European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 20, 1977, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 12 the stars and stripes Ira c. Eaker recruits dedicated training is excellent tuesday september 1977 super Peanut is. Godzilla recently i was privileged to visit the Basic training school of the air Force at Lackland air Force base. San Antonio Tex. Here the largest air Force base receives processes and trains 80,000 people annually to maintain a regular air Force of 560,000 and an air National guard and Reserve of 250.000. More than 90 per cent of the Basic trainees Are High school graduates. The air Force has Learned by experience that High school graduates have twice the Chance of completing a satisfactory four year enlist ment of no graduates. Here those 80.000 recruits receive Basic training of six weeks where they learn the columns comments rudimentary essentials of the military Art Drill deportment and discipline. Here also each recruit selects the preferred military skill which will determine his assignment to an immediate upcoming technical school providing an aptitude test indicates his qualification. There Are about 300 of these Trade specialities in the air Force technical schools More than 90 per cent of which Are directly applicable to Well paying civil occupations. At Lackland i was assigned to one of the 11 training squadrons permitted to observe the Drill and classroom procedures and to Dine with and interview selected trainees. Incidentally this Squadron commander was a woman obviously an Able Leader of her 1,000 charges. It struck me that it probably was not a bad idea for these Young adults to learn that air Force officers May be of either sex. Eventually i suspect that the All Volunteer Force May have a larger percentage of females. My greatest Surprise came at the mess Hall correctly named in my time but wholly inappropriate Here. I Learned while in the Chow line that the ration allowance government Money to feed one Man one Day was now $3. It was 19 cents when i enlisted in 1917. Today a Friday there were Fried shrimp lobster and Steak As entrees with several choices of fresh vegetables two kinds of potatoes salad fresh fruit pies and ice Cream. Napoleon who remarked almost two centuries ago that an army travelled on its stomach would probably be somewhat surprised to find that an aerospace Force is equally concerned about its rations. The trainees i interviewed included one Black and one female. They had completed five of the six weeks course without experiencing any hardship or prejudice result ing from race or sex. All trainees interviewed had one career plan. They intended to learn and practice a Trade. In addition they planned to earn an associate degree in the air Force Community College. At the end of their four year enlistment after return to civilian life each was determined to Complete his Edu cation paying his Way with the technical skills and trades he had Learned in the air Force. Clearly the educational Opportunity is the prime motivation for air Force enlist ment. It makes possible the Success of the All Volunteer military Force. I left Lackland training Center con Vinced that we now have the most Intelli gent Basic trainees and most dedicated military Force we have Ever had. But there was this haunting query will we give them the support and weapons they require or will they with our Freedom be sacrificed on the altar of ill advised Politi Cal decisions such As cancellation of essential weapon systems and continued unilateral disarmament c los Angeles times James Reston Lance can f win against Senate Bert Lance clearly won the first round of his Battle with the Senate but i politics there Are some Battles you can t afford to win. Lance chose to put the Senate committee on the defensive to attack his attackers but it is fairly Clear that he was trying to save himself and not his Job. Nobody knows better than Lance s lawyer Clark Clifford the survivor of Many tragic struggles in Washington that you can defy the Senate or live with the Senate but you can t do both for Long. Accordingly it is a reasonable guess Here that Lance in his Savage attack on Ribi coff of Connecticut and Percy of Illinois and even on the whole confirming process of the Senate must have decided to defend his character and then take a one Way ticket Back Home to Atlanta. In personal terms Lance was an Appeal ing witness Calm and eloquent. He read a competent factual statement of his Case without a gulp and with amiable Good Man ners. According to his testimony he had done nothing wrong or if he had it was without his knowledge when he was run Ning for governor and besides nobody had Ever lost a cent in his Banks overdrafts were available to everybody and on the record were even Good business. The trouble he suggested was with the Senate specifically with the committee that confirmed him As head of the office of management and budget without Reading the facts he had Given them and then with the press that had dramatized the charges against him without hearing his Side of the Story. Lance turned the whole controversy around. He was not the accused but the accuser. His reputation and even his integrity had been questioned he said. He had been attacked As a swindler and a financial crap shooter who used his Banks As a per Sonal toy or Playpen and his influence with Jimmy Carter for his own personal gain. The press had challenged his honesty he added attacked his integrity and invaded his privacy. Jimmy Carter had dramatized the importance of human rights abroad but he Lance wondered after the inva Sion of his own human rights How we could claim to be an example to the rest of the world. Lance clearly had some legitimate grievances. Senators Ribicoff and Percy had called for his resignation on the White House Lawn and on the basis of unproved allegations. They tried to explain that they had tried to have a private conversation with president Carter but had been urged by some unnamed White House officials to talk to the press after they saw the presi Dent but they never explained Why they Felt obliged at that Point to suggest that Lance should resign without producing their evidence. Percy was also embarrassed in trying to explain to the committee in the presence of Lance Why he had suggested again with out evidence that Lance might have Back dated checks to gain personal advantage with his income tax and Lance nailed him on the Point and forced Percy to both Percy and Ribicoff could t quite explain Why they had sent committee investigators to interview a convicted embezzler in one of Lance s Banks and then vaguely suggested that Lance was also involved in the crime. So after the Long delayed confrontation Between Lance and the Senate committee everybody around Here is vaguely sad and apologetic. Lance is determined to defend himself but still feels he has let Jimmy Carter Down. Carter has the dilemma of closing Between his principles and his friends. And beyond that Ribicoff and Percy in the Senate Are embarrassed by being too easy on Lance in the confirmation hear Ings in the beginning and a Little too rough on him at the end. And even the press which is not noted for excessive compas Sion is beginning to wonder. But anyway even if Bert Lance won the first round he will probably have to go Home. He cannot possibly win his fight with the Senate and still get its support for the management and organization of tin budget. There is another fundamental problem. If Lance is not careful he will not Only lose his Job but to put it gently he will lose his shirt. At the end of his testimony before the Senate he quoted the Bible and or. Lin Coln on the theme that Public service was i private agony but at the end he was not very convincing. It is not Only the committee of the Senate that worries about his financial difficulties. That is All in the past. But in the future Bert Lance has to worry about his own financial solvency. His problem now is not How to keep his Job in Washington but How to regain his work and reestablish his old life in Georgia As a is no Way after Lance s Battles with the Senate that he can be anything but a problem for his Friend Jimmy Carter in the Congress and with the budget. His problem now is How to go Home again and with the Confidence of his neighbors in Georgia somehow try to reestablish the old Confidence and the old lit among his friends. C new York times
