European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - June 20, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday june 20, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 outgoing v corps chief mastered veal fight  writer to glance at his prion incl file . Sam we Tecl does t look like much of a Soldier it lock him six years to get his Captain s bars. Another five to make major. And he made in into West Point on what might Best be called a Fluke the kids nominated from misstate could t pass the physical. His parents nicknamed him Sam after a mule in silent movie. Bui he retires at the end of the month with three stars the v corps commander in charge of nearly a tenth of the people wearing army Green. It s the end of a career that covers 34 years a couple of wars a few skirmishes with Congress. A Battle with cancer. And always he said the struggle to stay in touch Wilh the ranks the troops the Bottom of the Chain of command. That s the real fight Witzel said trying to get Back to your troops getting Back to your sol Diers. The higher you go the harder it gels. You really have to work hard at in. It s something i like to think i be been Able 10 do better than a lot of other people the troops the soldiers the Little Guy. It s Wal ocl s favorite theme the Peg for almost every War Story and remembrance. The platoon sergeant who kept him alive in Korea the Young Corporal in his battalion in Vietnam who won the medal of Honor. The lieutenant Wilh inc Tennessee drawl who promised Gen. Creigh Ion Abrams that if the enemy launched a night attack. They d belter bring  Little people who Rose to big occasions. People not so different maybe from Welzel himself. I Learned something Early on and that was to listen to people. Not just your Peers or the people below you but to listen to everybody listen to the Good an the bad and learn from in. I was privileged As a Captain to be the senior aide no West Point and one of my most memorable experiences was spending a whole Day walking around Wilh Gen Omar Bradley just listening to him talk about his Cadet Days and his Days As a Soldier. Another was when Gen. Douglas Macarthur came to give his duly Honor country speech. This was May of 1962, shortly before be died. I spent the whole Day with him listening. And when he stood beside the podium he gave that speech without a note and it is the most eloquent piece of English you la probably Ever  Welzel caught the Tail end of the korean War in 1953, got his first taste of combat at Christmas Hill and Heartbreak Ridge. Got his first feel for the Way politicians could run a Battlefield. We  attack with any Force bigger than company size because of the peace negotiations so we could Only go on patrols. And someone got the Bright idea thai Only lieutenants could Lead patrols so i was taking a patrol out nearly every night. And because of the political constraints on us because All we could do was patrol we got one hell of a lot of supervision. They were monitoring our patrols from battalion level and up a step the regimental commander was also monitoring and the division commander was monitoring patrols people soul South Korea s capita were monitoring. And it got so that some people thought thai was the Way to run an army. I noticed in in training Over the years of peace following Korea they carried this philosophy Forward. And to and behold in Vietnam you had what was called squad Leader in the sky where generals were running squads. That was Learned in Korea. I saw in and so i be always tried to stay in the Chain of com Mand let the squad leaders run the  Vietnam Welzel believes was a War of Good sol Diers and bad politics. Mostly it was like fighting with one hand behind your Back. The constraints on the bombing for exam ple violated All principles of War. We lost a lot of Good people in Vietnam. My wife s first husband was killed in Vietnam. He left her Wilh five kids. 1 lost 13 men from my battalion in six months 13 Good  Korea and Vietnam aside overseas has almost always meant Europe to Wetzel. First a company com Mand in the 1960s, later command of the 1st inf div fwd stint As ale Ander Haig s Deputy at shape then a second Siar and the 3rd inf div. H e was briefly the Deputy Usa eur commander before taking Over v corps and has spent nine of the last 11 years on this Side of the Atlantic. When f reported in to Haig he asked me what had changed in the years since i d last been in Europe. I said one thing was the Way commander keep track of their soldiers. People Don t know where their soldiers Are these Days. I was a company commander in Augsburg Back in the 1960s, and in those Days we had about 220 people in the company and we Only had five people who were married counting me. We knew where every one of them lived and we knew where every one of our sol Diers were at night. We knew where inc girlfriends houses were and where the Gasthaus was. A Soldier turned up awol and the first sergeant and i knew the exact Gasthaus logo to and we went upstairs and dragged him out of bed and brought Zimback. We knew what their habits were on and off duty. Today 55 percent of the army is married that s a major change. It makes looking after your soldiers knowing where they Are a lot  Wetzel lost command of the 3rd inf div in i9bo, following Radical neck surgery to remove a malignant mole and later a Melanoma tumor. They decided they would follow it up Wilh Radia Tion at Walter Reed so i had to leave the 3rd div they wanted me to take a medical retirement i was offered 100 percent disability a medical discharge. 