European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 10, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes thursday april 10, 1986 of official opposes More personnel the people May go away but fhe work says by Dick Hodgson Kaiserslautern Bureau Ramstein a Germany the air Force s top personnel officer wednesday said any further cuts in the military person Nel budget would be trimming muscle not  la. Gen. John Shaud air Force Deputy chief of staff for personnel said the Deci Sions to release 5,000 Scricc members in May and to delay permanent change of Sta Tion moves arc producing the necessary Sav Ings to meet budget constraints without putting undue hardship on individual serv . Our idea is to not constantly ask our very Good people to do More and More with less and less he said. The people May go away but the work stays. So you keep Bur Dening the Good people with work Levels that you have determined require higher manpower Levels. At that Point you Don t Cut fat you Cut muscle. And that has an Impact on readiness and  he noted that after Vietnam the air Force was Over strength in some areas. We had More pilots than we needed particularly in strategic and training air Craft Shaud said. But today we have a reasonable balance Between the necessary programs and manpower Levels. We have to maintain  Shaud said that although 92 percent of All eligible pilots Are electing to remain in the air Force the trend since 1983 has been downward. There Are pull factors and push factors in the retention Arena he said. Pull fac tors include significant airline hiring and lower unemployment. But we re not too worried about those. What concerns us More is the push caused by uncertainty about entitlements and family welfare  Shaud said the air Force has gotten some new entitlements for its members that should help encourage retention and make the military a More attractive career de spite looming uncertainty Over proposed changes to the retirement system. We will continue to work the compensation package Issue he said. The 4 percent pay raise holds us where we Are. We Are about 8.1 or 8.3 percent depending on who does your numbers for you below what comparable pay would demand. That is very High on our Agenda with the con  Shaud said getting Congress to approve household goods shipping authorizations to a maximum of 18,000 pounds for senior members and a minimum 7,000 pounds for Junior enlisted members is another High priority item. Those limits will put 95 percent of Mili tary moves within the limits he said. We Don t want to go for entitlements that would in any Way appear extravagant we want to have a modest list of entitle ments and keep working it. There is a very positive attitude in the air Force today people think Well of what they re doing and of themselves. That s a very precious and fragile thing. We be got to continue that. Working for entitlements is not the whole thing but it s a big part of  one major recent gain in entitlements is per diem for family members on pcs moves Shaud said. That entitlement was threatened by the Gramm Rudman balanced budget Law he said. We had just won through the Congress the per diem for the family he said. This amounted to some $40 million taking the total pcs account to $70 million. We had a Choice we could forgo this entitlement and leave the Bill at $30 a rail lion or we could include it and pay Soline $70 million. We made the determination that we had a very hard earned entitlement and had been working with the Congress for the last five years to get it. If we did t fund it it would be another five years at least before we would see  Shaud said he does t think the proposed cuts to the military retirement system will produce significant retention difficulties in the near future. The Good news is that any change will be fully grandfathered he said. Liat you signed up for when you came in the service is what you re going to  but Shaud acknowledged the Poten Ial for problems As a result of disparity in retirement pay which could affect future enlistees if retirement is Cut from the current 50 percent of Basic pay after 20 years so Jav ice. J it will be the mid-1990s at least before we feel the full influence on retention he said. I what we re doing now is working his Issue very very hard for our  medal of Honor Winner sex pow of i 11 i / via k Jyi in in s traveler in rough Nee rest no times to control erosion along River world today Chin planting Green Belt. By Paul Cozby Kaiserslautern Bureau Ramstein a Germany sixty seven months in a North vietnamese prisoner of War Camp forged attitudes in George e. Bud Day that continue to affect his life. All pos except maybe three or four came to some very Basic conclusions about themselves their country and the Way we live the retired air Force colonel and medal of Honor Winner said wednesday. I Learned that you can t go it alone said Day the most decorated officer since Gen. Douglas Macarthur according to his introduction. My mind went Back to the religious principles that i was raised  and when he returned to the United states he discovered he did t know As much about his Homeland As he thought. Day found a country torn by dissent Over the War he had fought. It surprised me that so Many people listened to that anti War sentiment he recalled. Sort of like listening to the pied  More than 100 people crowded the monthly ecumenical luncheon at Ramstein Chapel i to hear Day at his first Stop on a 10-Day swing through Europe As part of the Safe warriors of the past program. Day now a lawyer in fort Walton Beach fla., spends much of his time recruiting and supporting Republican Candi dates for political offices around the nation. He also is a frequent lecturer at the Freedom foundation in Valley forge a. At 61 and still fit