European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 3, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday May 3, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 sticking to goal despite squeeze Bycul Lluc Washington Bureau Washington a by decl obsess be Congress combined Wilh a shrinking Pool of eligible recruits and slipping retention rates in some career Fields is putting a personnel squeeze on the Navy just As it approaches its goal of 600 ships according to inc service s manpower chief. Vice adm. Dudley Carlson Deputy chief of naval operations for manpower person Nel and training said recruiting and retain ing High Quality sailors will become More difficult in the next few years. But i think we will do it he said. It s not a grim Bleak impossible  while worsening demographics arc a concern for the Navy As Well As the other services Carlson is equally concerned with Congress seeking an easy Way to reduce the Pentagon budget by cutting personnel costs. You can save immediate dollars in personnel accounts because those arc now dollars rather than multiyear appropriations for weapons systems and ships he said. Everybody always Sas you have Loo Many people get rid of some of Ihm Lull Fiji riot that easy. It s particularly acute for Equi Rcd for obvious Rea sons to of fact of Ching called sea Shore rotation.  you have sailors at sea Yah a ask them to stay there forever. At sorry they have to come ashore so that when the Guy at sea comes ashore inc Guy ashore goes to sea. When someone says. Let s do away with a Bunch of Shore billets what they re doing is condemning some people to stay longer at sea. The longer icy stay Al sea the less Happy they Are Aboul in. If they Sec themselves As being taken advantage of they Start going Home and then we re Dou  Carlson said the budget cutting mood comes at a Lime when Congress is providing funds to bring the Navy up to 600 ships. They re telling us they want to give us less people bul we still have to do the same things he said. We can t do that. If you say the Navy is too big i have to ask what is it you want us nol to do we Don t make inc policy Congress  Carlson has asked Congress for the authority to add 11,400 sailors to the Navy s ranks next fiscal year. By 1991 another 26,000 will be needed to Man inc additional ships that will be launched during inc next five years. Tell. Congress in ils infinite Wisdom sees fit t3sm600 ships and then As we approach the Bwl of this Effort they suddenly say icy Dontoh Toman those ships i understand. I a so Well bring the Carrion Yut of the arabian sea. Of no Don t Donil of Well bring the ships Home fron around Japan and Korea. No no we have treaties so i have to ask again what is in that you Don t want us to do Congress docs not like to be asked that  Carlson also highlighted several disturb ing trends that Are adding to the services personnel worries. Chief among those is the decline in inc number of qualified eligible recruits. We attained sufficient recruit numbers is photo by track Baker Laura Little uses eyes hands and facial expressions to communicate Wilh her students at inc Frankfurt education Center. Signs p of of to better communication in Frankfurt teacher s language classes by Betty Bell staff writer Frankfurt quiet prevails in the classroom where Laura lilt a s Stu dents mimic her every word As she leads them through language drills. Little uses dramatic facial expressions and exaggerated gestures to effectively convey a myriad of meanings moods and feelings. Her students practice doing the same. Not a word is spoken. To the casual observer Little s class might be mistaken for a course in healer arts Wilh lots of dramatic posturing. But she is teaching her students to communicate in sign language. Little a teacher of the hearing impaired at Frankfurt High school also holds classes Al the education Center on Abrams Complex for anybody warning or needing to learn sign language. Any attempt at communicating is appreciated by the hearing impaired she said. I decided to see if i could find More people to Leach by going through the army communication  Leda c. Brown education technician in charge of general interest programs at the Center decided to test Little s idea. There Are certain things i feel should be made available to the Community Brown said. Sign language is vital and nol Only to people who have exceptional family members. People who arc inter ested in being educated to help those per sons should also have that  Little s students expressed enthusiasm about their new skill. I be wanted to learn sign language for 6 i years said Traci Treffery a typist in the Frankfurt military Community. I worked Wilh a deaf child in the slates and she taught me some unbelievable  ill be looking for an Opportunity to use sign language said Linda m. Cues Las a Secretary Al army Materiel come v corps. I be wanted to learn sign Lan Guage since i was a  Anne e. Nollner a teacher s aide at Frankfurt High school and Linda s. Minckler who s looking for a Job. Both said icy were interested in sign language and were pleased to have the Opportunity to learn it. People enrol who arc just interested and feel it s helpful to learn the Lan Guage Little said. I have one family enrolled that s making learning sign Lan Guage a family project. And i enjoy leaching  to meet our goals in fiscal 1985bul the Csc numbers were of lesser Quality Overall thar the previous year Carlson said. Tai he said the number of High school Grad Iii rates joining the Navy dropped 4 percent Between fiscal 1984 and 1985, and the i Irand continued downward in the first \ Quarter of this fiscal year. Right now All the services need to re Emit one of every three qualified eligible people to meet the nation s defense Man pow or requirements he said. At any one Lime there arc about 21 million 18 to 22-year Olds. Of that Aboul half Are physically qualified. Of that Abc half Are mentally  ill Jud while 21 million sounds like a lot All the  competing for inc same people. By itt than the number of Avail Able recruits to Tiosh jut. Inc services will have to recruit one Ott a two eligible people. Carlson said retention slip particularly in the nuclear surface nucleic submarine and Pilot Fields. The Navy is now Short about 1,100 pilots he said. Reagan sent Bill on adjusting retirement plan by Chuck Vinci i Washington Bureau Washington president Reagan was expected to sign without delay a Bill pushing the deadline for making changes to inc military retirement system to june i. The Bill was sent Laic thursday Lorea Gan w to is on a 13-Day far 1-a.sl Lour. Congress withheld $2.9 billion from this year s $18.2 billion defense department military retirement account. It had been faced Wilh implementing a change to inc system by May i or Dod would have to begin  to 330,000 service Mem cars to slay within spending limits. The i Louse passed a Bill to change the sys tem iwo weeks ago by a Vole of 399-7, bul the Senate still has not acted on its version. Dod officials estimate the House and Senate plans could Cul inc retirement pay for future recruits by Aboul 25 percent to 30 percent. The Bill would affect Only those acc rails who enter Active duly after Reagan signs it into Law. A Dod spokesman said if Congress should miss the new deadline the Pentagon would have no Choice bul to begin gearing up to separate enough service members to Meel Bud gel requirements for this fiscal year. That does t mean we Start kicking peo ple out that Day inc spokesman said. Thai would just be the Date for Starling the process. We have to identify inc people to be let go and give them ample  the spokesman said the longer Congress wails to change the retirement system the More  May have to be Sepa rated because the Lime Frame for meeting budget requirements would be compressed. Mary Poppins director Stevenson Dies at 81 Santa Barbara Calif. A Robert Stevenson one of the most commercially successful Dirac ions in movie history whose credits include Mary Poppins and old yeller,"hasdiedal8l. The British native s most memorable works were fantasy and adventure films aimed at Young audiences thai he directed during his 22-year affiliation with Walt Disney pictures. He had 19 feature films on a list of All time top grossing films published in 1978 by american film Magazine. Among the other Disney films Stevenson directed Between 1956 and 1978 were kidnapped and heroic rides