European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - November 22, 1987, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 8 the stars and stripes sunday november 22,1937 big Rise in number of gis driving to Berlin reported s7 Joe map theh stiff writer Berlin coming off a record year in 1986, the number of . Service members driving la Berlin on the Allied transit corridor shot up 25 percent in fiscal 1987 to More than 74,000 people . Military officials scid. And travel from West to East Berlin by . Allied pen annd was up nearly 40 percent Tram fiscal 1986 to 102,000 Crossings this fiscal year. Official pegged the increase to Berlin s Celebration of 750 year As a City this year and to the sinking Dollar. It was the year to see Berlin and the time to shop in East rain where prices Are vastly lower than in the wat. The Sharp increase in travel Between Berlin and Helmstedt was accompanied by an increase in the number of corridor incidents 2.d2 per 1,000 trips in 1987 As opposed to 1.48 per 1.000 tips for the preceding fiscal year said army maj. Lawrence Bronstein or the Berlin Provost marshal s office. And the expected throng of thanksgiving Holiday travellers has military officials in Berlin worried. Thanksgiving is the biggest travel period Tor people coming to Berlin in the entire year Bronstein said. When you make a wrong turn out there it can be a  out there is the 103-mile stretch of Roadway designated the Allied transit corridor. Movement along hat Roadway by Allied travellers historically has been an Oll contested right and the riles of passage have been strictly codified for decades. One wrong turn and the Allied traveler risks being stopped by East German authorities and detained maybe 45 minutes maybe 4 to 5 hours going by recent incidents. Bronstein a russian linguist and resident Berlin brigade troubleshooter when problems arise along the corridor is the current . Caretaker of the three checkpoints Allied travellers must pass driving from a Germany of a Berlin Alpha Bravo and Char ii. Active duty members of the . Military and department of defense civilians May drive inc corridor providing their movement orders Are in order and hey have Flag orders authorizing corridor travel. The Flag orders Are a constant headache for the Mili tary police Manning checkpoints Alpha and Bravo the Entrance and exit poin i for Allied Road traffic to Ber Lin. A steady rate of bad Flag orders hovering above 20 percent has made life difficult for military police at the Border Crossings they try to Correct Flag order mistakes rather than Send a traveler Back possibly hundreds of Miles to the Point where the orders were is sued Bronstein said. But retyping Flag orders is not a duty it is a service Bronstein said. If you show up with bad Flag orders you might have to wait an hour or two until we can get around to typing them up he said. Shifting through a stack of bad Flag orders Bronstein pointed out the minute goofs a comma after a name that does not appear on the id card or pass port that must accompany a Flag order for example. Or a rank that docs not appear the same Way on the identification card or passport Caplas opposed to cart Means no passage. Doe John rather than John Doe forget it the attention to detail comes Courtesy of the rus Sian Border guards at Mari Enbom and Drewitz. They Check Flag orders and accompanying identity documents closely. One difference Between the two documents and the answer is  it s the same old problems getting bigger because the volume of traffic is increasing Bronstein said. But some errors cannot be filed. Rental cars cannot be driven to Berlin and checkpoint police ask for a vehicle registration. Driving another person s Auto Mobile without a Power of attorney will scrub a Berlin trip. Forget taking a motorcycle it in t allowed. Only holders of . Passports or military id cards May use the Allied corridor. And one wrong turn that becomes an incident will scrub ail Berlin trips across the corridor As far As Bronstein is concerned. That is one reason mileage readings Are logged at checkpoints Alpha and Bravo. If you commit an Access violation you be just . Berlin corridor travel made your last trip to Berlin and you be become the subject of a military police report Bronstein said. Travel to East Berlin is yet another matter. Active duty military members must have written authorization to go to the East on their orders. Civilians not based in Berlin need an escort from the official Ameri can Community in Berlin or they must travel with an authorized Lour Bronstein said. Bringing Back food or More goods than reasonable for personal use is illegal. Military police at Check Point Charlie will search trunks on occasion. We Don t want to be harsh and tyrannical Bronstein said. We want to get people to  still confused read Usa eur regulation 550 1 so governing travel to Berlin. Thai too is a must for . Allied corridor travellers. Past events explain Spain s policy on bases by Susan Linnee associated press writer Madrid Spain near the end of Luis Berlanga s 19s2 film classic Welcome or. Marshall spaniards line the streets of a Small town awaiting the arrival of an american delegation that they believe will Shower them with the economic benefits of the mar shall plan. But the american motorcade speeds through with out stopping showering the disappointed townspeople with nothing bul dui l. Many spaniards accept this As an