European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 3, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Ann Landers the stars and stripes Page 11 letters dear Ann Landers i refer to the letter from proud to be a pig questioning the concept that a woman could be Date raped because any girl whose vocal chords Are intact can scream her head off while kick ing squirming and seeking a Way to  letter reminded me of the classic rape trial in which the de sense attorney asserted much the same defense for his client who had been accused of Date rape. To to illustrate his Point the defense attorney placed pop bottle on the floor of the courtroom and sent it spinning. He challenged the prosecuting attorney to stick a Pencil through the neck of the bottle As it spun  prosecutor grabbed a heavy object and smashed the spinning bottle into a Hundred pieces. He the leisurely stuck the Pencil through the neck of the Bot  the penetrated neck High in the air he declared this ladies and gentlemen of the jury is  sign me . In michigander . What a Beautiful example of one up Manship. I veneer heard a better one. Here s another response to the same  Ann Landers i feel compelled to answer that insensitive Man who does t believe a woman can be raped by an unarmed  have heard and read about men who were mugged a few blocks from their Homes. No one suggested that they were asking for  no one inquired As to Why they did t try to fight off their attackers. No on asked to see their wounds or bruises As proof that the mugging actually took , their plight is met with sympathy and even admiration for their Wise conduct. The theory is it Best not to try to fight Back. You never know what might happen if you incurred the Wrath of a  you change the sex of the victim the scenario is automatically altered. Females who were never taught to fight and have never actually hit or kicked another human being Are suddenly expected to fend offa larger and stronger attacker. Women who Are Frozen with fear unable to let out anything louder than croak or a half muffled scream Are expected to seize control and thwart a ," my dear sir is too Nice a word for you As Well As an insult to those animals who Supply us with foot balls and food for the table As Well. Lawndale Calif. Dear Calif thanks for a Snappy response. You can sit in my chair any old  Ann Landers my husband and i have a 9-year-old daughter. She Isa Joy to us but we Don t want any More children. Frequently i am asked if i plan to enlarge my  i say no i am told go ahead and have another one. You la be glad you  or you really ought to try for a boy. I la bet your husband wants a son even if he does t say so. All men do you  i am asked this question in the presence of our daughter people have turned to her and asked would t you like a brother or sister she always says yes and i am made to look like a  same clods would t dream of asking a woman Why she is pregnant with her fifth child. Pleas print my letter Ann. I m tired of being put on the spot. Pittsburgh a. Dear a  Type inquiries Are Best answered with a question. Sample Why in the world would Yoube interested in something so personal writer says pcs benefits not automatic this letter is intended to Alert other service Memberto practices by some Continental United states conus installations in denying entitlements to serv ice members who have a permanent change of station pcs to Europe. I am not Able to speak for a number of people ican Only relate the problems i and my family Are currently facing. I think it is important for service Mem ers to know what benefits they should seek. Even though they Are entitled to certain benefits they Are not automatically Given them. When i was issued orders for Germany from for Benning ga., upon completion of the officers advanced course i was not aware of the benefits to which i was entitled. Due to the very limited number of housing facilities in the Ramstein area concurrent travel which i sought was not available. My orders specified that my family could not travel concurrently and we accepted this As something we would have to live with. The problems arose from the fact that while my family could no longer remain in government housing on fort Benning since it was dedicated to an advanced course class starting shortly after Minei assumed that this authorized me to relocate my family Tomy wife s Home in Eugene Ore. Upon arrival in Germany i in processed housing and finance completely unaware of the problems that were to follow. Shortly after arrival i was told that government housing on Ramstein would be available on june 7.1 had a form 4001-r dispatched to my wife through fort Lewis wash., the closest military installation to authorize her to travel to Germany with Myson i thought. When my wife contacted fort Lewis she was told that she could not get funding to cover the Cost of flying from Oregon to Germany. Fort Lewis told my wife that there was no authority to move her to Oregon in my pcs orders. Consequently