European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 8, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 10the stars and stripes saturday june 8, 1991bill from Page 1. Tilt Roider aircraft t hat takes off like a helicopter hut can Fly like a plane. The administration proposed no Money. A. A a a a a. A a a about $225 million to upgrade them a tank and Dkl million to buy new tanks in fiscal 1992 a $46 million More in procurement Money than Bush sought the Bill crafted by the House appropriations defense subcommittee and approved by voice vote tuesday by the full appropriations panel adds Money for two weapon systems Congress believes performed Well in the Gulf War. The legislation includes $83 million for improvements to the Al 17 stealth fighter plane and $143 million for the Patriot missile. Bush had sought no Money for the Al 17, while the budget request for theater missile defences covered the  officials have said Bush would veto the legislation based on the cuts in sd1, commonly known As Star wars and the b-2 bomber As Well As the additional Money for conventional weapons the Levels for the National guard and reserves and an abortion amendment. 2 the latter would allow . Seiv ice women and do Pendents to undergo abortions at military hospitals overseas at their own expense a a provision already in the detente authorization Bill. Although the measure was added to the military spending Bill in the full appropriations committee it was removed in a parliamentary Challenge on the i Louse floor. A. The spending Bill adopts the administrations proposal to Cut Active duty troop strength by 106,000 from a total Force of some 2 million. However the Bill includes $300 million to ensure that the. Army not Lay off any soldiers. Quot the reductions should come from attrition reduced recruiting and Early discharge opportunities the defense subcommittee said in its report on the Bill. T he panel rejected the administrations attempts to. Cut the National guard and reserves by sonic 108,000 and instead called for a total Reserve Force of about 1 2 million. That total is about 1,000 Over the fiscal 1991 level. A a /. C a a Quot t he Bill also includes about $1.3 billion More than the administration proposed for equipment for the a to Octal guard and reserves. A. Quot politically defense Secretary Dick Cheney is going to find out he a going to have to accept a. Lot less Cut than he wanted Quot said rep. John Murtha d-pa., chairman of the defense subcommittee. A i assume we will make a Compromise but its going to be a lot closer to my numbers than his.�?T�?T. A. On the few amendments to the Bill the House a approved by voice vote a measure requiring the defense Secretary to determine if foreign countries Are violating Trade agreements and if so funds for foreign products will be withdrawn. A rejected a measure cutting $261 million in the Bill for research Oil the system of placing. My nuclear missiles on Railroad ears the vote Vas 229-155,. T he Senate has not acted in its versions of the Dele use a u t h  in a t Ion. And a p p Rop Riat  b i i is a w hich eventually will be put Forth for Compromise with the House passed measures. Commission May spare 3 of 2 army bases Washington apr a presidential commission on base closings recommended Friday that three air Force bases remain targeted for closure. Three other air Force bases and two army bases appear to have escape nhe a. The defense base closure and realignment commis. Sion voted to keep Plattsburgh fab in Plattsburgh ., Goodfellow fab in san Angelo Texas and Macdill afi3 in Tampa Fla on the hit list of bases that could be shut Down in the future. But three others griffiss Affif in Rome  Homestead fab in Miami and Mountain Home fab in Idaho a were removed from further consideration of closure. _ a a. The army bases a fort Richardson in Alaska and fort drum near Watertown  A Are no longer in Eril. But the decision to spare fort drum spells Trou lie for californians fort Ord which had been  base for drum commission staff members said they studied drum is. Ord and determined it was More feasible to shut Ord because of  at drum. The army would have to spend millions of dollars to buy out the leases. The panel also said it would keep studying ten army corps of engineers to determine whether to scale Back its operations. ,.r. The votes by the presidential commission headed by former rep. Jim courier Are the first the panel has made since it began its formal deliberations thursday. The decisions Are tentative meaning that those that rc-1 main on the list Are a step closer to being among the mid tary installations that May be shut Down for Cost cutting a  votes were made on the list that the commission compiled As an alternative to the 43 facilities that defense Secretary Dick Cheney suggested be scrapped some decisions were straightforward such As the recommendation that Plattsburgh remain on the list while griffiss be removed. Both Are in new York and panel. Members said there was no Point in keeping the two strategic installations open in the same area. The fact that Homestead and Mountain Home were put out of harms Way Means that another similar air base Moody in Valdosta ga., could be in trouble. Moody located in the Home state of Senate armed services chairman Sam Nunn a Democrat was on Cheney a target list. Courter said the panel was to consider army and Navy bases later in the Day. V. Zip code from Page 1 lion pieces of mail delivered stateside each Day. For the scanners to work addresses must follow a certain format. The scanners focus on the last two lines of the mailing address which for Ordinary civilian mail includes the Street address City and state. The new address format for overseas mail can be scanned by optical readers in . Post offices. But military clerks will still have to sort each item by hand when the mail reaches its destination. However Early next year further postal service changes should mean faster mail delivery overseas. ,. A first instead of sending mail through a number of . Major sorting offices Shipman said overseas mail will be flown directly to Foj a Kurt Germany. On