European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - October 21, 1988, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday october 21, 19bb the stars and stripes Page 9 . Base hoping for Wake up Call change seen coming for Small town Mediterranean Bureau after years of ensling in limbo. Moron a in Spain is rumoured to be in for changes. The Spanish press has been speculating for months that use of Moron a Busy strategic air come bomber base Back in the 195qs and i960s, will increase. But so far three weeks after the United slates and Spain concluded an agreement for eight years of . Military use of Spanish bases no plans for the sprawl ing base have been officially revealed according to air Force it col. John Zubol the installation s commander. Moron approximately 35 Miles Southwest of Seville and 80 Miles Northeast of the naval station Rota is located in an economically depressed area of Southern Spain. The local political climate is reported to be receptive 1o expansion of the base. And since it is located in a Remote area Strong objections to an in crease in flight activity arc not considered Likely. We would Tike to see More activity at Moron. But even if a decision is made to build up the base thai May take a Long Lime said Zubol commander of Moron s Del 2, a detachment of he 401st tac fighter Wing at Torrejon a Spain. Moron s Active duty base population peaked at 2,000 in 1960, but the base was virtually put on the shelf in the late 1960s when it was designated a stand by dispersal base. Maintenance was reduced and the work Force shrank. Later Moron hit Rock Bottom when it was assigned modified caretaker status and Torr Jon was designated As Moron s primary support base. In 1976, Moron s future brightened a bit when Del 2 was established and standby status restored. In the ensuing years operations at Moron have surged and ebbed. The base s . Active duty Force now numbers 75, including 30 airmen and 45 sailors. The total american population counting family Mem Bers and contract personnel is about 200. They arc still trying to give us a Label but we arc being called a standby base by some officials and an Active base by others said Zubol a 41-year-old de troit mich., native. We have peaked at 525 Active duty personnel Dur ing exercises during the 15 months i be been Here he said. But we have had As Many As 1,500 people on base during Peak periods in recent years.1 the base recently went through one of its surge phases when it hosted deployments of .-based b-52 bombers and Kc-13 5 tankers. At the same time it served As an alternate Landing site for the space shuttle during the acc entry completed discovery Mission. And some air National guard units come to Moron so regularly they leave their on base transportation fleets of bicycles at the base Zubol said. Moron is in the heart of Andalusia a land of White washed buildings and a fierce Sun. The undulating terrain surrounding the base is farm and ranch coun try. In summer the base broils. Almost no rain fall Between april and september Winters arc Cool and Rainy although the temperature Seldom dips below freezing. The Mission of Del 2 is to keep the base ready to accept augmenting forces. There arc no Safe air Craft permanently operating from Moron. However the Spanish air Force operates two squadrons off a fighters there supported by 1,500 of its people. Act 4 of the air Force s 2186th comm so and the Navy s radio transmitting facility arc Moron s two major . Tenant organizations. The Job of just about everyone in Del 2 is to Mon operations the bicycle Moron s commander it. Col. John Zubet Ren rally uses shows How glow paced life is Here. Tor base contracts according to tech. Sol. Char Lccy Bradley the unit s personnel specialist. The 32-year-old from san Antonio Texas said con tracts for maintaining the base belong to Pacific architects and engineering inc., which employs 50 american and 220 Spanish workers. Everyone at the base fills More than one position Bradley said i m also the base librarian run the or Derly room and sometimes fill in As the commander s a Large number of jobs on base Are performed by dependents and by Scricc members during their off duty hours she said. Several wives for example work part time running the base swimming Pool. Sgt. Edward Herscher the detachment s transportation in Spector runs the Auto Hobby shop As a Concession Dur ing his free Lime. If people could t act As concessionaires we would be without a lot of services. If it was t for the wives and one husband a lot of the facilities on base would have to close Bradley said. De Lowe the sole dependent husband on base Calls himself the last of the unicorns and works at both the Exchange and the base dining facility. Lowe s wife staff sgt. Elois Lowe is one of two Independent medical technicians assigned to the base clinic. The facility has no doctor. We saw six patients this week. It was a Busy week. Usually we Only have one or two but we arc also responsible for veterinary and environmental health chores elois Lowe said. She said the nearest civilian Hospital is in Seville a 45-Minutc ride by ambulance. Nearly every Active duty person on base is licensed to drive the ambulance said Bradley one of the licensed Drivers. That frees up the driving so the medic can ride in Back with the the Lowes have been at Moron for one year and she recently extended for three More. "1 like the Job and the base the quiet and the Countryside. I feel my children Are fairly Safe Here and it gives us a Chance to save some Money she said. Moron has a two room two teacher department of defense dependents school with two dozen youngsters in kindergarten through eighth Grade. A High school student would have to Board at the system s High school in London although no Moron children Are in that program. Most of Moron s married population live in the i Homes on base. Single people live in the dorm or lease Quarter on the Economy where rents according to Bradley Are very reasonable. Zubel said Many people assigned to Moron like its Small town atmosphere but some drawbacks come from having such a Small base population. Even if 50 percent of the base shows up for an event that in t Many people but it s a great turnout for us he not Many people Are aware of it Zubol said the base has a Large number of transient quarters available for visitors. We have 50 rooms in our Frontera hold and 244 rooms in other facilities. There generally is room in them for visitors except during a few certain periods. Rooms Cost $8 per night per person and the facilities arc comparable to those in a four sir Spanish hotel Zubol said. We enjoy having visitors and we could use their business he added. Wii battleship Wisconsin returning to Active duty Washington a the Wisconsin the last of four huge battleships brought Back to life by the Reagan administration to strengthen the Navy willbe record missioner this weekend during ceremonies in Mississippi the Pentagon said wednesday. The return to Active duty for inc warship will begin on saturday morning at the Ingalls shipbuilding Yards in Pascagoula miss. Former sen. John Tower a Texas will deliver the principal address during the ceremonies the Penta gon added. The Wisconsin will join three other world War ii battleships that were modernized and returned to service the Iowa new Jersey and Missouri. Thanks to the modernization work the four vessels Are considered among the most powerful surface warships in the world. Each of them features nine 16-Inch guns capable of firing 2,700-Pound Armor piercing shells up to 23 Miles. The battleships also carry 12 5-Inch guns and have been modernized with Box launch ers for Tomahawk cruise missiles canis Ter launchers for Harpoon missiles and four Phalanx calling guns to defend against Aerial attacks. The Wisconsin s reactivation began More than two years ago when the vessel was taken out of Mothballs in Phila Delphia in August 1986 and towed to Pascagoula. The ship is 887 feel Long 108 feet wide and displaces 58,000 tons. Its four geared turbines arc capable of driving the ship Al speeds in excess of 30 knots. The Wisconsin was launched on dec. 7, 1943, and operated in the Pacific Dur ing world War ii with adm. William f. Halsey s 3rd of Eccl earning five Battle stars. It was decommissioned in july 1948, but brought Back to service again in March 1951 for the korean War. The ship earned another Battle Star during that conflict and was decommissioned again in March 1958. I Cost $448.8 million to modernize the Wisconsin and return it to Active duly a figure the Navy describes As a fraction of the Cost of building such a ship from scratch today. The Wisconsin will Call Norfolk va., its Home port for now but eventually it will be stationed at a new Navy base now being built in Texas. The ship will be sailed by a Crew of 1,600
