European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 11, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Pages the stars and Stripe sunday May 11,1966 criticism of go retirement called Dis Forton by Dick Hodgson  Bureau ramste1n a Germany Congressi Natly pro posed cuts to the military retirement plan arc the result of misinformation distortion and sensationalism. Gen. An Drew p. Loss says. They Congress said we retired too Early and made the Case of a 40 or 42-year-old Retiree corps said lose commander of the air Force s air training come head quartered Al Randolph fab Texas they asked Why to did t keep them in longer i Suc said Trie distortion in that argument is hat the average Retiree is 56 years old and serves More than the 20 year minimum before leaving Active duty. Most service members retire at Between 2j and 26 years he said. They said it Cost too much he said Friday. In terms of Cost you re talking about ji8 billion. They said if you look at the Cost in the year 2020, it will Cost i50 billion. All thai is sensational izing simple 3 to 5 percent inflation figures. It s the same thing As me telling you that a Chevy pickup truck is going to Cost you �15,000 this year but 130,000 in the year 2000. You say. Wow i can t afford a pickup truck for 130,000. Sure you can. It s 3 to 5 percent simple sensationalized inflation. Osuch said Congress also characterized the current Mili tary retirement system As being lavish if it s lavish Why is it that Only about 12 percent of the Force stays with us Long enough to retire the average Retiree receives about $9,500 per year. Thai s about the poverty level for a family of four in the nation today he said. The word lavish was used to dramatize and sensation Alize the proposal. How in the world can less than s 10,000 per year be considered lavish now they re going to s7.000 per year retired  another misconception lose said was that retirees receive 50 percent of their pay. Retirees actually receive 50 percent of their base pay roughly 35 percent of their total pay he said. Losic blames misperception a about the current retire ment system for the proposed changes. It s those kind of comment when Joe six pack the Man on the Street hears those kind of comments and says boy you be got a fat pension " he said How can that be considered a fat pension could you live in today s world on 59,000 a year absolutely not. It s  of All that misinformation it was misconstrued and thought by Many to be a system that we could ill afford in this country not really knowing the main reason for the system he said. We have tried Many Many systems and made Many Many changes to the system throughout the years. And a found out this one is the Best. If you want to keep the Force Young if you want to have promotion opportunities if you want to provide a form of deferred income if you re looking for a mobilization re source you need the kind of system we have  Tosu said changing the current retirement plan will motivate people to remain on Active duly longer. If they Start to slay longer you be got to do a couple of things he said. Accept he fact that they re older 7 and accept the fact that promotions Aren t going to came As fast because the Law dictates How Many people May serve in each Grade if no accommodations arc made for an older Force with More longevity promotions will stagnate and Hurt retention efforts lose said. " the result is a person completing a four year commit ment will ask when he mates staff sergeant he said he won t make it in his fifth or sixth year it will Lake nine or 10. The Young Captain completing a six year commitment can say today that he expects to make major in about 10 years then it will become 14 or 15 years. They just won t stay. What you re going to get into is a revolving door. What Ever Money you have saved in retirements you re going to lose in recruiting costs and in training costs because you re going to have to recruit and train More people to replace those who Aren t slaying on Active duty past their initial commitments.". A. Lose said it costs More than is million to train an air Force Pilot today. We Don t have to lose very Many to pay Tor the current retirement system he said. It is difficult to predict what son of Impact the proposed retirement reduction will have on future retention Effort lose  Only know one thing for certain it s not going to be As Good As it was before he said and there were reasons for the Way it was structured. But the first person eligible for the new retirement system assuming it t passed this year won t be retiring until 2006. Everyone who is on Active duty now will be grandfathered their current retirement plan is guaranteed. Any changes to that would be a breach of the contract we made with them and we re not going to do  v Losic said he believes the psychological effect of Iho proposed cuts will be worse than the cuts themselves. The perception will be thai they members of Congress have taken som Ching away so what will be next be Laid. Will you late our household goods allowance travel Al Lowance dependent medical cure , Bill on and on. People View this As an erosion a step backward in terms of  Good Way to counter the perception of loss Fame said would be 10 modify current Laws governing the numbers of people who May serve in a Given Grade. It seems to me that you be got to change How numbers and increase them to allow the same pin on and Tew on times and promotion opportunities he said. For example now Here 13 an 80 percent promotion Opportunity to major is percent to lieutenant colonel and 55 percent to colonel if those remain the same and people stay on Active duty longer to get the higher retirement pay. What happen to the Young Captain who asks am i going to wait 10 More years to make major those Are the things we Don l know