European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 4, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday april 4, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 11 Ann Landers delay in completing Telephone Calls is explained it is now exactly 10 32 . One hour and two minutes ago i began to try to get in touch with someone at Larson Barracks in Kitzinger. What is wrong with our military Tele phone system i have had trouble getting people at Larson Barracks As Well As at Gie Belstadt army air Field. I have had to dial up to 20 minutes before  never this Long. After dealing about five times i began to make tick Marks on a Sheet of paper. Now after dealing 98 times and not even being Able to Complete dealing the whole number because of getting a Busy signal after the Exchange military prefix i am boiling mad. I began to wonder what would happen to a person who was having a heart attack or miscarriage or had an extremely ill child Etc. And was trying to get hold of their sponsor to take them to a Hospital or any Type of emergency for that matter. There Are an awful lot of family members who live in Small towns on the Economy who have nowhere to go in Case of an emergency and i m sure that even if they did the sponsor would want to know right away. What is going on can someone explain this please also Many times after talking to someone for maybe i minutes the phone just cuts off. This Type of thing does not happen when i am talking to someone on a German phone. Spec. 4 Diana r. Aadland Gie Belstadt Germany editor s note capt. Brian w. The and of types or european edition capt Dale k. Patterson us editor in chief cmdr Jeffrey s. Zakem us Deputy editor in chief . Blackwell. M. Proctor . Mcdermott production manager managing de. Circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for members of the military services overseas. Contents of the stars and stripes Are not necessarily the official views of or endorsed by the . Government the department of defense or the . European command. The appearance of advertising in this publication including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorsement by the department of defense or the stars and stripes of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for Purchase Usa or patronage without regard to race color religion sex National origin age marital status physical Handicap political affiliation or any other non Merit Factor of the purchaser user or Patron. Military address the stars and stripes Apo 09211. International mail the stars and stripes Postrach 11 10 34, d-6100 Darmstadt 11, Germany. Tel Griesheim civilian 06155 6010 military Darmstadt Airstrip 2376 741, the european Telephone system ets number 348-4741, telex 0419-332. New York office room 401, 252 seventh ave., new York 10001, Tel area code 212 620-3333. News bureaus Pitburg Germany Jean Albright building 102, room 210a, by Laura a Apo 09132 Telephone Civ. 06561 5779, Mil. 2228-7052. Bremerhaven Germany Joe Mapother building 103, Carl Shurz Cavern Apo 09069 Telephone Bremerhaven Mil. 8659, Civ. 0471-88782. Kaiserslautern Germany Dick Hodgson and Paul Cozby building 2897, Pulaski Barracks Apo 09012 Telephone Vogel Weh Mil. 2226 6585, ets no. 489-6585 or Kaiserslautern Civ. 0631 52104. Munich Germany Charlie Bowden building 6, stairwell 214, room 11, Mcgraw Cavern soured Apo 09407 Telephone Munich Mil. 2521 7320, ets no. 440-7320 or Munich Civ. 089-690-1800. Nuernberg Germany Tony Nauroth building 21, William 0. Darby Cavern Apo 09696 Telephone Nuernberg Mil. 2621-7256, ets no. 460-7256 or Nuernberg Civ. 0911 712563. Stuttgart Germany Dan Wollam and Joe Owen building 2303, room 119, Patch Barracks Box 968, Apo 09128 Telephone Patch Mil. 2729-8449, ets no. 430-8449 or Civ. 0711 6877826, telex 7255335. Naples Italy Robert Leonard hangar #2, Capo i Calno As Fpo by 09521 Telephone Civ. 0039-81-7514554, Mil. Auto on 625-1110 ext. 5358 United kingdom j. King Cruger and Dave Diehl building 436 Cess us Raf Mildenhall Apo 09127 Tele phone Mil. Auto on 238-1110 extensions 2658-2226 or Mildenhall Civ. 0638 713882. Washington . Clint Swift and Chuck Vlinch Oast a the Pentagon room 2e756, . Box 46095, Washington 20050-6095 Telephone 202 697-6695. Circulation offices Germany Berlin Civ. 8331846, Mil. 6187, ets no. 332 4412 Bremerhaven Civ. 85168, Mil. 8119, ets no. 342-8119 Rhein Maln Frankfurt Civ. 069-692050 or 692565, Mil. 6025 or 7103, ets no. 330-6025 or 7103, telex 412712 kaisers Lauvern Civ. 57070 or 57079, Mil. Vogel Weh 6050, ets no. 489-6050 Munich Civ. 6901503 or 6901504, Mil. 6556, ets no. 440-6556 Nuernberg Civ. 712558, Mil. 7001, ets no. 460-7001 Stuttgart Civ. 0711-8701496, Mil. 6030, ets no. 420-6030. Greece Athens Civ. 9923390. Italy Vicenza Civ. 515358. Spain Madrid Mil. 00341 205-6600 or Civ. 00341 �561465. Turkey Istanbul Civ. 1664372, telex 26174 sans to. United kingdom Greenham