European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 19, 1990, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Sunday August 19, ,1990 the stars and stripes Page 9 Over Here unit wants to get jump on Competition by Vince Crawley Nurnberg Bureau Grafe Wohr West Germany a the soldiers of co a had their first Day off in More than two weeks and the tents at Grafen Wohr scamp Chab were full of Rowdy paratroopers heading out to the Post Exchange and Burger King. Except 3rd squads tent. The mood there St Mcd More like an olympic locker room. The 3rd squad of the 3rd platoon had just finished a 12-mile Road March and a kind of exhausted tension mingled with the smell of Sun dried Lent Canvas. Last year soldiers from a different squad in the same battalion almost took top honors in the infantry skills Competition. They won the first five of six events which included patrolling Day and night marksmanship and a Long Road March that was followed by a live fire exercise. Spec. Dacron Feige who was there does no to like to talk about the final event City fighting. Let it suffice he said that after the results of the Urban warfare were factored in the team in his battalion a the 3rd in 325th inf airborne combat teaming Vicenza Italy a finished seventh in the 25-team Field. Third squads unspoken Mission is to set the record straight monday when the annual event is held at the Wil Flecken training area near Fulda West Germany. The squad s nine soldiers live the life of infantry athletes. They have their own tent. They deploy alongside co a but often train on their own. To avoid injuries they keep their air plane jumps to a minimum. When the battalion flew Over the Alps and parachuted into West Germany for training 3rd squad took the bus. A some of the other  joke and they hassle us Quot said Feige a 24-Ycar-old from san Diego. A but it does no to bother me. My understanding is Well be making up for our jumps after the  in what he described As a a series of Little mishaps a Feige snapped his ankle in late july during a March. But the doctors assure him he will be fit for the Competition. Quot in be trained too hard to let something like this so a Vince Crawley Claudio Novello. Secret weapon Stop me a said Feige who has a fatalistic attitude about his teams chances. A in this Competition As Well As in combat Luck has to play on each  still 3rd squad is taking no chances the squad includes pfc. Robert Wealty a 20-year-old from red Bluff calif., who a known As the  the first word Means Southern european task Force. A opt Quot is physical training or army calisthenic. Stud Means he can do 538 push 1,800 sit and still run two Miles in a by actg i minutes and 10 seconds the paratroopers also have a secret weapon named Claudio Novello. A 21-year-old deep sea diver from Vicenza Novello was drafted into the italian army i months ago and ended up in the american squad in May. Lie does no to speak much English hut he a Worth Clra Points in the Competition. Stait set. Robert Grubbs the squad Leader was upfront about Novello. A a there a 1.000 base Points in the comp elision and you get 10 percent Bonus Points with a foreign Soldier  squad Quot he said. Quot we figured out that we can Lake third in every event and fourth in one event and still beat a team that makes first in every event if it does t have a foreign National Quot said Grubbs 25. From Charlottesville a a so we ured that its to our advantage to get an italian  after some a High level jumping through hoops a the italian army presented the americans with two Model soldiers and Novello was picked because his parents live in the same town in which the 3rd squad is garrisoned. Life in the italian army is spartan. Speaking through Grubbs who knows some italian Novello said he makes Only about $300 a month and half of that is parachutist pay. American paratroopers Are definitely volunteers but Novello said he volunteered Only a More or  his hitch is up three weeks after the Competition and hell go Back to diving into water rather than through the air. To push his countdown along he has an american Short ii Trier s Calendar he bought at the g a Fen Wohr Bookstore. Novello accustomed to a Mediterranean climate said he was having a pretty cold summer in Wes Germany though the heat wave in Early August made it a Little More tolerable. A but Quot Grubbs said translating Quot he says head definitely prefer to be at the  vindicates Annapolis faculty for failure rate by the Washington Post Annapolis my. A a committee of scholars has concluded that grades in the  naval Academy s electrical engineering courses a Are arrived at fairly and by rational Means Quot despite the High per-1 cent age of students who have failed _ the committee was appointed by the Academy s superintendent rear adm. Virgil l. Hill jr., after a faculty uproar Over the removal of the department s chairman in february. Professor Ralph p. Santoro lost his chairmanship after lie allegedly refused an administrators order to raise grades across the Board in one of two required electrical engineering courses. Some faculty members regarded the order As an