System. The full spectrum of existing 

civilian technology and some new ideas will be 

examined to find the best candidat e for adaptation 

and incorporation into the military inventory. 

Though the system is as yet of undetermined 

design, its purpose will be to maximize the 

advantages of rapidly emplaced mobile gap crossing equipment. The ultimate goal is to provide 

combat engineer and bridging units th e capability 

to quickly gain access to tactically advantageous 

cross ing sites to emplace bridges, etc, and to 

install access/egress roadways suitable for assault 

vehicles and for sustained passage of tracked or 

wheeled traffic between existing roads or trafficable sites on both sides of the gap. 

There are a number of known technological 

approaches for solving the tactical access/egress 

problem. Some which have already been investigated and show promise include: 

Subgrade Strengthening Systems­

• Inflated (pillow like) elements which can be used 

as underlay for structural surfacing or trackway 

elements to directly support vehicle traffic. 

• Prefabricated or fabricated in place toameo 

plastic elements as underlay or stub pile systems 

for structural surfacing or trackway elements. 

• Random or woven synthetic fiber membranes 

laid directly on soft soils as underlay for base 

course or base course substitute systems. 

• Neoprene or vinyl coated nylon fabric waterproof membranes as underlay for base course or 

base course substitute systems. 

31 
• Expendable box grid systems (egg-crate) 

composed of sheet metal, plastic or treated paper 

embedded in soft soils. 

• Rapid strengthening chemical stabilization systems. 

Base Course Substitute Systems­

• Structural element treadway runners over 

waterproof membranes. 

• Waterproof membranes over random or tr eadway structural element runners. 

• Expandable box grid systems filled with bank 

run sands and gravel over membranes. 

• Sandwich construction of membrane and soil 

lay ers including membrane encapsulat ed soil 

layers (MESL). 

• Structural element beams between inflatable 

pillows or foamed plastic piers. 

• Rapid chemical stabilization of bank run sands 

and gravels. 

Surfacing Systems - To support user vehicle 

traffic over subgrade strengthened base course or 

base course substitute systems, and to support 

traffic on steep slopes, rapidly placeable, lightweight structural surfacing materials will frequently be required . The following types of 

materials will be evaluated or developed: 

• Existing airfield type landing mat surfacings. 

• Airfield and heliport waterproof membrane 

surfacing. 

• Fiberglass-resin surfacings (i.e., Mo-Mat). 

• British assault trackway . 

• Other rapidly placeable lightweight articulated 

structural systems in continuously linked configuration. 

All of the technological approaches discussed 

will be examined as to their potential to meet the 

goal of providing a tactical bridge access/egress 

system compati ble with modern, rapidly emplaced 

gap crossing equipment (Mobile Assault Ferry, 

Ribbon Bridge) as well as the equipment being 

developed for the System of Bridges for 1985 and 

Beyond. This system shall provide the following 

broadly stated capabilities: 

• Stream egress points for swimming and fording 

combat vehicles. Egress points cap able of withstanding 25 passes by vehicles up to MLC 60 are 

required. The system must enable one combat 

engineer squad to install 2 points in 15 minutes. 

• Access lanes for use by gap crossing equipment 

to reach bridge launch sites. Acc ess lanes capable 

of withstanding 50 passes by vehicles up to MLC 

25 (ess ential), MLC 35 (desirable) are required . 

The system must enable 10 people from the bridge 

launching unit to install single lanes at the rate of 

100 meters in 15 minutes using equipment organic 

to the bridge company. 

• Crossing site access/egress routes for corps/ 

division traffic. Access/egress routes capable of 

withstanding 2000-3000 vehicle passes (10% MLC 

60) ar e required . The system must enable on e 

combat engineer squad to install single lanes at 

the rate of 150 meters in 45 minutes (r equired ), 

30 minutes (desires). 

The tactical bridge access/ egress system will 

also be sufficiently mobile to accompany th e force 

supported (compatible with that of th e tactical 

bridge equipment itself). This system, whether 

used with cur r ent bridges or with the mechanized 

systems envisioned for th e post 1980's, will 

provide a great improvement in our operational 

capability and significant reductions in th e cost (in 

men, time and material) of preparing access/ 

egress ro adways. Th ese operational improvements will be realized in the effectiveness of 

bridge units, supporting combat engineer units, 

and the suppor ted tactical elements of th e 

divisions and cor ps when the syst em is fielded to 

replace todays pioneer construction methods. We 

will be able to gain access to one or mor e selected 

crossings sites in minutes, instead of hours, and be 

able to build access/egress roadways at both ends 

of the bridge at a rate of at least 10 times faster 

than is currently possible. Mission delays due to 

water obstacles will be minimized, tactical commanders will have a wider choice of possible crossing sites, and swimming and fording vehicles will be 

provided those much needed quick exit points. 

The Engineer School is not standing still. We 

are actively working on ways to insure that 

engineers in the field have the means to "Win the 

First Battle." Within the next few years, combat 

engineer bridging units will be receiving the 

equipment that will enable them to go anywhere 

an ytime to accomplish their mission. 

CPT Robert Sp erb erg re ceived his BS in Civil 

Engineering from VMI and is a Registered Professional Engineer in the Commonwealth of 

Virginia. His assignments have included duty 'With 

the 9th Engineer Battalion (Combat) in Germany 

and the Facility Engineer Activity in Korea. 

