European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 7, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Page 10 the stars and stripes Friday March 7, 1986 so much to see and do so Little time to do it one of the most intelligent letters i be read in this paper was that written by the staff sergeant from Sembach lauding an for enabling him to tour Europe without worrying about a tour being booked so full he can t get on. The problem i be had How Ever is that twice already i could t go on Tours i wanted to due to Lack of participants not 15 people in All of Germany wanting to go to Munich on veterans Day weekend or the Riviera on Martin Luther King s birth Day fortunately the rec Center god bless their hearts were Able to get me on other Tours those same weekends to Paris and Venice respectively. But it is Comfort ing to know there Are a few people Over Here who fully appreciate the wonderful once in a lifetime Opportunity they have to live abroad and visit places Many americans Only dream of. I be read All those insipid letters about an from people crying it s All we be got Over Here people like that couple in Bel Gium who drive an hour through Snow rain and Stagecoach robberies just to watch to. The one from Wiesbaden about the trans Milter being Down past 3 30 . Saturday afternoon when it should be been fixed by then just wrenched my heart. He stated to the effect that since people were Home off duty and together with their families their weekend was ruined by an All Day test pattern. What a perfect time to take the family up the Rhine River for the Day and explore some enchanting Castle that s what i d have done even if an had been on the air. Considering How Long Mankind s been around and How Long to s been around one begins to wonder How civilization sur Vived As Long As it has without that Domi Neering Little Box. Is watching to the Only thing there is to do Over Here and then there Are the Barracks on a tour to Vienna i was the Only single enlisted on the bus. But Back in the bar Racks we have hordes of single people miss ing the Opportunity of a lifetime. They furn ish their rooms with thousands of dollars Worth of stereo equipment so elaborate you need a technical order just to figure out How to plug it in. After turning the volume up to a pitch that could blow the roof off the Astrodome they gather in the hallway so As to Block traffic and disturb others and Start shouting so they can be heard Over the Barracks blaster about what a pit is. This place stinks there s no thin to do there s no place to go i m keep ing track i be got 18,253 hours left in this then on Friday nights on my Way out to catch the Transfer bus to Mannheim to pick up a tour they re All lined up on the floor against the Wall in the hallway looking like War criminals waiting to receive their sentences each armed with a Beer bottle. I saw the same thing on my last tour of Germany five years ago. Back then i Felt sorry for these wretches who probably never once set fool outside the main Gate because they were missing so much. I no longer feel pity for nobody is keeping you prisoner in the dorm. I d rather die than go Back to the United states and Tell people i lived in Germany for two or three years and never once went anywhere except my duty Section and the no club. I come from a Small town on the Edge of civilization where my class mates All Gol married and had children right after graduation. They re still sub merged in that town stocking grocery shelves or pumping Gas and whenever i visit there and they see me coming they Send their Heads bashing into the nearest Wall. Many of them have told me in no Uncer Tain terms How Lucky i am being Able to live in Europe not once but twice in my life when they d do anything just to visit for one Lousy week. But because they re buried so deep under Utility Bills and dirty diapers the idea of seeing Europe is wild fantasy to them. Like you to addicts and Barracks rats these characters by their own design have doomed themselves to a life with Noth ing to look Back on and nothing to look Forward to. How do people live like that no wonder you re so miserable. When i arrived for this tour of Germany at the end of september 1985, i booked a tour to Vienna a City i strongly recommend to All who be never seen it on Colum bus Day weekend. An older couple on the bus was amazed that i d Only been in Ger Many two weeks and was already traipsing All Over the continent. You re not wasting any time Are you the gentleman exclaimed. Why should i when there s so much to see and Only three Short years to see it i m not somebody s pet subject to a mandatory six month quarantine nor am i subject to the optional two to three year quarantine self imposed by the so called i be heard Many people say of but i d get bored Riding around in a bus looking at old buildings you see one Cathedral you be seen pm Well All right i can accept the fact thai not All of us break out in a rash at the sight of magnificent architecture. But there is More to those Tours than just Riding around in a bus looking at cathedrals. You experience a myriad of things in one weekend that broaden your mind and make life an unforgettable adventure things that la never happen to you if you sit decomposing in front of the to or on the floor in the Barracks hallway. You can land on the second tier of the Eiffel Tower where you learn the hazards of wearing a skirt up there. You can spend so much Money in London that the Only dinner you can afford is a Day old Ham Sandwich purchased from a Street Vendor e snack bar kiddie writes to defend fellow students i am one of those kiddies who feeds his face in the Munich pm snack bar and i am writing on behalf of the bad Tolz students who attend Munich High school in response to the accusatory letter about Munich american High school students. We i cel that the letter full of denigration and accusation was based on stereotype. After All we do have As much right to feed our faces and eat the junk food offered at the snack bar As you do. This also includes hamburgers. As a relevant sidelight of the Day the letter was published i saw our adults sitting in the Corner of the snack bar next to the outdoor soda machines with nothing on their table except their cigarettes doing nothing but talk ing. I also heard from other students that there was a group of people sitting at one of the tables watching one of those Little portable tvs. Granted having so Many Slud cols in inc facility docs present a problem but the Only Resolution is for students and working adults to reach a Compromise As suggested by or. Rowley. As for the accusations you made about students shoplifting every group has its bad apples but you have no reason or right to stereotype All of us As thieves and bums because of a few idiots who Only care about themselves. As was suggested in