abridgement of their academic Freedom. In its final report to Hill the panel composed of instructors from the a \ Lions four service academies and from two civilian universities dismissed criticisms about the course that allegedly led to Santoro a ouster. The committee described that class a a two semester overview for juniors majoring in engineering a a As Quot fairly Standard Quot and As having a no major deficiencies Quot instead the report focused on a mandatory course for midshipmen who Are not engineering majors. Just before Santoro a demotion some professors teaching that course reluctantly agreed to raise their grading curves. They took that step after the Academy a academic Dean Robert ii. Shapiro told Santoro that he was upset that 40 percent of midshipmen had received Dos and is during Spring exams. The committee found that the curriculum for non majors while demanding is not arbitrarily Tough but rather is de signed to meet professional competency standards set for Navy officers. Those standards a Are Only barely met Quot by the course the report said. At the same time the committee said the Navy s professional standards should be reviewed to determine whether they realistically meet training needs. It noted that Annapolis Basic course for non engineers is tougher than comparable courses at the other service academies. The committee also attributed he Low Stu Crft performance in the course for non majors to its reputation for difficulty among midshipmen. However several midshipmen who had taken the course told the panel it Wasny to their most difficult class. The committee said that to counteract the dread most students have about the course the department should devote More time training Junior faculty 1o he effective teachers and should try to make the course seem More relevant.  members have not seen the report which has been kept under wraps while being reviewed by a separate panel investigating allegations of hazing unfair treatment of midshipmen and academic Intro Nelies at the school. A few who were familiar with its contents however said the department feels vindicated. One Meither of the committee though said the panel did not intend to assign blame for the lingering resentment Over senior of a removal. "1 done to think we Felt that inc department was All right and the administration was All wrong or that the Converse was True Quot said t Oast guard t Apt. Benjamin it. Peterson. A both sides have to take responsibility for improving . .u.s. Rocket boosts British to satellite into space Cape canaveral Fla. Apr a Delta rocket roared into space Friday carrying a British television broadcasting satellite that will transmit programs directly to thousands of Homes in the United kingdom. The unmanned rocket lifted off at 8 42  from Cape canaveral air Force station nearly two hours late. The delay was caused by thunderstorms and last minute problems with a computer used to display Range data. The satellite called Marco Polo 2, was to separate from the Booster 2s minutes into the flight. An on Board motor was to put the satellite on its 22,300-mile-High orbit on sunday. Marc Polo 2 will become fully operational in Early december. It will then enable British satellite broadcasting to transmit at full Power Over five transponder channels. Jonh one Channel is currently beaming at full Power the other four Are at half Power. An identical spacecraft owned by British satellite broadcasting Marc Polo 1, was launched aboard a Delta rocket last aug. 27. It was the United states first commercial launch of a payload into orbit. Friday s launch was the ninth. The Cost of Boih Marc Polo satellites and launches is about $300 million said Ellis Griffiths is by a director of engineering. Marc Polo 2 eventually will be situated Over the Atlantic Ocean near the first satellite. Each 1,450-Pound spacecraft is expected to operate for at least 10 years. The broadcasting firm is the Only company in the world using orbiting satellites to transmit television programs directly into Homes Griffiths said. So far there have been no satellite problems he said. A it seems to me to be silly to cover a country like the u.k., or even Japan or a country which has typical terrain with lots of towers stuck on lop of Hills con suming huge amounts of electrical Energy to transmit to a relatively Small population Quot Griffiths said. A the easiest Way to cover that is with a satellite having High initial Cost but very Low running cosi Quot he said. Its not always feasible to mount Large satellite dishes in Britain Griffiths said. A in Large blocks of tenements to have huge dishes everywhere it s just totally impractical a he said. About 50,quo units have been installed in British Homes so signals Ean be received directly from the powerful satellites Griffiths said. Each unit consists of a is.7-Inch-Square Antenna and a receiver about the size of a videocassette recorder. British satellite broadcasting expects to have about 1 million units installed by the end of the year Griffiths said. Hughes aircraft go. Made the Marconi thu spacecraft. No additional satellites Are planned