European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 14, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 14, 1985 the stars and stripes Page 9 Flag order errors delay Berlin bound gis maps stress need for Correct paperwork by Joe Mapother Bremer Zivni Barm Berlin one of every three vehicles driven by . Military personnel visiting Berlin last month was delayed because of faulty orders said military police at Helmstedt. Of 1,706 trips 547 or 32 percent logged last month by personnel stationed outside of Berlin had Flag order prob lems said 1 St it. Edgar p. Simmons of the military police support detachment at Helmstedt. Flag orders Are required for department of defense civilians military members and their families driving or Tak ing the duty train to Berlin. They Are needed in addition to leave or temporary duty orders. Although traffic volume thin summer was Down slightly from last year the ratio of errors has remained the same Simmons said. So far this year the percentage of Flag order mistakes has hovered around 30 per a Cal each month according to the military police. Of 8,859 trips logged from West Germany to Berlin problems cropped up in 2,761 cases a spokesman said. The percentage of problems do not in crease during Peak vacation months a spokesman said. In january 121 of 313 people from West Germany More than 38 percent experienced paperwork problems. Berlin based travellers rarely make mis takes because they Are More familiar with travel to and from Berlin spokesmen in Berlin and Helmstedt said. Orders originating in Berlin Don t cause As Many headaches As orders from Helm Stedt. At Helmstedt travellers sometimes must backtrack hundreds of Miles to their Home stations to Correct an error. All . Military personnel must go through Helmstedt if they wish to drive to Berlin. The blame for the faulty transit orders often lies with the unit personnel Section issuing them Simmons said. The orders must be Correct in every respect he said a fact of life sometimes overlooked by personnel administrators far removed from the watchtowers just cast of Helmstedt s checkpoint Alpha. Simmons said military policemen at checkpoint Alpha retype Flag orders when they can to Correct errors. It s not our Job Simmons said. We do it As a convenience to the soldiers. We can Send them Home but we think that s a Little rough on the  an average of one person each Day is turned Back because of problems that can not be remedied at Helmstedt Simmons said. Often the Driver of the car and its occupants face the decision to either re Trace hours of driving Back to their Home base or strike Berlin off the list of cities they will visit. Simmons listed several frequent paper work problems that can t be corrected at Helmstedt missing leave or pass orders or leave or pass orders that do not list West Berlin As 3 destination arc a major problem Sim Mons said. A service member wishing to visit East Berlin must also have that Desti nation listed in his or her paperwork he said. Persons who drive someone else s Usa eur Register cd vehicle cannot make the trip unless the car s owner is present or has Given the Driver Power of attorney. Service members must bring a Brief ing statement from their unit that tells checkpoint personnel the Driver has read Usa eur regulations concerning Berlin travel. If the Driver has not made the trip recently a briefing at the checkpoint is required to familiarize the Driver with the procedure for the 110-mile drive Sim Mons said. The threat to their car areas my Ted Dyke. Makes training aids for the troops 30 support command aet 3c Potter 4 april 85 soldiers kept up to Date on soviet weaponry by Chris Estes staff writer Wiesbaden Germany there won t be any second chances if War comes. There won t be any posters showing the latest in soviet equipment what it can do and where its vulnerabilities Are. It la be do or die time. Maj. Ted Dyke saw a Lack in the training soldiers get in identifying Warsaw pact arms. Dyke was the intelligence officer for the 3rd support come special troops in but just became the battalion executive offi cer. He was determined to fill that Gap for his unit. Now material he Procura a been picked up by other units and nato countries for their training programs. Dyke puts out two kinds of pamphlets. One is the size of a Magazine with pictures drawings and information on the capabilities and history of the equipment. The other is a pocket guide the Soldier can carry with him that teaches a system for identifying equip ment. He said he has put out 20 pamphlets 10,000 copies of each. Some of the pamphlets have been reproduced by the 3rd army div and British and Canadian units. He said the British and canadians also contribute information for the pamphlets. Ten or 12 years ago the army had something called project focus he said. The purpose of focus was to concentrate people s attention on soviet weapons tac tics capabilities and weaknesses. To train people on How to fight the Warsaw pact. It started off As a fairly decent program. And then it kind of disappeared. In the intervening 10 to 15 Yean we have produced very Little information for the sol Diers and How they fight. We do a lot of Bric Finiki on what they eat for breakfast and show old soviet equipment but there s very Little on what they the soviet military have available and How they intend to use  Dyke said bringing soviet t-62 tanks from Grafe Woehr costs thousands of Dol Lars and the soviets Don t even have Many of those in their inventory anymore. He said one Way around that problem was to provide soldiers with material they could keep. He said if new equipment comes out the pamphlets can be updated. Material collected and produced locally is usually More recent than information from the army he said. Information taken from private publications can be added right away changes from the Normal system usually Lake a year to reach unit level. He also makes posters and other aids such As plastic plates that show a battalion Intelli gence officer How far Back the main body of a unit will be if certain types of reconnaissance or Forward units Are spotted. Another item he puts out it a Calendar that highlights one Type of russian equip ment or unit each month. You can t train Warsaw pact year round even though if you want to sur Vive that opening Battle you have to devote a lot of time to  most of the inf9rmation is for the troop whether he s in the rear or on the of not. I m looking at the trigger pullers he said. It s kind of unique because you Don t nor Mally find a logistics unit pushing training soldiers to fight in wartime As a priority. The 3rd support come decided to provide in formation not Only to our soldiers but to any one else who would be interested  he said the pamphlets Are divided into subjects aircraft Armor infantry vehicles Small unit tactics Etc. He said each unit has different training needs and can use just the applicable information the car armoured cavalry regiment wants to know about reconnaissance capabilities because those Are the first kind of units they re going to Sec Dyke said. The material covers the history of the vehicles Why it was made and any variation. He said the information made both teaching and learning about the equip ment More interesting. You can Tell them what it can do he said. If you say it s got six Road wheels that s a line that puts everybody to sleep. They be heard that before. But if you Tell them it s got such and such a weapon sys tem and the rate of fire capability now you have More to hold them. The Soldier today is actually interested in learning