European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 23, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Making maps january 1978 the stars and stripes Page 9 by Jim Coles i staff writer Germany Sis the 649th engr in at Tompkins Barracks makes maps for forces in Europe that May seem like a routine but its one that could spell the difference Between Success and being found or alive or dead for Field soldiers in Europe according o Carl the battalion there Are Only three Topographic battalions in the but the 649th is unique because its Jab is to sup port tactical while the other two sup port corps of Engineer projects in the and the 649th engr in is Only map battalion in army which supports tactical outfits Scipic said his soldiers will do whatever is necessary to help the soldiers in he Field visualize the our Mission is to provide a service and a product that will help commanders and soldiers do their Job More easier and More acc the 300 people in the unit Are divided 4 Bill working on a mask for an has the Talent for map making a steady hand and a Sharp Eye behind the lines Donna while right proofread a reprinted while s Kevin Harmon above works at u drafting Board in the 619th engr bus surveying Jim Cole into platoons and teams which perform a variety of functions not normally associated with a military outfit a Survey Pla a line company composed of a photo mapping a map reproduction two map distribution platoons and the 5l7ih terrain analysis Scipic said that his people spend about three quarters of their time on the Road or in the he said the Topographic career Field in the army used to be fairly Large but is now quite something less than people including the reserves he said that in Dod created the de sense mapping mostly staffed by which consolidated the efforts of the three maps and mapping Cut costs and gets the military out of the map making Busi Ness and allows us to devote More Lime to helping commanders in any Way we Europe has been thoroughly mapped for Scipic and any new map Ping is dime by the locals who Ted that in formation to the one of the big things the people do Here is overprinting of existing or taking an existing adding the new information such As of limits new Highway construct and printing a series of maps with the latest information on other services they provide include air Field surveys for Lineo flight communications providing Ter weather and soil studies and Ontic spot map i tip Duclion service to units in the the latter service is the responsibility of to John co its chief reproduction and 2nd Tim re production platoon they said that their fixed printing Plant turned out about 25 million impressions last year and during refer Ger made about maps in the Field producing maps in the Field int Timmons and pointed out several Large trucks housing Complete map pro during facilities including one color print ing presses set up in printing plate manufacturing equipment and craftsmen from the cartographic the maps which the Mobile units pro Duce Are called monochrome because they dont have the traditional colors shown on tactical Espin he added that they Are relatively cheap to produce and enough can be produced in an hour to meet a divisions although in time of War the platoon can produce Fourcolors maps when needed Espin said that printing tolerances Are very tight and that a Inch margin for error is the maximum Al adding new roads and other changes to existing maps arc the responsibilities of the cartographic pains taking detail work is applied so the maps will be accurate 4 Sandra a its a Job with constant each Sheet presents new two Igor chief cartographic technician in a map operation you must be there Are generally two or three checkers for each a Small error on a map could be very its delicate perhaps the most impressive real estate Here is the map some ii million maps Are stored within the Walls of the Large they Are the responsibility of 2nd sue depot platoon she said that they have maps of the whole world but mostly they handle maps of Germany she said that demand for maps runs about unc million per month maps May be ordered by nearly any she and orders Are filled within 24 hours the maps Are delivered by Sciple summed up the operation our people work hard hours to provide a valuable product to tactical and other com Manders Hesi drs living professional map our soldiers Masl be too its a Trugli Job