common Civ. Newbury 0635 44768 m l. Newbury 0635 46263 ext. 209. Poker Public affairs officer 5th signal come replies the writer is angry and rightly so. We especially share the writer s concern that our subscribers May not be Able to Contact hospitals my desks Etc., in cases of Emer gency. The traffic volume on our commercial trunks to Larson Barracks is bad. There Are 12 commercial trunks at the Harvey Barracks Telephone Exchange which handles All the local commercial Telephone Calls for both Harvey and Larson Barracks. Our traffic studies indicate that during duty hours 65 percent of All incoming commercial Calls Are successful. During non duty hours less than 10 percent of All incoming Calls Are successful. Poor commercial Telephone Access to or from our military Telephone exchanges is caused by three factors 1. The number and duration of personal Calls being made 2. Not enough Telephone Booths and 3. Not enough commercial trunk lines. Many say that "5th signal come is the Telephone company for Usa eur so Why can t they operate like other Tele phone companies if there Are not enough trunks to handle the Telephone traffic simply add More  the answer is this commercial Tele phone companies make Money on each commercial Telephone Call. The 5th signal come pays Money for each commercial Telephone Call. Military Telephone service is paid with Dod Money which As we All know is extremely limited. Our portion of the Money pot is limited to providing essential official Telephone service. The 1,159 commercial trunks at our 124 Telephone exchanges Cost 12.5 million Marks last year. As part of our ets upgrade project we Are installing an additional 795 commercial trunks at an installation Cost of 5.2 million Marks. We estimate the total Cost for commercial trunks will Rise to Over 21 million Marks per year. Harvey Larson Barracks will get two of these new commercial trunks when the ets switches Are installed there in May 1987. We have coordinated with the German government to install More Telephone Booths on military installations. We re Quested each military Community to  vide us the locations of required Telephone Booths. The Kitzinger Community response indicated that additional Telephone Booths were not needed. The reason you can t get through to Larson Barracks at 10 30 . Is because All available commercial trunks Are Busy with personal Calls. Our traffic studies indicate that Many commercial Calls especially after duty hours last from one hour to Over three hours. In these Days of tight budget restraints we cannot afford enough commercial trunks to handle this Type of traffic. We Are doing everything we can to improve the Telephone system within our budget. The Best solution is to limit the number and duration of our Telephone Calls. For example if the average Call lasts 15 minutes your 12 trunks can Han dle Only 48 Calls per hour. If each Call is limited to 3 minutes the 12 trunks can handle 240 Calls per hour. Our Telephone resources Are limited like most other Dod resources. We must use them wisely. We re doing our part  we need your help. If everyone limits their Calls to 3 minutes we will never have to worry about having enough trunks to Han dle the True emergency Calls. Difference Between ., .s.r. I do not know How Many times 1 have read or heard people say there s no differ ence Between the . And the .s.r., or More generally Between the Western world and the Eastern world Western democracies and Eastern communist coun tries. Let me illustrate what i am talking about with a personal example. A while Back Over dinner i and five other people discussed that very topic. The group consisted of three couples with one of the women being German. The rest were americans. What started the whole discussion was the Story of my German Landlady s horrible experience during world War ii. I am very close to this 70-year-old woman and i told the others what happened to her Back then. She grew up in East Prussia and remained there until driven out by the rus sians near the end of the War. She told me How the soviets killed and raped civilians on a regular and random basis. Her Hus band was one of those killed. She sent her Only son off with her Mother and when her husband was killed she ended up on a ship on the Baltic sea head ing for what is now West Germany. She was fleeing the russians like thousands of others. My Landlady ended up in Hanau a Small bombed out City near Frankfurt. She had no knowledge on the whereabouts or Fate of her 5-year-old son for one year. Finally she got word through the american military that her son was in Hamburg. She traded her watch for a Bike Rode a couple of Hun dred Miles North to Hamburg and found him. When she first saw him a Black Ameri can Soldier was giving him Candy. Needless to say she has fond feelings for americans and a special place in her heart for Black americans. Well after i told that Story