Pr esently he is a project office r in the Concepts 

and Studies Division, Directorate of Com bat 

Developments, Ft . Belvoir. As one of his projects 

he is deuetop mq the Concept of Employment for 

the Tactical Bridge Access/Egre ss System. 

32 
r. 

to Prepare tor

f 

How does a 12B (Combat Engineer) pr epare for 

t he Skill Qualification Tes t (SQT) at level 3 and 

develop ex pe rtise in training, leadership and MOS 

crit ical task s'? Attend th e Basic Noncommissioned 

Officer Cour se for Combat Arms (BNCOC/C A), 

th at' s wh at! 

Th e BNC OC/ CA replaced the Engineer Noncommiss ione d Officer Basic Course (ENCOB) 

taug ht at Ft. Belvoir. The reasons for the chan ge 

were based on the fact that during four years of 

operation the NCOES Basic Course only trained 

10% of the r equired NCO's (SSG) need ed by th e 

Cor ps of Engineers. Costs were high du e to the 

sing ular location of th e service sch ool and course 

length. The loss of a squad lead er coupled with a 

s hortage of trained squad leaders cause d strains 

on unit effectiveness. This led many commanders 

to se nd those indi viduals that th ey could do 

without, to the EN COB Course. Reserve components also complained that the length of the 

course was not conducive to th eir training cycle. 

To alleviate these problems, BNCOC was deve loped. Th e initial course, BNCOC/CA is for 

combat engine er s. Travel expenses were reduced 

by locating the course at 16 academies throughout 

th e US, Hawaii, Panama, and Europe (12 aca ­

demies provide 12B MOS instruction, See Figure 

1). Th e course length was set at four weeks to 

complete th e esse nt ial training while redu cing th e 

soldier's time away from his unit. The course 

desi gn used the performance ori ented training 

conce pt. Th e tas ks taught, ar e those critical to job 

performan ce at skill level 3 and prepare him for 

th e SQT at that lev el. 

And now, essential facts about the course itself. 

An individual selected to a tt end BNCOC/CA, must 

demonstrate mastery of sel ected skill level 1 and 2 

tasks. Mastery of these tasks is essent ial if the 

student is to comprehend the material t aught 

during the course. A prerequisite t es t, issued by 

the NCO Acad emy, provides th e basi s for judging 

the individual's competency. Sel ected reference 

material also is provided so that th e student can 

study prior to attending the course. 

The course has three phases (see Figure 2). 

Phase I consists of pretesting and how to conduct 

performance oriented train ing. The pretest, deSKILL LEVEL COURSE TITLE DURATION 

5 Sen ior NCO Course (S NCOC) / SGT MAJ Academy 

4 Advanced NCO Course (ANCOC ) 12 WKS 

3 Basic N CO Course/Combined Arms ( S NCOC/ CAl 4 WKS 

2 Pri mary NCO Course/Combined Arms ( P N COC/ CA ) 4 WKS 

One Stat ion Unit Traming (OSUT ) 12-14 WKS 

F IGURE 1 

33 
W 

A 

BASIC NCO COURSE FOR COMBAT ARMS (BNCOC/CA) 

PHASE I 

INDIVIDUAL 

TRAIN TO TRAIN 

PHAS E " 

TRAIN IN MOS CRITICAL TASKS 

USING TECHNIQUES ACQUIRED IN PHASE I 

COLLE

PRE 

TESTI NG 

116 

INFANTRYMAN 

C

T

(AR

REALTR

llC 

INDI RECT FIRE INFANTRYMAN 

11D 

ARMOR RECONNAISSANCE SPECIALIST 

CONDUCT 

OF 

PERFORMANCE 

11E 

ARMOR CR EWMAN 

ORIENTED 

TRAINING 

12B 

COMBAT ENGINEER 

(USE OF 

TRAINING 

MATER IAL, 

136 

FIE L DARTIL L E RY CREWMAN 

TECHN IQUES 

AND DEVICES) 13E 

FA CANNON OPERATION/FIRE DIRECTION ASST 

-

16P 

CHAPARRAL CREWMAN ( RE D EY E ) 

16R 

SHORT RANGE AI R DEFENSE ARTILLERY CREWMAN 

NO T E :	 T H E CO RE BNC OUCA CUR R IC UL UM W IL L RE Q UI R E A P PROXI MA T E LY FO UR W E EKS TO CO N O UCT, HOW EV ER, TH E LO CA

M AY INC RE AS E L E N G TH TO IN CL U O E ADOI T IO NA L T R A IN ING DEEM E D NE CE SS A RY 

FIGURE 2 
t ermines, for each indi vidu al, whi ch MOS-critical 

task s learned during Ph ase II. If an indi vidual 

demonstrates master y of a task by successfully 

completing a pretest, he will be exempte d from 

normal instruction in t hat task and ma y be 

se lected to teach a por tion of that task during 

Ph ase II. 

Th e instruction on performance or iented training is designed to prepare t he indi vidual to effe ctively conduct performance oriented training for 

his subordinate s to accomplish cr it ical tasks found 

in t he Soldier s Manual using th e va rious t echniqu es, tr aini ng materials, and devices available. 

