European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 15, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday. July 15, 1990 the stars and stripes Page 11ann Landers dear Ann Landers according to a recent column people become really upset when airlines lose their Luggage. Can to blame them for that but what do you think about an airline that loses your father Here a what happened dad passed away while visiting friends in Missouri he was to be buried in Chicago. The family requested that his remains be sent there which meant a change of planes in Kansas City. We gathered at my Sisters House while my brother went out to of Hare Airport with an undertaker. After waiting for what seemed like an eternity my brother called and said a the plane came in but a Wasny to on  i asked a where could he be a my brother said a they done to seem to know. The computers Are Down and they Arentt  i asked a do they realize what they lost a my brother replied a they sure As hell do and they Are really looking. A after four hours of waiting my brother called to say a remember How a used to love to travel Well he just had a Nice trip. He a in Washington  i asked Quot How in the world did he end up there a no one knew but they sent him Back that night and we All had a Good laugh. Bless his heart that was his final gift to his Loving family. A . Dear . Your letter is proof positive that a sense of humor can be a tremendous asset in time of trouble. Thanks for writing. More readers will be Able to relate to the following letters on airline mishaps Cincinnati my husband and i and three couples in our poker club signed up for a cruise. We were to sail out of Miami. The bags they said would be on the ship. Well the bags were not on the ship but we did no to know it until we had left Miami. We had nothing but the clothes on our backs. The cruise people were apologetic but they blamed the airline and did nothing except give us shaving supplies toothbrushes and toothpaste. On the fifth Day out our bags turned up. There was no explanation and not a word of apology from the airline or the cruise people but you can be sure we gave them a million dollars Worth of Lousy publicity when we came Home. Chicag when 1 was returning from Europe i noticed that the agent in the London terminal had put tags on my Luggage Reading bkg. Knowing that the code for of Hare Airport is Ord i asked a is that your Symbol for Chicago a she replied in that typically understated British manner a How Good of you to notice. Your bags were headed for  Salt Lake City can a baggage service agent say a few words about lost Luggage since we arc the ones who have to face the Public you would not believe How abusive mean and crooked people can be. When we ask them to list what was lost they put Down a a Minolta camera a 2-Carat Diamond ring four designer dresses a Judith Leiber designer handbag and a Mink  when the bag is found it contains a couple of old sweat suits and a pair of beat up Tennis shoes. The True character of people comes out when they think they can get something for nothing. Miami a Queen in Quot a Beautiful White Angora cat has been in our family for 15 years. When we decided to spend the summer in Omaha we shipped Queenie in a Cage of course. The airline assured us that she would be just Fine. When we changed planes in Dallas somebody goofed up and Queenice was sent to Orlando. She finally showed up in Omaha 11 hours late dehydrated and disoriented. Needless to say when the vacation was Over we rented a car and drove Back to Miami with Queenie on my   european edition col. Gene e. Townsend Usan commander editor in chief it. Col. Suzanne l. Phillips. Usan a Deputy commander editor in Ochtel Marie Kominicki Mert Proctor Deane b. Mcdermott production manager managing editor circulation manager this newspaper is an authorized unofficial publication Lor members of the military services overseas. Contents of this stars and stripes Are not necessarily tha uth Ciai views cd or endorsed by the u s. Government the department of defense or the u s. European command. The appearance of advertising in this publication including inserts or supplements does not constitute endorsement by the department of de lense or the stars and slopes of the products or services advertised. Everything advertised in this publication shall be made available for Purchase use or patronage without regard to race color religion sex National once Aye. Marital status physical Handicap political affiliation or any other non Mem Factor of the purchaser user or Patron. Main office switchboard 06155-6010. Ets 348-5741 or 5823 for departments Cut 06155-601 plus Extension or ets 348-8 plus the Eylens in. Letters a airman gets explanation of new ratings May i ask what the Point of the new per enlisted performance report system is supposed to be i had thought that the purpose