European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - March 13, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse A cargo cop keeping an Eye on the logistics pipeline by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer a a v. S4s i. Emmett Lear Jar safeguarding shipment of military equipment through the Supply pipeline keeps the army Cid a economic crime Branch constantly Alert Here a forklift a. Heats a Load of 155mm howitzer shells at Munster Germany. A Quot Hen 50 turn up missing As they did last month in saudi Arabia the Call in the Quot cargo 7 7&Quot a Quot. That a what army criminal investigators. Are dubbed in wartime. They have the task of making a. Sure military supplies and equipment enjoy a non Stop trip into the hands of Battlefield troops. And when the a a warring ends,-.they marshal the rat grief s return.-. A a the billions of dollars in property that wends its Way. Through the Supply pipeline often lends itself to a. A a a a a a unplanned excursions into the hands of terrorists unscrupulous entrepreneurs and even scavenging . Soldiers. A "777 a .77a. A a a a a a your agents understand the full spectrum of the logistics system. They re and talk to these logisticians talk to the Supply types and. Understand what the systems Are about and Analyse the systems and see where there possibly is a breakdown Quot said John Mays chief of the he 2nd Region Cid a economic crime Branch in Meckenheim Germany Quot we take a look at it with the a. Be of a cop. We Don t look at it like auditors.�?�. "7 71a in the Case of the missing 1st army div vehicles in the Gulf officials at first feared the 5-ton trucks and humvee -. Had fallen prey to ,i criminal \ investigators quickly put those fears to rest however by discovering the vehicles had vanished Only on paper. A a Quot it looks now like that was primarily an accounting problem Quot said it. Col. Fred Bagley Deputy commander of 2nd Region Cid he. Quot but anytime you get something 7 like that you have to make sure because of the criminal a terrorist threat. You get our vehicles in the wrong hands 1 a and they can Parade around the 7/ 7 ,77. A. During hostilities the criminal investigation come 7.7 7 Mission changes its focus said Dennis Lauer economic. Crime Branch special agent2nd Region he. ,7 a a agents most of whom in peacetime earn their pay investigating crimes such As assaults and robberies shift their primary attention in wartime. The focus then is on ,7 preventing detecting and investigating crimes involving a the troop Supply Channel the Quot logistics pipeline Quot 7&Quot. This change in priorities happens almost automatically. Bagley said As certain categories of crimes drop off. A during a War because service members stay too Busy to. 7. Get into trouble a.7 7, 1-1 �_7 a. Investigators work from a variety of Vantage Points to a .7 secure the logistics pipeline. Agents can be found 7 1 monitoring Quality control at. Acquisitions plants watching. Port or depot operations or poring Over contracts or v Quot Purchase orders ,. A. 77 &Quot\7 .7777 second Region he a bits Are Ira oiled in heading off a property fraud and theft in the Gulf As Well As in Europe 7 its Normal area of operation. The 260-member units greatest task so far was. A 7 safeguarding army equipment moved from Europe to the Gulf. Bagley called the movement Quot awesome Quot adding a that historians Are claiming that so much equipment and manpower has never before been moved in so Short a 7.-.7 period of time. Quot. A a 7 a a a 7,"� a 7 and the operation went off without incidents of theft .7 equipment diversion or terrorist acts any equipment that was reported missing turned out to be Quot strictly an &Quot"7. Accountability Bagley said. 77 a. 1&Quot \7-.-.7 71 a Bagley said the. Snag free move was especially 7 remarkable considering that Forward deployed personnel in Europe Are used to being on the receiving end of such operations As illustrated by the annual return of forces to Germany exercise in which troops deploy to Germany in Masse from the United a -y7.77. 7.1 a even before the first pieces of equipment were 7 .7 moved 2nd Region had two agents stationed at each a. Arrival and departure Point to identify areas that could be Ripe for abuse or inefficiency., a 77 7 7 17&Quot a 7 7. At one of the ports for example agents pointed out a potential problem with sagging troop morale. The 1.7 77 7. Soldiers weren t receiving the promised two hot meals 7 and one cold meal a Day said Tom Carr special agent. Who headed up the port operations. A. .7 7. First the agents checked whether the problem was the fault of the contractor providing the food. They. A discovered however that the problem was in the7 a contract itself which was subsequently rewritten. Soony. A troops were getting three hot meals a Day. 1. 1 Quot morale has a lot to do with getting the Job done and getting the Mission completed Quot Carr said. Quot soil you have Low morale some folks Are going to mope around and not work As hard or get As much done Quot 7. May s said much of the troubleshooting that criminal 7 investigators Are doing in connection is ,. 