European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 10, 1985, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes tuesday. December 10, 198li Patio n by Tony Nauroth contract workers drag out 1,000-foot-Long Cable during installation of More than 25 Miles of various sired tables at Hohenfels training area near Nuernberg. Nearly $90 million Worth of cabling t h hit s Mori id the u t military european Telephone Oyster m than meets in .1 ear Azniu ,1 5,90 million Worth of cabling i being Laid Lor the system throughout Germany. Iho Netherlands and Northern Italy another so 5 million is being used to construct or renovate and a lot More behind the scenes projects Fiat most people never hear about Are under Way ii t.iki". To jut three years irom the Eitnie an installation targeted Lor an ets switch until the switch i. Turned on Trie person behind those three years is John Thornas an Engineer with the in format if systems engr corny Europe Thorn has his linger on the pulse of ets nut a Cable is Laid it a building touched without Thomas having soon Lhrig to say about it Vve to make sure everything is ust he said Thomas guide ii an ets schedule thai lists when each new switch will go into service Between now Rind mid-1987 the schedule is practically etched in Stone the design of the data base and software All hinges on the sequence of the Cut Over he said so Thomas inning has to be nearly perfect Thomas s main concern when picking a site for a new switch is proximity to the old one the closer the new site is to the old one. The easier and cheaper it is to make the switchover without interrupting service usually a switch is set up in a vacant room or building but if no space is available a new building is constructed construction has been necessary it six locations Thomas also oversees Cable Upkeep and replacement which he says has been a continuing process since the United sales opened bases at ii c end of world War ii even if ets had t Corne along we would have still replaced As much Cable As we lie said Bel ire new Cable is Laid. I it s like checking your Rool to see if it has any leaks ii it tests of there a no need to replace it he said contractors test about 45 cables e Cable Lails the lest it s replaced in some places the communication systems Are still using Cable installed in the late 1940s or Early 1900s," Thomas said so it s possible the Cable being Laid today will last 10 or 40 years. But. Depending on the fold teleplay year Lithe the begin circuit is nee1. Ine at tie May need to tie re led in s 10 year. Signal corny is making plans to replace the with Pushbutton Louch tile phones by ung of 1987 we Reali e it s difficult Lor people to gel used to a new phone system when hey Are still using old Thomas said even i caught myself dealing the wrong prefix when i was Down in Kaiserslautern. So even the pros get sgt. Charles in on checking Iesha secure incoming cables in he e1s Cable Vaul in Al Diu o