the Only Means Avail Able to me to get my family Here was a $671 plane ticket. I contacted the travel office at the 189th per Sonneland was told to Call 1st personnel Cpd. I was now pretty confused and starting to get a Little angry at Myown ignorance of the benefits which i was clearly entitled to but had failed to ask  the woman at 1stpersonnel come was extremely helpful however the news was what i expected. Fort Benning had apparently not notified 1st per com of the fact that the deferred travel was not by my Choice thus they did not authorize me to move my dependents to Oregon. The woman at 1st personnel come said that my Case was not in the least unusual and the Only recommendation she could make was for me to notify my congressman and put pressure on installations to offer entitlements to service members and not assume Complete understanding of entitle ments. I am not going to involve Congress in the Resolution of this situation. I am however writing this letter As a warning to other service members to be aware of their entitlements and not expect to be taken care of by people who should be there to advise and assist in pcs move. In eight years of military service i have never Felt a traumatic an economic effect on a pcs move As i have coming to Europe. I am bruised but i have gained painful knowledge to prevent this from happening again. Family separation and pcs moves Are difficult enough and even though it is a sad fact we cannot depend on the employees of some installations to adequately provide expertise by any Means. As a military member you must take care of you personal affairs and make fully sure you understand to what you Are entitled i know i will. Capt. Michael j. Finamore Ramstein a West Germany policy on Over stamped ids defended i am writing this letter with great concern. What happening to our system As far As the right to privacy one of the biggest abuses of that right As Many sol Diers feel is the Over stamped . Forces identification card. It is required to have your id card stamped when Soldier makes two or More mistakes in one year for checks that Bounce. Why does the id card have to be stamped Check cashing privileges not authorized in big letters on front and Back so that everyone Cansec it can t we just put a Small Star or something to indicate this i am. Sure with today s modern technology we can simplify it. Everyone notices the Over stamp and thinks the worst even though we All make mistakes especially in the Check cashing area unless the figures on the amount of returned checks last year were incorrect. Soldiers should be proud to show their id card Tony establishment that has the requirement to show it. Especially while visiting other posts such As British or Canadian posts and during inspections soldiers see other soldiers id cards Over stamped. It always cause conflict to include loss of respect and Trust if the other Soldier is his Superior. And what about sure pay is it the sure Way to get your id card Over stamped the Over stamp is really degrading any Way you look at it. Can something Bedone to Stop this or change the so obvious stamp so that Only the personnel who need to know can identify it As such name withheld Karlstedt West Germany editor s note Howard Hammond chief personnel services Branch personnel actions division personnel services support directorate 1st personnel come he Usa eur replies we appreciate the Opportunity to clarify policy re Garding Over stamping id cards to withdraw Check Cash ing privileges. The writer states that the id card is Over stamped when a Soldier makes two or More mistakes in one year. That is incorrect. The first time an individual is notified of a dishonoured Check he or she is Given a specific period of time to redeem the Check. If the Check is redeemed within the stated period no action is taken. If not the individual is referred to the id card issuing facility to obtain an Over stamped id card. Sure pay has very Little to do with issuing checks for insufficient funds. No one should write a Check until after receiving a leave and earnings statement and thus ensuring funds have been deposited to the checking account. The number of dishonoured checks processed in Usa eur is staggering. In fiscal year 1987 alone cafes processed in excess of 159,000 dishonoured checks. Fewer than 5 percent were due to the Bank error. We Are sorry that the writer feels embarrassed when showing an id card that has been Over stamped to with draw Check cashing privileges. However we consider the present policy appropriate Given the scope of the problem in Usa eur. The sees Andjel Lpes Tuo european edition col Jeffrey m. Cook Usa commander editor in chief it col Suzanne l. Phillips Usan Deputy commander editor in chief Marie Kominicki Mert Proctor Deane b. Mcdermott production manager managing editor circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication for members of the military services overseas. 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