European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - December 22, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Monday december 22, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 9 �45 Nuin by 0j d spec. 4 Willie Walker uses the Bauchi Eljit Mars facility As chief operator Churlus Mcclellan times Hie radio. In the background is radio operator Jacquelyn ballast Mars links gis overseas with Home Cas routed through Ham radio operators Cost less it Steve Morrison stuff Nailer Worms. Germany a phone Call routed through Mars can Cost a Loi less thin the typical phone cat from Europe Hack to tin1 Stales but not ii Ali incl Mars of course. Mars the military1 affiliate radio system re places High Uvenio is Telephone Hills will Olls routed 10 the Stales through Ham radio operators. Bati civilly. What Mars does is eliminate any Cost forthe originator of he Calt Here in Europe said master sol. Douglas Lydford european Mars director. Calls arc patched through a radio transmitter to a Mars operator in the states who patches in into a phone line and makes a collect Call to the  the person receiving the Call in he Stales pays Only the Cost of the collect Call from the stateside Mars operator. Besides the obvious Benefit of saving big dollars for Servic members. Their families and . Government civilians Mars has been a real help in cutting Down Telephone Nhuoc Lydford said. There Are a lot of gis Over Here that have gotten in trouble by making illegal Calls Back to the Stales he said. Pan of the problem is that there arc so Man younger Tower ranking service members Over Here some away from Home for the first time and the Cost of calling Home is just too much for their budgets. In any situation like that you re going to have problems with illegal Calls. Mars has Cut Down on a lot of i hat sort of   mid. And it could help even More if we could just gel the word out to everyone. There arc Over .11 Mars stations in Germany so nobody should have a problem getting to one Charles Mcc Meliin chief radio operator at the Baum Holder station far Mure than five years said last year Mars saved soldiers and family members within Sarteur about is million on phone Calk and another million on  Mars Nims Are personal telegrams of 30 words or less that arc free of charge on the european end. Send ers arc limited to five messages a Day. Saving Money is of course always important but now with the Mark Rale the Way in is it Means even More when you can save a few dollars Here and there Mcclellan said. A lot of people have misconceptions about Mars. One of these is that you be got to come into the station to make a Call. Actually As Long As you re using a Mili tary phone we can route the Call right to your office or  the Baum older station averages about 250 phone patches per month Mcclellan said but during the holidays Well see that go up to maybe 350." that s a lot of Calls especially when you consider that the station is manned by Only two people Mcclellan and radio operator Jacquelyn Batiest. Mars is the Best tiling that s Ever happened for the . Soldier said ".attest, who has worked at the Sta Tion since 1984. A lot of these kids feel like they arc a million Miles away from Home. We try to make them realize thai they arc Only a phone Call  maj. Aaron w. Lewis of the Tau Holder denial clinic has used the system at least every two weeks since i j84 just to touch base with Home and make sure everybody s doing Well spec. 4 Willie j. Walker a Supply clerk with Bury a 3rd in 59th air defense arty has been in Europe Only a Little More than a month but already has used Mars a half dozen limes. It s a great idea Walker said. It helps people keep in touch with those Back in the states and saves Money at the same time. You can t beat that Mars is mainly known for its free Calls and Tele Grams but its primary Mission is to provide auxiliary communications for military civilian and disaster officials during emergencies. It is manned by Volunteer military and civilian radio and Ham operators. It s really not very difficult to become a Mars operator Ledford said. You must be at least 16 years old be a . Citizen or resident alien possess a valid Amateur radio License plus a station capable of operating on Mars  anyone inuit id Mars to vial in local Wahs 9111m a  01 Toimi met Lay 1.70s2 or j2w v ets 381-7022 01 7211, or Anlo to he sin shrill cant. Aim Tion ase of Mars. Apo 09d5g sprint offering free phone Calls to . Through Mars system for four Days this week overseas personnel using the Mars system to Call Home can make completely free Calls. Stateside recipients of Mars Calls usually pay the Cost of a collect Call fro the stateside Mars operator to their Home. But As in the past several years get sunni is donating free Access to its system for soldiers family members and authorized civilian personnel using the military affiliate radio system to Call Home. The Only requirement is that the num Ber called be in a location serviced by sprint. The offer is Good from 6  through 9 . Saturday. For More information Contact your nearest Mars station Steve Morrison