European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 19, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday september 19, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 3 Barbarosso expands travel services by Charlie Bowden Munich Bureau customers can now choose Between four major credit cards with which o buy tickets and of her services from Barbarossa tour and travel service. The change came As the army reached an agreement with its Commer Cial travel services contractor that makes major amendments to the concessionaire contract including an in crease in the percentage 1hat is paid lol ocal morale support. The modifications came after several months of negotiations Between representatives of the company and the . Army contracting come Europe based in Frankfurt said Dan Vount. Yount is chief of the Community recreation and travel office at 1st person Nel come. We the army could not have continued with the contract As it was Young said in a Telephone interview thursday. We feel hat the contract is much More acceptable Barbarossa based in Kaiserslautern was awarded the contract by the army effective in March 1985. The contract required that other civilian travel Agen cies located on army installation shutdown. As a result american express had 10 close More than 50 travel offices located on array caverns throughout Germany. The bidding for a travel concessionaire contract was the result of an army decision in 1983 to terminate the informal arrangement that the army in Europe had with american express since 1946 for tour and travel services. The contract modification provide for revised banking procedures acceptance of credit cards authority to pro vide travel service for official duty travel increased Competition betwee Barbarossa and the Community itt offices and an increase in the percentage of the profits paid to Community mor ale support funds Yount said. Logistical and administrative prob lems were the main reason for the change Young said. Some areas worked Well As we expected but other aspects of the opera Tion were less satisfactory. The changes arc intended to dispose of past disputes and improve the service provided to customers he said. Frankfurt attorney Reed von Maur representing Barbarossa owner Wolf gang Scherr said the modified con tract took effect tuesday. The contract Calls for a 50 percent increase in the amount paid to morale support Barbarossa had paid 3 percent of its profits to mar Barbarossa has paid nearly 12 million in commissions to army communities since he con tract was awarded Yount said. . 1 Barbarossa will pay4.5 percent in commissions to morale support von Maur said. Another significant change is the decision to let Barbarossa offices provide travel services for official duty travel. Barbarossa is not required to pay commission on official duly travel services. Barbarossa offices will accept visa Mastercard american express and diner s club for All travel services. The travel Agency can accept others but those four Are a requirement of the modified contract Yount said. Previously credit cards were accepted Only for airline tickets. The change in banking procedure was designed o give Barbarossa the same treatment As any other concessionaire Yount said. With the change receipts Are banked daily in a Centra Wmk account and Barbarossa is the paid from that account after mar s commission is deducted. It gives us better control Yount said. Barbarossa also was Given More Opportunity to compete with information Tours and travel under the modified contract. Initially itt was protected by the contract and inc travel Agency could not duplicate services that locality offices offered. We be done a 180 on Young said calling that modification a Touchy at the same he said the army s itt program is planning an expanded trave service with More options for travellers and More special interest Toure. One example he said was the recent trip to thenal football game in England. Barbarski remains the sole source on army installations for Point to Point rail and scheduled airline ticket ing Young said. Von Maur believes the Competition aspect will serve As an incentive for both Barbarossa and the itt. Competition improves both service and prices he said. The modification does not include an Extension to the contract which expires March is unless the army chooses to exercise its renewal option. A decision on renewal is expected in october Young said. Tank Baffa on in Hillesheim to move to Vilseck Byton Nauroth Nuernberg Bureau Ansbach Germany a 550-sol-Dicr tank battalion will move from Illes Heim to Vilsick on the Southern Edge of the graft Woehr training area in Jan uary. The 1st in 13lh Armor is inc Spear head of a brigade size unit of i St army div soldiers scheduled to move 45 Miles closer to inc czechoslovakian Border be tween 1987 and 1991, according to an article in the August edition of corps line an official publication of the . Army corps of engineers Europe div the engineers arc charged with preparing inc Vilseck site and overseeing construction. Hillesheim is pan of the Ansbach Mili tary Community. A division news release wednesday called the move pan of a program to modernize the . Army in Europe. Neither division nor Usa eur officials who confirmed the move of the battalion but not the brigade would explain whal they meant by modernize Usa eur spokesman Sec. Robert Lentner said the army is negotiating with German government officials on sensitive aspects of the move but said i would be inappropriate to comment on those issues at this however the opening lines of the corps line article read beginning in1987, five battalions of the 1st armoured division will move to Vilsick. About 5,700 soldiers and family members will make the move Between 1987 and 1991." 1 he Vilseck military Community is in the midst of a building Boom to accommodate families of the new arrivals. In this year s defense department budget Vilsick s share of the j8.5 billion world wide military construction costs include 143.2 million for a tactical equipment facility a child care Center and family housing units. The Engineer publication printed a list of projects that include Barracks Battal Ion warehouses maintenance buildings a Library theater commissary elementary school a 1,000-scatdining facility and nearly 900 new apartments for army families."1st army div officials said Hillesheim will not be appreciably affected by the loss of the battalion. During the next decade we plan to replace the four battalions now in Illes Heim with four More battalions the re lease stated. We will Hay some periods when there will be a slight decrease in the population of inc military Community but the number of soldiers and their families in the area is not expected to change neither Lentner nor master sgt. Jim Mic Ferguson of the division Public affairs office would say from where those replacement units would come. The release said no other division moves Are planned for 1987. Future moves of units of the 1st army div to Vilsick will depend on funding for construction there it stated. Chance of Stuttgart disco attack spurs warning to service members Stuttgart is military authorities in Stuttgart Are circulating a flier telling service members to avoid going to a disco in downtown Stuttgart be cause of a possible terrorist attack. The flier says thai elective thursday military people arc encouraged to stay away from the Maddox disco until further Al says hat the military Community has received information that a terrorist attack May occur at the disco. A spokesman for the German police in Stuttgart said the military Community Headquarters at Robinson Barracks received a Call thursday afternoon from a Man threatening to Kidnap an american from the disco this weekend. The police spokesman said the Man first made the threat in English Hen asked to speak to a German Secretary to whom he repeated the threat in German the caller s English and German were heavily accented but unidentifiable the spokesman said. He said Security in and around tie disco would be increased. The Maddox disco is near the main train station in Stuttgart on 24. Italy joining Star wars to help improve .-soviet relations Rome a Italy will participate in the strategic defense initiative and work to make sure that the space weapons research does not Worsen .-Spviet relations foreign minister Giulio Andreotti said in remarks released wednesday. Andreotti said a memorandum establishing italian participation in the project popularly known As Star wars would be signed Friday in Washington. His speech preceded parliament s debate on Italy Srole in the project which president Reagan says is to develop a space based missile defense system. The de Bate was rescheduled from wednesday to thursday but Andreotti released the text anyway. Italy will strive along i
