European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - April 6, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday april 6,1969 the e stars and stripes Page 9 Boom you re dead it says Here canno neers looking for More realism Bevin Ccrawley number Bureau Hohenfels West Germany artillery is serious Stuit. During pick Cut s charge at Gully Surg. 11.000 men marched rank and file into Union can non fire. Two thirds were killed wounded or captured. Records How that More than half of All combat casualties in world War it came from artillery and mortars. But today s canno neers say icy Aren t always taken seriously enough during mock Bailies because raining can t realistically portray artillery. Man Euver Guys blow off the effects of artillery said sgt. 1st class Ernie Smith of the 1st div s Field Artil Lery it s hard to convince command ers thai if i mass artillery on you i am going to kill artillery just has to kept up with other weapons in the push toward training realism. / soldiers used to have to yell bang bang you re dead then argue Over who shot first. That has been replaced by silent indisputable lasers in today s High tech Man Euver areas. Artillerymen however must still shout "Boom.". Sgt. Kent Hinrichs Job this month is to pc land he s a human artillery called a fire a com Mander says Boom Over the radio and Hinrichs drives As fast As he can tothe would be paint of he jumps out of his armoured personnel Carrier and Marks where the artillery fire would have hit he throws smoke grenades for hol Lywood style visual effects and races around with a laser pistol shooting whatever the number com chars at Headquarters Tell him to. If their calculations say the artillery projectile Wouldhave destroyed three out of five tanks Hen Hinrichs gets to pick which i fee. He gets yelled at a lot by dead Ankers. Exciting enough work but Hinrichs is an infantry mortar Man on loan from Erlat Ijen s 2nd in with inf regt. And mortar Man sgt. Kent Hinrichs surveys some of the tanks he has destroyed during a 1st div exercise. Leaders wish they could make better use of his manpower. Ithe fire Marker system is Sloppy. Itunes lots of people and vehicles 20 teams during one recent 1st div attack in Hohenfels. And it takes Loo Long. Hinrichs might need 10 minutes on in ground to travel the distance an artillery Shell could cover in a few seconds. People you re shooting Al usually Don t slay in one place for that Long souring training missions fire direction officers need either uncanny foresight to predict where the enemy will go or enough Luck that the target won t move until Hinrichs finishes his Long Muddy journey and starts shouting the system is so unrealistic hat ground commanders Are getting a false sense of Security said Smith who is he non com r ii Ion cd officer in charge of fire markers. But fire markers might soon be an extinct Breed electronics experts in the. States Artfield testing a laser artillery simulator modelled on the system used by infantrymen tankers and pills. Called the multiple integrated laser engagement system it s known As Miles by most combat soldiers. About 10 years ago these laser solved the age old bang bang you re dead problem As Well As the resulting arguments about who shot whom first. Basically laser transmitters and receivers arc mounted on soldiers rifles tanks air planes and whatever else. Instead of shooting bullets soldiers fire invisible laser beams at one another,1 and they know they got a direct hit because the other Guys sirens and lights Start going off. While this does t produce inc same psychological Impact As gelling shot at by real bullets commanders at least must pull dead people and vehicles out of the fighting -.-. Artillery s dead Linss in combat is it downfall in training because lasers Only go in a Slraight i line. Cannon shells Don i a a twit or Batti by can. Shool at you from the other Side of Hills valleys or towns Miles away from inc Point of Impact. The big guns arc also a Lotmore powerful than some people think. First la. Robert Schmill a fire control officer for the division said if this was real we could Stop them the enemy every time in an area the size of Hohenfels. Because they just can t a never enough Logut the Hohenfels area in Northeast a Varia measures about 5 by id Miles Schmill said inc division downplay the effectiveness of its artillery during training because otherwise of the units would t get a Chance to fight. The proposed artillery laser system would use three sensors on the out skirts of the Man Euver area to triangulate artillery fire Between them. If it works Smith said command re won t have any Choice. They la have to Lisin to whal we say about artillery Bui then of course the division s fire markers would be out Ofa Job. Military Roundup Pilot uninjured when a-10 skids off English runway Raf Alconbury England an a-10 Thunderbolt 11 skidded off the runway tuesday morning after returning from a training Mission a base spokes Man said wednesday. The Pilot. Cape Drew l pshaw was not injured. The anti tank aircraft valued at $10 million ran off the cast end of the runway went through a perimeter Fence and slowed into a Small Grassy Mound about 10 40 a.m., said base spokesman sgt. John Norgren a preliminary investigation indicated the aircraft s Landing gear and 30mm gun were damaged in the Acci Dent. The weather at the time was Windy and Cloudy Norgren said details on the cause of the Accident and damage estimates would be known after an investigation by a Board of air Force officers. Upshaw 31,15 assigned to the 509lh tac fighter so at in Basc West German Admiral named to nato Post Casteau Belgium West German rear Wolfgang brass has been named chief of staff of Allied forces Northern Europe nato commander Gen. John r. Galva announced Friday. Brost replaces West German rear adm. . Steindorff who is retiring. Soviets at Rhein main for treaty inspection Rhein main a. West Germany Sis a team Otio soviet inspectors arrived wednesday to conduct one of a series of. Short holies Insp Lions under he intermediate Range nuclear forces treaty base spokesman la col. Pat Maloney said. Both he soviets and the americans can conduct 20 quota inspections this year under article 11 of the superpowers Accord that eliminates in Europe land based nuclear missiles with ranges of 300 to 3,400 Miles according to officials of the on site i Asp Calion Agency s european Field office at Rhein main the actual Sites to be inspected will be announced today Maloney said. 7th training come wins excellence award Washington three military communities in West Germany have garnered awards from the chief of staff in the defens Pirpan Mcnol s installation is Cellante award. The 7ih training come won in the medium overseas installation category. Runners up were inc Niernberg military Community for Best Large installation and the bad or Cugnach Mili tary Community in the Small installation category. Community it pc in tics from the training command will receive $ 100,000, a trophy and a Community of Excel Lence Flag it a May 17 award luncheon in Washington. Runners up will receive a plaque. Fort Jackson s.c., won the top Community of Excel Lence award for the and will receive $250,000, convention will focus on future of Europe w1llingen," West Germany the association of the United states annual convention will be held april 16 through is organizers said. The convention s theme. Europe s future new challenges will be covered in 16 separate seminars that will focus on subjects As medical care Mili tary tactics and the unmarried Soldier. The seminars will be chaired by senior leaders. Day trips can be arranged for individual soldiers or entire units for 20 Marks about $11, per person. The convention will take place a the sauce Landstein hotel in willing a for More information Call military 467-2623 or German civilian 09802-83263. Tempelhof Squadron gets award in maintenance Washington the 1946th communications so Al Tempelhof Central Airport in Berlin has won an air Force 1988 maintenance effectiveness award. The 1946th earned the award in the Large communications and electronics maintenance category
