European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 10, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Zoning tank tactics at Hohenfels Vince Crawley a Firnberg Bureau it has been 45 years since the last tanks rumbled m anger through Western Europe. But unless politicians Tell them otherwise soldiers will keep Honing their tank tactics in the Muddy Hills of a Backwoods Corner of West Germany. Master sgt. Brad Phillips an observer controller at tie combat Man Euver training Center in Hohenfels lays the Center is the Quot Best Battlefield you la see in  tanks sometimes dozens of them at once routinely Duke it out in the muck of Hohenfels using lasers instead of bullets and continually chewing up the Earth in an endless Battle for the same Patch of ground near 3mountain called old Baldy. Part of Phillips Job is to keep Hohenfels As much like a War zone As possible. He and the 50 or so other observer controllers on his Side of the Battlefield round by stragglers who done to belong there make sure holders have their Correct War gear and try to keep soldiers from cheating. Some platoons Are trying to come in without Miles Ian acronym for the laser electronic gear that beeps land lights up when you get shot Ata Phillips said. A Quot that would be like trying to go to combat with no ammunition so we Don t allow them inside the  Quot Wedon t allow Little things a like a first sergeant trying to bring 250 dragon rounds in on a humvee Quot Phillips said. He stretched his arms to show How big a real anti tank round would be a the Quot size of a Tow missile Quot he explained. For convenience soldiers just write the number of rounds they re lugging on a piece of paper and carry that around during training. The catch is that the vehicle transporting the piece of paper instead of the supplies must be Large enough to carry the real thing. Phillips said that the 40,000-acre training site is modelled after the much larger National training Center in California s Mojave desert a where most stateside combat troops practice Large scale combat Maneu vers. One big difference is that the emphasis at Hohenfels is on defending in and around wooded european Hills rather than learning the chess like elegance a some would say Nightmare a of a desert War. The training Center has just enough space for a battalion a about 50 tanks a to Man Euver for a few Days against a much larger enemy. Phillips said that battalions practice with the Odds stacked 3-1 or 4-1 against them to reflect the current numbers of Warsaw pact is. Nato tanks. Quot with m1s and m2s Abrams tanks and Bradley fighting vehicles being More sophisticated we re supposed to be Able to take out More of them than they can of us Quot Philips said. Quot and that show we re training to be better than they  ass s its it s s is s a a s s a v v a screen of smoke generated by an ally a tank takes up a new position at the combat Man Euver training Center 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 15