European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - March 6, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday March 6. 1987 the stars and stripes Page 3. Officer promotion rules opposed purple suit Law has army seeing red Washington ai1 a new Law that promotes Only in officer who has held a joint or purple suit Job serv ing at branches of the i Louiry rather than just the one whose uniform he wears is meeting with army opposition. Bui John 0. Marsh the army s Secre tary thinks he s got some powerful am munition to persuade Congress to Amend the new joint officer personnel policy. He Points out inc army s lop officer docs not meet inc Law s Tough promotion requirements although his service in joint commands Tola is 16 years. A joint officer is on individual who has been assigned a i b in support or the. Entire defense department. In Pentagon Slang such an individual becomes a purple Suiter he still wears the army Green the Navy White the Marine corps Khaki or the air Force Blue but docs not work solely Tor his service. Examples include serving the joint chiefs of staff the Secretary or Deputy Secretary of defense or heading a major command that oversees units from sever Al armed smites. Congress convinced military promo Tion policies discourage inc Best officers from seeking joint assignments declared last fall generals and admirals could no longer gain promotions unless they have spent til least three consecutive years in a joint Post. Lower ranking officers cannot and Vance without spending at least 3fi years in a joint Post. This is an area that i can Tell you we re going to go Back to the Congress and ask them for some review Marsh said wednesday. And Gen. Wickham is a Case in Point. Gen. John a. Wickham the army chief of staff has spent a combined total of 16 years in joint military jobs More than any Flag officer on Active duly today Marsh said. But under the new Law that record would not be Good enough. According to Marsh none of Wick Ham s previous purple suit jobs from serving As an assistant to he chairman of inc joint chiefs to working As the Mili tary assistant to the Secretary of defense Las cd three Yean without interruption. "1 think you should be Able to tack different joint service assignments to Gether to reach the three years. Marsh said. Marsh also argued the list of jobs considered joint should be expanded and he expressed concern about the army s one Star and newly promoted two Star Gener als sonic of whom Don i have a three year joint Lour. That Means thai for them to be Eligi ble for promotion that you re going to have to take a significant amount of the time thai they have remaining As general officers in order to accomplish h. You May not in my View get the use out of Busy new York terminal it figures a woman entering new York City s main bus terminal appears id be headed on i collision course with three pus n Gers on Ihetu Way out but these Passen Gers Uren t joins anywhere they Are plaster of Paris figures placed in the bus terminal s main lobby. The figures Are inc work or new Yurk artist George Segal them As commanders that you  Congress. Tor its part indicated last year it would consider changes suggested by the Pentagon if the Law proved too inflexible. But a Senate staffer who played a role in the original debate warned wednesday Congress would t Back Down much. The problem has been that the serv ices oversee promotions and joint duly outside your service does t help you Jet a promotion said the aide who asked no lobe identified. Officers try to get out of joint jobs As quickly As they can and Uren t looking at things from a unified perspective. We re not getting a proportionate share of the Besl and brightest Iri joint  Congress he concluded wants better people in joint assignments Wanis More stability with longer terms and wants to Reward them. And that s not going  greek officials protest closing of Union office Athens Greece a the Creek government wednesday protested an order by the commander of n . Mili tary installation closing the office of a greek Union on the base. The protest delivered by foreign undersecretary Yannis Kapsis to Edward Cohen Deputy chief of the american embassy cume one Day after . Mil itary personnel emptied the Union s one room of Piccat Hill Nikon a near Athens the Union represents 1,100 of i boo greek maintenance and service employees at four . Facilities in Greece two near Athens and two on the Island of Crete. Union spokesman George Alexandra a said inc closure violated greek la Orlaws thai guarantee Union office space on company grounds. But a . Embassy spokesman said tote order by col. Ray rider was permitted under the 1983 Grecfc-. Defense and economic cooperation agreement govern ing the operation of the bases. The base commander has exercised his rights under the deca to utilize so rely needed space said the spokesman speaking on condition of anonymity he said the base notified the Union and the greek government 11 months ago about inc planned closing and arranged for new space near the base in a building that houses affiliated offices. Labor relations at the bases have been Lens since 1981 when Premier Andreas Papandreou s socialist government came to Power. But there have been no Public disputes recently. Army plan will eliminate More than 2,000 jobs Washington api the army on wednesday unveiled its plans for complying with a Headquarters reorganization demanded by Cimi Gross. Describing the moves As the most significant since the end of world War ii. Army seckary Julin. Wurstl or. Said the change Unold result in u is percent reduction in the my s military and civilian staffs Ai the Pentagon eliminating j4s jobs the stalls of major army commands in the Field also will to reduced by about 1,700 people or 10 percent Marsh said. The army believes it can streamline its stuff without firing any civilian work ers. Military1 officers affected by the changes will be moved into the Field with operational units he added. The military services Are under orders from Congress to streamline their head quarters operations under n co Rani a Tion Law approved last year. The Law Ilii Yalcs several major changes including merging of military and civilian Tiffin s within each service that previously had separate roles in Iho development and Purchase of new weapons. While the military offices within Cadi service that Deal with weapons acquisition have ultimately reported to civilian superiors they have done so through inc service s Scip military officer the chief of mall. Under the reorganisation the military and civilian office Are to be merged and will Ripon directly to the service s civil Ian . The air Force announced two weeks ago its reorganisation would i Minarc roughly 2.000 jobs. The Navy announced earlier this week the reorganization would eliminate about 1,600 jobs. In the Case of the army Marsh said the merger of military and civilian offices would produce a major shift in the composition of the hindquarters staff. Cien. John a. Wickham army chief of staff expressed support fur the reorganization moves on wednesday but predicted we re going to he Tine tuning this for several  this is the most Sianii Clint reorganization of the army staff since world War ii Wickham said. And it is Noi going to be done without  Marsh said that to comply with the Law. The army also would be moving the offices of the comptroller inspector Gen eral and auditor general under his control instead of Wickham s