one of the replies to your letter you should report any suspicion of shoplifting to any cafes employee who will take the appropriate action. If you were being honest instead of biased there should be no fear of ruining a father s military career for thai is the child s Faull and concern because he does nol seem to care Aboul his father s career when he seals anyway. Also by seeing but nol reporting a crime technically you Are making yourself an accomplice. Clay Crouch bad Stoelz Germany no suggests personnel Wear uniforms properly yesterday i had the Opportunity to visit the naval Security activity and Headquarters Allied forces in Southern Europe of South in Naples Italy. The appearance of Many personnel was repugnant to me. I encountered an air Force major who was wearing her jacket preppie style with the Collar flipped up and her rank insignia on the underside of the Collar. I observed cos of All branches of the service with worn and unserviceable uniforms. An air Force e6 was casually strolling through the Navy Exchange with his flight Cap perched on his head. I overheard some individuals who he was speaking with who were apparently army say that at least the army does take their hats off indoors. He brushed it off and continued on his Way. Reluctantly writer questions cola decision military people looking Forward to retire ment would be Wise to remember that our government had both a Legal and moral obligation to Honor its publicized pledge to pay 1985 cola to military retirees. Despite the Law the pledge and fairness to the Retiree the government nevertheless circumvented the Law and reneged on its pledge in a highly questionable manner. There can be no excuse for this discriminatory treatment towards people who Faith fully served the country Over the years Lead ing to retirement. How Many of you know that Laws govern ing pensions for people already on the Mili tary retired lists have been changed at least four times in the past 28 years each time to the economic disadvantage of the Retiree keep in mind the pension you receive after retirement depends upon the Good will of Congress and there is no absolute guarantee it won t change those Laws favourable to you. Leroy Mccallum Carmich Germany he removed his Cap when i asked him As fellow no. Male members of All branches must have decided that their supplement to the regulations would allow them to Wear full beards because there was a surplus of beards everywhere. These personnel Are representing our country and military at a Multi National facility. What do the other countries Mili tary officers see when they encounter these personnel i la Tell you what i saw. Irresponsibility laziness and Lack of Pride. The few individuals that i encountered perform an injustice to the personnel who do have Pride in their military appearance. The appearance of these members also makes me wonder about the leadership there. Why Aren t they pointing out these obvious and needless misdemeanours to the personnel someone definitely needs to everyone has bad Days but there is no excuse for cos who have no Pride or Are just Plain too Lazy to spend a few minutes to be a proud representative of the unite states military. Sgt. Rhonda l. Woolridge san Vito As Italy consumed while you stand on the Corner gazing at Buckingham Palace where you know they re eating much better. You can go to the louvre in Paris and lose your tour guide in the crowd leaving you to Lead the group to the Mona Lisa because you re the Only one who s been to Paris before and been through the louvre often enough to find one Little painting out of thousands. It s conversing in fractured German Wilh an italian National Down in Garmisch be cause he can t speak English and you can t speak italian but you can both communicate in German. It s giant pretzels and dazzling parades at the oktoberfest Cruis ing Down the Rhine aflame when they illuminate the castles and they look like giant Gold embers on the hilltops it s eating food you be never seen before but will Al ways remember do you remember what you had for dinner last night. It s walking across a Bridge spanning a fjord Between Norway and Sweden so you can say you be walked across a Border of her than Mexico or Canada. It s going to Venice where you pack your self and five others into a Gondola and you All laugh so hard just from the fun you re having that you nearly capsize the Gondola right into the canal. You can go with your British Boyfriend to a restaurant in Munich so crowded you wind up sharing a table with three older germans from Mannheim and three students from French speaking Lausanne Switzerland and you All Man age to have an intelligent conversation and what a melting pot. I took an evening cruise Down the Seine in Paris where the Eiffel Tower and All the Beautiful old buildings were brilliantly aglow while the wind blew ferociously As i stood out on the deck shivering. And i had the nerve to turn to the army Sergent Freez ing next to me As he put another filter in his camera and say to him Well in sure Beals spending three Days in the Barracks does t it even As he scraped the ice off his Cam Era Lens he smiled widely and wholeheartedly agreed with me. I could go on and on and in greater detail but i d have to write a Book to do it. Well of course she can afford to travel All Over she s a staff sergeant fume the Barracks rats. Well my dears i did this when i was a one and two Striper stationed at Span Dahlem and i returned to the . So financially secure that my financially irresponsible sex Boyfriend loved my Bank account More than he loved me. Then too i Only paid a paltry $165 for my stereo. If All this in t living then i Don t know what is. I Don t see How spending a whole weekend in front of the to even if it s keeping Vigil in front of an All Day test Pat Ternor sitting in the Barracks night after night drinking and carousing like these were the last Days of the roman Empire could possibly be called living. Fifty years from now while i m keeping my grandchildren up past their bedtime Wilh stories of All i did and saw in Europe As i Rock away in the old Bentwood Rocker i bought in Spain you former Barracks rats will All be gathered in the old folks Home still drinking your Beer and grousing about what a Hole in the ground the place is. And you la still be shouting at each other. Not because you be got the stereo up so loud. But because by then the loud stereo will have made you permanently deaf. Get out of the Barracks and away from that to and Start living. It s the Only life you 11 Ever have. Staff sgt. Karen s. Fletcher Rhein main a Germany reminder All letters to the editor must contain the full printed name and address of the writer and must be signed. We do not read unsigned letters but we will withhold your name on request and protect your privacy All letters Are subject to editing