Ph as e II consist s of training MOS-cri tical tasks 

usin g t he methods and techniques acq uire d during 

P hase 1. All training is gea re d to perfor mance 

oriented training. Each stude nt is graded GO or 

NO· GO on each task . If a stude nt r eceives a NO 

GO, r em edi al t raining can be give n and a retest 

tak en based on the av ailability of the schools 

cad re. If a stude nt demonstrat es mastery of a 

task in t he pr etest but is not se lected to t each or 

assist in training a task in phase I, the n he will be 

offer ed addit ional skill training . Additio nal skill 

training (AST) is instr ucti on on se lected tasks at 

sk ill level 3 and 4, and on which a stude nt can train 

with se lf-pace d mat erials and little instructor 

sup port. Each instructional package for AST 

includes an aver age completion time whi ch helps 

t he stude nt to se lect th e appropri ate number of 

AST packages to train himself in the time made 

available by "passing out" of course r equirem en ts 

in t he pretest . Each AST pa ckag e also includes a 

post-t est so that the cadre can validate t he student 

ma stery of the task . 

Phase III is a collective tactical field exercise 

based on ARTEP eve nt s and REALTRAIN techniques. Th e stude nt learns how to conduct an d 

control a combined arms exercise. In this phase he 

is requir ed to put it all togethe r . All the soldiers 

from th e different Combat Arm MOS's are integrated into a combine d ar ms team and eac h 

learns how he fits into t he overall concept. 

Successful complet ion of the Course of In struction will be master y of all t asks t augh t during 

Ph ase II and completion of the "t ra in to train" 

block in P hase 1. Upon successful completion of 

the course th e stude nt will r eceiv e a diploma. If a 

stude nt is un su ccessful he will receive a statement 

of attende nce. All st ude nts will receive a report 

card, with a listin g of all tasks mastered. Th e 

stude nt 's CO will also r eceive a copy of th e r eport 

car d, which will indicate t o him, ar eas in which the 

soldier need s more t raining and what abilit ies and 

kills his squad lead er now possesse s. Th e unsuccessful stude nt can be certi fied as having 

completed t he BNCOC/ CA by his CO, if he 

masters the tas ks on whi ch he r eceived a NO-GO, 

through on-t he-job-experience (OJ E) . OJ E will 

ins ure that t he soldier has all the necessary 

pr eparation for his SQT 3. 

Now that you know what BNCO C/ CA is, your 

next quest ion is probably, "Who can attend?" Fir st 

pri ori ty will go to t he soldi er in th e skill level 3 

position (Squa d Leader), who ha s not previously 

attended BNCOC or ANCOC. A Specialist 4, 

Cor pora l, or Se rgeant in this position must first 

attend the Primary NCO Cour se (PNCOC). This 

ma y be waived for th e Sergeant. Second priori ty 

will be to those Sergeants preparing for th e Staff 

Sergeant level but not yet in that positi on. You 

can see that BNCOC/CA is only one ste p in th e 

career development of a combat engi nee r und er 

th e EP MS sy stem. 

Each course is des igned t o prepare t he individual for th e SQT at t hat level. Although not 

all task s will be taught, most win be cove red. 

Oth er training and sk ill dev elopmen t will be 

acquired du ring unit traini ng and from on-the-job 

experience. 

If you ar e a squad lead er and haven 't attende d a 

Basic level NCO course, get your nam e on t he list 

to go. This course is design ed to help you take one 

mor e step in t he chai n of events desi gn ed tf) mak e 

YOU a mor e eff ective lead er and to assist you in 

attaining t he next rung on t he ladder to th e top. 

CPT Richard G. Simmons is curre ntly assigned 

as the Chief, Prof essional Course Development 

Branch USAES. H1s previous assignments include : 

Plat oon L eader, 42d Engr. Co ., Berlin Bde.; Asst. 

Chief Engr. Plans and Services Branch, Berlin 

Cmd. He is a graduate of the University of 

Wyoming and holds a Master of Science degree 

from Boston University. He graduated from 

EOA C in April 1976. 

SFC Paul Chris tianson is curren tly assigned as a 

project NCO f or the Prof essional Course Develop. 

ment Branch, USA Engineer School. His previous 

assignments were Squad L eader and Platoon 

Serge ant in th e 2d Engineer Battalion, Korea; 

547th Engineer Battalion, Da r m stadt Germ anu ; 

299th Engineer Battalion, Vietnam, 78th Engineer 

Battalion, Germany; and as an instru ctor at the 

Engineer School. He is presen tly working on a 

degree in Mechanical Engineerin g from the Unive rsity of Wisconsin. SFC Christianson has complet ed the Engineer Officer Basic Cours e by 

corre spondence. 

35 
BRIDGING THE GAP
 

MYTHS HAUNT THE NON-COMMAND SPONSORED 

For the young soldier (E'l -E4 under two years of service) with a family, orders for overseas can 

be a traumatic experience. These soldiers fall into the category of non-command sponsored 

personnel. 

There seem to be many myths concerning the benefits, or non-benefits, of non-command 

sponsored personnel. There are even some cases of non-command sponsored families who try to 

keep their presence a secret in order to avoid such things as tour extension. This is purely a 

misconception on their part. 

There is no tour extension for individuals whose families join them in Europe. There are some 

families who are not taking full advantage of medical, commissary and Post Exchange facilities 

because they feel they have to keep a "low profile." These beliefs are unfounded. 

First of all, free and complete medical and dental care is available for any dependent who 

possesses a valid I D card. Care ranging from routine examinations to emergency treatment is 

available for everyone-command sponsorship has nothing to do with it. 

Non -command sponsored personnel are not authorized government transportation to and from 

the United States but otherwise there are few restrictions for the soldier and his family. 

