European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 30, 1989, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Saturday september 30, 1989 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here is oui Schueller is Rosemary Saer a is. Tank squeezes by a truck in a West German Village. Martela Adam right who has grown up with noise in Grafe Wohr holds her daughter . Military tackles elusive foe noise by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer Grafe Wohr West Germany for Marie Aadam the steady rumble and Kaboom of artillery fire is like the crash or pins to a Bowling Alley manager. It s loud but i Don t hear it  she said. Once in a while i hear it when it s especially loud otherwise i Don  the West German woman has lived All of her 20 years with the thunderous background music played by nato troops at one of the . Army s live fir training areas at Grafen Kiihr. Although Adam does t know whether the explosions that sometimes rattle the windows in her Home startle her 3-Wcck-old daughter do disc she said she s not worried. To most folks in this town of 5,800, the noise is a Way of life. There arc pros and cons to living and working anywhere said col. Ken Clow who Heads the 7th army training come s engineering operation at Grafin Wuhr. People around Here arc not dumb peo ple they know that the noise is Here As part of the training area. It s like my neighbors said to me Las week when they Don t fire around Here something s not  still not All graft Wohr residents one in seven of whom work for the training area arc deaf to the training noise. Some say the noise is too loud and too frequent. One woman would like to Sec a ban on night firing although she acknowledged that such an Abend  is unlikely. The noise pollution is not limited to the Gra fun Wihr training area and provides additional am munition for opponents of military operations in this densely populated country. For the . Military it s an added hindrance to its task of training troops in an environment where years of noise have made peo ple s hearing More acute. The West germans enhanced environmental consciousness has gone hand in hand with greatly reduced tolerance Lor the kind of irritations a com paying military activities on the part of an increasingly affluent satisfied and aging population the . Army Europe commander Gen. Crosbie Saint told West German business leaders earlier this year in Mannheim. Man values most we Are told what is  s economic Miracle Long ago satisfied the country s Basic material needs permitting concentration on marginal but highly emotional Quality of life issues such As the annoyance inevitably caused by military  so what is an army to do one thing it cannot do in this country the size of Oregon is hide. The Mili tary is increasingly finding its once isolated training areas wedged Between Small towns and sprawling suburbs. And training areas in West Germany arc already tiny compared with their counterparts in the United states.  Wil Flecken and Hohrn fils the biggest training areas in West Germany could All fit inside the fort Hood training area in Texas and fort Hood has four fewer divisions to train than Usa eur. Noise issues Are very Complex. Among the most difficult of the environmental issues we  Clow said. Military leaders make a Point of consid ering effects on the environment in All of their projects he said but while the considerations have top priority they Don t supersede training and Readi Ness which is the whole reason Why we re  As Usa eur environmental specialist i Hil Huber put it to train you have to make noise. You have to do certain things. Unfortunately you Don twant to do it downtown and we re downtown in most cases. You have some very natural conflicts. Of course what we try to do is mitigate As much of Shatas possible. It takes understanding on both  complicating the problem is the fact that reaction to noise is highly personal. What might not bother someone at 2 o clock in the afternoon might bother the Dickens out of him the next morning at 2 or on sunday said Bob Merle chief of the training facilities Branch at Grafen Ruhr. And while tank firing might not bother one person Low flying aircraft might Send him into a frenzy. As a Rule it is not specific vehicles aircraft or weapons that annoy people most but whatever Hap pens to be closest to them be it Haranis tanks at Grafin shr. Bradley fighting vehicles at Auerbach or Black Hawk helicopters in grips him. For its pan the military has sought for years to remedy what the troops defensively refer to As the noise issues Are very  the most difficult of the environmental issues we  col. Ken Clow sound of  the noise of military aircraft for example has been softened through the use of quieter propellers and Turbojet propulsion. Helicopters now feature swept tip Rotor Blades improved engines and additional Blades features that have virtually eliminated the distinguishable Blade slap of older models according to a report on Usa eur environmental programs issued this year. Still noise pollution has not been eliminated As resident protests in Wiesbaden against the stationing of the army s quieter ah-64 Apache attack helicopters attest. If helicopters were quiet we would t have any body saying anything about Wiesbaden said col. Daniel Barney the head of Usa eur facilities engr div. Noise is what brought Wiesbaden to a  in other areas the army plans to provide mufflers to the 7th army training come for use on some Bradley fighting vehicles 25mm cannons Barney said. And the service is evaluating an in Borc device for the main gun that allows tanks to fire smaller 35mm rounds in training the Usa eur report said. Already in use is a 155mm artillery training round that makes noise when fired but not on Impact. The round now in use at training areas in Europe has a few drawbacks since dust rain and tog can make it hard for artillerymen to Sec the smoke that the Shell releases on Impact. Nevertheless Saint has called for half of Nam year s required 155mm artillery firing to be con ducted with the special training round up 10 percent Over this year Merle said. The army is also consid ering developing a similar round for its 8-Inch Artil Lery piece. Citizen protests have also led the services to make operational changes such As the restrictions announced thursday in Bonn on the Speed and Altitude of Allied Low level training flights. The services have also tried to restrict engine test ing to Remote parts of an Airfield or to soundproof facilities known As hush houses and modify approach and departure procedures the report said. The army s weapons firing hours arc being restricted although at some ranges such As Gra pc Wohr heavy training requirements necessitate fir ing around the clock every Day except Christmas and easter. Since the Early 1980s, the army has also reduced the number of Large Caliper rounds fired each year. In 1982, Merle said each tank s main gun fired 150rounds. Now thanks to simulator training that num Ber has dropped to 100 rounds. Similarly artillery firing is Down 50 percent. Bradley simulators also provide some Relief to the training areas and nearby residents. Although relocating military airfields is not viewed As a practical Means of reducing training noise some training can be moved to Remote air Fields and barriers can be used the report said. Research in 1985 and 1986 revealed that barriers to reduce sound were Only marginally effective i mitigating the noise of tank guns and other Large Caliper weapons the report said. Therefore they have been installed on Only a few Large Caliper ranges. Barriers called baffling commonly have been used for Small Caliper ranges for both noise and safety reasons. Natural barriers such As Trees and shrubs also Are used to screen firing areas although More forthe psychological Impact than actual noise reduction. It reduces the total negative environmental Impact that the off Post civilian sees Merle said of the tree planting. Part of it might be just As bad As it Ever was but the total is better and contributes to psychological feeling that we really arc doing things. And maybe the noise in t so bad after