European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - July 11, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes Page 11 Ann Landers letters give readers valuable forum i be spent most of my 14-year career overseas and i be always found the letters Section of the stars and stripes to be a useful outlet for people who otherwise would have no voice at All. In particular i be seen Many a dumb bureaucratic policy or procedure change when exposed in the letters Section. I Hope people ignore the baseless allegations of a writer s recent letter asserting that All problems could be solved if Only letter writers contacted Public relations. I found his letter a roughshod ride Over the facts As he takes the offensive from Start to finish against the inferior beings who dare to publicly criticize the All knowing All seeing or people of cafes or an. I would like to ask this writer to consider what life would be like if the cafes an bureaucrats were never exposed to Public question. I agree that complaints should be made first to the organization in question and i be done it a few times myself. Some times i be been Lucky and found a person with com Mon sense and the courage to make a decision. Unfortunately this is not always the Case. A common response is to ignore the complaint. Step two is Dallas los Angeles controls everything we do and their decisions Are always step three boils Down to we Don t have to care we re cafes where would you be without us the facts Are these military people have a right to the Best possible service from their support organizations. Military people have a right to have their suggestions and ideas seriously considered by the manage ment of their support organizations. Military people have a right to express their suggestions ideas and frustrations in their newspaper. Bureaucrats who can t stand this heat should Fin another Kitchen. Cafes an and our other support organizations have improved a lot in my 14 years of service. Their managements should get credit for things like satellite to service improved food service and laser checkout stands. They can and should be willing to answer questions in a Public forum. Never forget that military service organizations Are not free Market activities. The Market forces that motivate service providers in the states do not oper ate in the overseas military Community. Sometimes the Glare of publicity is required to overcome bureaucratic inertia. Take the questioners away and we might As Well be living in a Warsaw pact country. The military owes a lot to people with courage enough to question the system. These Are the ones who make America great and i Hope the stars an stripes will always provide a place where the Way we be always done it can be questioned. Maj. James n. Howard or. Raf upper Heyford England Greece s defense spending i am aware that you do not normally publish responses from your readers to syndicated columns on your editorial Page. But associated press Bureau chief in Brussels Robert j. Willaard in taking the Danes to task for their recent policies regarding visiting warships carrying nuclear weapons makes a Gross error regarding Greece s defense Effort. In Light of discussions now going on Newal of . Bases in Greece and in a because of Congress reassessment an people s questioning of the apparently Nate american Effort toward european should not be permitted to stand an readers. About the re broader sense the american disproportion defense this mislead your Willaard states that Denmark s defense budget at 2.2 percent of Gnu. Is the lowest Osnato s european members except for Greece and in fact Greece s defense budget at 6.9 per cent of Gnu is not Only higher than Germany s and great Britain s but is the second highest in nato second Only and not by much to that of the United states. Peter Kyriakeas Kirk Schwana Ettenheim West Germany editor s note Nate Polowetzky assistant general manager and foreign editor associated press replies i have enclosed a correction which we moved on a wires to set the record straight on Greece s defense spending the associated press reported erroneously that among nato members Greece spent a smaller percentage of its Gross National product on defense than Denmark. Denmark s defense spending was 2.2 percent of its 1987 Gross National product and Greece spent More than6 percent of its Gnu on defense in 1987." . Deficit called everyone s concern the word is put. Save Money and conserve your resources. Training is to be done to the Max with the least amount of Money spent. Now i be been in the army for 11 years and the company line is still let s spend All our Money this year or Well lose it next at every year s end we find people Rushing to use up every Penny of their allocated budget. We re told to go on temporary duty try More often order More sup plies and in general be very wasteful with the taxpayers Dollar. Why is it so hard for commanders and other Finan Cial planners to admit that they overestimated the Cost of their operation i be heard All the classic excuses it la Cost More next year it s too hard to get funds so when you be got them Don t let them go and of course they re going to Cut our budget anyway so let s keep it at a Well i m Here to Cash in on the biggest fraud claim of them All. I would like All people who have Ever said use it or lose it to turn yourselves in to the fraud abuse hot line. Of course this will never happen be cause if it did i would be a millionaire. Let s try to be More realistic about our own area budgets. Get everyone involved. Let s bring in All our skill crafts pens from Home and turn in the 25 or so that have accumulated in our desks. Ask yourself is a two Day try trip really Worth All the manpower and paper work necessary to support it is there sufficient material to be covered to justify a full week s financial responsibility to think of the National deficit As a higher up prob Lem is a cop out. It s surely everyone s concern. Name withheld Heidelberg West Germany dear Ann Landers can you stand one More account of dealing with grief a few years ago my fighter Pilot Hus band was killed in an Aerial Colli Sion. I stoically endured a funeral at the air Force Academy an then set about renting an apart ment and starting a new Felt i was doing just Fine except that i would Wake up in the Middle of most nights shaking from the Colorado cold. At Leas that s what i told myself. Finally one night i got up and locate the Box i had t yet unpacked. It was marked person Al items and i had set it aside waiting for Goodwill to come and pick it up. But that night i opened it and located the article i was looking for. It was the ratty old Terry cloth Robe my husband always wore. I reasoned that it would keep me wrapped up in it and got Back into bed. Even after two months the Robe still retained my husband s essence and i immediately Felt As if he was with me. I stopped shaking and started to weep for the firs time. I cried All night and finally faced reality. In the morning i was Able to Tell my daughter that her daddy was t away on a Long trip but that he had been killed. That daughter graduated from College this Spring. I have gone on to a Happy productive life with a Loving Man who knows that in the Back of my closet hangs a tattered Terry cloth Robe that i still Wear from time to time. K.m.k.,Aurora, Colo. Dear Friend grief is a Healing process for which there is no Standard timetable. I am Happy that the old Terry cloth Robe was the turning Point for you. Thanks for telling us about it. Dear Ann Landers please Settle an argument Between my Mother who is 92, and my brother who is 65.a few weeks ago my brother brought his new lady Friend to the House to meet mama. In the course of the conversation mama asked the lady if it was True that she was born with a Silver spoon in her Mouth. The lady i known to come from a family of considerable wealth my brother is furious. He says mama insulted the woman. Mama say she meant it As a compliment. Both have agreed that they will accept whatever you say Ashe final word. In the Middle in Middle in miss while the question was not a very tactful one it Isth same As asking a person were you born Richi would not consider it an insult. I m sure your Mother meant no harm and Hope that your brother will forget about this lapse of judgment. When he is 92 he will probably appreciate a Little extra consideration. Dear Ann Landers i am writing in regard to heartache in Jackson Ville whose husband has alzheimer s disease an talks of nothing but world War ii. When i was Young my Grandfather bored us All to tears with world War ii stories. I m sorry to say i Don remember one word he said. Now grandpa is gone and i Don t know a blamed thing about world War ii. I wish i had listened. In Stead of being ignorant i d be informed. Bring your husband on Down or up to Dallas Honey. We be got a big House. Stay a few Days and let him ramble. I d love it. B.w., Carrollton Tex. Dear . Sorry i Don t put my readers in touch with one another but you sound like a sweetie pie. Thanks forthe Day brightener. The St is and Fries j
