European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 19, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 the stars and stripes april 1985 letters kaisers cittern writer defends military benefits in recent weeks i have read Many articles in the paper about military pay and retire ment Why is it when someone has to Cut Back somewhere they Point at the military then they Point at All the military benefits they seem to think we get too much you always hear about the Good Side but never the bad Side and How hard we have to work to get these my husband has worked 16 to 17 hours a 7 Days a week at times to get his pay and he has spent Many nights away from Home and we have been separated Many times because of permanent changes of temporary or some other then they come up with How we get All these free Well we do get free dental and but dental int always available to the dependents in some As far As the doctors and medi Cal staff Are very Good and the care you get is but in some places there Arent enough doctors for the amount of people in that i have waited up to three months for an appointment at some if you have a 1 appointment most of the time you dont see the doctor but usually one or two hours after so you sit in a crowded waiting room two hours and then your visit with the doctor May take 15 or 20 sometimes you ask yourself if it is Worth but you have to take care of your Fame Lys health and you cant afford a civilian doctor sure we get to shop in the but the surcharge we pay every time we buy groceries goes to improve and build other so if we Are the ones building then its Only right that we be allowed to shop in there is one area and Benefit that a lot of people Are misinformed about i read about this free housing a lot of civil ians accuse us of Well please Tell me where it is so we can move in right away and Stop paying for the military housing we live in we could use the Money they take for Basic allowance for quarters bad each month out of my husbands in sure there Are a lot of other service members who would like this idea so you see the housing we live in we pay for and it is not free at there Are a lot of hardships in a military life you move a it seems you go into debt and you spend a Fortune just try ing to find your family a place to then when you Are just getting ahead you have to pack up and move so you Are Back to Square there Are things you hear about and you wonder if anything gets done about for these civilian moving companies that rip off service members i wonder what happens to these people apparently nothing because they Are still doing also what about these big companies who rip off the government by Selling them a Hammer for so Many hundreds of dollars i think they should be heavily fined or maybe be made to contribute to our they could be made to finance the building of a certain number of housing units for each half a million they rip the military off How can our senators and congressmen sit Back and let them get away with things like that then they Point to us and say we dont need a pay raise or they need to Cut our benefits some i think if you Are willing to put 20 years of your life on the line you should get some for 20 years you Are made to move every three to four live away from your you get paid half of what a civilian and you do 40 years work in your 20year i think All military members Are entitled to every Benefit they get and also to the retirement that they Are promised when they join the this last part is for All the civilians who talk about the military being a Volunteer my husband did Volunteer and he knew what kind of life was in store for but he is proud of his country and is willing to sacrifice a few things in order to keep his country a free but if he or All the other Servie members didst Volunteer then we would be doing one of two things either drafting All men into the armed forces or calling each other Comrade and drinking withheld Kaiserslautern Many thanks to Wiesbaden pro Union anyone who lives on the Economy in the military Community soon hears stories of american renters who have encountered housing Munfor most of the american renters have Little Trust in the German courts and in the american housing referral i have a different Story to i had a House with a structural problem and my landlord kept delaying the Nec Essary i notified the Wiesbaden pro of the situation and the pro chief negotiated a settlement Between my landlord and the settlement was for my family and me to move out without refurbishing the and the landlord was to pay us Back our we moved but the landlord decided to keep our i have a German do so deductible insurance policy called families rechts Schutz that covers All court and lawyer Cost in Case of any Legal the policy costs about do 139 per year and is the Best investment i have made in i obtained a briefed him of my and he in turn contacted the the pro had documented every thing Between the landlord and we went to my lawyer presented the pro Riedrich served As a and we won our i will receive my Deposit Back and the landlord must pay my his my inter Preter and All court the German courts work for americans As Well As i knew i was in the but if i had not had my insurance i May have not had the courage to take my Case to i followed the expert advice of the pro and everything worked out to All the professionals in the Wiesbaden pro and especially to Rie thanks for your courteous service and Maxey Germany to reception problems in bowl Emden my husband and i live in government leased housing in several months ago a new television Antenna was since then we have had very poor we notified our Hall building leased housing Deputy Community com Mander As Well As the number in the