Cardinal Point: An Oral History — Training Soldiers and Becoming a Strategist in Peace and War. by General Paul F. Gorman Cardinal Point, Virginia 2010 - 2011 Published by Combat Studies Institute GENERAL PAUL F. GORMAN Cardinal Point: An Oral History — Training Soldiers and Becoming a Strategist in Peace and War. CSI Press Publications cover a variety of military topics. The views expressed in this CSI Press Publication are those of the author(s) and not necessarily those of the Department of the Army or the Department of Defense. ii Editor’s Introduction to the Oral History of General Paul Francis Gorman, U.S.A. Retired The oral history that follows is based on five interviews conducted with General (Retired) Paul F. Gorman by Lieutenant Colonel Robert P. Reddy, Mr Richard Swain, and Mr. Michael Starry. The Reddy interview was conducted as a student project at the Army War College during Academic Year 1990-91.1 Reddy inquired about General Gorman’s early years, his experience in various professional schools, and particularly, General Gorman’s command of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry, ‘Blue Spaders’ in the First Infantry Division in Vietnam. Four additional interviews were conducted by Mr. Swain and Mr. Starry between October 2010 and April 2011 in the midst of the vineyards at General Gorman’s home at Cardinal Point near Afton, Virginia. Midway in the conduct of the more recent interviews, the participants made a decision to integrate all the interview material into a single chronological narrative that could provide General Gorman’s contextual overview for the electronic archive. Mr. Swain was responsible for integrating the texts, passing the various drafts to General Gorman, and incorporating General Gorman’s suggestions, corrections, and clarifying remarks. He also added the notes that link the discussions to particular documents in the archive. The narrative is General Gorman’s and the whole has his approval as an accurate representation of his views at this time. Every effort has been made to make the interviewers transparent unless their questions provide useful transition from one topic to another. The one notable exception is the lengthy question that begins the section on General Gorman’s assignment as Deputy Chief of Staff for Training at Training and Doctrine Command. The suggestion of a general theory underlying the creation and operation of Training and Doctrine Command was synthesized from and referenced to presentations General Gorman gave at the time. The narrative that follows shows General Gorman is skeptical that any theory had a lot to do with TRADOC’s creation and early life beyond providing post facto rationalization for necessary actions. This long question serves as a reference point for the pragmatic narrative that follows. General Gorman’s response offers a cogent corrective to those impressed by the explanatory power of overarching theory to account for contingent actions. The editor believes, none the less, that the question makes explicit a critical contemporary insight about the synergy between combat and training development, otherwise neglected. General Gorman has been willing to tolerate this intervention with skeptical but good humor. This Oral History serves as an introduction to the Gorman papers collected here. While the history is intended to stand alone, it is not a substitute for critical reading of the documents themselves. The account is weighted deliberately toward General Gorman’s Army service from commissioning through division command. General Gorman played an especially important role in the revitalization and recreation of the US Army after the War in Vietnam, a period complicated by transition of the Armed Forces from conscript to volunteer manning. The Army of the 1970s underwent a profound strategic reorientation and organizational realignment in a period of budgetary stringency. The written artifacts from this period offer important insights for today’s Army leaders preparing to transition from another set of long wars in another period of fiscal stringency, strategic reorientation, and organizational realignment. 1 General Gorman provided two copies of the War College Interview by LTC Bob Reddy, one of 53 pages; the other of 72 pages. The longer version only is present in the Archive. Dr. Swain added explanatory notes to the longer version for use in assembling the Oral History. 06_Retired, FOLDER A: Retired 1985-1990 (01_Retired_85_90), PORTFOLIO D: Army War College Oral History (39_90_AWCOralHist_Dec) [01_90_OralHist_MHI.pdf]. iii Parallel to his career leading and training Soldiers in war and peace from platoon through division level, General Gorman built an equally distinguished joint service career for which he laid the foundation as a major on the Army Staff in the early 1960s. Later, he served in the Department of Defense, then as a staff member during the Paris Peace Talks. Following division command, he was detailed to the CIA, and then served as Joint Staff J5 and Special Assistant to the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He completed his unformed service as Commander in Chief, US Southern Command, opposing the efforts of the Sandinistas and their Cuban sponsors to extend their sway over all of Central America. The archive contains evidence of General Gorman’s substantial participation in the arguments for reorganization of the Department of Defense, including post-retirement membership on the Packard Commission. The Packard Commission laid the foundation for the Goldwater-Nichols Defense Reorganization Act which established the current organization of the Department of Defense and strengthened the position of the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff with respect to the separate service chiefs. The archive also shows General Gorman’s sophisticated grasp of what used to be called Low Intensity Conflict during a period when the major attention of the Armed Forces was focused on the conventional defense of Western Europe and Korea. A full biography would address more equally this parallel stream of professional development and General Gorman’s accomplishments as a strategist. The archive also demonstrates that General Gorman’s contribution to the Army and national security affairs did not end with his retirement, with defense reorganization, or the end of the Cold War. He continues to be engaged with defense leaders, particularly with Training and Doctrine Command, well into the 21st century. iv CONTENTS Early Life and West Point ............................................................................................................................. 1 Lieutenant Years at Fort Benning, Georgia .................................................................................................. 6 Korea ........................................................................................................................................................... 12 West Point Instructor .................................................................................................................................. 19 Marine Corps Junior School ....................................................................................................................... 22 USAREUR: 4th Armored Division and 7th Army ..................................................................................... 24 US Army Command and General Staff College ......................................................................................... 28 Office of the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations (G3) Department of the Army ................................... 30 National War College ................................................................................................................................. 31 Vietnam: 1st Infantry Division ................................................................................................................... 32 DOD and Paris Peace Talks ........................................................................................................................ 49 Vietnam: 101st Airborne Division .............................................................................................................. 52 Board for Dynamic Training and Assistant Commandant Infantry School ................................................ 57 Deputy Chief of Staff for Training, Training and Doctrine Command ...................................................... 66 Managing the Army Training System ..................................................................................................... 67 Training Subsystems: .......................................................................................................................... 67 Standard Scenarios: ......................................................................................................................... 68 Anti-Armor Systems: ...................................................................................................................... 68 Algorithm of Readiness: ...................................................................................................................... 69 The Importance of Data: ..................................................................................................................... 70 Unit or Institutional Training: ............................................................................................................ 73 Engagement Simulation in Unit Training: .....................................................................................