Cover title. Interview conducted in 2000. Publication date based on signed user agreement. This oral history transcript is a part of the academic year 2000, US Army War College/US Army Military History Institute's Senior Officer Oral History Program, prepared under the auspices of the Institute's Oral History Branch.

Introduction and early years -- Influence of grandfather -- Early schooling -- Jobs growing up -- Athletics in school -- West Point -- Beast detail -- Preparation for West Point -- Meeting future wife while a cadet -- Deciding on branch choice -- Basic field artillery course -- Ranger buddy -- Airborne school -- Fort Carson, Colorado, first troop duty -- 20th Artillery, 5th Infantry Division -- Army training test -- OER philosophy -- Assignment to Vietnam -- Wounded in Vietnam -- Awarded Bronze Star medal for valor -- Impression of Vietnamese people -- Advanced course after Vietnam -- Differences in soldiers who were drafted and who volunteered -- Importance of drill sergeants -- Adopting Michael. Refresher course at Fort Sill before deployment to Vietnam -- Assignment to 9th Division in the Delta -- 2d of the Field Artillery Battalion -- Experience with the Riverine Force -- Drawdown of American Forces in Vietnam -- Command and General Staff College, 1970-71 -- Relationships that developed at Leavenworth -- Field Artillery Branch, 1971 -- Adoption of second child -- Aide to General Abrams -- General Haig -- Key issues Abrams dealt with while Reimer was his aide -- The big five -- General Abrams illness and death -- XO for Division Artillery, 45th Inf Div (Mech) -- The fall of Saigon and the end of the Vietnam War -- Battalion Command, 1st Battalion, 27 Artillery -- Commandant of the Division's Training Command. Selection for the Army War College, running my first marathon, Gettysburg -- Marathon -- Deputy V Corps artillery commander, Frankfurt, Germany -- Working for General Vuono -- Selection to BG -- TRADOC experience at Fort Sill -- Selection to major general -- Soldiers and state of training a decade after Vietnam -- Assignment to Korea as chief of staff of CFA [combined field artillery] -- Assignment as CG, 4th Infantry Div at Fort Carson -- Importance of family programs -- DCSOPS position, Washington -- Take on performance of National Guard and Reserves in the Gulf War -- Concern about chemicals, biological warfare and anthrax -- VII Corps attack and whether the Corps was moving fast enough -- Parade on Constitution Avenue -- General Powell's base force -- Appointment to Vice Chief of Staff of the Army -- Transition from three stars to four stars -- Issue of homosexuals in the Army -- Establishing working relationships with President Clinton -- Commander at FORSCOM -- General Powell's retirement ceremony and dinner at the White House -- Closing Fort Sheridan and Fort Ord while at Forces Command -- Chief of staff of the Army -- Initial actions and orders upon taking office -- Inactivation of Sixth Army -- Tensions between Atlantic Command & Southern Command -- Acceleration of the Bosnia mission -- Importance of Army/Navy game -- Hate killings at Fort Bragg -- Importance of Joint Requirements Oversight Council -- Deaths of Cal Waller and Mike Bourda -- Random thoughts while running [RTWR]. Challenges and opportunities of second year in office -- Revision of the Army Physical Fitness Test -- QDRs -- Reducing the Army Reserve -- OPMS XXI -- Sexual harassment issues -- Sexual harassment allegations against the sergeant major of the Army -- Secretary Bill Cohen, secretary of defense -- President Clinton spoke at West Point -- Sergeant major of the Army sexual harassment scandal -- Acting sergeant major of the Army, Bob Hale -- Big cuts to the National Guard -- Process used to select next chairman of the joint chiefs of staff -- Mentoring by senior officers -- The steward of change -- Army after next -- The six fundamentals for change -- Drawing down the force -- The whole complex of social issues that confronted the Army at this time -- Don't ask, don't tell policy -- Issue of females in the Army -- How do we train the females -- Recruiting and retention during tenure -- Family support groups to make sure families were taken care of -- Military experience helpful in transitioning into the civilian work force -- Relationships experience while a member of the joint chiefs of staff -- Mike Borda's suicide's effect on the joint chiefs -- Jay Johnson, chief of naval operations -- Resource issue in the 90s -- Saddam Hussein -- Relationship with Congress -- Kosovo -- Central region chief of the Army staff talks -- Task Force Hawk -- Role in selection of successor -- Role of chief and secretary in general officer management -- Selection of the surgeon general -- Most satisfying accomplishments of the Army during time as chief of staff -- Unfinished business -- Advice for successor -- From retirement from Army to transition to new responsibilities -- Concluding remarks.