1 asked if it was possible to stay on Active duty and the said yes if i d sign a waiver. So i signed it. 1 wanted to gel Back to soldiering what i be been doing most of my Fife. I decided i was t through soldiering. Ninety percent of the Battle against cancer is your own will and your Faith in god fighting it Wilh the help of your Faith. Then 10 percent is the medical part but you also have to put yourself in the hands of the doctors. But they can t do in alone you just have to decide for yourself that you re going to get Well thai you re going to Bocai in. I havea Good German Friend who has got cancer and that s the philosophy i m trying to Passon to  while undergoing inc radiation treatments Welzel went in and asked for something to do. The radiation was maybe five minutes one Day a week for seven weeks so 1 asked for a  something to do turned out to be the i98 women in the army study one on one interviews Wilh 1,100 women soldiers what is perhaps the military s most comprehensive study to Dale of women in uniform. I was mostly involved in collecting the data be cause by the Lime it came to analysing i d moved on to fort Benning to be chief of the  is it to try l it. Gen. . Sam Wetzl chief of the infantry inc top Grunt and. It turned out responsibility for putting the ural by infantry fighting vehicle through Lesis and out to the Field. There arc All kinds of negative reports going around about the Bradley and there is some insanity that goes Wilh Tho a reports. Now if you take an anti tank weapon Well you can kill a tank. And some of the critics Are saying gee the Bradley can t survive an anti Lank weapon Well neither can a Lank that s Why they Call it an anti Lank weapon. Remarks being made like that arc sensational. I am very pleased with inc Bradley the soldiers Are very proud of in. The critics should go oui and talk to sol Diers in inc 3rd inf div or the 1 1 the cavalry. Ask the about inc Bradley. We worked hard to Field the Best possible most credible weapon system that we could and i think it paid  Welzel followed the Bradley to Germany taking charge of v corps in 1984. "1 used to think that the 60s Over Here were the Golden years we used to Call them that. But i think we re now living the Golden years. We be got a better Soldier we be got better equipment belter More realistic training aids. The big change in Europe has been the Money. Reused to struggle along squeezing pennies trying la fix sewer lines fix the Barracks. These last few years we be been Able to do All the things thai we use to put Down on those glorious five year master plans. We be had the Money. But i m very concerned about the Money drying up because we re not done fixing All those Barracks an family housing areas and fixing those motor  someone else will have to finish the Job. After june30, Welzel becomes chief operating officer of a management consulting firm he Hopes will Foster stronger ties Between German and american businesses. Wetzel International incorporated. It s got a ring. Anyway i m not going to put my feel up and go fishing. I m just not g ing to Slop  Wagon proposes pro vement for champs by Clint Washington Bureau Washington the Pentagon is asking health care providers across the nation this week to help fill out details of its proposal to improve the civilian health and medical program of the uni formed services champs. The defense department plans to award three fund once contracts cover ing the whole United slates to deliver health care services under a program called champs prime. The contracts will not cover Cham pus services in foreign countries a draft request for proposals was to go Oul Friday to health care contractor that want a portion of the Pentagon s si.6 billion annual civilian health car according to a letter from Lassi Slavit Secretary of defense  secretaries. The request invites the contract Point out problems they see in the Penta gon s preliminary design. The responses will be used 10 fashion the formal re quests for proposals thai Pentagon health planners Hope will go out this fall. Mayer announced the Pentagon plan designed to Cut the Cost of champs to patients and the government last Jan uary. He wants the program to allow Mil itary hospitals to Deal with medical and surgical specialities most relevant to War time readiness. Signing up with champs prime will be voluntary. But incentives to join in clude prime contractors probably will drop the champs deductible j50 per person and $ 100 per family and co-pay-fciflu20 percent to 25 percent of the of they May be allowed to charge  to families of servicemen Bersier the contractors will _ preventive services such As Roulin Micals. Champs generally does Liot cover preventive treatment except for routine checkups for children. The contractors will have to offer supplemental medical Cost insurance especially against catastrophic illness. They will have to help patients fill oui forms for reimbursement patients who want to take advantage of champs prime service will have to agree to accept All their care from prime providers. Champs is the civilian component of defense department health services. About 6.2 million def Andenis of service members As Well As the families of re tired service members Are eligible Gener ally when treatment at a military clinic is t available. Lives the Cost of champs is too Lam patients and the govern ment. Under Cham would be reimbursed Price by the government. Milf Mats i excess of the contract Price wo3d be covered by the contractors