the German woman at our table immediately stated that the american soldiers raped and killed civilians also and that there no differ ence in what the american and russian soldiers did during world War ii. And to a slightly lesser degree the two american women agreed with the German woman. That of course set off our discussion Over whether american soldiers did kill and rape civilians randomly As the russians did. And on a larger scale if there is a differ ence Between the two societies in times of War and peace. Well i think the words of the five year old boy now 46 years old Best sum it up. The Young people nowadays just Don t understand what it was like Back then. They have never known the tragedy and horror of either Hitler or the russians. No she is wrong. The american soldiers did not do the same horrible things to the people that the russians  have i told the three women what the Man who 45 years ago was separated from his Mother in fear of the oncoming rus sians said no. It would not do any Good. Why because they just Don t understand. As far As they Are concerned there s no  1st it. Daniel t. White Hanau Germany pen pals i m a 22-year-old girl. I go to a school of languages and would like to have an american pen pal. Kerston roves am Flaschendreh Herkamp 11 3300 Braunschweig West Germany i would like to have pen pals. I am 22 years old and a roman Catholic. My hobbies Are Badminton danc ing and swimming. Nelly d. Gabales Basay Negros Oriental Philippines i am 34 years old and would like pen pals from anywhere and everywhere. I will answer All letters. Ann m. Kamm c co 440th Sig in car 979 Apo .,  09175 dear Ann Landers our Tough love group Dis cussed your column concerning teen agers and the pain they cause their parents because of poor choices they make. My wife and i had to learn to Stop res cuing our son and covering up for him when he got in Trou ble in school with neighbors and the police. We had to Lay Down rules we could enforce. We needed emotional support from other parents so we could stand Back and watch our son make mistakes and let him take his lumps. We had to learn that our son s self defeating choices were not our fault. Please continue to Tell people about Tough love. We would never have sur Vived if it had t been for this terrific concept and there would be no groups in san Diego if it weren t for you. Jew dear jew it s time to recommend Tough love again to parents who Are being driven nuts by teen agers who lie steal drink do dope sleep around and refuse to live by the rules of the House. I urge you to write to the National Headquarters of Tough love. They will direct you to the nearest group. If there is no group close by they will Tell you How to Start one. You will be amazed at the number of parents who like you Are in need of emotional support because of the anti social off the Wall behaviour of their kids. The address is Tough love . Box 1069, Doylestown a. 18901. Say Annie sent you. Dear Ann Landers i would like to see this in print on behalf of retail store clerks everywhere. You have in the past sided with the consumer in lambasting rude and incompetent Sale clerks  i Don t recall that you Ever have been critical of those who Are on the other Side of the counter. I am referring to obnoxious customers. My husband clerks in a Bookstore. Every Day he is plagued by mothers who allow their children to tear up books and eat ice Cream and Candy in the store. Some customers refuse to Stop smoking when asked. These stubborn mules Burn holes in our books and foul the air there Are always customers who will not leave at closing time. They stand around Reading not buy ing books and must be practically thrown out the door. Our least favorite customers Are those who come in and say i saw a Book on to yesterday. I Don t know the author or the  when asked what is the Book about they say i can t remember  it was  when my husband replies sorry 1 can t help you the customer becomes annoyed Calls him stupid and accuses him of not knowing his business. Many retail clerks work Long hours weekends and Many holidays for minimum wages. You would not believe How Many clerks have College degrees  can t get better jobs. Please print this letter and give the Long suffering Bookstore clerks a helping hand. . Tampa dear . Here s the helping hand you asked for. I Hope someone clasps it. Dear Ann Landers my daughter who is trying hard to lose weight bought a pair of Gravity boots and hangs upside Down for 15 minutes every Day. Could this be harmful worried in Paterson . Dear Pat your daughter should ask her physician. Most health professionals say 10 minutes in that position is the limit and people with High blood pressure or Eye problems should not hang upside Down at All. Readers wishing to write to news America Syndi Cate columnist Landers May address their letters in care of the stars and stripes Apo 09211, . Forces