European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Tuesday february 11, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 3 is photo by Tracy Bakar soldiers of the 5lh in 16lh inf from fort Riley kan., move and prepare equipment for storage in Kaiser Lautem Ger Many. Pfc. David e. Thomas or. Left carries a bundle of camouflage nets while spec. 4 James May Center lubricates wheels of an armoured personnel Carrier. Pvt. Kenneth null right hauls Snow chains used during certain Sentinel. Equipment is made ready Tor next re Torger by Mike Heronemus staff writer Kaiserslautern Germany it look less than24 hours to put St in 16th inf. 1st inf div on the Road to War during a forger last month but it May take along As eight Days to get the soldiers headed Home. That s because the St combat equipment co Cec of the 21st support come and 14 other outfits like it want to make sure that the next time . Units come to Germany their equipment will be waiting in top shape said chief warrant officer Kelly Duncan. Duncan the 8ih Cec s property accounting office for Pom us pc position eng of Materiel configured to unit set said each piece of equipment and each component of a piece of equipment is being counted to make sure everything is ready for the next Issue. That includes All 144 plastic pins that go with each of More than 500 camouflage nets for the fort Riley kan., battalion he said. It also Means that every foot of the Rolls and Rolls of communications wire is measured checked for splices and cleaned Duncan said. It takes about five Days for me to inventory All the equipment in a company he said. About 40 people Are counting equipment As it is turned in. Ing conducted in conjunction with a forger. Equipment that went to certain Sentinel but got los Tor damaged must be accounted for Duncan said. Com Pany commanders must do a report of Survey to deter mine the circumstances of the loss or damage. If a sol Dier is at fault a statement of charges is written and the Soldier has to pay for the damaged or lost equipment. However a commander generally will not charge a sol Dier unless it is obvious the loss or damage was a result of wilful negligence said warrant officer Robert Towler St Cec maintenance technician and motor officer. Spec. 4 Chester Scott the St in report of Survey clerk said he s been Busy typing reports since arriving at the St Cec thursday. But Scott said he knew of no charges being made against soldiers. Duncan said High winds during certain Sentinel dam aged tents one of the battalion s jeeps was wrecked and some equipment was lost. If items Are missing the report of Survey is used to justify ordering new items to replace them Duncan  damage items like tents space Heaters and water Heaters can be repaired by the 7th Cec he  the St in s vehicles can be turned in they must be completely lubed a Job that takes about 30minutevfor each of the 112 tracked vehicles according to Sec Waymond Graham one of the supervisors for St ice lube shed. But if contamination is found in the Oil u must be changed requiring even More time he said. St in 16th inf soldiers stand near vehicles that will be checked and prepared for storage in Kaiser Lautem. Spec. 4 Samuel Maldonado is an infantryman but he pulled duly in the lube shed. It took about an hour to do everything bul sometimes we had problems like stripped Oil dram nuts he said. No trucks or tracks were parked in warehouses unless they were mechanically ready to Roll for the next a forger. Standards require 95 percent of a unit s vehicles to be tactically ready for Issue Duncan said. The battalion started getting its equipment ready for turning in while in the redeployment Assembly area after certain Sentinel was called off Jan. 25, said sgt. Raymond Baley from Panama City Fla. He said they checked to make sure they had All their equipment then steam cleaned and washed what they could and made preliminary inspections to find mechanical faults that needed repair. Batch was waiting for the battalion s co d to get its vehicles turned in so his armoured personnel Carrier could go through. He knew he had one major gig to fix the voltage regulator needed adjustment and the track commander s Hatch was missing a safety pin. Those things could be fixed easily he said. Co d was handled first so it could return to the unite states Early. The unit is due for a 30-Day leave before returning to Germany to serve 18 months in to Eslingen. Pfc. Richard Aberg from Ossian Iowa had a lot Todo. The co d Driver said his armoured personnel Carrier had 16 gigs on it when he drove it to certain  were minor things he said like not having seat cushions and having red dome lights instead of Blue ones. All the gigs had to be repaired before he turned in his track. By the time he finished his track would be 100 percent ready for the next reformer he said