European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 8, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Come on let s go and say goodbye to Bern Charlie co Friday april a 1983 the stars and stripes Page 9 by of. Mapo Tsieh staff writer Berlin set. Bruce Mcquown men tally counted Dou n inc hours icel on charge of quarters duly As the conversation languidly rolled from Pink Floyd a the Type or air Michael Jackson breathes. The coffe Supply was gelling Low. In always quiet on a  actually it was shortly after j am. Mon Day and the Parks silting ready to go in the Barracks room or co a 4th in Berlin brigade meant things were not going to be quiet much longer. Co c knew ii was going somewhere and Mcquown As inc Man in charge or quart ers would be he first to know Wincn. The first indication that things were about in change came when sgt. Maj. Rob cart Norton trompe d ii Tough the door in full combat gear. Morton was from uie brigade training division and came to Charlie co 10 evaluate. Out came the notebook. This was of be an emergency readiness deployment exercise. Horton was there to add his 19 years of experience to id Charlie co was to be the first in the Ber Lin brigade Loiry out inc modified  essentially intends to rotate Quick deployment tactical missions among  units in the i vivid cd City at company level. Gel away from Berlin and the rest of the brigade Sharpen Baic skills. Those arc some of the goals of Hie Erde program said maj. John Kelly chief of the big Iida training division. He brought along six other Cal Maiors to Sec How Charlie co would fire As test Case no. 1. I noted thai at of three forty cd had no Coffee tried to Hurt the sergeant major s feelings 1 Lorion groused. Hut by 0350, inc grousing had shifted to the upper floor of the Barracks As the charge of quarters runner pfc Stephen Samano. Took the Mcnuge he had just received from Mcquown. Banging on Metal doors and rattling a handle or to just to vary inc noise Sama no yelled come on let s go. Get up. Let s go let s go. Move one sleep drawn face peered around Agrey door. Gun pm Down cards was stencilled across Hist shirt. But first a cup of Coffee his face a med to say. Hey whal s going on i guess there s an no cart the noise level was up but As Horton prowled the Barracks hallways he was Noi pleased. He wanted More Nan noise he wanted movement action. Now spec. 4 scan Murphy 23, from Triangle a. Xmas one of inc first downstairs to inc company armory. He sipped on a soda and stuck a Pinch of tobacco in below can Check and gum As he waited to pick up his m249 saw squad automatic weapon Mcquown shoved a Raster Ai Murphy. You get the honors just until same More people come around Mcquown said a Murphy began checking Oft names of sol Diers As they walked in. Alerted by a Telephone Call Chain sic. Samuel Stringer strode into the compan Barracks gym bag in hand crisply Barking orders to members of his mortar platoon. Stringer wanted a status report by be Lime he hit the second floor and the platoon command Post. Twenty soldiers and a Trio of 81 a mortars. That a Stringer s baby As platoon sergeant and he would be ready for the platoon commander isl i. Christopher Gibson. Within an hour the line in front of the armory was moving. Stringer s men were accounted for. Stringer watched Over inc weapons Issue. Outside a pair of 2 a to trucks were receiving a Load of duffle bags and Field rations. Mcquown s nighttime Domain was a sea of moving Green an stacked equipment. The Ball was rolling now. Seventy one a Soldier called out his number to the armorer. "ml6," he received his weapon. Cheese Melet Wise cracked a 4 . Pundit behind him. Company commander capt. Brian Joyce was gathering his platoon leaders to Issue a warning order the first hint of what Charlie co would be doing. That done. Gibson trotted Back upstairs and gathered his squad leaders and Stringer about him. The clock read 6 . Destination England and As it would turn out after the operational order was issued a Landing at an unused Airfield Nearra Mildenhall. From there a four mile forced March into the Stanford training area to engage a hostile group of pathfinders who were Selling up for operations against the air base. But first a Day of operational training before the company boarded a Irio of c-130 s at Tempelhof Central Airport. This operation was to be different be cause Charlie co is mechanized infantry and the tracked vehicles were slaying be Hind. Stringer s n our platoon went out shortly after 8 . To a City training area and was t Back in the Barracks until 11 30 . A track Driver and mortar gunner. Spec. 4 Robert Binder was without his rack and Sas photo by Joe vap Othar Sec. Sinuel Stringer Beckon la troops id Kab a move on at Berlin Tempelhof Airport. Assigned to carry inc mortar bipod in Addi Tion to his pack. He estimated the combined weight of the two at 110 to 120pounds and wished his unit had the Light infantry 60mm mortar which weighs in Complete Al less than 50 pounds he said the walking in t so bad it s just that with this partial mortar system ii s realty awkward having to carry the packs and the mortar in pieces bind said. Assistant gunner pfc. Leonard Abner As signed to carry the mortar Cannon agreed. As did company commander Joyce. The Challenge is going to be at inc Small unit level his squads and  be developed our own training sched ule so we arc doing what we want to Joyce said. Camouflaged and waiting among a Green sea of sleeping bodies at the Airport inc new morning. Binder knew he had a rough week ahead of him. In  base operations can scr. Air Force Cape. Fred Tichanuk 37lh tac Airlift so Rhein main a West Germany was getting the final rundown on what he was going to do with the 56 men and their equipment including inc mortar platoon. Tichanuk was doing what he wanted to do he said As he prepared to Takeoff for five hours of Low level flying. Stringer moved his men out on inc run Way had them fan out and set up a perimeter around Tichanuk s c-130. They loaded up. Tichanuk torqued his Lockheed prop engines up and headed Down the runway with sprincer s mortar platoon lucked safely in Side. Takeoff airspeed 109 Mali. Goodbye Charlie co. Base Extension talks in Philippines bog Down Manila Philippines a . Negotiators boycotted talks thursday about . Military bases in the Philippines after newspapers reported a dispute with filipino officials Over if right to launch combat mis Sions without Manila s approval sources said. The amerkan pane attended an afternoon session. Afterwards the two sides issued a joint Sale mint saying . Ambassador Nicholas plan and philippine foreign Secretary Kaul Mang Lapus had agreed to skip the morning session. Bui filipino sources speaking on condition of anonymity said the philippine panel wailed More than two hours for the a no kans to show up for the morning meeting before learning they were not coming. The talk began last tuesday to discus the sums of a 1947 agreement under which the United Stales maintains six military installations in the philippine. The sources said the americans were angry about news leaks concerning Sharp differences which emerged during wednesday s session Over terms Tor use of the installations including Clark a and the Subic Bay naval base. Most major Manila newspapers reported thursday Ihal fan glands asked for changes in the agreement to require the United slates to obtain poor consent for combat operations launched from the bases. The current agreement simply requires prior consults  according to the reports. Plan chief . Negotiator said the new demand would cripple . Ability to Man Euver and main lain its worldwide Security network. Plan reportedly said the demand indicated the filipinos did not Trust inc United states. Mang Lapus then reportedly snapped if you rust us then Why have you adopted a policy to neither confirm nor deny the presence of nuclear weapons at the bases. . Officials refused comment on inc reports. But filipino sources close to the talks said the reports were accurate. Before the talks began Mang Lapus said filipino negotiators would seek changes in the agreement thai he said would strengthen philippine sovereignty and serve inc National interest. He has also called for increases in the s180 million that Washington pays annually for use of the installations including Clark air base and inc Subic Bay naval base. Mang Lapus has proposed no figure publicly but has said s1,2 billion a year would be reasonable during tuesday s opening session. Plait said the bases were essential because an overnight shift in soviet intentions can transform this presence into a serious economic and military threat. Soviet minister Counselor Alcan