he describes himself in a soft spoken voice As a traveler through interesting  his military career of 30 years included action in world War ii the korean War and Vietnam. Of his More than 70 decorations 50 Are for combat including the air Force Cross. Day started As a Marine was commissioned in the National guard in 1950 and did two Tours in Korea with the air Force. In 1955, while he was flying a fighter Over , his plane caught fire. He ejected but his Parachute failed to open. As they say in England i thought i had bought the farm he said. The soft tops of a Thicket of Pine Trees slowed him Down and broke his fall. Day received Only a broken leg and a few fractured Bones in his Back. Then came the 1960s and Vietnam where Day flew f 100s. Although he escaped from prison he was recaptured by the Viet Cong in South Vietnam. Day talks reluctantly about his accomplishments and about the trials of the Camp. He would rather talk about the triumphs that were there and How he believes the United states has changed since those Days. My attendance at Happy hour was a Little bit better than my attendance at Church before Vietnam he said. I Felt a Little bit hypocritical suddenly praying again. I can say prayer did t Stop the torture but it does give you courage it keeps your mind working and it gives you the most important thing which is  Day believes that the country in the past decade is feeling Good about itself again. I feel Good about that he said. I think it s the closest we be been to that position since 1945, in the Post world War ii  the new attitude is marked by a return to traditional values a shift Day views As crucial to maintaining Good government. You have the kind of government you deserve. If you want bad government you let it happen. If you want Good government you make that happen  Day will spend the next week touring bases throughout Europe for speaking engagements with air Crews and other groups. His stops include Ramstein thursday Torrejon a Spain Friday and saturday Pitburg a Germany Mon Day we Bruecken a tuesday Raf Alconbury eng land wednesday and Raf Mildenhall England and Raf upper Heyford England april 17. Peking a China is planting a Green g Wall along the Middle and lower reaches of the be eat Low River to control soil erosion that has caused co Timous flooding the official Xinhua news Agency has reported the 6-mile-wide Belt of Trees and grass will run from Zhongwen province in the Qingxia Hui autonomous Are Gion to Jinzhou in Shandong province the report said. Xinhua said 1.6 billion tons of Silt Are carried Down China s second longest River each year from the High Juds in the West. A total of 3.4 million Young people already have t Ken 11 the in a . Copters evacuate honduran troops Tegucigalpa Honduras a . Army helicopter pilots have flown honduran soldiers out of the Border area where nicaraguan troops were said to have fought Contra rebels last month a . Embassy official said. . Pilots flew about 600 honduran soldiers to the zone after the Reagan administration publicized reports that up to 1,500 troops of Nicaragua s sandinista army were caught on a Mountain about 150 Miles East of Tegucigalpa. The embassy official said tuesday that about 15 . Army helicopters from Palmerola a returned honduran troops mortars and other weapons to their Home bases. The official said he did not know How Many american or honduran troops were involved in the Airlift. President Reagan released $20. Million in emergency military Aid to Honduras on March 24, after honduran president Jose Azcona Hoyo requested help moving troops to the Border. The . And honduran governments said nicaraguan soldiers crossed the Border intending to attack bases used by the anti sandinista Contra rebels in the triangular shape Las vegas salient a piece of honduran territory about 150 Miles from Tegucigalpa that juts into Nicara Gua. Sources Here said the sandinista soldiers became trapped by the contras but withdrew by March 28, Leav ing behind an estimated 200 dead and some stragglers. Part in the project which began in 1984 and is expected to take another five years to Complete it said. A similar project is under Way in Northern China to Riold Back the Gobi and other deserts which Are expanding at a rate of More than 600 Square Miles a year despite the government s efforts. Last British officer to serve during world War ii retires London a Gen. Sir Michael Gow Britain s last serving officer to have fought in world War ii has retired after 44 years of service. The scots guards pipe and drum band paraded and played music in a ceremony marking cow s departure from the Wellington Barracks in London. Gow 61, who enlisted As a private in 1942, was Allied Advance across the Rhine in Germany fighting tank battalion. Among his comrades were Robert Runcie now the archbishop of Canterbury and William White Law now lord Whitelaw the Deputy prime minister. Bomb planted in Van at Tehran explodes killing 1, injuring 17 Tehran Iran a a bomb concealed in a Van exploded on a crowded Street in Tehran killing a 70-year old passer by and injuring 17 other people Iran s official news Agency said. The official islamic Republic news Agency monitored in Nicosia said six of the injured were in critical con Ilion at Sina Hospital. It said the bomb was planted in a Van Park Khayyam Avenue near Tehran s Bazaar and exp just after 1 . Four cars were destroyed and 22 were damaged it said. There was no immediate claim of responsibility f bombing. Irna however blamed counter revolute groups backed by imperialist  Iran s government blamed a series of bomb blast. A last year on underground opposition groups led by the Paris based Mujahideen Khaliq group. Mujahideen pc half has denied involvement. 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