European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 4, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Monday. A till. 19bs the stars and stripes Page 3 t up. Kirk Knieri fico i commander ruins Membri of his plus on kith the Aid of a homemade scale Model of the huh noels training arc. Taking part in the scaled Don n to time j re from left staff sgt. Kilt i Plunkelt 2nd , a Rifle 1 Lanny. Staff sol. Joseph Yam Tii and a i Cuttic officer 1st . Piini still Kim lies cutbacks Force division to scale Down training continued irom Page 1 Mellon of the i sign. 37ifi Armor at Kalterbach said he saw the cuts coming us Early As last june and started looking for cheaper ways i train. Melton and his soldiers arc discover inc that in some cases cheaper is better. On la Ballf Icli Al Katterbach earlier this year Mellon set up what lie called a human chessboard tank com Manders platoon Leaden and company commanders stood before him will cardboard Sigels Sluck on inc backs of i hair helmets each tag hearing the number of thai Leader s tank. From the sports Field they mane Vered to Lake i hair objective. The battalion molar Pool. Melton claims such Cost culling techniques produce More detailed soldiering since he is left to concentrate on ladies without worrying about driving safety and other detractors from As an Adili Vional Cost cutting move Mellon now trains his troops in a single Square Kilometre instead of the urea 10 limes that sin that had been the. Norm. The reduced sire Melton Sard mates individual inc tips errors More evict in giving him a View of platoon sire training he s never had As a commander. In another example of a Liat division leaders vie is an Era of innovation and imagination the unit s Deputy chief of stall for operations la. F of. Mic John son passed out Broomsticks to a platoon of soldiers Rar Iier Liis car and Lulu Ihm to Pul Ihm Over i hair shoulders. That was the Muk on their Lank Johnson said. I Don l think there was any question in anybody s mind Aslo evict by what 1 was Laiking about we could have done that to Hohrn Fzli. With a multimillion Dollar tank. Did in with a s. Cape Kirk Knipp of t o n acknowledged that cuts in Man Euver funds Hase forced him to look closer Al training at inc lower end of the sea. As a result Knipp said. We have found shortfalls in individual Knipp no plans 10 hot f up such basics As chemical warfare Imin. Marksmanship first Aid and individual lat lev such renewed emphasis in individual skills comes As nose Ronve to at Kusi not of o. Who said Tecsi a of an Ter disc lends to Spund to meet the amount of Money every time there s a n Money there s an increase in Ems Phasis on individual training said 1st sol. George i eters. In s other trainers a also Happy with this new direction. One of Knipp s platoon feat is. Start set Keith Pun kit did. With More Money and increased Lech ology you lend to pet away from such Low tech training is not new Plunkett added. It Joes All the Way Back in laying Sticks on the ground he Saij. There was general agreement that exercises and what the army Calls collective training Aru being hit hardest by to c Dollar cart incl. And Johnson mid die real Issue is training readiness above the Smalt unil level you can t Lake a 30 percent Cut the division s total bldg i reduction this year and not Riave some Degra Dation no Mailer How innovative you hut Mellon Points out that almost Al fighting skills Are Learned and practice at the platoon level where it s also cheapest to train and easiest to innovate. Everything above that is just command and con Trot he said during a mid March visit to Melton s unit Al Loli a noels army vice chief of staff Fin. Arthur k. Drown or. Said that although he would be Cray to say funding Cuis will not affect mining i m nol going of get Han dog about leaders can i Spect some Crown said but he Hopes the troops Don t see any differ so far 1988 is bearing out his Hopes. Trainers say the troops Are indeed seeing More training albeit inc bargain basemen Brand of Baste a Mic ring so jigs. We can t lose sight of the fact that training is soil our no. 1 Mellon stressed any commander shaking his head and moaning about budget cuts is missing the boat. He can t just put his left up on the. Desk and say no Money no training thai s snivel . Col. Clayton k. Mellon of the is in j7lb amur Al Matt Artuch. Al up a human the Boud Vith tank commanders platoon lenders and com fan j cur amanders play in the part of tanks