Once the family arrives there are a host of organizations just waiting to help and they are 

available for everyone. The Housing Referral Office, Army Community Services (ACS), the 

Economy Wives Club, the Red Cross and the Chaplain's Office are just a few of the agencies that can 

offer a helping hand. 

One other restriction non-command sponsored personnel face is ineligibility for governmem 

housing or leased housing and the use of government owned furniture (except excess furniture) for 

quarters. There is a good chance that a local ACS program, which we'll look at in a minute, will 

even supply some household furniture. 

The financial possibilities are also designed to help. There is the Separate Rations Allowance, 

which you may al ready know about from previous assignments . There is the Cost of living 

Allowance (COLA) and the Basic Allowance for Quarters (BAQ) that will help make living on the 

economy a little easier. 

When we start talking about finances it is important to remember we are referring to soldiers 

who arrive overseas at El, E2, E3 or E4 with less than two years of active duty service. All higher 

grade personnel (E4 over two years) must be command sponsored to receive COLA and Station 

Housing Allowance. Your BAQ will not be affected and there is a good chance your unit can 

authorize Separate Rations. 

Living on the economy can be a financial nightmare so if you don't see the words "COLA" or 

"HOUSE" on your Leave and Earnings statement, see your personnel sergeant or your servicing 

finance unit. The point is, you are eligible for these allowances and the money is available, so apply. 

Trying to find a place to live in the States is a big enough problem but when you are forced to 

find a residence in a new land things can get mighty rough. That's where the Housing Referral 

Office comes in. 

This office is designed to help everyone no matter what the rank or status. The people there 

know their job and want to help. 

The only legitimate way to move your family into economy housing is with the approval of this 

office. Normally families are put on a list according to household needs - the number of bedroom 

needed and so on. 

36 
( BRIDGI GTHE GAP

If you don't want to wait for your name to move up you are perfectly free to look for a place on 

your own . Don 't forget, H RO must approve your selection prior to your moving in. 

Hous ing officials advise soldiers who are in the non-command sponsored category to obtain 

suitable housing before sending for their families . This will prevent many problems and will also 

save the soldier from possibl y paying expensive hotel bills. 

After you have a place to live and have checked into the financial scene, a trip to the 

Transportation Office is a must. Every family needs those th ings which make a house a home so the 

Army will ship up to 225 pounds to Germany for you - free! 

According to transportation authorities, your weight limitations at the end of your tour overseas 

rise to at least 2,000 pounds for household goods and 400 pounds for baggage. 

When you are ready to move in, you are going to need the everyday necessities of living unt il 

your household goods arrive. ACS offices are ready to fill your needs with such things as pots and 

pans, dishes, stlverware. high chairs, and play pens . If the move has been a shock to your wallet, 

they can also provide expert budget assistance. 

If you have specific questions about your non -command sponsored status, get in touch with your 

chain of com m and or your Community Service Offices. They all have one thing in common - they 

are willing and able to help, That's their job. 

HOUSEHOLD GOODS CLAIMS 

Many sold iers apparently think it is not worth the trouble to make a claim for damaged 

household goods after a PCS move. From the soldier's standpoint, the Army is providing a free 

insurance policy on personal property shipped in conjunction with an authorized move. Granted, the 

insur ance is limited but it does give the soldier and his family some protection . 

High value items (cameras, stereo, stamp and coin collections and works of art as an example) 

may be shipped at government expense. The soldier must first request perm iss ion from the local 

Transportation Office and the items will be shipped in a special shipment. If the shipment is lost or 

damaged , the Army can only pay certain maximums on such items. Soldiers are advised to 

purchase additional insurance for high value articles . The maximum government liability for high 

va lue items is spelled out in chapter 11 of the cla ims reg, AR 27-20. 

Most household goods purchased within six months of shipment may be reimbursed for the full 

amount in case of loss or serious damage. After seven months, the item is depreciated . The 

depreciation is computed on a yearly basis so that a couch that is one year and seven months old 

would be depreciated as if it were two years old . 

Claims officials say that different items of household goods depreciate at different rates on the 

yearly basis but maximum depreciation is 75 percent of the original value. 

Alcohol and drugs are item s that cannot be shipped under any circumstances. War trophies 

can be shipped but wi II not be reimbursed if lost, stolen or damaged . Other items that will not be 

reimbursed include intangible items, such as stocks, bonds, baggage tickets, bankbooks, etc. In 

ddition, any form of currency will not be reimbursed . 

If a soldier finds that there is damage to household goods or that they are missing from the 

37 
shipment, the following items will be needed to file a claim : 

• Copies of the PCS orders authorizing shipment of household goods . 

• A copy of the Government Bill of Lading (GBl). 

• A copy of the inventory made	 during packing. 

• The delivery receipt. 

• An inspection report (if the value is over $500). 

• A copy of the tracer action (if goods are missing). 

• An estimate of repairs (for repairable damage). 

• Power of attorney (if anyone	 other than the servicemember is making the claim ) . 

For further information on the claims program, soldiers should contact their SJA claims officer 

or consult AR 27·20. 

SHIPPING YOUR POV TO EUROPE? THEN READ THIS ARTICLE, 

IT MAY SAVE YOU SOME HEADACHES AND A FEW DOLLARS. 

Officials at the Military Traffic Management Command, (MTMC) say that too many soldiers on 

orders for Germany are not aware of the strict vehicle inspection standards and very high insurance 

rates. 

