European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - April 27, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse Friday april 27, 1990 the stars and stripes a a a Page 3role of forced Early outs downplayed Galvin counts on a attrition for much of cutback by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau Stuttgart West Germany a most of the cuts in the . Military a size wont come through forced Early discharges the commander of . Forces in Europe says. A a lot of the reductions that Are going to come out of this will be by the natural attrition of the Force a Gen. John r. Galvin said in an interview wednesday at . European come Headquarters. A that Means people finishing their time in service. It Means that Well be cutting Back on recruitment so we wont have Pepple coming in As much. And it Means that there will be voluntary departure from the Galvin who is natos european commander said troops in Europe Are not necessarily those who would have to leave the military they might return to the United states to replace people discharged there. And he said americans should regard the Likely withdrawal of 80,000 . Troops from Europe in a positive Light. A when the time comes that soldiers and sailors and airmen and marines can go Home that Means that the Mission is accomplished a Galvin said. A it took us 40 years but to a degree we have it now to the degree at least that we can Send part of the Force Home. So that a got to be seen As Good i Galvin declined to predict More precisely what share of troops would leave the military voluntarily or at the scheduled end of their service terms. A i done to dare to give a percentage because the thing is pretty much in a state of flux but i will guarantee you that most of it most of the reduction will be by that method a he said. A that Means i would say Well Over he said he advocates Severance pay pension adjust ments for troops with less than 20 years service and retraining and Job placement for those discharged. He said military leaders in Washington Are a working very hard on this with the general said he expects the troop withdrawal in Europe to Cut across the spectrum of . Operations and he advised those who want to remain in uniform to consider that. A the troops themselves have got to be smart. If i you re in an overage mos military occupational specially you a be smart to look around for an underage mos a Galvin said. A the lord helps him who helps no specially is Likely to be eliminated he said. Galvin also said he expects Congress to approve most of the $290 million in military construction funding requests for Europe As part of the 1991 Galvin budget. Congressional staff members have predicted an overseas military construction moratorium for 1991. Galvin said he does no to expect Congress to Stop overseas construction out of fear that the United states would improve facilities and abandon them later. A i assured them. That we re not going to make dumb moves where we want to put . Taxpayers Money into an installation that a going to close he said. He noted that military plans Are flexible enough to allow a construction stoppage on facilities that get picked for closure. A a in a determined and so arc the other military leaders that the Quality of life is not going to go Down in the overseas deployed forces. They Are not going to be forgotten and the sensing that i got out of Congress is exactly that a Galvin said. A the attention is still going to be turned on the Forward deployed forces. And that Means that the military construction programs and the Dodds programs arc going to continue to be worked Galvin said he does no to know which facilities will stay in . Hands but he expects the reduction plan to be made Public in Large segments by years end after a conventional forces reduction Accord is reached in Vienna Austria. He repeated his assertion that a United Germany could remain in nato a position that West Germany a opposition social democrats also took wednesday. A i think that a United Germany will fit right in without a problem As a nato member and we won t have to make any traumatic adjustments in order to have that happen a Galvin said. A other nations have come into nato with special prerequisites and i done to see Why that be possible in the future As it has been in the asked How . Troops can be motivated now that the soviets no longer Are the apparent enemy Galvin said the perception of an enemy is of secondary importance. A we should be thinking As military people not whom it is we re going to fight but what it is we re going to defend a he said. A i think we be probably overemphasized the idea in the past of a specific enemy. There were reasons to do that but that a not necessary to maintain a Good level of training and it never troop level could dip to 500,000, Stone says by Chuck Vinch Washington Bureau Washington a the May have just 500,000 troops on Active duty by 1997, the fewest since the end of world War ii says Secretary of the Michael Stone. The troop level would result from congressional budget reductions in the 1991 budget year personnel cuts under Way this year and proposals for the 1992-1997 defense spending plan. Together the reduction could mean cutting As Many As 250,000 people from the current level of about 755,000, Stone said. Stones comments came in a speech monday during the Spring conference of the defense advisory committee on women in the services. Stone also confirmed publicly for the first time that he has recommended eliminating 185,000 troops As part