European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - May 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Way Magazine aids and the single Soldier  staff writer i f the business of waging War is not the world s oldest profession it is inseparably linked to Trie career held that is commonly Given the Honor. Soldiers and sax share a heritage that predates the roman rape of the Sables it is a relationship that ii nothing else has spawned such discordant terms As chastity Bell and Camp  aids May be changing Alt that. Once viewed As a problem facing Only drug users and homosexuals acquired immune deficiency syndrome is new known to affect heterosexuals a fact that can Only Dampen the free spirits who frequent the go hangouts and red Light districts of Europe growing numbers of heterosexual serve remembers Many of them conceived during the sexual revolution that began in the 1960s, Are faced with sobering questions about sax in the 80s will the person i sleep with tonight give me an incurable disease what can i do to guard against it. I really slatted slowing Down on one night stands at lha Start of the herpes outbreak said a 26-year-old woman assigned to e maintenance unit in Hanau but with aids i be Cut it out almost completely. I find myself asking a hell of a lot More questions before t consider sleeping with somebody i try to find out As much As i can about the person s recent sexual history who they be slept with lately and what those people Are  a 25-year-old Man assigned in Giessen said it sure makes you do some thinking before jumping into bed with someone no doubt about that. Here we Are Young with a Little Money in Europe away from Home maybe for the first time. Sexual heaven right sexual mine  the number of military personnel with confirmed cases of aids is still Small less than 350 compared to the nearly 19,000 american civilians who have contracted the disease to Date but army doctors expect to uncover  More cases in the current Lescal year alone. Health officials in Europe said they do not keep data on soldiers with aids since those identified As having the disease or having been exposed to ii Are transferred to the United states for reassignment or treatment and discharge. The officials did say that these soldiers Are comparable to . Civilians suffering from aids. The profile however Dillars on at feast one major Point Only a tiny percentage of . Aids victims less than 1 percent according to the centers far disease control in Atlanta said they contracted the disease through heterosexual activity. More than 35 percent of military aids patients treated at the waiter Reed medical Center in Washington claim to have done so. While the percent figure for the military is High when compared to us. Statistics it is just More than a third of similar cases in Africa where nearly All aids victims Are heterosexual. Researchers Are not sure How the disease is transmitted Between heterosexuals but they have determined that the virus Cen be carried in vaginal fluids supporting the possibility of woman to Man transmission. Studies already have proven that the virus can be carried in semen and other male secretions. Surprisingly those facts widely reported seem to have made Only a Small Impact on singles in the military condoms one of the few ways to defend against the spread of the disease Are experiencing sales increases us Dhole by l. Emmett Lewis or. Army medical lab technician Jamie blew demonstrating part of the test far aids antibodies. Of 25 to so percent in the United states. Trojan alone expects sales to increase by More than $7 million this year. Cafes officials on the other hand say safes of prophylactics at Exchange stores actually have dipped. Down 20 percent in the last year. Community health officials report antipathy toward programs designed to warn soldiers of the threat of he disease and aids question boxes that allow serve remembers the Chance to discreetly get information about the disease routinely turn up empty. An aids information seminar set up in the Mainz Community last fall failed to attract even one Soldier. Almost All of about 30 serve remembers interviewed at military clubs and night spots in Centra Germany expressed Little concern about contracting the disease from a member of the opposite sex. Most of the Guys i know joke about it you know aids being god e revenge on queers end stuff like that said a 24-year-old Soldier sipping Beer at an enlisted club. The idea of maybe catching it crosses your mind but that s it it crosses your mind. It s not going to Stop me from picking somebody up if the Opportunity comes along.". Another Soldier said he did t worry about getting the disease because so few heterosexuals have tested positive to Date i Only now what i be read in the newspaper. You be got a belter Chance of meeting a bus head on than of meeting a woman who is going to pass you aids if someone has aids they re not going to go out to bars and Sll and flirt and let someone pick them up e 22-year-old airman said. They re just not going to do it. I realize this in t herpes or the clap. We re talking possible death Here and maybe i should be More concerned about it. But i m not to really Don t think about catching aids when it comes to women said a 28-year-old air Force sergeant i just Don t think the Odds of contracting it from a woman Are very Good it s possible sure but i Don t think it s very Likely. The fear of it sure would t Stop me from sleeping with a woman i had ust met if i was attracted to  the sergeant said he does t ask prospective partners about their previous sexual encounters because that would be very  the military now scans potential recruits for the presence of the aids virus and plans testing of All Active duty personnel this summer. Only a tiny fraction of the recruits about one tenth of 1 percent have tested positive to Date. In testing done on 138,000 would be enlistees Between october and december last year 210 were confirmed aids virus positive and were not allowed to enter the service. As Many As 10,000 serve remembers however Coul test positive if the military were indeed compare pie to the civilian sector where an estimated 1 million americans Are thought to carry the a Tiv Iii virus associated with aids. Currently Aerol remembers found to be either suffering irom aids or carrying the virus Are sent through staging programs that categorize patients on a scale of one through six. Serve remembers a the first four categories carry lha a Tiv Iii virus but show no signs of infection. These soldiers Are assigned to stateside units but not the. Rapid deployment Force special forces or other Elile units end receive clinical checkups every six months patients infected with the virus categories live and six on the military s scale Are Given honorable medical. Discharges much like a Soldier sundering irom cancer and Are entitled to Lull Veteran medical benefits. It remains to be seen whether the military which budgeted $20 million for aids care and research in in current fiscal year can afford to treat or Transfer the thousands of soldiers the Active duly testing might bring to Light. Health officials at the Pentagon already have expressed concerns that the Cost of Itie Core estimated at $500,000 per Allenl could bankrupt the  the Cost of care aside the biggest Impact of aids May prove to be its affect on social mores. Sex educators and other experts predict a gradual return la the mores of the 1950s, when Young people dated got engaged and entered into monogamous marriage. A sexual revolution in reverse. I used to come Here to you know try to get  said a 25-year-old sergeant pumping quarters Inlo a Slot machine at a Frankfurt military club nowadays though playing Ullh this baby right Here is All the gambling i m interested in  wednesday. May 28, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 13