European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10 a the stars and Stripe letters letter prompts change in handling of fuses i have been working with electronics since my youth and have gained some expertise. I hold the highest acc Amateur License extra class and do most of my own repair work. I have completed the 286a warrant electronics course the coast guard electronics technician courses. I done to Tell you All of this to blow my own Horn. Certainly Many people have accomplished Many More difficult tasks than these. I just want you to understand that 1 am somewhat educated in the Field before i make what May seem to be an off the Wall complaint about cafes sales of a routine item being a major Hazard to virtually every  in Europe i refer to the Sale of pennies for use in household transformers As fuses. Upon returning from the Field recently i found that my daughters to had gone up in smoke. Inspecting the transformer i found a fuse in it rated at nearly three times the appropriate rating for the size transformer being used. Of course i immediately chewed out my wife for such incompetence. Whereupon i was told that that was the fuse she was sold when she asked for a 300-Watt transformer fuse at the pick up Point. She also informed me that two other 300-Watt transformers in the House also had 4 amp fuses and worked just Fine explaining that pennies work just Fine in a fuse Box until you pass the limitations of the wiring and then you get a House fire we walked Down to the Exchange to buy the Correct fuses for the transformers. 1 requested the fuses at the counter and was promptly handed a Box of fuses labelled .315 amp and was told by the clerk this was the Correct fuse. I told her that it was not the Correct fuse this fuse was a 75-Watt transformer fuse and i required one for a 300-Watt transformer. I was told that i was wrong that this and several other boxes of fuses on hand had to be 300-Watt transformer fuses As they had come from the Quot big Box of 300-Watt  eventually i was referred to the manager. I tried to explain that this was a real Hazard. It would not cause much of a problem with the 75-Watt fuse in the 300-Walt transformer it would merely blow out every  reminder transformers fuses .315 amp 300 Watt 1.6 amp 750 Watt 4 amp 1,000 Watt 5 or 6.3 amp 1,600 Watt 6 amp 2,000 Watt 10 amp / Sharon Kilday it was plugged in but the 4 amp fuses sold to my wife posed a serious safety Hazard and were quite unacceptable finally we left with a close proximity to the Correct fuses. The manager found a Box of 1.6 amp fuses. That is close enough to 1.4 amp the value called for on the transformer itself to be acceptable plus or minus 10 percent or so probably wont cause a House fire although under Many circumstances it May decrease the useful life of the transformer. The manager apologized but said it was impossible to train 54 clerks to know the difference in fuses. There Are of course other solutions make a smaller group perhaps the audio department the Only place to obtain them or at least make one of them responsible for ensuring that the Correct fuses Are placed in the Correct boxes. This is a serious enough matter to warrant a few minutes of extra attention on a weekly basis from someone who knows something about it. Additionally a Chart could be placed on the Box to show which amp rating a Given wattage of transformer requires. There Are Only maybe five different transformers sold surely a two column Chart with five items listed could be read and comprehended by any one responsible for the thousands of dollars handled daily i would like to urge your readers to Check their transformers. Their lives and those of their families could depend on it normally the Correct fuse is listed on the Side of the transformer just above or below the fuse Holder. The listing will be in amps. Germans use a comma in place of a Decimal so be careful How y0u read it. A 75-Watt transformer should use not greater than a .34 amp fuse a 300-Watt gets a 1.6 or less 750-Watt 3.5 amps or less 1,000-Watt, 4.6 amps and a 2,000-Watt up to a 9.5 amp. A if there is no marking for the fuse a Rule of thumb that will get you close is to Divide the wattage by 220 As in 220 Volt and the answer approximately equals the amp rating of your fuse. Do not be misled by the v rating volts All of these fuses have a Volt rating of 250 or More. It does not mean anything unless the amp rating is Correct. A staff sgt. Michael r. Warner Erlanger West Germany editors note a master sgt. Dayton p. Strickland customer relations he cafes Europe replies thank you thank you thank you. And Here a what we Are doing about it an cafes marketing bulletin and signs Are being prepared for the stores listing the Correct fuses for each transformer. This same information will be printed on the Back of our cafes Europe service Mart formerly called pick up Points information pamphlet and made available to All customers. This information is already printed on our Ramag transformers. We have also conducted a statistical sampling of fuses in 300-Watt transformers in our Giessen warehouse and they Are All Correct. The Correct information for those who want to a clip and save Quot is shown above. Lastly we would like to make Good on your daughters to. Please Contact me directly for making arrangements to have it  treatment of civilian staff faulted quiz question for civilian employees Why does the government employ civilian employees to work alongside military members in Many offices and clinics Why to make it easy to provide Many of the benefits to the military members yet keep the place going of course in places where civilian employees work alongside Active duty personnel a who covers when a Soldier goes on a six week maternity leave a who picks up the Slack when military members Are Given Quot training