European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - February 17, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 the stars and stripes Friday february 17, 1989 guard Reserve units to work abroad a a finance Mission part of fest plan by David Tarrant staff writer National guard and army Reserve units will Start coming to Europe in april As part of a congressional litmus test using reservists to replace some Active duty units or perform missions overseas. The program also is aimed at reducing an estimated six to 10-year maintenance backlog in the . Army in Europe. Six . Reserve components will de ploy to Europe this fiscal year to operate an equipment maintenance Center at Rhine ordnance Barracks in Kaiserslautern West Germany. Project coordinators picked the site because it offers essential overseas train ing for the reservists and fulfils a Nec Essary maintenance Mission for the . Army in Europe. The european theater was having some difficulty meeting some of their maintenance requirements said Gus a. Leon a retired National guard colonel hired As a consultant by the Pentagon to coordinate the project. So when i presented them with this idea they said gosh this is terrific. Well bring Over these units and they news update officers cleared Tampa Fla. A Rock and bottle throwing by bystanders May have contributed indirectly to a drug suspect s death a prosecutor said after eight police officers were cleared of wrongdoing in the Case. The office of assistant state at Torney John Skye said an investigation had determined that the death of Edgar Allen Price 40, was accidental. Can do our maintenance for us and train for their wartime Mission in their War time theater so it went Over Leon said. Leon declined to give an exact description of the Usa eur maintenance backlog. But army estimates suggest a six to 10-year wait for repairs on about $600 million Worth of equipment. The program grew out of a january 1988 request by the Senate appropriations committee for specific overseas missions that could be assumed by the guard and Reserve. For several years the committee has shown an interest in programs that could simultaneously enhance the overseas training for guard and Reserve units As Well As potentially reduce the number of Active Forward deployed units. The committee also hoped such programs would reduce defense costs. A general accounting office review initially reported the potential Cost Sav Ings would not be enough. But the Senate committee decided the program was still worthwhile because of the training Bene fits to reservists. Leon said the maintenance program also should help save Money in the Long run because it will put unused equip ment Back into service. The reason it can save Money is because that equip ment is sitting there deteriorating be cause it really does t have somebody to take care of  the project is an Extension of the army s overseas deployment training program in which Reserve units Are sent overseas for training in an area where they might have to mobilize in the event of a military crisis. In this Case it gets them in the theater where they d be working and they get to work on the Type of equipment they would work on said it. Col. Phil Phillips with usar eur s office of the Deputy chief of staff for logistics. Several factors increased the maintenance backlog in Europe Over the past five years the massive Fielding of new or modernized weapon systems and changes in Supply and maintenance Doc Trine. At the same time some maintenance was no longer being done at the corps level. The army increased the number of items to be repaired rather than disposed of. Most of the Stock waiting to be re paired is for War reserves Phillips said. The Only thing that suffers i guess is Long term readiness or sustainability if we needed that truck or that tank today and it was t  the guard and Reserve program is broken Down into three phases with the first period running from april to sep tember 1990, followed by an evaluation. During the first part of phase one six units will deploy in fiscal 1989. The six units to deploy this year Are the 115th heavy Maint co from Utah 307th heavy Maint co from Kentucky 665th heavy Maint co from South Dakota 1071st heavy Maint co from Michigan 3670th heavy Maint co from Oregon and 238th heavy Maint co from Texas. The plan eventually Calls for 12 More units to rotate in fiscal 1990 and 16 unit sin 1991. If successful the program ultimately could expand to a number of other com Bat support areas Leon said. Once this gets its feet on the ground there Are All kinds of alternatives we can do. We can bring in Supply companies parts companies. And then they can be doing their wartime mision Here in  belated snowfall Gladden hearts of skiers at Many european resorts body of missing no found after 2 months Pitburg a West Germany is the body of an air Force sergeant missing for More than two months was discovered tuesday in the sure River in Gosport Luxembourg officials said thursday. Sgt. Robert h. Hewlett jr., 26, of Chi Cago had been missing since dec. 10 and had been