European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 18, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                January 1978 consumer group oids dependents the stars and stripes Page 9 wow plugs gaps in Community Story and Pebria by Bob Cullen Suh writer Germany s4s wow has been called a chapter of naders Rald a women lib group and a Maverick cmceri1 wives to a local consumer group designed to help military Brenda president of traced he history of the most wives in a jag judge advocate group Are a Tot of Hera have worked and things that satisfy some women  satisfy a lot of them didst like going to teas and they thought their you could be put to better she what we did was to incorporate our Little group into something which would be worthwhile for the we decided that at each meeting we we would be working toward a we would not meet just to thai was the foundation of an organization that now exists in the Community puled the women of were to rally we Hare Only two a chairman and a Secretary and a Large Volunteer we try to look into he Community and see what we think the needs Are that often those needs we identify Are different than what Are identified by other particularly by the and thence set oat to do something about the wow members focused on the heeds of the no command sponsored fam in an Effort to lighten the burdens of these the women in wow came up with a harebrained which they subsequently put into we noticed that the germans were throwing furniture and although a lot of it was just there were useable pieces in the midst at we went to the commanding general at that and proposed that we would go out and pick up this furniture and bring it Back if we could find a warehouse to store it and it could be distributed through some existing Organiza army Community services acs became the distributing organization and junk collectors swung into drawer cabinets and close were loaded into army vehicles provided by the Community and transported to the which was the basement of the quartermaster furniture building at Faulenburg according to s Jerry acs More than my no command sponsored families have received furniture through the wow members also suggested placing signs at the front and Back Gates of Leighton Barracks to Aid hitchhiking because Wurzburg i the Headquarters of the 3rd inf Many sol Diers travel Here from the divisions outly ing found in such towns As Kil a Lieujen and bad to conduct Busi often the return military transportation is not convenient and the soldiers Hitchhike Back to their before the signs were put a Driver willing to give a Soldier a ride had to Slop and ask if anyone wanted to ride in the same now the hitchhikers Only need to stand under the appropriate town sign to announce their intended Destina wow members also initiated and did most of the work for the Wil Retburg information the guide was part of an orientation program he previous Community commander specifically requested wow to wow did the ground work for the which was to be a Brief introduction to the when finally the pamphlet was a 180page Book and instead of being a Welcome from the our abut military it was volunteers relax after getting two Ruck dwarfs d household goods in a wow junking an acs Welcome with the acs Symbol printed on the what happened Hood says the alterations on the Book were engineered by an aggressive former acs who also was the wife of the former Deputy Community Hood added that the former president of wow should have put up More of a fight to keep the original version of the both women have left the and the  is being re its just too said John Deputy Community com its a novel weve asked these wives wow members to make it the guide Book affair was an eyeopener for she said she Felt deserted when the first Book was taken Over and changed by acs when friends old Hood that the wow president was afraid to push for wow because of possible repercussions for her husbands i taxi response was come on this ii this int the dark his kind of thing Doest but Hood has changed her she said she now believes the former wow president did fear for her husbands career and As a the former president backed off when the confrontation Over the Book its not Hood said of wives being pressured by the threat of damage to their husbands but the army goes Back a Long Way i think a lot of situations go when asked if it is easier far wives of lawyer officers or doctor officers to Chal Lenge the system because their Hus bands have two Hood and several other wow members agreed that such was the if the army career turns the husband still has a profession to prac the women wives of career sol Diers Are More easily Hood because the husbands army career is often his Only i wish Crossie Cox were Hood said during the Shes a member of wow and her husband is not a lawyer or Cox by her own a Mili tary her husband is a career officer who has been in the army eight he is not a lawyer or but Cox does not feel her participation in wow has or will affect his you hear of the colonels wife who wore her husbands rank on her Shoul Der i have encountered thai Type of woman on very rare maybe maybe three Cox and the thing where if you dont Par your husband might As Well hang it i have never run into that but dont Many people in and out of the military believe the wife participation in Community affairs has a direct bearing on her husbands career i dont believe it for a pm an t think its a i think these girls feel that if someone asks them for a favor for two or three hours a that there having their Arm but there half the time its just that they cant say no and not feel guilty about saying the president of the officers wives Mary Jane during a discussion about the importance of the wife contribution to her husbands said her name had been mentioned in a positive sense in her husbands efficiency she said she interpreted this to mean thai her participation in Community affairs did make a difference to some one in the Chain of Hood and the other wow members interviewed said that their organization was open to membership regardless of rank or and that Many members were not offi cers nor were the officers wives members All wives of doctors and collectors of authors of information Sug estors of hitchhiking aids what is the purpose of this group called wow Hood says they Are a catalyst for Poai live action for the Cox said they Are specifically designed to Aid the to work out problems with the the the the the anything the dependents have problems Hood and Cox agreed that wow was an ombudsman style their charter lists eight to improve the lifestyle of All military and civilian personnel and their depend with special emphasis on personnel living on the to promote better understanding and communication Between the military de pendent Community and its services and to strive to help existing organizations to be More to help initiate programs where1 they Are to educate wives and families on How to better help to help turn legitimate complaints into constructive 7 to train the military dependent Community to use the existing procedures for registering complaints Sugges and to expect a response re sults for to convince the military dependent Community thai it is possible to make wow was patterned after the a Hallbom a similar ombudsman style group organized by wives of the find airborne div at fort Why did the women Here feel compelled to begin another Volunteer organization Why not Channel their efforts to already established such As acs we dont really do the same things acs Cox the last general wanted us under the auspices of but we dont want to Why not we have a Little More says As a Sepa rate we dont have to take it cant be done for an if we were under we would get addition Al tasking that we really dont has wow encountered situations in which they were openly not wanted according to wow member Joyce Norene that is not a even if we  work with some the Mere fact that wow had made a statement about or suggested that there was a need for might be enough of an impetus to influence the so it int realty relevant whether wow participates or so Long As the proper functions ultimately an organization which functions without an without Money or without an appointed officer to report to the Chain of command what keeps wow alive and viable pure according to i think wow is exciting to Many people because of that pure she its exciting fur them to see that pure dedication can get you you dont have to have you dont have to have office telephones and All the wrappings of an just pure tenacity and Energy can Nap re the Only problem with pure dedication is that it needs rewards to remain Hood is scheduled to begin a uitime teaching Job in neighbouring Cle Belstadt and although she is still wow one is searching for a continually beating my head against mils has dampened her spirit i was pulling out life per rent and Only getting 10 per cent she Hopes to find a replacement president Thohas renewed to her statement about dedication she had a no matter How Many volunteers you no matter Haw dedicated your Volun Teers they cannot accomplish any thing without command and it has to be not halfhearted sup she As for Community support in the Wurzburg Community they talk a lot about but they dont do anything