holidays often planned around Federal holidays a who keeps clinics and offices open when Active duty personnel go on a a Holiday schedule around Christmas not to mention time off for a passes a a fall cleanup Quot "p.t.,&Quot etc.? who indeed civilians work to earn 13 Days each of sick and annual leave the first three years they work. Women civilian employees do not get maternity leave. La lease done to give me the line about soldiers being Given time off to a a compensate for a extra  when soldiers at our clinic come in Early for Alert duty they leave earlier in the afternoon clinic to be handled by the civilians. U is also absurd to try to rationalize the extra a time off Quot with the soldiers-arc-on-duty-24-hours pitch. Furthermore if the higher  honestly believed that 24-hour-duty rationale then How is it that a Soldier can get a part time Job at cafes a full time civilian employees cannot get these jobs the biggest kick in the face is the a Holiday sched Uley business. We Are told this is for a military  Why is morale among the civilian sector a non Issue what is the rationale for giving military members time Over and above their annual 30 Days we re Here to support the military but we re tired of being used by the system to make it pleasant for some while we work frantically to pick up the Slack. Lets see some directives supporting the civilian Force that show us you appreciate our role. A name and location withheld editors note a Mark Oliphant employee development specialist civilian personnel division office of the Deputy chief of staff personnel he usar eur replies thank you for the Opportunity to address your issues. The differences Between the military and . Civilian personnel management systems result in confusion and frustrations for Many within the Usa eur family. Each system was developed to meet its particular needs. The systems were not developed to complement each other. The military personnel management system is designed to recruit and maintain a Quality fighting Force. The . Civilians who work alongside these military members while working to support that Quality fighting Force Are also working under an employment system which pertains to All Federal employees whether working for the army or another Federal Agency. If the writer is looking for comparability Between the two systems it does not exist. Since there is no designed comparability the administration of the systems results in perceived inequities. Military personnel wonder Why leave for civilians is m in pals i am 26 Yoars old and work As a cashier. A Cindy n. A Votoro # 15 Havard St. Cuba. Quo on City 1100 Philippines i m 20 Yoars old and would Liko to tract co or. O. Wolti trom English my hobbles Aro Readlyn ing and making Irlonda Tho world. Writing travel All Over i Justina Morono Ortega a or Potance 106 a ens Capitillo Sto Domingo dominican Republic i am 26 years old and in Tho air Force currently stationed in Italy. I enjoy running playing Tennis cooking and writing to friends. A staff sgt. Anthony l. Shearon pc 1, Box 1364 Apo . 09694 i am 20 years old and a College student majoring in matzo Matics. I also work As a Secretary there. A Che Che Fronteras 152-a Marcla Apt. Bolton St. Davao City Philippines i am 26 years old. My interests Are cars and going to movies. A Nikki Pottinger 24 Cambridge St. Exeter ex4 16y Devon England i am looking for German pen pals. I collect Beer coasters. I used to be fluent in German and was once an Exchange student in get Tongen. A Annette Aslin 13 w. Green St., Apt. #1 Lynn mass. 01902 i enjoy volleyball playing the guitar and writing to friends. I am a 28-year-old member of the Church of Christ. A Delia Triton along Tibulan Negros Oriental Philippines counted Only by work Days while their leave is counted by Calendar Days. Civilians such As the writer raise their eyebrows when commanders exercise their authority to have their military personnel go on a Holiday schedule Quot without charge to leave while civilians must take annual leave if they wish to take off at this time. There Are legitimate procedures under each system to compensate individuals who work More than normally required. Most . Civilians who work beyond 40 hours in a week which is what the Basic employment contract requires Are entitled to be compensated either with overtime pay or with compensatory time off. The same Law which governs this requirement prohibits pay for one position for More than an aggregate of 40 hours of work in one Calendar week. One recent policy change was adopted to recognize the role of civilians and to show appreciation of their role. Commanders May now establish policy locally which permits emergency essential employees dec who respond to alerts and participate in mobilization exercises to participate in military training holidays without charge to annual leave. This policy recognizes the extra hours such employees work in their roles As secs. We continue to look for other changes w hich will support the request of the writer. The concerns of the writer should be concerns of effective leaders whether they be commanders or managers of an integrated work Force of military and civilian employees . And in. Effective leaders minimize loss of productivity through frustrations of their work Force with continued education and meaningful communications they Are mindful of the differences among their total work Force and strive for understanding among All elements. A View on base closings i would like to comment on the recent letter concerning  base closures. This writers notion that the majority old yrs bases should be closed in favor of Continental Unia states conus bases is most amusing. Ill bet n it went out and bought a new Home Security by Stern would install it in his bedroom closet instead of at front door a name withheld Edzell Scotland