European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 15, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page b the stars and stripes sunday november 15,1987 sought for More sex i spouses b William  Vashi Filon Bureau Washington six democrats and one re publican on the House armed services committee want 10 a mind commissary and Exchange privileges 10 More former military spouses than now qualify for the benefits. When a former spouse shares inc major portion of her husband s career fairness demands Ihal she be entitled to some of inc benefits Ihal the would have received had the marriage not ended said rep. Owen Pic ecu. D-va., primary sponsor of legis lation that would extend the benefits. Pickell Tad the other committee members have proposed a Bill that would qualify former military spouses for commissary and Exchange privileges in the same manner Ihal they qualify for medical and denial benefits. Presently a spouse May qualify for medical and dental benefits if he or she was married at least 2d Yean to a Scricc member who served Al least 20 years in the military with 5 years of the marriage coinciding with the years of military service. Bui to qualify for shopping privileges the 20 years of marriage must coincide wish the 20 years of military service these formulas arc known As 20-20-15 and 20-20-20 respectively picket s Bill would make the 20-20-15 formula inc Factor for qualifying for both benefits. Sex partners of servicemen for Equality sex Hose estimates that the 20-20-20 formula denies shopping privileges to 59 percent of former spouses of enlisted personnel and 36 percent of former spouses of officers with 20 years of service and 20 years of Mam age. The group says hat if Pickett s Bill were , 24 percent of former spouses of career officers and 93 percent of former spouses of career enlisted personnel would qualify for shopping privileges denial of shopping privileges to these former military spouses in primarily Seif sustain in military facilities makes it very difficult for Many of them particularly former wives of enlisted personnel to five on the modes fined incomes that most of them must look to for survival Pickett said co sponsoring Pickett s legislation arc reps. Pal Schroeder. A Colo. Albert Busl Manle a Texas Jack Davis Roll Frank Mcclosky a ind. Nor Man Sisisky. I -va.-. And John Sprall jr., . Pickell said inc Bill is necessary for reasons of fairness and equity. The demands of military life imposed upon military families have significant implications for spouses picket said. The frequent moves required of our military personnel Over the course of their careers severely restricts employment and career opportunities available to their  he said assignment changes which include Over seas moves place unique burdens on military spouses. Under such circumstances military spouses oftentimes must sacrifice their career ambitions to gel her with their ability to accrue pension and retire ment benefits apart from their husband s military pension he said. Picket said his Bill recognizes the fad that most military personnel do not get married Umil after the Start of their 20-year career. It lakes into consideration inc fact that the 20 20-20 provision in the present Law disqualifies the vast majority of former military wives from shop Ping privileges. There is no compelling reason to deny these  red horse saddled and ready to go by Charlie Bowden stuff writer a Juno a. Italy they re a flight but they have no planes. They re called red horse bul they have no horses. They have a Mission fit for 400, but they number Only 40. Such negatives lit Ltd faze the red capped combat engineers in their homemade com Pound at me to idiom of the Alpine Foo Hills in Northern Italy. They have other worries such As maintaining i hair $10 million inventory of heavy equipment should the Call come to link up with their air National guard counterparts and go build an air big somewhere we can go in and set up a base any where in the world said capt. Thomas Egbert commander of the 7ji9lh civil Eny flight heavy repair. Our mis Sion red horse would be the first to go in to set up a base somewhere with our own  the acronym red horse stands for rapid Engineer deployable heavy operational repair Squadron Engineer. That Mouthful equates to combat engineers a concept pioneered by the army and Navy. The air Force version was born in the mid 1960s, when Leaden found the air Force Nei led its own specialized heavy Eop Struc i Ion unit to carve out airfields in the Jungles of Vietnam. That Basic Mission remains unchanged today in wartime you need heavy construction said Egbert an architectural Engi Neer. You need Airfield repairs and major building repair. The air Force needed that extra Ace in the Hole and that Ace is red  the air Force has four Active duty red horse units to Coyer its worldwide com Mil merits in Florida Nevada England and Korea. But when planners decided to expand with another full sized Squadron in Europe they ran into a Roadblock about four years ago they wanted to put another 4go-Man Squadron Over Here bul because of inc european troop strength ceiling hey Only authorized 42 people Here but it was fully equipped Egbert said. Fully equipped equates to big in red horse. If they should deploy they go sgt. John Anderson watches . Glenn Pusey operate a 28-ton Rock Crasher during a mining session. Prepared 10 scratch Oul a Landing strip put up buildings dig a Well. The theory according to chief master set. Paul t. Moore is to have equipment big enough to do the Job bul Small enough to move by air or  in practice slut Means a motor Pool crowded with some Iso pieces of heavy construction equip ment ranging from a Fleet of dump trucks to Behemoth bulldozers to a recently arrived 44-ton Rock crushing Plant on a smaller scale their inventory includes handsaws drills nails hammers piping. The Lisl is endless Egbert said. We re completely self contained with All the tools and accessories that we would need to go in and build a  All this equipment is pre Posini Ooyd at Aviano just to Case. And while one could contend thai this unit s Job is glorified baby silting Egbert discounts that idea. Since they must be Able and ready to deploy they must know that the equip ment will work when the phone ring. The must is a lot of Community and troop labor project anything to work the equipment and the men. It gives our operators excellent train ing and it works our vehicles so we know that they re in Good enough shape to go to War Egbert said. Egbert believes the Mission of the Avi Ano red horse unit is unique in Ibe air Force. This unit s population is one tenth of fully manned Squadron but it has the full Sale of gear. It rarely gets called in Masse for heavy project be cause the bit units need that experience. Our main Mission is to maintain the equipment Egbert said and then to train the  because of that training Mission the unit is heavy with rank. Of the 39 men currently assigned representing All the engineering skills there Are Only two air men. Each summer the guard units deploy and the Aviano engineers slip into their training role usually with a purpose last year for Eis Rople the engineers tested their Well drilling capability and equipment by sinking a 90-foot Well in training Moore said they look for jobs hat would enhance their combat role digging Wells hardly seems like combat bul when the Aviano group mar Ries up with their air National guard counterparts they make a Lidy self sufficient package expected to go into a com hat Rone and set up shop including i it Iulg themselves if nerd be. Gutting water for that group and those hat Fol Low in Tomci crucial. The emphasis is tin War Egbert said. All the training All the link1 thing we do that s when Well see the pay