Airborne: A Guided Tour of an Airborne Task Force

America. As you enter the post, the history of the place washes over you as soon as you look at the street signs. Names like Bastogne, Normandy, and Nijmegen flash at you, all names of classic airborne actions.

Near the center of the post complex is the XVIII Airborne Corps headquarters. As you enter the security section of the headquarters building, you are struck by the image of the corps badge: a powerful blue dragon on a white background. It is a beautiful insignia, and one worthy of and appropriate for the collection of units under the corps’ command. Up on the second floor is the commanding general’s warm paneled office, which reeks of the six decades of service XVIII Airborne Corps has rendered to the country and the world. Battle streamers hang in the dozens from the flag-pole in the corner, and there is a feeling of power in the room. This is further enhanced by the reputations of some of the men who have occupied the office. Recent commanders have included General Gary Luck, who took the Corps to the Persian Gulf in 1990, and then fought it there in 1991. The last commander, General Hugh Shelton, currently commands the U.S. Special Operations Command at MacDill AFB, Florida, where he controls the nation’s force of “snake eaters.” Today, though, the post of XVIII Airborne Corps commander is occupied by a man who is making his own mark on this office, Lieutenant General John M. Keane.

John Keane is a strong man, over six feet tall. But don’t let the physical attributes of this powerful man confuse you. A career paratrooper and infantryman, he has spent the bulk of his life within the units of the XVIII Airborne Corps. Let’s meet him.

^{Lieutenant General John Keane, USA. General Keane is the commander of the U.S. XVIII Airborne Corps.}

^{OFFICIAL U.S. ARMY PHOTO}

Tom Clancy: Could you please tell us a little about your background and Army career?

General Keane: I grew up in New York City, right in midtown Manhattan. Not many people think of Manhattan as a place to live. I was born and grew up there, as did my wife. I attended Fordham University and graduated in 1966. While at the University, I joined the Army ROTC [Reserve Officer Training Corps] program.

Tom Clancy: What made you want to choose the military as a career?

General Keane: At Fordham, I was exposed early to the ROTC program, and I just liked the people who were in it. I was in the Pershing Rifles, which was a military fraternity, and liked the people who were part of it. Perhaps the deciding factor was that most of the people involved in the military programs at Fordham seemed to me a little bit more mature and had a better sense of direction than the average college student that I was dealing with. We also had a number of students who had returned to school while in the military and had some very good things to say about it. So I stayed with it, and came into my first unit, the 82nd Airborne Division, in 1966. Then I was assigned to the 101st Airborne.

Tom Clancy: You seem to have spent much of your career around XVIII Airborne Corps. Is that a fair statement?

General Keane: In terms of units in the [XVIII Airborne] corps, I guess I’ve had ten or twelve different types of jobs and assignments with it. I started with a platoon in the 82nd, then was a platoon leader and company commander in the 101st in Vietnam, and a brigade commander and chief of staff with the 10th Mountain Division at Fort Drum, New York. Later I was chief of staff and [had] assorted other jobs here at XVIII Airborne Corps for Gary Luck when he commanded [post-Desert Storm], and finally [was] division commander of the 101st Airborne (Air Assault) Division at Fort Campbell, Kentucky, for thirty-three months. That’s three of the four divisions in the corps, and that experience has been very valuable to me. It gives me an inside perspective on the capabilities of those different organizations, as well as a certain comfort that I might not have had I not been a part of them at one time.

Tom Clancy: What drew you toward the airborne career track when you came into the Army?

General Keane: When I joined the Army, the airborne were, not too surprisingly, our [country?s] elite soldiers, with a reputation for outstanding non-commissioned officers [NCOs], a high standard of discipline, and a lot of esprit and motivation. I knew that I wanted to be an infantry officer, so I like to think that I was quite naturally attracted to the airborne as a result of all that.

Like many other young Army officers of his time, Jack Keane got his baptism in combat in the cauldron of Vietnam. Assigned as a junior officer to the 2nd Battalion/502nd Infantry Regiment of the 101st Airborne Division, he saw a somewhat different war from that of other young officers. Unlike so many of them, he learned some positive lessons in the battles of Vietnam.

Tom Clancy: What was life as a young officer like for you in the Army?

General Keane: To be with the 101st in Vietnam, I have to say that our soldiers, our leaders, and our NCOs were all committed to the mission… we were all in it together. We had a sense of duty, and were very much a part of what we were doing. We had a sense of pride associated with our actions, and we knew that we were doing a pretty good job. That organization [the 101st] was feared by the enemy, and I don’t remember a single discipline problem that I had with a soldier, other than one guy who kept falling asleep at night on his position. Quite frankly, the other soldiers in his unit just took care of that, because he was threatening their lives as well as his own. They got with him and made it clear in no uncertain terms that he had to get with it and that he was letting them down. That was the kind of organization that we had. The 101st’s soldiers were disciplined and they responded to our orders very well.

Tom Clancy: What lessons did you bring out of your personal Vietnam experience that are important to you today?

General Keane: A number of things actually. Number one is the value of our force of NCOs in maintaining our high standards and being responsible for the training and discipline of our soldiers. Another is that leaders have to lead from the front, junior leaders particularly. Senior leaders as well on occasion have to demonstrate their capacity to share in the physical dangers that are faced by their soldiers. That was the kind of organization that I was around at the time of Vietnam.

In addition, I became a training zealot as a result of Vietnam. I don’t think that we were as well trained as we could have and should have been. I found myself, as a young officer, training an organization while it was in combat. Putting out security and practicing various techniques and procedures while I was in a combat zone. Part of that was driven by the flawed policy of individual personnel replacement. It ended up causing too much turbulence in our organizations with people coming and going all the time. It was also compounded by the one-year tour of duty versus a long-term personnel commitment.[9] As a result, some of the personnel decisions and lessons stayed with me. Another thing is that from a policy perspective, you need to set specific goals and objectives, and then go after those goals and objectives. Also, make sure that these goals are clear so the American people know what they are. Present those goals and objectives to them, get their support, use overwhelming combat power, and follow the mission to completion.

Today the unit commanded by General Keane is a very different animal from that commanded by General Ridgway in 1944. Back then, XVIII Airborne Corps was composed of only two divisions and was limited to parachuting and airdropping forces within a few hundred miles of its bases. Today, it has four divisions, 85,000 personnel, and a global mission with seven-league boots. Let’s let General Keane tell us about it.