According to the chief of MTMC's Ocean Terminals Division, insurance rates in Germany vary 

according to age, grade and marital status. A single soldier, 18-25 years old with a sports car, can 

expect to pay three to four times the insurance paid Stateside, and this is [ust for the legal minimum 

coverage. At the least, a soldier should plan to pay double the Stateside premium . 

The Chief a Iso stated, " If the soldier has a va lid current Stateside drivers license, he is not 

required to take a driving test; however, the written test must be taken. Passing this test requ ires a 

thorough knowledge of international road signs and traffic rules." 

A lack of knowledge about insurance, inspection and licensing requirements has in some cases 

resulted in delayed pickup of vehicles . 

Spec ific informatioin on insurance, inspection and licensing in Germany follows: 

INSURANCE 

Minimum insurance requirement in Germany, liability only, as of January 1977: 

s.a	 and E-9 Married; age 25 years and over $211 per year 

Unmarried; under age 25 $275 per year 

E-1 to E-7	 Married; age 25 years and over $305 per year 

Unmarried ; age25 years an over $491 per year 

Married ; under age 25 $360 per year 

Unmarried ; under age 25 $491 per year 

All insurance premiums must be pa id within 90 days . POV cannot be picked up until proper insurance is obtained . 

CATALYTIC CONVERTER INFORMATION 

Catalytic converter should be removed prior to oversea movement if possible and legal. Thi 

can save the owner time and money. All Ford and Chrysler products have to be serviced a 

Autohaus Columbus, in downtown Bremerhaven . The charge is $35.00. A word of caution: Ford an 

38 
Chrysler product catalytic converters are not serviced on Saturdays. General Motors catalytic 

converters can be serviced at the European Exchange Service garage for a total charge of $11.75. 

Th is includes the adapter that goes into the neck of the gas tank . 

INSPECTION REQUIREMENTS 

Lights: All exterior lights must be in proper working order. 

Horns: Must be in proper working order. 

Brakes: All brake systems must be in proper working order, includ ing the hand or 

emergency brake. The POV must be brought to a smooth stop with no evidence of side pull. Chatter 

or pull to either side while braking will constitute an unsatisfactory condition . 

Tires: All treads must be at least one millimeter deep. Tire walls will be free of breaks or 

cuts to the extent that breaker strip, cush ion gum or fabric does not show. POVs equipped with 

reversed rims or with tires that extend laterally beyond the fenders are prohibited . Studded tires 

cannot be used on German highways . 

Wheel Alignment: Vehicle will be rejected when steering wheels 18 inches or less in 

diameter have more than three inches circumferential free motion or wheels over 18 inches in 

diameter have more than four inches circumferential free motion, or when wheels are incapable of 

being turned from full right to full left w ithout jamm ing . 

Exhaust Line: The exhaust system and muffler will be tightly secured and free from leaks. 

Windshield: A break, crack or discoloration which does not impair the driver's vision or 

create a hazard will not be grounds for rej ection ; however, the decision as to whether it is a hazard 

r impairs the driver's vision must remain judgemental.

DOCUMENTATION REQUIREMENTS 

In order to pick up his vehicle at the port of discharge in Europe, the member must have a 

complete set of keys and member's copy of DD Form 788. The member should be prepared to pay 

any costs of necessary repairs to enable the POV to pass the USAREUR safety inspeciion . POV will 

not be released without this inspection. 

For registration purposes, owner must present, at time of pick up, two completed AE Forms 

1598 (Application for Vehicle Registration ) or registration documents and license plates; a " double 

card " from an insurance company which reflects adequate liability and property darnace coveraoe . 

a check for $5.00 made out to U.S. Army, 59th Finance; and a USAREUR POV operators license. 

The soldier can have his POV picked up by an agency or another individual if two copies of a 

power of attorney are provlded to that agency or individual. 

Officials suggest that incoming personnel report to their local installation transportation office 

(ITO) with all personal property papers upon arrival at their duty station. Queries about POVs or 

other personal property should be addressed to the local ITO rather than the Bremerhaven 

Term ina I. The POV should be picked up at Bremerhaven within 30 days after notification of its 

arrival at the Vehicle Process ing Center unless permission has been granted by the Commander, 

Bremerhaven Terminal, for additional storage time based on valid justification. 

39 
REVIEWING OMPF DURING THE MICROFICHE CONVERSION
 

HQDA selection boards use a number of information sources to eva luate a soldier's ability and 

potential - the primary source being the soldier's Official M ilitary Personnel File (OMPF). By 

personally reviewing their OMPFs before a particular board meets, soldiers in the zones of 

considerat ion can get a good idea of how the board will see them. Additionally, soldiers who 

regularly review their records have the added assurance of up-to-date and accurate fi les being 

available for all personnel management actions. 

Sold iers whose OMPFs have been converted from paper to microfiche may review their records 

by ma il. Rev iew by mail enables soldiers to check their files without leaving their commands, 

thereby sav ing them travel time and money. Any changes or corrections that may be necessary can 

be made through the MILPO or by direct contact with MILPERCEN (officer) or the Enlisted 

Records and Evaluation Center (enlisted ). 