7 based on lessons Learned in Vietnam. -. 7 7.7 a. A Quot during that War it was t unheard of for soldiers to be guilty of a Little Quot Friendly diversion Quot spid Mays who worked with the army s first logistics fraud team in Vietnam. Soldiers whose jeeps were broken Down would a Quot borrow Quot parts from working jeeps or the jeeps 7 themselves and have them repainted 7 a 7 7 1 the vietnamese both Friendly and enemy also. Devised ways to divert entire Semi trailer trucks of 7 supplies from 50 to 100-truck convoys in route Between a naval port and Long Binh depot Mays said. A a a a a a a a a 7 truck Drivers would give the paperwork listing their. Trucks contents to Drivers of trucks in front of. Them. Then when they were out of sight of military police who led and followed the Convoy they a slip out of the truck Parade. When All the proper paperwork showed up in the receiving office the accounting procedure was a successfully circumvented. 7.a 7 .1 Quot a lot of it was never detected As being . Mays said. A a a a a a a a 7 a Quot a a a a Quot. The fraud team also uncovered simpler methods of. Property theft .7 Quot -.17 7 a 7. .77 1. 7. The vietnamese Learned to. Hide supplies in garbage tanks filled with food and Slop Mays said. A a. Quot they d wrap it in plastic and throw the supplies in there Quot Mays said. A a. Quot guards would t stick their hands Down in . 7 a a after the team uncovered the scam garbage truck 7 or ids were recovering As much As $50.000in stolen property a Day. 7. 7 Quot a 7 Quot i a Quot 7 7. V a paid informant 7 More than $14 million in stolen brass. The vietnamese Learned to smelt brass artillery shells into ingots that.,. A looked like Gold bars Mays said they d Load them on 7 7 South vietnamese ships then paint new North a. 7 vietnamese names on the ships and unload the cargo in enemy harbours in the end the brass was returned in the a shape of Viet Cong bullets a. A a 7� 7 7 ,7- a. Not Only was the fraud team saving the us. 7 a government Money the by is was saving 1-. 7 our troops lives in a Way Quot Mays said the brass caper 1. Was t the Only Case in which was returned by the enemy. a. A a. -1�?z7 Quot after the War we found out that a lot of supplies that a were going to the North vietnamese were coming out of a our own depot activities a lot was being diverted by unfriendly forces and then of course some of it was 7 being diverted by Friendly Fordes for greed. Quot if you leave the Opportunity open the greed takes. A Over Quot said Mays noting that one truckload of supplies can be Worth As much As $500,000. A. A. I to a a. A. A agents know that the motivation Isnit limited to the combat zone. -. A a Quot a a a a a a a a a a a a a a a tales of faulty Parachute cords and machine gun. Barrels have proven hat some contractors Are More Quot greedy than patriotic. 7 -7 .7., -7 a a. 77. Quot some of the worst crimes Thal Here is is to have a. 7 contractor who because of greed would put an inferior product in the hands of a Soldier where it could really be 7,. Detrix Fuenta of him in combat Quot Bagley said. A. I Quot Quot .17 such a crime Quot has a lot of affect on the troops Morait. And their Confidence if one of thurr comrades Dies in a. Faulty Accident a Mays said 7 a 7 a a. A a. A when the cargo cops do catch such culprits they try to publicize incidents Quot so the contractors know that if they would give us substandard products they a be. Prosecuted and persecuted to the pulling Anchor at holy Loch Damper for Dunoon editors note when the . Navy sailed into Western Scotland 30 years ago there were protests that had to be put Down with firehouses. Now that the submarines and their tenders have been ordered to sail away for Good Many Are protesting it will be a severe blow to the local eco Mony. Old timers say that too will Jessica Baldwin. 7associated press 7 the cold War thaw has reached holy Loch in the Remote scottish Highlands where America s Poseidon submarines Are pulling up Anchor and taking half a town s population with them. The 4,30.0 local residents of Dunoon and the a a 4.000 . Sailors and their dependents know ,. The thaw coupled with the Advent of the Trident. A submarines would mean the submarine repair and refit base would go a. A a a. A. But the announcement in Early february that. Holy Loch would close sometime next year was still a blow. Quot base Bombshell Quot cried the Banner headline in the Dunoon observer. A Quot it s going to be a ghost town Quot says taxi Driver William Ferguson who moved up to Dunoon four years ago when he could t find work in Southern scotland11n the 30 years since the . Stealing past the Blue water Bays and inlets of. The Chilly Firth of Clyde Dunoon has grown .7 accustomed to Bulky Chevrolet with steering. Wheels on the wrong Side wide accents and the ubiquitous baseball Caps and Tennis shoes. Dunoon and the Navy have been bound by ties of global strategy economic dependence and affection. Ray Michie the local member of parliament says there Are 200 marriages each year Between . Sailors and Western Scotland lassies. A 7 Quot a 7 7 a 7 -7most of the brides eventually go to America Quot. But some americans stay Keith la Manque who married a scottish girl Heads the local 7. Chamber of Commerce and runs a bed an breakfast near the base. 7 7 7 Quot a there s at least a dozen of us americans who be stayed Here Quot la Manque says. Quot for the ones who be left there Are a lot of phone Calls and when there s people �., come from All Over the world from new zealand to . 