allegory of How the United states treated their country in an hour of need after world War ii it refused vital economic Aid and made a Deal Wilh a dictator to install military bases to tight a cold War that was of liitle concern to them. The postwar experience still underlies the thinking of Many in Spain As socialist prime minister Felipe Gonzalez lakes a Lough position with the United states in the 16-month-old negotiations Over american bases in Spain. Spain is demanding the United Stales with draw 72 f-16 Jet fighters and five pkg 135 midair re fueling aircraft in return for a new military cooperation agreement. The bases have never been popular in Spain not under Franco and not under democracy. The proposed reduction of the foreign presence is now a National clamor Roberto Mesa professor of political science at Madrid s com Lutense University wrote in the in dependent Madrid daily Al pais. In a recent speech defense minister Narcis Serra pointed out that Spanish opposition to a foreign Mili tary presence has to be seen to a historical Content that Dales Back to the French invasion of Spain under Napoleon in the Early 19lh Century. It was a time Serra said when Spain had begun to Hunker Down behind the pyrenees after the Lou of most of in overseas Empire and a period of extreme isolationism from which the country would not emerge until its entry into the european economic Community in january last year. Spain fought and lost its last foreign War in 1898 against the United slates Over its colonies in Cuba and the Philippines. The 45-year-old Gonzalez says the 1953 treaty signed by Gen. Francisco Franco and president Dwight d. Eisenhower was agreed to under Circum stances differing from those in Spain today. What Spain wants he says is not a wholesale Amer ican withdrawal bul a new agreement that is complementary to Spain s recent return to Europe through membership in nato and the dec if agreement on a new Accord is not reached by May 14, lie United Stales has one year to dismantle its three air bases Ai Torrejon near Madrid Zaragoza in the Northeast and Moron de la Frontera in the South near Seville As Well As a major naval station at Rota just West of the Strait of Gibraltar. Gonzalez who campaigned successfully in 1982 and 1986 on promises to reduce the . Military presence in Spain says he does not seek the departure of All . Troops stationed in Spain. He seeks Only a substantial reduction that would be accomplished by the withdrawal of the . Air a new analysis Force s 40ist tac fighter Wing from Tom Jon a 11 Miles East of Madrid and the refuelling jets from Zara Goza. Gonzalez says he thinks an arrangement will be reached either before the May 14 deadline or by Stop Ping the official clock after that Date until an agreement can be worked out. Some observers say they believe an agreement will be worked out for a gradual withdrawal Over five years of the 4,500 troops in question which would satisfy Spain s psychological and political needs and allow the United states to save face. The United states and european members of nato have accused Spain of pulling National i merest ahead of the Alliance which Spain joined in May 1982 under a Center right government As part of a bid for admission to the dec they say Gonzalez is motivated Morf by Domestic political mailers than by concern for shoring up West Ern conventional forces in Light of an impending . Sovil agreement to eliminate intermediate Range nuclear missiles in Europe. In a March 1986 referendum spaniards voted to remain in nato on the condition that . Military presence be substantially reduced. Spain remained Neutral during world War ii under the Franco dictatorship. It did not qualify for economic Aid from the Marshall plan which was designed to rebuild War torn economies of belligerents on both sides and Spain was ostracized and isolated by West Ern Europe. Instead Franco unable to get his country into nato signed a military cooperation treaty with the United states. The treaty provided strategic bases for american Long Range b-47 bombers that would put into effect the doctrine of massive retaliation in the event of a War with the soviet Union. In return Spain received credits for the Purchase of . Military equipment and Franco in the words of defense minister Serra received substantial help for the survival of his  through successive renewal of the initial treaty Sena Lold the 29th annual conference of the International Institute for strategic studies in Barcelona in september the Atlantic Alliance obtained All it needed from Spanish territory for strategic interests of West can Security. There was no commitment to defend Spain and Spain was definitely not considered a West pm ally. At the presentation of the Institute s annual military balance report nov. 10 in London director Francois Heusbourg accused Spain of exacerbating what he termed the Rise of anti european ism in the United slam with its demand for the reduction of . Mili tary presence. Gonzalez has emphasized his desire Tor closer de sense Coop ration within Western Europe. The Independent Madrid daily Diario 16 warned that the next six months of negotiations usher in a delicate period during which Ami americanism and Spain s historic isolationism could find Fertile ground. Francisco Alvira of the private or polling Organ lation says spaniards Are not anti american but anti bloc and would really prefer some sort of neutrality