To date, MI LPERCEN has converted general officer, colonel, captain and warrant officer f iles 

to m icrofiche; conversion of the remaining officer OMPFs should be complete by late 1977. The 

Enlisted Records and Evaluation Center (ER EC) has completed the conversion of sergeant major 

files . Master sergeant files are expected to be converted by the end of May, sergeant first class f iles 

by late 1977 and staff sergeant/specialist six fi les by the end of 1978. 

Whil e reviewing their records, soldiers may find that some of the documents formerly 

contained in their paper OMPFs do not appear on the microfiche copy. During the conversion 

process, any documents not authorized in AR 640-10 are removed. Any documents not included on 

the m icrofiche file can be noted by the soldier and checked against AR 640-10 to determine whether 

or not the document is authorized in the OMPF . 

When m icrofiche fi les are sent to soldiers at their request, a reproduction fee of $2 for the first 

f iche and Sc for each additional fiche is charged and a bill is forwarded with the fiche. Officer 

requesting m icrofiche copies of their files should address their requests to Com mander; US 

MILPERCEN ; ATTN : DAPC-PSR-S; 200 Stovall Street; Alexandria, VA 22332. Enlisted soldiers 

should wri Ie to Commander ; USA E R EC; ATTN: PCR E-F ; Ft. Benjamin Harrison, IN 46249. All 

r equests must include the soldier's name, rank and Social Security Number. 

Once sold iers' OMPFs have been converted, the m icrofiche files will be the only documents 

maintained by MI LPERCEN and EREC - and the only cop ies seen by HQDA selection boards. 

Also, after conversion, microfiche files will be the OMPFs soldiers see if they review their records at 

MILPERCEN or EREC. In addition to review by mail , sold ier st ill may review their fiche OMPF 

when th ey visit their career managers . 

Soldiers whose OMPFs have not yet been converted to microfiche may review their paper files 

at any of three locations: MI LPERCEN, EREC, or the Reserve Components Personnel and 

Administration Center (RCPAC) . 

Soldiers planning to visit MI LPE RC E N to review their records may make appointments with 

the Records Review Unit by calling Autovon 221 -9618/9 or commercial area code (202) 325-9618/9. 

Officers w ishing to review their files must call for an appointment at least three working days in 

advance of their v isit. Enlisted soldiers should c.all for an appointment 10 to 15 days in advance to 

allow their paper records to be forwarded from EREC. All soldiers should confirm their 

appointments shortly before their visit to ensure that their records are available. OMPFs 

previously committed for other personnel management actions may not be available and a r equest 

for re v iew does not guarantee the OMPF's availability. 

MI L PERC EN's Records Review facility is located in Room 5533, Hoffman I L 200 Stovall Street, 

Alexandria, VA 22332. Either the soldier concerned or a designated representative may review the 

soldier's records. A designated representative may be any person - except someone assigned to 

MILPERCEN - who the soldier authorizes in writing to review the file. A signed authorizatio 

statem ent from the soldier and proper identification (such as an I D card) must be shown before th 

representative will be allowed to review the records . 

40 
When a warrant or commissioned officer makes an appointment, the rev iew unit automaticall y 

re quest s a current Officer Record Brief from MI LPE RC EN's Data Management and Reduction 

Branch . While the officer reviews his or her OMPF and ORB, a representat ive from the DA Mil itary 

vstern s Di vision is available to answer any questions about the OR B and to process any required 

orrect ions . 

Throughout the records review process, records specialists are on-hand to answer questions 

from all soldiers concerning their OMPFs. These specialists alone are authorized to remove 

docum ents to make copies for the soldier. Also, any necessary removals from, or additions or 

corrections to the files must be handled by the records specialists. Review procedures are 

monitored closel y to ensure that files are returned intact. 

In the near future, MI LPERCEN will add a new service for soldiers reviewing their files . Final 

plans are being made which will permit soldiers with missing or outdated official photographs to 

ha ve new photos taken and added to their files during their visit. AR 640·30 specifies when officers 

and senior NCOs must resubmit official photographs for their records. Additionally, officers may 

call MILPERCEN's officer records answering service at Autovon 221 -8792 or commercial area code 

(202) 325-8792 to determine if a replacement photograph is required (see FOCUS Number 4·77, dated 

29 March 1977 for details on the records answering service. Add itional information' on the official 

photograph service will be outlined in a future FOCUS issue when an implementation date is 

announced. 

In addition to MILPERCEN, soldiers may review their records at EREC or RCPAC. Soldiers 

wi shing to schedule reviews at either of these centers are reminded to make appointments at least 

two weeks in advance to ensure that their records will be available. Appointments and additional 

information may be obtained by contacting either of the follow ing fac il ities : 

US Army Enlisted Records and Reserve Components Personnel and 

Evaluation Center Administration Center 

ATTN : PCR E-F 9700 Page Boulevard 

Ft. Benjamin Harrison, IN 46249 St. Louis, MO 63132 

Autovon 699-3361 Autovon 698-7733 

Commercial (317) 542-3361 Commercial (314) 268-7733 

Soldiers anticipating a visit to MILPERCEN to review their records should carefully plan their 

visit in advance. A number of factors should be considered: 

• Review requests traditionally rise sharply during the spring and summer months in 

conjunction with HQDA selection board scheduling . 

• Summer is the peak PCS season . Tight scheduling occurs annually at this time as the number 

of soldiers pas sing through the Washington area en route to new assignments increases. In 1975, 

nearly 5,000 officers and L900 enlisted sold iers visited the records review unit between May and 

Septem ber . (Higher 1976 figures are not used due to the increased number of visitors in connection 

with Washington bicentennial activities.) 