to guide for reporting bad recep so far the reception has Only gotten Stuttgart army Kelly bar Patch Barracks and Robinson Barracks All have Fine this brought us to the conclusion that the problem seems to be isolated within our i am writing this letter to you because we seem to have exhausted other Possi ble solutions to this any help from you would be greatly Louvan Germany editors note Mitchell Public affaire 5th signal replies we would like to explain that 5th signal come has the responsibility for the operation and maintenance of the to distribution sys master Antenna systems in troop billets and government owned housing not leased after receiving your we checked with the housing office in your area which is responsible for to in government leased housing and talked with miss Shires housing Man Ager about the poor reception in your miss Shires is aware of the problem and said that five out of the 20 quarters i your building using the same Antenna sys tem Are experiencing reception she said that her office w working with the owner to resolve the someone from her office will Contact the Hall coordinator and explain what is being done to Correct the we apologize for your frustration and we nope you now have a better this is in reference to an advertise ment by service Federal credit Union that stars and stripes ran in response to the Addon feature in the and that allows adding or More to an existing i went to the sem Bach Branch office on the following Day to make use of this advertised the woman behind their counter seemed Spring loaded to Point out that this feature can be revoked at any time without i informed her that the notice in the paper indicated it was in i was promptly informed that the com Pany had sent telex to cancel this offer in i think it would be Good service to your readers to advise them of the current i believe false advertising is illegal in the United states Stephen Hoffman Sembach Germany editors note Gordon Sim european overseas division serv ice Federal credit replies effective service Feder Al credit Union discontinued the share certificate Addon info Stu the share certificate advertise ment that appeared in thursday of that particular edition of the stars and stripes erroneously indicated that that feature was still being a corrected advertisement appeared in their March 7 the credit unions share certificate disclosure which is provided for Mem Bers when they open a share certificate advised that the credit Union has the right to refuse further additions to any certificate at any time without we believe this is the in formation our Sembach office was at tempting to draw our members Atten Tion it was certainly not our intention to misinform our members regarding share certificate a dons we sincerely apologize for the inconvenience it caused our member who wrote to the stars and As Well As All of our other plea for respect 1 am a student at the Frankfurt american High school and in very Ive lived in Many different military communities or near military communities and Ive seen the same thing happening Over and Over in talking about higher ranking Mili tary personnel constantly embarrassing and lowering the lower ranking soldiers i agree that the army needs discipline in order for it to but cant this be achieved without making the american soldiers feel less than human these soldiers Are not tin soldiers without emotion and feel they Are enlisted How can we expect a Soldier who is made a confident of him or herself to be successful in combat if we were to have another War Why cant they work with the sol Diers instead of against them is it their High ranks that give them authority to say anything to a Soldier regardless of the emotional effects it has on them it is especially hard on the soldiers living overseas who Are homesick and often having cultural but to add to their problems they have peo ple sometimes even than themselves who make them feel As if they we rent Worth i must admit i really dont know much about the army As my father was in and out of the army Long before i was but i do know enough about people to understand How they must i know that not All officers and a cos Are like but its the num Ber of times Ive seen this happen to the people in the army that has me if just a Little kind Ness and respect Are shown to youll often find the same kindness and respect if we could just do maybe this Cloud of tension and hostility could finally be lifted off our military withheld Frankfurt pen pals i am studying at Xavier University As a Commerce and Reading top my list of enjoyable i am 20 years please list my name and so i can share ideas with Cachapero Camp Buk Dnon 8215 Philippines Aav interest is to correspond with others in numer Ous i am 20 years i like travelling and Lahcene Elk Aada Juliel Algeria please print my name in your pen pals i am 21 and my hobbles include Reading and listen ing to Malibago social work sell Man University Dumaguet Negros Oriental Philippines 6501 please publish my name in your i am 27 years old and my hobbles include Reading and Pinero Dumaguet City Negros Philippines 6501 i am a 10yearold girl who would like to have pen i Enloe listening to Rock trading stickers and Reading Rostorfer pc Box 6601 Apo 09012 i am 32 years divorced with three i like country Western music and going i would like to have some pen Perry 10 Lenham gardens Bolton England 4 i would Uke to correspond with other people from All Over the i am a 28vearold my Nobles include going to Reading and Gere 23a Del Pilar City 9601 Philippines i would like to correspond with other pen pals in other am 22 years my interests and hobbles include listening to discos with making friends and Ester Rollo Raio 123 Colon Extension Dumas Ete