European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 21, 1978, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday september 21, 1978 the stars and stripes Page 11 run by state department program offers help to drinking diplomats by Barton Reppert Moscow a Hal Marley positioned his tall Frame in the Center of the Darken ing room As late afternoon edged toward cocktail time and another evening of Well oiled diplomatic receptions. Scanning the audience of . Embassy officers gathered around him Marley re counted How his own alcoholism result ing in his ouster from the air Force More than a decade ago had put him and his family through a living  but he declared firmly there s no reason for anyone in this room to become an , 63, is head of the state depart ment s alcohol awareness program de signed to provide treatment for incipient alcoholics before their condition has progressed to an acute stage. If you re a potential alcoholic and you Don t nip it in the Bud your career is going to be ruined because this is a progressive disease it never gets better by itself it Only gets worse he told one embassy group during a Moscow visit recently. Referring to acute alcohol addiction Marley added i be seen Basket cases from All Over the  returning to Washington Marley planned to make similar presentations at the . Embassies in Rome Paris and  said in an interview that so far the alcohol program begun in the Early 1970s has treated Only a fraction of the Overall number of state department employees both in Washington and abroad who Are believed to suffer from alcohol re lated  noted that according to . Civil service guidelines roughly 6 percent of the adult working population who use Alco hol develop  on the basis of that we say there Are roughly 1,500 alcoholics these Are All just guesstimates in the state depart ment Marley said. Last year we treated a Little Over 150. So it s just the tip of the  state department program was established under Federal legislation officially defining alcoholism As a disease and mandating that All Federal departments the s and Lesbo european edition col. Billy e. Spangler Usa editor in chief it col. . Taylor Usan Deputy editor in chief Mert Proctor managing editor Elmer d. Frank production manager henrys. Epstein circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for . Armed forces overseas. The stars and stripes is published in conjunction with the armed forces information program of the department of defense. Contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official View of the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. The appearance of displays in this newspaper concerning commercial publications does not constitute an endorsement by the department of de sense including the military departments. Military address the stars and stripes Apo 09175. 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And agencies set up medical programs for treating  program involves a 28-Day Basic treatment period for alcohol detoxification in a Hospital plus psychotherapy and family counselling followed by additional counselling As  said a statistical evaluation had shown that about 90 percent of employees who go through the program remain free of alcohol problems for at least one year  Don t say you graduate from it of finish it he said. Our program is a Way of  who take part in the pro Gram Marley said find that they can do everything they Ever did in their life better without booze than with it and continue that Way. They Don t Ever have to drink  stressed that the program is run on a medical confidential  one of his biggest tasks Marley said is to assure employees that coming into the program for treatment will not jeopardize their Job Security or promotion opportunities. Illustrating the degree to which alcohol ism has lost its official stigma Marley said three foreign service officers in the pro Gram had later been promoted to the senior rank of Deputy chief of Mission no. 2 official at diplomatic posts abroad. He noted that serving overseas May tend to accelerate the Onset of serious drinking  you re a potential alcoholic in Washington and you continue to drink the Normal progression is that it makes 10 to 12 years to become an  that same individual went overseas due to the availability of liquor More parties representational duties that 12 year period might be condensed Down to two years Marley  is in anything but Short Supply at most social gatherings around this hard drinking soviet  soviet sponsored banquets and other official functions a guest trying to retain at least a modicum of sobriety often finds himself literally fending off his hosts As they strive to pour out Ever More straight Vodka for another round of toasts. And during cocktail parties Given by for Eigners it s not unusual for White Apro Ned russian maids to be circulating Contini Ousby among the guests beckoning with Large trays of  the situation is the very Low Cost of liquor for foreigners. At a special hard currency store Cater ing to diplomats and other resident for Eigners a fifth of Superior Quality scotch Sells for Only 2 rubles about $2.98 less than half what it would Cost in the United  one Moscow observer commented it s pretty Clear that As far As the soviets Are concerned they d be delighted to see a fair number of diplomats spend most of their tour Here positively  90-year-old