European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 30, 1968, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Vage 8 the stars and stripes to Day april 30, airmen get new policy on Tours Washington is Theair Force is now selecting first term airmen holding unbalanced specialities for Transfer from one overseas command directly to an other because of the Vietnam War. This also Means that some airmen will Start moving from Europe for example to South East Asia before the end of their Safe tour and in the other direction without a stateside tour in Between  first transfers Are expected to begin in july. The air Force could not say How Many men will be involved. Reason for change the new policy was announce Din a letter from it. Gen. Horace m. Wade Deputy chief of staff for personnel to major com  change results from Large overseas requirements for Man airmen in positions that Are not found in Large numbers in . Some Are virtually non existent. As a result a disproportionate amount of retraining has resulted and an excessive num Ber of 3-Ievei technical school graduates have been sent to 5-level positions abroad. To improve this system keep Short Tours to one year and hold off on second involuntary sea Tours As Long As possible the air Force said it was forced to change its policy for first term airmen in the unbalanced skills. Tour abroad the total time an individual spends abroad will not exceed 36 months and Tours will be serve Din both Long and Remote or Iso lated areas. The change will result in improved efficiency for overseas commands an Economy through the reduction of retraining and greater career progression for the airmen involved the air Force said. Leave in the . In betwee assignments will be available. The army has been following somewhat similar policy for some time and last year formalized the change brought on by the manpower needs of the Vietnam War. Nemo team at Pitburg they plug message Center of activity men of the 2139th communication so operate the Nemo Board at Pitburg air base. Is photo Gates by Ray Wrights a Ramstein Bureau chief Pitburg Germany is like the boy who put his Finger in the Dike communications maintenance men who plug the 2139th while they carried out the irregular Job of maintenance on All communications equipment for the air base including ground radio Nav aids equip ment radio relay and telephones. 113 army Navy fixed radio communication trop scatter system in the world said . Graham t. Kent Coic of Nemo and maintenance control. It is combination of permanent and mob Joe  no Uduc Ilcyn a Tlacil Wii plus a ta�,�.ifc�ujj Hijji i Mai ice Ami Uio Duthe Gap in message flow Are ifs very onstruc.?" quire woman hours equipment which is now installed As a  ,.,\ t i i it. Tana Cost Sqq. If that. In Ned Holh Hoon Nprma Nan fail if important Fellows. In keeping with their Ultra modern Mission they have devise electronic devices for spotting and report ing deficiencies or Breaks in their complicated network. At Pitburg the 2139th commo so use sits maintenance control and Nav aids communications management office Nemo to locate and report trouble spots. The Nemo was built by personnel of and Cost $300. F the Nemo had Bee built by a commercial concern the uni estimates that it would have Cost at least troop morale an Issue the maintenance Center part of Centra european Region arcs is responsible for Long haul communications in Western Europe including shape contacts. It links England and the United state through the trop scatter relay station at Flobeck Belgium. We believe we have the Only an Fri permanent facility the 2139th, commanded by it. Co Thomas w. Deering is the nerve Center for maintenance support of 10 radio re Lay locations in Germany and Belgium. It is the Squadron reporting Center Fornall equipment and circuit reports concerning communications Center traffic backlog radio equipment Power Genera Tor status Navaid status weather Cir Cuits leased lines Auto Din from bit Burg and associated relay Sites. Sets. Maj. Hold Parley by Phil Dodson staff writer Mannheim Germany is personnel shortages and troop morale set the theme for the seventh army communications come sergeants major Confer new cd maj. Gen. Donald ii. Cowles new commanding general of the 3rd army div greets sgt. Maj. Randal Johnson the division sergeant major As he meets staff members following Nis arrival at Drake Cavern in Frankfurt. Is photo by Routle ence held at site Aasc 92, temporary signal relay station near Darmstadt. Setting a precedent the Par Ley took place in the midst of a Field exercise of the 93rd sign Alan which had deployed a major percentage of its men and equip i ment for the exercise. J attending the conference with presiding no sgt. Maj. Thad Deus r. Zbieg communications omd he were sets. Maj James e. Cook 1st signal in a James a. Riffle 16th signal in Ralph Ward 26th signal in Clarence r. Stern 93rd signal in Donald f. Handfield 97thsignal in and m. Sgt. Leslie e Robinson. 440lh signal in. Welcomed to the talks by a tool. John c. Mahan jr., co 93rd signal in the visiting cos were taken on a guided tour of the site s facilities an then met for the four hour con Ference. Discussion entered on trained personnel shortages with emphasis placed on enlisted troop welfare and morale. Everything discussed relates Back in some Way or other to troop morale said sgt.  Zbieg. Two Points brought out in the conference Are tied directly to one another morale and personnel shortages. We Are getting a lot of people who Are not trained in signal Moss. Generally in the lower grades we can give a Man on the Job train ing and eventually he will become a useful member of the unit. Where the real problem comes in is combating shortages i senior enlisted grades. Lack of trained people Means someone has to put out much More than the Normal workload Calls for. This can have dual effects morale could drop or if the men get the Job done even though they Are Short of personnel they develop a sense of Pride an morale goes up. I think now the latter is  according to Zbieg the con Ference was educational in that each of the men were Able to compare problems and programs of the different battalions wit their own. Zbieg went on to say that each battalion s manner of operation differs with the others and that the meeting gave each of the command sergeants major the Opportunity to see How the 93dsignal in operates. We intend to hold All future conferences in the Field As we have done Here with a different battalion hosting each con Ference Zbieg concluded. 8th tac fighter Wing gets Well-done9 Honor Saigon special an 8thtactical fighter Wing f4 phantom Crew who nursed Home its multimillion Dollar aircraft despite heavy Battle damage has received the 15th air Force Well done award. Maj. William s. Henderson jr.,and 1st it. Terry a. Markle were presented the award by it Gen. Benjamin o. Davis 13th of commander. Navy league announces 8 award winners Honolulu special the1987 Navy league awards were presented Here at the annual Navy league convention. The Secretary of the Navy announced the winners in Washington d.c., As follows capt. Paul n. Gray received the John Paul Jones award for inspirational leadership by an of  adm. Claude v. Ricketts award for inspirational Leader ship by a Navy enlisted Man was awarded this year to two per sons master chief aviation fire control technician Jamesw. Enright and chief engine Man James w.  outstanding leadership award for Marine corps enlisted personnel the Gen. Gerald a Thomas award was presented to sgt. John j.  Navy s capt. Robert c. Gooding for outstanding contributions in scientific and tech Nical Progress As an officer was presented the rear adm. You Ham s. Parsons award. Capt. Donald g. Iselin of the Navy s civil engineering corps was awarded the Stephen Decatur award for outstanding operational competence As an of Flag vol. Robert d. Lleini or. Usic re received the a ure Thayer Mahan award for not Abw literary  Robert m. Thompson award for outstanding civilian leadership in furthering the Ortance of sea Power was of seated to the in Onorato 1u�o r. Sheppard