European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 05, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday aprils 1990 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here is Vince Crawley the exercise gives spec. Michael k. Stover a break from hauling cargo. At right artillerymen approach a decontamination site. In background Are Oil tanks outside the area. Medics get some realistic practice in change of Pace artillerymen play dead by Vince Crawley Nurnberg Bureau Furth West Germany pfc. Lory Bowen said Jones was the one to talk to. Jones out there s dead As hell said Bowen a20-Ycar-pld artillerymen from Lincoln Ark. Killed in action. pfc. Robert Jones from los Angeles was lying out in the mud with red smeared All Over his care fully tattered uniform. They just told me to play dead Jones tone in his voice suggested that in his 21 years of life he had spent More interesting Day than this. Guess they re just trying to get some realistic training out Here. Using Ketchup and All kinds of in an artillery battalion usually All the noise is made by and for the gun Crews. So it was a bit of change of Pace for them to be playing dead. They called themselves training aids a term soldiers use when they realize they re just pawns. For the Price of a few bottles of Ketchup and tomatoes plus an uninviting bucket of stuff donated by a local Butcher shop the leaders of the 6th in 1st Field arty regt were hoping to us these training aids to give their medics a run for their Money. The three Day exercise was so bargain base ment that capt. Bill Raymond assistant operations officer for the battalion had even toyed with the idea of using toothpicks instead of Artil Lery shells. The idea was that the Guy who signed for the ammo would have to keep track of All those color coded Wood slivers. But we be got them driving a piece of paper around Raymond said. We realized that carry ing a Little bag of toothpicks is units have been doing a lot of this lately keep ing Low profiles inside their motor pools and local training areas while the East european revolutions play themselves out. And since moving an army is what eats up peacetime dollars motor Pool time lets military accountants Hoard their training budgets. A sidelight of the cheap training exercise was that support people medics truck Drivers Cooks clerks got All the attention. The whole focus said sgt. 1st class Davi Hutton 39, of St. Paul minn., is to get the rest of the battalion to know that the Headquarters and service batteries Are important too. The firing batteries normally All the focus is on spec. Michael k. Stover a dangerous cargo Hauler agreed. When they Call we haul. That s our motto said Stover 25, from Washington. The frontline soldiers depend a lot on us to be on time delivering still one private from Btry b did t understand what All the fuss was about. His two cents wort was that the Money spent moving his howitzer from one Cavern to another could have been better spent on Barracks repair. Another artillerymen pfc. Jimmy Ladner. 23, from new Orleans liked the idea. It keeps us Busy doing something rather than just sitting around he said. We do a lot of motor dressed in a Gas mask and chemical suit he was out of the motor Pool and being used As a train ing Aid for a decontamination Crew. Raymond the assistant operations officer warned about the dangers of getting lax in an Era of peace. Maybe the standards Are going to change he said. But we re still held to a Standard. And when they say Roll we be got to Raymond said that the logistics exercise was so thoroughly detailed that personnel clerks were even typing awards for purple hearts and Condo Lence letters to next of Kin. Including presumably a letter on Jones. Training for training stretching army dollars by Vince Crawley Nurnberg Bureau Furth West Germany soldiers from a Nurnberg area artillery Battal Ion think they be come up with a Goodway to train cheap. It s called a trains Artel which is army shorthand for testing the sup ply lines without actually counting on them to Supply very much. The idea is the same As testing a unit s fighting ability without actually sending the sol Diers to combat. In fact you could Call it a training exercise for a training exercise. The successful battalions see the handwriting on the Wall said it. Col. Alan d. Johnson who commands the 6th in 1st Field arty regt 1st Arm div. You be got to be Able to do Low Cost High payoff training. If you Don to you re going to waste the government s time and Money at Hohenfels is the army s combat Kneuver training Center South of Grafe Wohr. As part of their regular training regimen army units based incest Germany go to Grafe Wohr s ranges to shoot live bullets then Roll Down to Hohenfels where there s enough room for a battalion about 500 to 700 soldiers to really stretch itself out and move around As it would in Battle. What Johnson s staff did is move the battalion from its Home base in Zirn Doris Pinder Barracks 19 the backyards and parking lots inside neighbor ing caverns most less than five Miles away. The howitzers pretty much stayed put while logistics Guys were stressed out staff officers said. Result very Little Man Euver damage not much fuel burned and a stretched out unit. The Days Are gone when battalions can Roll into Hohenfels and Gra Fenohr to get trained Johnson said. We can throw up our hands and say of gosh there s no Way we can do Good training except at the High Dollar training areas but that s just not capt. Mike Latham a Battery com Mander said sceptics Are Gonna say that you can t test the logistics systemic 72 hours. But our Job is to just stretch it out and look at it. The whole Point of the exercise is to find out where to focus in our training. When you do go to Graf and Hohenfels you re there to shoot big bul lets and the emphasis you can place on support systems is the exercise is inexpensive said Johnson the battalion commander. We re less than five Miles from our Home looked out Over a Muddy Field on Montieth Barracks in Firth where chemical decontamination unit was spraying d9wn vehicles. Hell this even looks like
