This oral history transcript is a part of the academic year 1986, 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. LTG Mackmull was retired when this interview was conducted. Copies are located in Special Collections ; [copy 2 is a PDF of the interview].

Birth and early childhood -- High school years -- Deciding to apply to West Point -- West Point years -- Graduation from USMA, 1950 -- First duty assignment, Alaska -- Attendance in the Associate Infantry Course, Ft. Benning -- Assignment to Korea, 1952 -- Assignment to Hawaii, 1954 -- Structure of training system -- Social life and family life -- Assignment to Ft. Benning -- Questions on selection boards -- Officer professional development and "competitiveness" -- Generalist vs. specialist technical abilities -- Attendance to flight school, Camp Gary, TX -- Army aviation and MOS training -- Lack of focus on senior leaders -- Thoughts on leadership at Fort Leavenworth, KS -- Senior leadership selections by the Chief of Staff -- Special operations forces -- Grenada operation -- OPSEC considerations in Grenada -- Helicopter weapons experimentation at Fort Rucker -- Involvement with the Howze Board -- Friendship with General Kinnard -- Deployment to Vietnam -- Aviation operations in Vietnam -- Attendance to the Armed Forces Staff College -- JTF-7 -- Warrant Officer aviators/career patterns for commissioned officers -- Hubbell Commission study -- Warrant Officer grades 5&6 -- Attendance at the Army War College -- Assignment to Combat Developments Command -- Reassigned to Vietnam as the 164th Aviation Group Commander/Operations -- Senior Advisor of the 44th Special Tactical Zone, Vietnam -- Assignment as Chief of Staff of Force Development on the Department of the Army Staff -- Promotion to Brigadier General and assignment to the 1st Aviation Brigade -- 1st Aviation Brigade Commander in Vietnam -- Aviation strength during drawdown -- Aviation operations -- Recovery of US prisoners from Loc Ninh -- Views on Vietnamese value system -- Withdrawal from Vietnam -- Assignment as Deputy of the Aviation Systems Command -- Assignment as the Assistant Division Commander, 101st Airborne Division -- Managing the arrival of Vietnamese refugees, Fort Chaffee, Arkansas -- Temporary command of the 101st -- Assignment as Chief of Staff, XVIII Airborne Corps -- Member of the West Point study group -- Views on Airborne anti-armor defense concepts -- Command of JFK Special Warfare Center -- Views on roles and missions of Special Forces -- Low-intensity conflict doctrine -- Reassignment to the 101st Airborne Division -- Participation in Bright Star exercise in Egypt -- Training Systems at Fort Campbell -- Command of the XVIII Airborne Corps -- XVIII Airborne Corps relationship to the RDF -- XVIII Airborne Corps relationship to Third Army -- Command of XVIII Airborne Corps -- Restructuring the command and control System for the XVIII Airborne Corps -- SOF integration of the contingency corps and command and control -- Views on the LAV-25 -- Views on the Chief of Staff's communication venues -- Views on contracting Army positions to civilians -- Aviation special process review -- Views on Joint Air Attack Team (JAAT) -- Views on the Army's light divisions -- Is organic fixed-wing aircraft in the Army still justified? -- How does the Army staff become more of a policy organization?.