was to Stop i Fiat Ion of ratings and in doing so shift the emphasis from test scores to performance. The impression Given during the initial per briefings was that by removing the inflation which existed under the old apr airman performance report system the truly outstanding performers would be rewarded with an improved Chance of being promoted. It sounded like a Good idea and it might have worked if it had not been for the  for inflation control that was published. Alerts take an example. Last year in the 491x2 career Field 11 percent were promoted to technical sergeant. If 45 percent of the eligible staff sergeants were Given an per rating of 5, then they would be the Only ones with any real Chance at promotion since the �?ostraight-4�?� and �?ostraight-3�?� cos would be so far behind Point Wise. Since the number of cos with a 5 outnumbers the number who will get promoted it All comes Back to test scores. Where did this 45 percent come from anyway the numbers on the Chart suggest that the staff sergeant is a. A a. A a my n i a a hrs i Cliff being compared to everyone else from chief master sergeant to airman first class. That is the Only explanation i can derive from the fact that the targets for a 5 Start at 25 percent for airman first class and steadily increase to 85 percent for chief master sergeant. That is not at Alt the Way it should be. Each individual should be compared Only to his her contemporaries. Following that logic Are 85 percent of the chief master sergeants better than the other 15 percent and yet among themselves All of equal standing 1 think not. Compared to others of the same rank there would be a few outstanding individuals a few screw ups and a majority of average people in the Middle. It would be much better in my opinion to drastically reduce these numbers to More reasonable Levels. If you really want to Reward the outstanding performer then make the percentage smaller than the number who will be promoted. If 4 percent received 5s, they would then have the advantage that the 5 was supposed to give them in the first place. Granted the message stated that there arc a no mandatory controls or quotas a but you can bet that most bases will follow those guidelines very closely. A staff sgt. Mark a. Crouch Geilenkirche West Germany editor s note a tech. Sgt. Lee Wayman chief Media relations he air Force military personnel Center Randolph fab Texas replies the enlisted evaluation system yes was designed As an evaluation system that would make performance count More in the promotion process. As you Are aware Quot rating and endorsement inflation had seriously limited differentiation under the apr system Between the poor the Good and the Superior performers. As with any new system apprehension kindled numerous questions and concerns about How the revised system was supposed to work. People wanted to know How ratings and endorsements were being applied and they wanted Assurance that everyone was following the same procedures or guidelines. This wide level of concern prompted the chief of staff of the air Force to Convene a special panel of 14 chief master sergeants representing each of the major commands and the air Force District of Washington As Well As numerous air Force specialities to take another hard look at the yes. It was during this additional review that the enlisted news ext. 237, 255, 282. 226, 326 sports ext. 225, 269, 263, 332, 321. 221. Features ext 230. 245 or 341. Letters to editor ext 208 education Jimi Jonas. Ext. 226. Medicine Janet d Agostino. Ext. 230. Business Handy Mcclain ext. 326-advertising dismay ext. 247 of 309 classified. Ext 349 telex 419-332 Tel fax 06155 601376. Mailing address Apo 09211-4211 of Postrach ii 14 37, d-610g Darmstadt 11, West Germany news bureaus 6remerhaveh, Germany Ken Clauson. Building 103. Carl Schurz Cavern Apo 09069 Telephone ets 342-8669 or civilian 0471 88782 Kaiserslautern Germany Deewee Arr Glon Doke. Peggy Davidson. Lynda Davidson. Building 2899. Pulaski Barracks Apo 09227-3717, Telephone civilian 0631 -52104. Munich Germany Steve Taylor  16. C stairwell. 2nd floor Mcgraw Cavern soured. Apo 09407, Telephone ets 440-7320 of civilian 089-690-1800. Nurnberg. Germany Vince Crawley. Effia Bathen. Building 21. William o. Darby Cavern. Apo 09696, Telephone ets 460-/256 or uni fan 0911-712563. Stuttgart Germany Joseph Owen building 4303. Room 20v Wallace Barracks mailing address co Vii corps Fin. Group. Of a to Wallace Barracks. Apo 09154. Itt Leph amp neets 420-7179 of civilian 0711-542571 Wurzburg Germany John Mimas. Room 110. River building Apo 09036, Telephone ets 360-4/04 or civilian 0931-/1s69 performance report per rating expectations were developed As an expression of an Ideal rating Model. Actual rating statistics available at that time were used As a Baseline for the Model. Using actual rating practices As a