European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 1, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Cohort unit finds new duty dirty business  Bureau Hohenfels Germany Don l mind if 1 Chew tobacco do you ii was a funny kind of question coming from a Guy standing in three inches of mud with slabs of dried grit hanging from the folds of his uniform. Unpi. Mark Duke let the juice Fly where it disappeared into the think soup at his feet Hohenfels is the color of chowing tobacco Duke s unit co a 2nd in 66th Armor has been i country for just 30 Days. We be taken the worst Germany could throw atus he said. They be been on the Road Ever since arriving fro fort Hood Texas. They slipped right into training with the rest of the battalion like tobacco juice lha slips easily into mud the Arkadelphia ark., native brought his troops to their Home base with the 2nd Jarrod div fwd in oar Stedl when he said the word Karlstedt it tumbled Outin an unfamiliar dribble not unexpected since they be spent most of their time in Grafen Wocher for gunner qualification and Hohrn fils for Man Euver training. The Forward division makes the annual trip 10 the army s major training centers in Bavaria Garts Ledl is close to the North sea a 36-hour train ride. The men of co a came As a cohort unit. The cohort concept takes soldiers from Basic training All the Way through their first enlistment and keep them together. And together they shared the wrenching change from 79 Balmy Texas degrees to a 4-Degrceeuropean icebox. They did Well in gunnery hitting a Superior rating of886 out of 1,000 Points. Wish we could have done better Laid a disappointed sgt Matthew sheets. He s a gunner on a tank named alien. Gunners Are known to be Tough on themselves next came Man Euver training where they Learned a labout what one Soldier called the Hohenfels  the monsters Lurk beneath the mud to ruin a sol Dier s Day. Deep water filled holes under a thin Sheet of Mucky ice fool unsuspecting Drivers who often suf Fer As a wave of ice water plunges Over the tank and Down the front Hatch. There Are places where a tank loses not just one track but both Althe same Lime. Only 30 percent of the troops have seen this before. Wednesday april 1," 1987 the stars and stripes Page 9 is pm by Tair Niue Lafront left pfc. Tint Pricbe and spec. 4 Michael Rowley bos off some of the Hoh Nehls mud Stock to tank. Spec. 4james Owen pfc. Thomas Tav Teglan the rest Learned fast. It s not like driving on Hood said pfc. Tim Priebe. "1 never threw a track on  specs. 4 James Owen and James Hutchison were Wash ing tanks getting ready to go to a Home they Haven t really seen. Hutchison held a mud spattered styrofoam coffe cup in his hand. His face was speckled with the grit thai bounced off Hose sprayed tanks. As a member of the advanced party that came Over two weeks before most of the troops he s seen some of Germany. The been out to dinner once he said. Owen is More like most of co a who will remember this Field problem for a Lone  so far that s All they have to remember about Germany. But spec. 4 Michael Rowley and pfc. Thomas Taviti spec.4michael Rowley pfc. Tim Priebe sgt. Matthew sheets Gian have another memory. When heir Lank  Down near Amberg a German Motorist stopped to  was swinging a sack of food at us Rowley said he gave us Orange juice Groetchen Rolls an lunch meat. He traded for some res meats ready to Tat. He talk Bis son loves  said that kind of response is what they Hope they la find in their new Home up  half the married soldiers brought their families with them to cart cd the rest will arrive i april. Sponsors settled them into Homes where Groce Ries were already wailing in the cupboards. The Only things missing Are their Soldier husbands who Ere kicking cakes of mud off their boots and tracks getting ready to rail Home this week. Of called bulb s greatest problem Washington a two senior congressmen monday criticized the air Force for allegedly mismanaging production of the bib bomber which they say cannot fulfil its role of penetrating soviet airspace and will take an estimated $3 billion Over four years to fix. The biggest problem confronting the in is not its weight growth its fuel leaks or its Uncertain electronic countermeasures rep. Los Apsis d-wis., and rep. Samuel s. Stratton d-n.y.,said in a joint statement the greatest problem is the air Force itself which exerts More Effort to obscure the by s problems than to Cor rect them. In the Blu test terms the United Stales air Force has been a greater threat to the Success of the by bomber than the soviet Union they said at Capitol Hill news conference. An air Force spokeswoman  Boyd said the service would have no immediate comment because the Penta gon had not yet received Lite report. Aspin who is chairman of the House armed services committee and Stral Lon who Heads the committee s panel on procurement outlined four main technical problems documented in congressional bearings earlier this Yean the aircraft does not now provide the capabilities As a manned penetrating bomber that the air Force Promise would be available by last fair1 in Large part because a package of electronic counter measures designed to foil enemy radar in fact sends out a Beacon attract ing defences to the  those same countermeasures Jam other elements of the package partially blinding the plane s electronic systems. Stall warning systems on the bomber limit the b-1 b s Range and it cannot each All the targets for which it was de signed. The exact Range is classified. The air Force experienced about year s delay in developing the bomber s terrain following radar which is de signed to allow the Pilot to Fly More safely at altitudes below about 200 feet an thus Duck enemy radar. Cancellation of the program is not an Shultz plans to address nato Council session Brussels Belgium a Secre tary of state George Shutlz will address a special session of nato s main Politi Cal body the North Atlantic Council on april 16, Folio Wing talks in Moscow the Alliance said monday. Although arrangements were not yet Complete at least some nato member countries were planning to be rep resented at the meeting by foreign ministers. The Council normally meets weekly at the level of ambassador. The american Secretary of state i scheduled to arrive in Brussels april 1s after three Days of talks with soviet government officials. The nato announcement provided no information on the Agenda. It is expected however that the session will focus on shut s discussions in Moscow on the Prospect for completing a  treaty to eliminate medium Range nuclear mis Siles from Europe. Option because 52 of the planned 100b-ib bombers have already been delivered the statement  and Stratton said that apart from the electronic countermeasures pock age we believe that the Odds Are Good that problems can be solved though when and at what Cost remain open i think that it is going to Cost s3 Bil lion and four years to fix Aspin said in response to a , who almost lost his Post earlier this year because fellow democrats thought head not been Tough enough on Pentagon budget requests warned that the failure of the air Force to manage the by program effectively was an invitation for Congress to exercise lighter control. That the bib faced problems was first known to the by program managers in october 1982," said Aspin. Yet the did not fully inform senior Pentagon or even air Force officials of the problem until fall 1985. And Congress was no informed until january 1987."president cancer killed the by pro Gram in 1977, surprising Many on Capi Tol Hill but the bomber was resurrected As the bib by the Reagan administration under a Deal that guaranteed mini Mal interference from  thereby implicitly accepted the argument that it was part of the procurement mess " Aspin and Stratton said in their statement