declared absent without leave. He was assigned to the base Hospital. He is survived by his father Robert h. Hewlett or. Of Harvey 111., and brother Brian k. Hewlett of Silver Spring my. A memorial service will be held at 11a.m. Friday in the Pitburg Chapel. The cause of death is under investigation. Corrections a stripes Magazine article yesterday on ice skating incorrectly referred to the title of a woman involved with youth activities in Butzbach West Germany. Cheryl White is the Community s a program director. An article tuesday listed the wrong location for a Winner of the defense department s Thomas Jefferson awards. Sgt. Tony Mckinney is assigned to Southern european broadcasting at Camp Darby Italy. The Kaiserslautern West Germany vol Smarch planned for saturday and sunday will begin at Hohenecker. By Norm Zeigler travel outdoor writer after a Snow drought through much of the Winter conditions at ski areas in Many parts of Europe have dramatically improved because of snowfall in recent Days. Many Mountain areas of Central Europe received Snow accumulations of be tween 8 and 20 inches Early this week the adar automobile club reported thursday. In its weekly country by country re port the adar listed Good conditions at Many resorts in France Switzerland and Austria with trails now open Down into the valleys in most areas. Georg Lehner head of the information Section at adar in Munich West Germany said thursday that the Snow fall was confined to Mountain areas from the Central Alps northward. In West Germany which has Many Small areas at altitudes below 3,000 feet conditions still vary widely. In the higher Altitude areas such As the bavarian Alps and the Bohemian Forest Many resorts that had icy or marginal conditions a week ago now report Good skiing. In the Black Forest and the Frank Enwald which previously reported no areas operating several areas Are now open for skiing. But snowfall was minimal in the Rhon Odenwald Taurus and Eifel areas and resorts there remain closed. Italy and Southern France also received Little or no Snow this week. At Many ital Ian resorts skiing is possible Only on slopes that have Man made Snow Lehne said. He said areas on the North slopes of the Alps now have enough Snow to assure Good skiing for the easter Holiday. In Garmisch West Germany the snowfall allowed the opening of lower slopes near the armed forces recreation Center facilities. Judge drops 1 charge against Navy Captain Subic Bay naval facilities Philippines a a . Navy judge on thursday dismissed one of three charges against the Captain of a Navy vessel who is accused of abandoning vietnamese refugees who later resorted to cannibalism to survive. Capt. James Freyer the presiding judge said there was not enough Evi Dence to support the charge that the skip per of the amphibious transport Dock Dubuque capt. Alexander Balian failed to Render assistance to a vietnamese refugee who allegedly drowned while try ing to swim to the ship. On june 9, the Dubuque which was in route to the persian Gulf encountered a boat carrying 80 vietnamese 230 Miles North of the philippine Island of Palawan. The boat had been at sea since leaving Vietnam on May 22. Balian 48, of los Angeles also is charged with ordering crewmen to pre vent refugees from climbing aboard the Dubuque. On wednesday a witness testified that he saw four vietnamese jump from their boat and swim toward the Dubu que. Three of them swam Back when they saw two rubber boats from the Dubuque approaching their Craft with food. The prosecution says one of the Viet namese drowned. But the witness Ensign Allen Espe rum testified that Balian gave orders to Check the floating body of the Vietnam Ese to make sure he is not faking  he added that he observed no movement in the body and that it was left at sea. Balian a decorated Vietnam War vet eran was relieved of command in a gust after vietnamese survivors reported the encounter to . Officials in the Philippines. . Officials say 31 of the vietnamese died before the others were rescued by filipino fishermen june 27. Survivors said the vietnamese ate five of the dead including two who were murdered. The trial began feb. 10 when a six member Board of Navy captains was empanelled to try the Case. Customer had no beef about Mccash to go Euclid Ohio a a Cus Tomer at a fast food restaurant got More than just two All beef patties special sauce lettuce cheese pickles and onions on a sesame seed Bun from a drive in window. The customer also got part of the Mcdonald s receipts for the Day when an employee inadvertently gave the Driver a take out bag containing Cash instead of food. The mistake happened about 8 . Friday when the night Man Ager placed Money from the Cash registers in a Money bag then placed that bag inside a Mcdon Ald s bag while she awaited a police escort to the Bank police capt. Patrick Newkirk said. An unsuspecting employee handling a Busy window handed the Cash to a customer. Newkirk said the manager said it was a sizable amount of  no one had returned the Money As of thursday morning said police sgt. Ken Kaselonis