European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 01, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday june 1, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here Sas l Emnott Lowis or a inn an 1st class Kerry i Leavey left photo smiles under her Camo Oake. Kiulin. F up. I be Tesdal and medical technician staff or. Jeffrey Alexander discuss an exercise. End is near but cruise missile Mission still Olive by Mark Moore Slaff writer . West Germany capt. Lee Tisdal is part of a dying Mission in West Germany the operation of ground based cruise missiles. Deployed As part of nato s 1979 dual track decision to upgrade nuclear forces while pressing inc soviets for reductions the missiles Are to be withdrawn under the intermediate Range nuclear forces treaty. Hut until the classified Date for the unit s deactivation arrives the Mission remains alive. The end of this weapons system is very near but right now we re very real said Tysdal a member of the 38th tac missile Wing the last remaining Active ground launched cruise missile unit in Central Uuro pc. We re still part . And nato forces. We can t consider ourselves gone or the scale becomes lopsided. We still have a Mission and we re a deterrent Force to keep the soviets honest. As they draw Down slowly we Are drawing Down  All of the Wing s 64 cruise missiles along with those based at Raf arc Cham common England and Comiso air station Italy must be destroyed by june 1991. But for now it s business As usual for the 70 members of the Wing s d flight from wins Chhim air station. West Germany. They have to be prepared to launch the flight s 16 cruise missiles. To remain prepared the unit set off recently with its four launchers but not the missiles for one of its eight Field exercises each year. This time the unit was nestled in and around a Small Forest on a Hilltop about six Miles from Baum older. There the unit spent five Days carrying out the Drudgery of deterrence digging Foxholes lugging supplies and erecting tents. As the u flight commander Tysdal had another Job to do As Well he had to convey the big picture to inc Small troops some of whom were making their first trip to the Field with his flight. Tesdal compared the members of his flight to nails in a horse s  for want of a Nail the shoe was lost. For want of the shoe the horse is lost. For want of the horse the rider is lost. Sometimes they feel like the Nail nobody knows they Are Here. Show them the big picture and they la see that they have a big  airman 1 St class Jeffrey Crisc an administrative specialist who has the additional duty of Security sentry to the flight was one of the people getting a ". We re a deterrent Force to keep the soviets honest. As they draw Down slowly we Are drawing Down  capt. Lee Tesdal first hand look at the big picture while getting a feel for the Job. One new experience for Cripe was digging around a variety of big rocks to fashion his own foxhole. Before  he said the dirtiest i got was changing my typewriter  although he was having some fun on his first trip with the flight. Crisc admitted that it would be a lot rougher during a War. We know before we leave How Long Well be out. We Don t know that in  unlike Cripe airman 1st class Kerry Scavey is a Veteran of excursions into the Field. Scavey. Who was making her ninth trip to the Woods As a weapon control systems specialist acknowledged that once you know How to do everything it gets  they keep trying to teach you More and get you better at it and you re not going to use it the missile anyway she said. Defending the Core of he flight is the Job of die 44-Man Security police defenders under the charge of Iselt. Dave Gohlke. The diet for his team of defenders is simple we cat talk and breathe the Mission. We can t afford to throw up our hands up and say inf is Here so we re gone we still have a real Job until the last intermediate Range nuclear weapon either russian or american is  for Gohlke s Crew a trip to the Field is a lonely experience. Four Man fire teams arc deployed around the perimeter of the deployment area though they sometimes split up into two Man teams. During their recent exercise the defenders like others assigned to the flight were buried shoulder deep in Foxholes decorated with the local Flora. We want to hide in the Woods in a defensive posture Gohlke explained. We Don t want the russians in wartime to know we re a nuclear capable unit. We want them to think we re  with such a thin Force Gohlke said his air Force troops have to be vigilant even though the flight would be at the rear area of a Battlefield. We have a lot of units to hide with. The enemy won t have enough superiority in our area of operation. We re basically among Friend pics in the rear area with the exception of a few bad Guys who will infiltrate. We re far enough Back that we re not facing Large units. The Only superiority he the enemy might have is in superiority of training if we re facing their Best. But our troops Are Well trained and Well  discipline Means constant work for senior airman David Stahl. One of Gohlke s charges. It s Tough out Here Stahl said noting he always seemed to be working to improve the foxhole. When plants dry out they have to be replaced and the Sod has to be watered and Stahl and other unit members faced one More chore once the exercise was Complete filling in their shoulder deep Homes to make it look like we were never