• An additional demand for paper records to support the microfiche conversion may make files 

unavailable for immediate review. 

• Reduced personnel resources at MILPERCEN's review unit limit the number of reviews that 

can be accomplished each day. 

• The Washington area is entering its peak tourist season . A shortage of ternporarv billets and 

high motel and hotel rates are common during this period. 

In view of these considerations, sold iers are encouraged to plan their visits well in advance. In 

addition to scheduling their reviews as early as possible, overnight accommodations should be found 

and reservations made at the earl iest possible date. 

41 
EER
 

COLONELS: 

RETIREMENTS. Please advise us as soon as possible when you begin to make retirement plans . 

Even if you have not made "definite" plans, the fact that you are "thinking" about retiring on or 

about a certain date would be helpful to us in anticipating vacancies. 

ASSIGNMENTS. We will begin planning for CY 78 moves in the near future. If you fall into the 

category of those who expect to move, please ensure that we have a current preference statement. 

GENERAL. The Officer Record Brief (ORB) is to be reviewed routinely by each individual for 

com pleteness and correctness . Please ensure that you give adequate attention to this . The OR B is 

an important document. Each entry must be accurate and up-to-date . 

LIEUTENANT COLONELS: 

PREFERENCE FORMS. There is still a sign ificant number of lieutenant colonels whose most recent 

preference form was submitted more than four years ago . The form is obviously outdated if you 

have been promoted since the last DA Form 483 submission because the assignment options 

necessarily change as soon as you are announced as being on a promotion list. 

Assi gnment officers depend on your preference statement for your input to the ass ignment 

process!! Without a current DA Form 483 the only assumption that can be made is that you have no 

particular assignment preferences. 

You should submit a new preference form as soon as you are selected for promotion, and whe 

you are within nine months of completing your present assignment. These are minimum essential 

submission requirements ! 

When submitting a preference form , please include a complete resume of your family status in 

Blo ck 13 (Personal Data), to include the date of birth of your children . If a child is in a school grade 

other than that which is appropriate for the child's age, it is helpful to know this . 

Many preference forms arrive with incomplete duty phone number. Please include the 

AUTOVON prefix or complete commercial number (to include area code ) if you l ist other than a 

m ilitary telephone number. Assignment officers do not have access to an FTS phone system. For 

personnel overseas it is helpful to have both duty and home telephone numbers . 

In some instances the format of the DA Form 483 does not provide for recording data you wish 

to have con sidered. When this problem arises, simply attach an addendum to the 483 with your 

additional information. 

OVERSEAS TOURS. Lieutenant colonels with fewer than four overseas tours and who returned to 

CONUS from their last overseas tour prior to 1974 can expect overseas assignment upon completion 

of their cur r ent assignment. 

ASSIGNMENT OFFICER CHANGE. LTC Thomas Fisher will become the Eng ineer/Atomi c En erg y 

assignment officer for lieutenant colonels effect ive 27 June 1977. 

MAJORS: 

COMMAND AND GENERAL STAFF COLLEGE (CGSC). The selection process for Command an 

General Staff College w ill be conducted in the same manner as last year. Those to be considered a 

majors and promotable captains in Year Group 1964 or later. The selection process has several 

42 
OTPOU
 

phases. A DA appointed screening board will convene in July to screen all the eligible officers that 

are already majors or promotable captains. The Major AUS Board that was convened on 19 April 

1977 will complete their selection process and then will reconvene to act as the CGSC screening board 

for the new promotable captains. In August or September the final CGSC selection board will 

convene to select the actual class from those that made the cut during the screening process . The 

number to attend the actual class will be selected without regard to rank ordering. The board will 

also revalidate those officers selected in 1976 who have been deferred for attendance at a later date. 

These are part of the total selected to attend the class. Additionally, the board will select alternates 

who will be rank ordered . This list will be used to fill vacancies but will not be published. Expect 

the results of the process to be published in December. 

ASSIGNMENTS. There are no changes from the last issue. Overseas vulnerability remains about 

the same. Year Group 1964 and earlier can expect a total of four overseas assignments prior to 

promotion to lieutenant colonel. Year Group 1965 and later did not get caught up in the backto-back 

Vietnam tours so their vulnerability is different. 

GENERAL. Many of you have received notes and letters from us telling you that you need a physical 

exam , photo or preference statement. There is only one thing more important in your file than these 

three items - that being your OE R. If you do not have a current, good (presents you in your best 

light) photo, GET ONE. If your last physical is not current (look on your ORB to determine what is 

on your record), GET ONE. If you are overweight lose weight and then get a new photo. 

IEUTENANTS: 

PROMOTION. The Captain, AUS, Selection Board is scheduled to convene 10 May 1977-3 June 1977 . 

First Iieutenants with a temporary date of rank of 31 January 1976 or earlier wi II be considered. Good 

luck! 

AIRBORNE TRAINING. Effective 1 October 1977, Airborne training will be limited to those officers, 

not yet Airborne qualified, who are assigned to an Airborne unit. There is currently no change to 

officers volunteering for Ranger training. 