stages a simple trial funeral Lucca Italy a there was no Hearse and no band but 90-year-old Orazio Nannini went through with his trial funeral  Veteran of two world wars Rode a bicycle through the streets of this Renais Sance town to the local cemetery and with a gesture of disdain tossed a Bunch of roses Over the  had announced the staging of the trial funeral in notices posted on Walls in Lucca which declared that priests even in Lay attire and All nuns were forbidden to  had hoped to have a Hearse but the local company refused to Supply one and no band showed up. Letters to the editor shortage of medical personnel i m a 91b20 medic stationed with a Nike Hercules air defense unit at Wack Arnheim Germany. Nato authorizes slots for nine enlisted medical personnel within our battalion. Currently we have four of these authorized slots filled with two projected gains one in september and one in october. Even if we do get the two projected gains our unit will still have three vacancies. This shortage of personnel puts a tremendous Burden on the remaining medical personnel assigned to the battalion. One Battery is without a medic altogether. The Battery medics Are tasked with maintaining a workable and effective med ical program involving screening of medi Cal records according to army regulation 50-5 nuclear surety water surveillance hearing conservation immunizations and of course the overweight program. These Are the five main areas of concern within our command. This is by no Means the extent of the duties tasked of the medics in the  hold sick Call make appointments remind personnel of appointments advise and occasionally provide a shoulder to cry  question4s Why or How can depart ment of the army allow such a serious shortage of qualified 91b personnel at any one time it is my opinion that combat readiness is severely affected by this shortage. It is my understanding that other units Are also faced with this same  can t the army s recruiting come alleviate this problem without the Accordi an like effect Felt by the present recruiting practices. The analogy is feast or famine. As the battalion medical Section Coic i m acutely aware of this problem and its effects on the morale of the medical personnel within our battalion. Due to this shortage it s difficult to approve leaves and submit personnel for medical proficiency training a Welcome change from routine  importance of this problem is far reaching. A by condoning this shortage is seriously jeopardizing the combat effectiveness of today s army. Sgt. Stephen c. Cole Wackenheim Germany editor s note maj. . Smith executive officer military personnel Cen Ter Europe Miller Cene replies we work very closely with department of the army Mil percen to take every positive step possible to prevent personnel shortages. Nothing in Miller cener gets As much intensive management As keeping our units up to strength for combat , there Are a number of Rea sons Why some shortages can t be accurately predicted or always prevented. As i m sure you re Well aware the army and the other services Are enlisting Only volunteers from a Small group of interested and eligible civilians. These Eligi ble Young men and women can choose from More than 300 military occupational specially mos producing schools and or assignments anywhere in the world. Volunteers must meet the eligibility requirements physical and mental to qualify for enlistment into the army and More specifically into mos 91b. Additionally there Are 91b school seats vacant because the recruiting quotas Are not filled. Furthermore those individuals recruited Don t always Complete the course because of academic failure or their Lack of interest or ability to continue in the Field. Recruiting new people to fill our ranks is Only one Side of the Coin. The other Side is equally important each of us can and must do our part to assist in the recruit ing Effort by encouraging our already trained and qualified soldiers to reenlist. In other words we can and must do a lot More to help ourselves by keeping Good soldiers to fill our ranks. Department of the army projects that Usa eur will receive replacements to offset a majority of its losses by year s end. However this does not mean that All terms of enlistment tables of distribution and allowance vacancies will be filled be cause projected replacements have to be allocated to each of Usa eur s major commands based on their projected strength. Changes in authorizations assignment priorities no shows and unexpected Early departures throughout the theater make the allocation and distribution of our sol Diers in exactly the right place at the right time and in the Correct mos a Tough Job at All Levels. Keeping our strength data current and accurate is a crucial basis for doing this right. Rest assured that we closely Monitor the strength of mos 91b, along with other mos strengths to avoid any degradation of Usa eur s combat readiness. The army is continually aware of All our current and projected critical mos shortages to include 91b, and makes every attempt to prevent shortages and maintain Usa eur s strength at the de sired combat readiness  reminder All letters to the editor must contain full printed name and address of the writer and must be signed. Unsigned letters will not be considered for publication. Writers Are encouraged to include phone number and Economy address. ,_.,-/