7 a when the floating dry Dock los Alamos and the first of the submarine tender ships arrived in March 1961 there. Were Large protests a mostly by outsiders locals say a and one confrontation in which sailors turned High pressure protesters. A. Driving the nuclear subs out of. Holy been the dream of some left Wing labor and scottish National party members for decades. New that its happening some Are complaining about the financial suffering and demanding reparations. 1 Quot i did a Little Jig for Joy when i heard the 7 1 nuclear submarines were going says James 7 six Lars a member of parliament for the scottish. National party Quot we never wanted the bases and they have gone away and left us in a pretty bad 7 a a a a. Brian Wilson a Dunoon native and the labor party s spokesman for scottish affairs wants nothing from the americans but their absence. 7. Quot Dunoon has been used and abused by the american authorities for 30 years Quot he says7 a before March 1961, Dunoon survived on a bit of logging some fishing but mostly tourism. The rolling Argyllshire Hills the moderate a climate and the Long sunsets reflected in the Channel to the Irish sea provide excellent hiking glorious views and picturesque 7 a seclusion. 7.7 Many victorian guest House s dotting the a mile Long Alexandra Parade once Drew 7 vacationers from Glasgow 25 Miles to the East by ferry and Road or 75 Miles exclusively by Road. 7 a 7 Quot a a. Dunoon now depends on the americans who. Directly or indirectly employ 20 percent of the local residents according to a report by. The Highlands and islands. Development Board. The base is Worth $22 million a year to. Dunoon which is isolated by the Clyde from Scotland a commercial mainstream. -. To s a devastating blow to the Economy Quot says Ken Mactaggert an economist with the 7 development . A we feel irrespective of the Legal agreement the . Department of defense has a moral obligation to provide some compensation we understand m other places like the Philippines. They have done so a Quot a a 7 7.a about Miles from. Dunoon Scenter. Navy boats ferry sailors to los Alamos and the tender Simon Lake anchored in the Bay 7 a 7 almost All of the sailors work on the floating base and,1,100 single sailors live there too. 7 7. Taxis wait at the end of the Long guarded pier for sailors coming ashore to shop drink or just kill time. 17 ,-7 a 7 a 7 a 7 7 7. 7 at $5 a trip into Dunoon support 130 cabs a More per capita than anywhere in 7-7 Britain says the taxi owner s association Quot most businesses will have to Cut Back not. Necessarily pare Down staff but Cut Back on some of the merchandise Quot says a shopkeeper in Bells of Dunoon where Quot Many sailors buy their Tweed Sherlock Holmes Caps or Trace their ancestral tartans. 7 "7 7. Across the Street at the Argyll hotel owner a Murray Fletcher says Quot we will recover but its a sad fact of life a. 7 17 7. 7. A 7 .17 a 31-year-old Navy postal clerk from Garden. Grove calif., who wanted called Tim has been in Dunoon for five years. He Feli Foone of the Many scottish girls who come Hunting in. Dunoon s bars and now has a 2-year-old child. But he says hell be going Back alone. 7 7 Quot my Girlfriend and me Are like this right now Quot he says holding his hands wide apart. .7 a Quot people Don t realize we feel real bad Quot Tim a adds Between Pulis on a bottle of Beer at 7 Courtney a a bar where the sailors softball a a a trophies Are on display Quot the decision came real Quick. At least they could have Given them a few years but Well just be out of Here. A a. 7,. A. Trudy Gillette was thrilled when her american husband Keith got a second tour As one of three Navy dentists at holy Loch and she in t keen to spacious House near a a memorial to the Lamont clan slaughtered by the. Campbells in 1646. A mrs. Gillette is president of the 65-member officers wives club an annual Art show and last year donated More than a. $10,000 to local charities. A a ,. John Thomson 80. Dunoon s last mayor. Before the Post was eliminated in 1975, refuses to be drawn into the doom and gloom. A standing near a statue of Highland Mary atop a Rocky Promontory overlooking the sea he a. Says. Quot there s an old scots saying we never died a Winter yet. A Quot a a Quot it will be a Challenge for us Way of looking at . -7the . Navy a departure from holy Loch will be Quot a devastating blow Quot to the regional Economy. Page 14 the stars and stripes wednesday March 13, 1991 the stars and stripes Page 15