WARRANT OFFICERS: 

WARRANT OFFICER PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT. A new edition of DA Pamphlet 600-1l, 

the warrant officer's career planning guide, was sent to the printer in April. It is expected to enter 

distribution channels about mid-July 1977. Arrangements have been made to provide each 

individual a copy of the new pamphlet through their servicing MI LPO. For many warrant officers, 

the pamphlet outl ines new career patterns, functional career tracks and the subspecialti es within 

each specialty, and career decision points requiring the election of various options . The effe ct ive 

date of the pamphlet will be 1 April 1978. Warrant officers who have not received their copy by 31 

December 1977 should contact their MI LPO to acquire one so they can familiarize themselves with 

the forthcoming changes affecting their specialties . 

EVIEW OF OFFICIAL FILE. There is no better way for an officer to know how a selection board 

reviews his or her Official Military Personnel File (OMPF) than for the officer to review it himself 

43 
or herself. All offic ers are encour aged to review t hei r fi les as often as practicable to ensur e th at 

ass ign ment officers and fu ture selection boards wi ll get the " com plete picture" of t he off ice r' s 

ab il ity and poten tia l. As of March 1977, officers planning to v isi t MILPERCEN to re v iew th eir 

OMPF's must make an appointment at least three working days prior to their visit. 

STURGIS and ITSCHNER
 

AWARDS
 

presented at the
 

I 10th En~ineer Dinner
 

T he pr esentation of t he Sturgis Medal to a F t. 

Bragg combat engineer h igh ligh ted the Ll Oth Annu al Engin ee r Dinner here F r iday night, as SSG 

J ames Sk ellion of t he 27t h Engineer Battalion 

r ecei ved the prestigio us awar d. 

SSG Skellion, an 11 ye ar Army veteran who par ­

ti cipated in t he Buffalo snow r emoval ope ration 

last wi nter, was presen t ed t he award by Chief of 

Engin eers Lieute nant General J. W . Morris. The 

S turgis Meda l is gi ven a nnually to t he enlis t ed 

man who makes "o utstanding contributions to 

military engineer s while demonstrating technical 

a nd lead ership ability ." 

The Itschner Award, give n each year in honor of 

Lie ut e nan t Ge ne ral E merson It sch ner, is presented to the E ngineer Company in each component (Active Army, Ar my Reserve , Nationa l 

Gua rd ) selec t ed as t he most outstanding in t hat 

com pone nt . 

Th e Active Ar my award went to A Com pa ny, 

293d Enginee r Combat Battalion from Baurnholder, Germany . CP T T ho mas Nowak, l SG 

Do na ld Wood, and forme r commanding office r 

CPT Leon La ng accept ed t he aw ar d for t he uni t. 

for t he third consec ut ive year, a un it from t he 

99th Army Re serve Component r eceived t he 

Ar my Reser ve Itschner Awar d . Accepting the 

aw ard for his compa ny was CPT Frank Prazenica 

of t he 332d E ngineer Com pa ny, 300th Tran spor ­

tation Group , a r eserve uni t from P itts bur gh . 

LTG Morris presented the National Guard 

Its chner Award to CPT Robert Trela nd of the 

724th Engineer Battalion, Wiscons in National 

Guar d . 

T he Engin eer dinner commemor at ed t he 202d 

ann iversary of t he Corps of E ngineers, wit h LTG 

Morris emp ha sizing t he importance of engine er ing 

in t.oday 's Army. In his r emarks, LTG Morris 

laud ed the cohesive ness of Engineers. "T hi 

yea r's t he me . 'Call t o the Castle' conveys a spir i 

of unity amon g e ngineers in all compone nts of t he 

A r my ." 
1.	 What is your age? 

17 to 21 

22 to 25 

26 to 30 

31 to 40 

Over 40 

2.	 What is your relationship to the Army? 

Active Army
 

Army Reserve
 

Nationa I Gua rd
 

Retired
 

DAC
 

Dependent
 

3.	 If military, what is your pay grade? 

E 1 to E3
 

E4
 

ES to E7
 

E8 to E9
 

01 to 03
 

04 or 05
 

06 and above
 

Warrant Officer
 

4.	 How often do you read THE ENGINEER? 

Rarely
 

Regularly
 

Every issue
 

5.	 How would you rate distribution of TH E 

ENGINEER at your installation unit? 

Thorough
 

Adequate
 

Inadequate
 

6.	 How would you rate the materia I contained 

in THE ENGINEER? Check whatever appropriate: 

Entertaining 

Useful 

Believable 

Stimulating 

Well illustrated 

Well rounded 

Pointedly written 

Worthwhile 

Dry 

Irrelevent 

Questionable 

Boring 

Poorly illustrated 

Narrow in scope 

Verbose 

Superfluous 

45 
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 

THE ENGINEER MAGAZINE POSTAGE AND FEES PAID

USA ENGINEER SCHOOL D E P AR T M E N T OF THe: AR M Y 

FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA 22060 000-314

OFFICIAL BUSINESS	 First Class 

PENALTY FOR PRIVATE USE $300 

DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY 

THE ENGINEER MAGAZINE
 

USA ENGINEER SCHOOL
 

FORT BELVOIR, VIRGINIA 22060
 

7.	 Would you like to see more or less articles 

by the following groups (if you're already 

satisfied, leave blank) : 

MORE LESS 

Junior Enlisted 

Junior NCO 

Senior NCO 

Junior Officer 

Field Grade Officers 

Genera I OHi cers 

Warrant Officer 

- - - ­

8. Do you have any comments, criticisms or 

suggestions for the magazine? 

9.	 Can you name any articles which appeared 

in THE ENGINEER that particularly impressed you? _