European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 20, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                The stars and stripes april Mediterranean is nato Southern front by Lon Cabot Naples Bureau chief Naples the military importance of the Mediterranean Region  be the com Mander of naval forces in Europe William Small says the military importance of the Mediterranean has grown in recent he nato nations have had to broaden their perspective and recognize that crises and turmoil can arise else where than in Central Small has been commander of Allied forces Southern Europe and of naval forces in Europe for two years and is scheduled to turn Over his command this the staff of the Southern Region of Allied come Europe consists of British and the Southern Region encompasses 64 percent of the total land mass of the Allied come Europe As Well As the Mediterranean sea and Black it stretches from the Straits of Gibraltar to Eastern and from North Africa to the the focus of attention has always been Central Europe the Central Small with problems in the Middle difficulties throughout North Africa and the important Oil flows through the Meriter we need to emphasize to everyone that we really Are More than on the flank of the he we May better be termed the Southern front rather than the Southern flank of he the purpose of the Alliance is to defend free and democratic nations from our efforts have been Bent in that and its easy to become distracted with other issues that because of the perception that were not he Small said another problem natos Southern Alli Ance needs to be concerned with is the fact that there Are 24 countries either inside the organizations area of responsibility or abutting and two thirds of those belong to neither the nato Alliance nor the Warsaw there Are 16 countries Down Here that Are not cur rent areas of political eco nomic transition of theres a whole Range of concerns that cant be addressed directly by the on the other Are very real problems for Southern Region nato Small said there have been a number of advances in photo for by master Robert Wick lev William Small importance of Southern Region has the readiness of the Southern alliances military and Hes seen tremendous strides from the hardware Small said although readiness in the Southern Region has improved quite a bit through the efforts of the Southern Region nations to commit funds to National defense and training sustaining those defences is still the alliances weakest the main of is that they Warsaw pact Are overwhelming in terms of in our Region theres a 3tol Adverse Force ratio of War saw pact we must look at the qualitative Side and can make the judgment that our forces Are in better so that the True Force ratios Are something Small said he believes that the level of training and motivation of Allied forces Are higher than those of the Warsaw pacts when you add the fact that that ours is a defensive Alliance and Pur troops Are Only going to fight to defend their own that a multiplier in so i tend to discount some of the pessimism that we would be if our forces Are properly used and logistically we can he Small said one internal problem that is affecting the Potency of natos Southern Alliance is the tension be tween Greece and he said those problems certainly have an Adverse effect on the Alliance because they create a diversion of resources that could be used in better these tensions interrupt our exercise schedule in that we often dont have a nato exercise in the Region in which All of our five nato Southern Region members Small said although he has no ready answers for the problems nato faces in the Aegean area prob lems that go Back centuries he believes none of the problems Are i do think that the catalyst must be a supportive political which Means that military com Manders Are not going to be Able to resolve even military problems if they dont have the support of the political in hopeful in the no Distant future Well have the kind of support that will allow us to con Vene the kinds of discussions necessary to resolve the Small said he does not agree with critics who accuse some nato countries in the Southern Alliance of not contributing their fair share i dont think theres any free lunch in we have to look at fair share in a broader context than monetary because the fact is that our nations Down Here Are not As wealthy As they Are in Central in the United states or when one looks at commitment and contributions in other for Turkey has Over people in uniform in Active duty peacetime serv which is the second biggest standing army in the on a per capita that is Many fold what any other nation he Taiwan official gets life term for 1984 killing Taipei a a military court sentenced Taiwan former military Intelli gence chief to life in prison Friday for the 1984 murder of a chinese american journalist in two aides linked to the slaying each were Given jail the implicated in the murder of writer Henry Liu by two local underworld figures convicted in an earlier could have been sentenced to death by the five judge military who worked for the chinese an Guage san Francisco journal and whose Arti cles were critical of the Taiwan was shot dead by two assassins in the garage of his Home in Daly last contacted in Daly lius said the sentence imposed on the former intelligence vice Wong should have been More she said the Taiwan government will not pursue the Case even though the political motives behind the killing were not neither the former head of the defense ministry intelligence Bureau and the highest ranked nationalist chinese officer Ever nor his two aides were present in court for the three minute Reading of the Wong and his aides his Deputy he and Chen you a Deputy Section chief in the Agency Are being held at a military Security Center near and officials there said they were informed of their sentences by military there was no information on How they army Fop no Nof a Type by Richard Halloran he talked with soldiers in thought the army was an 8to4 v Washington not in a do groups that he divided into three Young need to make sure that soldiers unde by Richard Halloran Washington not in a do main loaded with politicians and Gener als making the Mission of the sergeant major of the army is to get out of the Pentagon and into operating to see if it really makes so says the Glen who has been the army senior noncommissioned officer since july Morrell is a Veteran of 30 years in the army and three combat Tours in an infantry Soldier who came up through the elite Spe Cial forces and in his office across the corridor from that of the army chief of the sergeant major sits amid the pictures and plaques of a lifetime in the service and describes his Job i am the chief of staffs representative to the soldiers in the his counterparts in the other serv ices the master chief Petty officer of the the chief master sergeant of the air Force and the sergeant major of the Marine corps play similar and the four try to work together on common sometimes accompanies his chief of John Wick Ham to the Field to encourage sol Diers to speak freely to but he said that usually is not a problem because soldiers will Tell you at other he telephones the Post that Wickham plans to visit and urges noncommissioned officers to Tell the general whats on their much of the Morrell moves out on his on a recent trip to Okinawa and he he talked with soldiers in groups that he divided into three younger firs term Middle ranking sergeants who Lead fire teams and and senior sergeants in companies and with the younger Morrell there was a time when they Morrell touch yith in nuts thought the army was an 8to4 we need to make sure that soldiers under stand that its 24 hours a seven Days a he was particularly keen on listening to the squad who have five to 10 soldiers under their depend ing on the Type of because they Are in touch with More people than anyone else in the in meetings with senior Morrell checked on Maine welfare and Many other details that go into taking pare of sol when he returned to he sent several memorandums to the army staff about things he had seen and met with several in a meeting with a general in charge of Morrell said the skill qualification test needed that which examines a soldiers Basic was not in tune with the sergeant major the test should be on things a Soldier really he not that damned catch22 Morrell says the army staff is usually responsive to his when someone tries to give me a bureaucratic he ill go across the Hall on meaning to Wickham the sergeant major also meets periodically with Secretary of the army John Marsh to discuss Long Range once every six the sergeant major and his counterparts in the other services meet with Secretary of defense Caspar Wein Morrell from