of the 1992-1997 defense budget plan being developed in the Pentagon. News reports last week quoted unidentified military officials As saying that Stone had forwarded such a proposal to defense Secretary Dick Cheney. Under the plan the Force would be Cut from the level at the Start of the current fiscal year More than 765,000, to about 580,000, the reports said. But Stone said troop strength could go much lower toward the end of the decade if Cheney approves that proposal because the Baseline figure on which the Cut is made will drop by the time the plan takes effect in fiscal 1992. The already is being forced to shrink by about 20,000 troops this fiscal year mainly because of a three month automatic budget Cut imposed on the Pentagon a few months ago. The most recent strength figures released by the Pentagon show that the has about 755,000 troops which Means the service has dropped More than 10,000 people from the Active duty Rolls since the budget year began oct. 1. And Stone noted that a we almost All agree that Congress will chop the Pentagon a $296 billion budget request for 1991 As a result of the sweeping changes in Europe. Many lawmakers have unveiled plans for reworking next years defense budget. The most far reaching Call for cutting As much As $25 billion although congressional sources said $5 billion to $ 10 billion is a More Likely Range. Reductions of that magnitude would have a heavy Impact on troop strength because manpower spending accounts Are the easiest to Cut to gain Short term budget savings. Stone offered no specific Cost savings from the possible cuts. An source who spoke on condition of anonymity told the associated press that it was nearly impossible to forecast such savings because there Are so Many unknowns such As whether bases that might be closed in association with cutbacks. Army troop strength has dipped below 600,000 Only twice since the end of Stone world War ii. In 1948, there were 554,000 troops on Active duty and in 1950, just before the Start of the korean War there were 593,000 troops on the removes last 9 Pershing from Heilbronn site by Joseph Owen Stuttgart Bureau the 56th Field arty come withdrew its last nine Pershing ii missiles from Heilbronn West Germany on thursday ending the Community a Stormy association with nuclear weaponry. A Convoy of 18 tractor trailers bearing missile components filed out of the Camp re Lefe main Gate at 9 a.m., said maj. Jerry Hart a command spokesman. The command has been custodian of the Pershing is since their deployment in Heilbronn Mut Langen and Neu Ulm in the mid-1980s. The 37th trans group Convoy took the missile parts minus warheads to a storage site elsewhere in West Germany to prepare them for shipment to the United states where the parts will be destroyed Hart said. It has been the a Long standing policy to neither confirm nor deny the existence of warheads. The missiles departure was dictated by the 1987 .-soviet intermediate Range nuclear forces treaty. The treaty requires removal and destruction by mid-1991 of All . And soviet ground launched nuclear missile systems with a Range of 311 Miles to 3,416 Miles. The originally assigned 36 missiles to each of the three Sites with each site dividing its missiles evenly among four missile batteries. The command removed nine missiles from each site Between september and december 1988, then made no further removals until this month. Since april 1, Hart said six convoys have removed All 27 of Heilbronn a remaining missiles and their erector launcher vehicles for destruction. The plans to destroy the erector launchers at its equipment Maint Center at Hausen near Frankfurt while soviet inspection teams watch. Heilbronn City officials who have campaigned for removal of the missiles and against the a plans to continue using its missile site on the Wald Heide plateau were surprised by thursdays news City spokeswoman Margit Adamek said. A a we re jubilant a Adamek said. A nobody had imagined that it would go As fast As it is now or that it Heilbronn lord mayor Manfred Weinmann said in a statement that the City has reached a goal it had sought Ever since a Pershing rocket motor ignited accidentally in Heilbronn in Januari 1985, killing three . Soldiers and injuring 16. A above and beyond that a Weinmann said a a further reduction of military installations on our territory still lies before us with the principal goal As expressed by the City Council being to turn the Wald Heide Over to civilian Hart gave no specific reason for the decision to pull out All its missiles from Heilbronn first and he said the command will not announce its timetable for withdrawing the remaining 54 missiles at the other two Sites. The chief remaining Mission for the missile commands Heilbronn based 4th in 9th Field arty is to turn in its equipment at depots. Hart said the command expects to deactivate the battalion and most other units in Heilbronn a 900-Mcmbcr Pershing task Force by october. The will Transfer one unit in the Force a co a 2nd in 4th inf a to an unannounced location he said. The wants to keep its Hail Bronn area facilities and to move the 34th signal in of ludwigs Burg and the 93rd signal brigade he of Stuttgart to the base. A u.�. Army Europe official has said the plan requires West German and nato approval. Navy cmdr. Stefan Lang a West Ger Man defense ministry spokesman said thursday that no final decision on that Transfer has been made. But a Vii corps spokeswoman said the corps expects to make an announcement soon about the Heilbronn Sites