starting Point expectations of what the distributions for each Grade should look like were developed. Higher rating distributions for each higher Grade were set to reflect the Quality screening which takes place within the promotion system As Well As the increased ability and maturity which comes with experience. You must also keep in mind that the expectations were designed solely to be guidelines or predictions to Aid raters in evaluating performance and identifying the True performers. Responsibility for honest evaluation of the Ratee a actual performance still rests squarely on the shoulders of the evaluators. In other words regardless of the expectations if a Ratee has performed at a 3 level he or she should be awarded that 3. On the other hand if a Ratee has performed at a 5 level he or she should be awarded a 5. Your promotion example is Only valid if All eligible have Only one per and Only those individuals eligible for promotion receive a 5 raring. However the typical individual has four to six ears that make up his or her score for the per Factor in was weighted airman promotion system form. And Over time As individuals receive More ears under the new enlisted evaluation system the typical per string will be a mix of 3, 4 and 5  the group of staff sergeants who receive a 5 who have already been selected for promotion to technical sergeant and some newly promoted staff sergeants per during a rating Cycle typically includes individual sir / and some newly. Who Are not eligible for technical sergeant. For the truly exceptional performers who earn a 5 rating on every per nothing really changes a except that they Are no longer mixed in with lesser performers who received inflated reports under the apr system. The group of people with less than straight 5s will be of significant size and the new time weighting formula will array the scores for the per Factor in was Over a much wider spectrum. As ears replace apr in the performance Factor Over the next five years the Overall spread in scores will become More apparent _ the expectations were not meant to be a comparison figure across All enlisted ranks or a hard  these percentages allow us to achieve a degree of differentiation to Reward outstanding performance through the promotion system to a greater degree than was possible before. Remember we Are faced with trying to change a mindset firmly imprinted by the apr system that 98 percent of our Force was perfect a mindset that will not be easily or quickly erased. Had the expectations been set at a lower level or a More reasonable level As your letter states stricter a a guidelines and stronger resistance to change would have been certain. As they stand the expectations allow for a Pool of top contenders for promotion to each Grade a a Pool larger than the number of actual promotions available. As a result we can ensure that the bulk of the promotions will actually go to those with top ratings. A the other factors of the weighted airman promotion system remain important and will influence who is ultimately promoted. As stated in the beginning yes was designed to make performance count More a not to be the sole determining Factor. Finally if the guidelines were set lower and keeping in mind the already Low promotion quotas and above a a average individuals entering the air Force today inequities Between air Force specialities and positions would have been unavoidable. Brussels bel01um David Tarrant. International press Center. 1 Boulevard Charlemagne Box 45. 1041 Brussels Telephone civilian 00322 238-0967 Tel fax 00322 2309088 Mediterranean j King Cruger Gary Miller and Candida Sansone Naples Italy n5a Box 56. Fpo 09521. Telephone Auto on 625 1110 ext 4880 of civilian 0039-81 7624049 new Yolk City room 401, 252 seventh ave new York 10001, Telephone 212-620-3333. United kingdom Dave Diehl. Amy Geiszler Jones. Building 436 Cess us Raf Mike shall. Apo 09127. Telephone Auto on 238 2226 of civilian 0638-512228 Washington d a William Bart Nan. Janet Howells Tierney. Oast a the Pentagon room 2e758. P o Box 46095. Washington. Do 20050 6095, Telephone 202 697 6695, Tel fax 202 693 6366 circulation offices Germany Berlin civilian 8331846. Ets 332 4412, by mar Haven civilian 0471-85168, ets 342 8119, Rhein Mam a civilian 969 692050 or 692565, ets 330-6025 of 7103. Telex 412712, Kaiserslautern civilian 063157070 of 67079. Ets 489-7100, Munich civilian 089 6901503 of 6901504, ets 440-6556, Tel fax 089 699-1606, Nurnberg. Civilian 0911-7 2658. Ets 460-7001, Slu Tig Art. Civilian 0/11 546743. E to 420 71/5 Greece Athens civilian 9923390 Talv Vicenza civilian 0444 515358, ets 634 7545. Telela 0444 300641 Spain Madrid ets 665 680/ civilian and Tel fax 00341 6561465 Turkey Istanbul  6643/2, it Elax 0090-1 a 16643/2 United kingdom i.,Lian new jury 0635 44/68. 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