European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - August 2, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Poge 10 the stars and stripes August 1978 economic indicators still on Rise Washington iai1 a government measure of future economic trends Rose a moderate percent in the fifth in crease in a the Commerce depart ment the increase in the Index of leading economic about average for the past rave out no signals of a Strong downturn in the next six government economists arc expecting slower growth in the second half of the year after an unusually Strong they Are Uncertain whether eco nomic growth will be so slow that it will create More the government is More worried about consumer which were rising at an a rate of about percent per year in the first half of the consumer Price in Dex released Friday showed that prices Rose percent in june for the third month in a the percent increase in the economic indicators followed increases of percent in percent in per cent in april and percent in the Index is composed of a series of eco nomic indicators that Are intended to give the first signs of an impending slowdown or Boom in economic contributing to the increase in june were a longer average work faster More liquid higher prices for selected rising Stock prices and More building on the negative Side were increased con tracts for Plant and equipment a smaller Money Supply and More factory the Layoff rate was airman Robert Stel Lnger and Don Duncan Man the main switchboard at the site near Jim Arwine the Mountain men form a vital link by Merle Jacobsen staff writer Germany the words Mountain men conjure up visions of Buckskin Clad Hunters and trappers in the the Feldberg with its exotic looks strange to the untrained Rockies a Century or More the Mountain men who work on top of mount Kol Binberg in the Taurus mountains Are mostly members of Del 12 of the air forces 1945 communications the which includes 99 enlisted two captains and three civil is supported by the eight military and three civilian members of operating Loca Tion Delta of the air forces 435 combat support both units Are components of commands headquartered at Khein main a and think of themselves As one this is too Small a site for everybody not to be in said Henry com Mander of Del a 34yearold native of College is very Happy with the food provided to his troops by the smaller the who assumed command of Del 12 in late to not hear a single complaint is really the former enlisted airman with 11 years of service people go out of their Way to come up Here for Calls per Day although Del 12 is a relatively Small it has the distinction of operating the largest military maintained Auto on switch in the stakely said his Facil itys equipment processes an average of Calls per All of the vip circuits come through stakely for he Telephone communications Between Germany and the United states was provided by his facility during the recent visit to Germany by president Pri this is a voice communications net work with some specialized digital control the Captain Del 12s which takes its name from the nearby Community of is one of three Gateway offices with direct lines to the United according to rav who trains the switching system technicians the civilian from Detroit said the other locations with direct lines to the slates Are at near and at mount Vergine Italy near All we do Here is switch Buen Lello Buentello said a maximum of 57 Calls May be placed at any one time a Call is he the automated system searches for an open line and automatically reroutes a Call o Hillington or mount Vergine if All the lines Are Busy if your Call is Buentello that is also done the he is programmed to memorize the priority level of each Call being handled and will seek out the connection with the lowest priority to Cut off and make the circuit available for the higher priority stakely i would say at least 85 percent of the voice traffic Between Here and conus pcs through who is the maintenance supervisor for the detach essentially we do what Bell Telephone does in the the 38year old chicagoan we Are the Tele phone company of the defense communications of the who Heads half of the units per said the installation is also a relay site for television signals from an in nearby one of our hobbies Here is rebuilding the said among items built or improved at the former nazi is Hunting Lodge Are Tennis a movie theater and a color photo the which has quarters for 55 unaccompanied has its own housing for accompanied personnel is provided by the army Camp King in seven Miles Down the High priority goal both stakely and Terdin said bringing More Komen into the outfit is a Hig Priori to stakely said modification which will permit women to live in some of the quarters for unaccompanied personnel is a prerequisite to bring single women into the the unit has one who is married to another member of the de the Mountain men keep every body has an additional it seems said they ran out of room on the Job Board to put pm up for said Jerry the 26yearold is Pri Marily responsible for overseeing operations and maintenance in the although the air Force communicators Are kept Busy and Are Many seem to be Lippy with their stakely said about half of his people ask for extensions and three out of four have their requests approved