but we think it will have a negative effect on  Long lines tight Security Greet Tempelhof open House visitors by Joe a Poitier staff writer Berlin strict Security and Long lines marked the first Day of the Tempelhof Central Airport open House which Drew an estimated 170,000 visitors saturday. Beefed up Security forces that included air Force personnel from at least five other air Force bases in Europe checked visitors. Airport style Iclal detectors were set up at each Entrance and handbags were subjected to search by Berlin police police who estimated the crowd size said saturday afternoon that there had been no arrests. Attendance figures appear to be running behind last years record of 500,000 guests in two Days but visitors interviewed at the Airport saturday said they did not fear a terrorist attack. Five weeks ago a Berlin discotheque was the target of a terrorist bombing. One of the two killed was a . Army sergeant. About 230 people. Including about 80 americans suffered injuries in the attack. Tempelhof District mayor Siegmund Jaroch termed he decision to hold the open House an important psychological moment both for be Tinera and american military personnel stationed in the City. This open House is tradition and hundreds of thousands come Here. It would have been a shame if the disco attack would have stopped the open Bouse Jaruch said after cutting the opening ribbon with col. Lonnie r. Spivey Tempelhof Central air port base commander. Spivey said he did not know if the in creased Security and fears of another terrorist attack Kepi people away from the open House but he was not disappointed by the turnout. How can anyone be disappointed when we have 1170,000 people on our flight line Spivey said. Even though officials increased the num Ber of entrances from five to nine during the Day people said they walled in line for 20 minutes to one hour to enter. Once inside however the guests were treated to a wide display of military hard Ware and rides in armoured personnel carriers the Berlin police motorcycle team put on a display of stunt Riding and us army parachutists jumped from helicopters flying Over the Airport. Christine Johnson an army wife said she was comforted by the strict Security measures. She sat with friends and her 2 year son Matthew to watch a series of demonstrations by groups As diverse As the 25-Man . Army Drill team of the Ber Lin brigade and 15 Young children who Are members of the Berlin police trampoline club. We Haven t Hud 10 stand in line for any thing Johnson said in reference to the smaller crowd. Last year we had to staid in line for  Werner Bendlin Clad in motorcycle rid ing attire said he has been coming to the american show at Tempelhof for Al least 20 years asked about the stricter Security he said i understand  he said he was not worried about the possibility of an incident. The open House first held in 1950, u timed cacti year for the May anniversary of the official lifting of the Berlin blockade by the soviet in 1949. Among the roughly 25 aircraft on display was a c-54 used during the Airlift and Nick named he Candy bomber. Behind the c 54, the 160-foot wingspan of a c-i41b Star lifter dwarfed the cargo plane maj. Bob Johnson 437th military Airlift Wing Charleston so. Piloted the c-i41b in sweeps Over the rooftops of the surround ing Tempelhof District and Over the runway area the runway is substantially Shorter than most modern runways and the approach is steeper because of Hie House Johnson said. We have a use the More experienced  the monthly nights into the City by c 141 pilots Are among the few that still land at Tempelhof. Civilian air traffic lands at the newer Airport in Tecl a part of the French zone. U.s., Germany reach chemical arms Accord Bonn a foreign minister Hans Dietrich cens tier said saturday German and . Officials have agreed in principle on an Accord that would remove american made chemical weapons from Germany. Genscher said chemical weapons now stored in Germany will be withdrawn by 1992 and will not be replaced without the Bonn government s approval. He said Chancellor Helmut Kohl and president Reagan reached the agreement Al the Tokyo economic Summit last week. After the withdrawal of the chemical weapons currently stationed Here there will be no further such weapons deployed with out the approval of the Federal Republic Genscher said. News updates request for new trial Washington a a Feder Al appeals court panel a ordered fur ther proceedings in a request for new trial by Impi suied former rep. Rich Ard ,r-fla., was  1981 in the Fri abeam operation. The three member panel in an is judge Palde Citon Patricia a. Bbryant wrongly dismissed Keu Yire quest for a new trial based upon w Deuce discovered after his trial the District court s Fiorelo de veto an evidentiary record and resolve Croal factual dispute renders i Deail of Kelly s new trial motion an rime Cut Watfa  was convicted on Jan. 26, 1981.m three counts of accepting aj7j.ooo bribe from an Fri Aalt a in at an tide to two Arab Heifa. Ketry who was videotaped accepting Ibe Money testified thai he look the payoff Only to conduct  Oku be regarded u Shady charade v sentence overturned san Francisco a the death sentence of John Hamy ado to for 1976 Arizona car Tori that killed reporter Don Beta a overturned Friday by a Federal Appel court because the charges Wen a Creed after be had already been ten fenced  murder. By a 7-4 vote the 9lh u5, Snail court of Appeal ruled that even Hough Adamson violated a plea of Gaia try refusing to testify Gamst two Otter men imply Sale in ask Fliss in creasing the charges against my to Jim Deira murder violated the Mart Tutino Alban against double jeopardy. The ruling if it stands mean and anon would remain in prison for 20 years and two months i original term for second degree murder