thursday Shipman was in Frankfurt trying to determine which military Post office has the space and the biggest need for an optical Reader that will be sent Over in March 1992. Under consideration Are army facilities in Offenbach and the air forces Rhein main a said Mike Krop program manager for the postal systems military a Complete list of news zip codes will be in tomorrows stars and stripes mail operations. A the scanner will be tested for a year at the As yet undetermined site before additional machines Are sent to other countries. The postal service will foot the approximately $1.2 million Bill for each scanner under an agreement that it furnish All equipment and supplies for military Post offices except trucks Krop said. Each Day military mail room clerks throughout Europe manually sort almost 300,000 first class letters Shipman said. The optical readers can process 30,000 letters each hour so the Only chore left for humans will be placing the mail in individual mail boxes. A the key to making the machines do the Job they Are designed to do is to get people to use the new format a Shipman said. In Early july in explanation of the new mailing system along with change of address cards will be placed in each overseas mail Box he said. -.c/. Officials plan to Send directories hand outs and posters to Post offices to advertise the change. Postal officials Are shooting for delivery from stateside to overseas areas to take four to five Days when scanning equipment is in routine use in a few years. V the optical scanner system should be operating worldwide by 1993 for first class letter mail and by 1995 for All other mail Shipman said. Contributing to this report Crystal Laurlano in Darmstadt Germany from Page 1 \ Al. Topics Horvath said no amount of award  recognition is too great for the 70,060 us a re  soldiers who served in the Gulf and those who supported the War Effort from Europe. A. A there Are some who Are beginning to say we re going overboard in our Eele bration a Horvath said. A a. I say every bit of Celebration is Fine so Long As we done to Jerk soldiers around for the purpose of  the two tour Vietnam Veteran said his Welcome after that War included being spat upon jostled and accosted at the Airport. But he said he does no to begrudge others what he did t receive. A we have got to Stop living Vietnam. That War ended a Long Long time  Horvath said. A i was t welcomed Back with the parades. Of 1 say this is my Celebration now i can enjoy the adulation of the country now As any other Soldier  Sailor airman   part of the Celebration involves decorating soldiers for their efforts another Reward Horvath said can to be overdone. Although he a heard that charge before. A British sergeant recently told Horvath head seen corporals sporting More medals than the British army a generals. To which the command sergeant major said he replied a join the american  some . Soldiers have voiced similar concerns about medals being handed out too liberally. Horvath said these soldiers probably fear their careers will suffer if they Haven t received like awards. Quot in every War you will have some form of disparity Between one unit and another unit in the Way a awards Are Given a Horvath said. Quot awards Are a commanders program. And some units based on the kinds of actions the types of Contact made with the enemy will have More of one kind of award than another unit a a Soldier Riding in a tank Turret fighting an iraqi t-72 tank a is More Apt to be involved in an action where higher awards Tor Valorz Are available than a Guy driving a truck Way Back in the rear a Horvath said. Quot that a not to say that the Guy   driving the truck is any less important its just that the chances of you losing your life  losing a limb was a lot  this  worry soldiers however because they Only compete for promotion with others in their career specialities Hor Vath said. A logistician with a desert shield Campaign medal and an army commendation medal for example  worry about competing against someone with a Silver Star because its unlikely another logistician would have been far enough Forward in Battle to earn one. Furthermore equally Large numbers of army commendation medals meritorious service medals and other achievement awards have been doled out to units for their efforts outside the combat area Horvath said. As reports of Quot desert divorces Are beginning to come in from stateside bases Horvath said he does no to expect the same trend in Europe. A in talking to soldiers sergeants major and commanders i Haven t noticed an increase in divorces a Horvath said. He attributes this to the fact that most soldiers came to Europe with established families. This contrasts with bases such As fort Hood Texas and fort Campbell by. Where couples May have rushed to marry before soldiers deployed. A and then after it was All Over with they realized maybe that was t the Best reason to get married a said ilor Vujih an infantryman who hails from Kailua. Hawaii. The Champion of single soldiers programs since coming to the command two years ago Horvath said he a still pushing to improve Barracks life for his troops. A a in a trying to get commanders and first sergeants to change How they think about Barracks a Horvath said. A i want them to think about Barracks As a sob. Dierks Home. A a we need to change the mentality whereby you walk into an orderly room to see a first sergeants desk behind Sand. Bags because he thinks that a Macho Horvath said. Quot i say a come on first scr Grant Wake up. We re not in Vietnam. We re not in saudi Arabia. We re . This is your soldiers Home. Is your Home sandbagged a likewise the Days of Barracks painted signal Orange my Green  infantry Blue Are Over. Soldiers  have to undergo daily room inspections  be Given extra duties during their free time just because they happen to be in the Barracks. Such draconian measures needed for discipline in the �?T70s Arentt needed. Any More he said. A a Soldier should have a reasonable exp pee tation that when  duty Day is done and he goes to his room he a not going to be harassed hassled and jerked around.1�?T ram -