European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 19, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse Report Gulf War. Continued from Page i a a r / a. May have widened the Gulf Between arid. Civilian worlds. A a a a w a a a generation after the draft , military service is no longer a common rite passage millions of americans /. Don t know any soldiers a v a. Increasingly isolated from mainstream America today s troops tend to View the civilian suspicion and. Sometimes hostility.1. A a ,/.� a m civilians Don t want to be bothered or inconvenienced Quot Witti defend Irig the country sgt Tom Nicholson grouse. One evening As he oils a cigarette at. An army Camp in the. Kuwaiti the typical american aft etude he says is Quot i ii take the benefits but Don t Send me or my son to War. A at / the War heightened the contrast bet Veen those who served and those who . A a a a it is said that people enlisting did t know what they were signing up. For. Yes they Geri Colin l. Powell chairman of the joint chiefs of staff said in an interview. A a among the americans returning from the persian Gulf Quot i. / think there la be a sense of Pride they those who went Quot a. A a a this separation and Soldier raises questions some wonder whether it is healthy . Professional soldiers to do what president Bush Calls the hard it work of Freedom Quot others worry that War can look. Like an easy option to civilians who have never faced combat. /. 1/./v- y it a while there May be no easy or obvious answers these questions May become More pointed As the military becomes smaller. Typical of today a re e r sold r i s a r my col Robert. H / Scales or. His father the sort of a Texas dirt Farmer. I on listed in the army during world War ii and stayed on to become a Coio Nej. A a Quot i Scales himself attended West a o finer s daughter father and. Son fought together in. 7 a Vietnam Scales daughter will be commissioned As an officer Ancl is engaged to a West Point Cadet a. A two Are isolated we Don t have a Sot of exposure to. The out Side Quot world says Scales . 46-year-old chief of a staff at fort Shi Okia a 7 7 /7c/y a 7 the s 2 million Active duty military members air a self contained society one with us own solemn rituals its own language if own system of Justice even its own system of keeping time it As a society where distinctions of race sex and class blut ,of authoritarian discipline. At the same time the military exacts a High Price from. Those who serve. Long working hours and prolonged absences impose a heavy Strain on soldiers and their a a families alike. F /. Quot my husband is on duty 24 hours a Day and his first loyalty is to the military Quot says Johanna Derinzy an army wife at fort Benning. A Quot sometimes it s hard to Deal with the fact that a family come in . Only a decade ago life within the confines of a military a base might have seemed a spartan existence. But y \ improving Garrison life has become a High priority. As a a result Many bases have come to resemble an Ideal of Small town America a t. A a. A there is virtually no crime or poverty drug addicts and a the homeless Are Mere rumours from Quot the a y Quot. With n near socialist . Jack a. Bonds a you Don t hardly need to go outside for a . A by y. a a a a a i. Quot this is our own separate world and As funny As it sounds if s a safer place than the civilian world Quot says Marine capt. David Rababy. Who served As an intelligence officer in saudi Arabia. Quot i done to have to worry about my wife Back Home a she lives on base and Shell -. Be taken care of. You Don t get that if for ibm.�?�. It was not always like Quot a a in the dark Days after of Vietnam military morale a plummeted along with budgets. aircraft rusted. A for Lack of trained Crews drug addiction and crime v., a festered among bored troops crammed into substandard a a housing. V Quot a Toa several factors a were responsible for the turnaround the. 19.73 decision to abandon the draft in favor of an All. A i Volunteer Force the Reagan Era budget Bonanza and the dedication of career officers who were determined not to leave their beloved military in sad condition. Col. Andrew r. Finlayson is a stiff backed Beefy Leatherneck who otherwise belies the stereotype of the typical Marine. A a a at 47, he holds two graduate degrees and is fluent in a two foreign languages. A highly decorated combat. Veteran Finlayson peppers conversation with references. To Plato thucydides and Hemingway. a a accomplishments Are increasingly common As t a shrinking military accelerates Competition for pro motion when Only 39 of More t.han.4,500 army colonels Are. Selected to be. Brigadier generals Only the Best and the brightest survive.-. \. P.,-Cand ,disciplined. From their hours As Academy plebes or Boot Camp trainees fledgling. Troops Are drilled in both obedience and self discipline. Rarely Given quite enough time to finish an assigned task learn the. Perils of goofing off that inner discipline is backed up by a code of conduct tar More demanding than that of the civilian world. Military Law still upholds ancient notions of chivalry. Soldiers can be punished for Quot conduct unbecoming an officer Quot and for Quot bringing discredit on the military . A there Are a it of army officers who i dislike v ,. Professionally but i Don t know any. Who would lie to me Quot says Scales. Quot i would t say that we Are intrinsically More moral we just play by a different set of rules a this regimented environment has enabled the military to sharply reduce the social ills that afflict . A there is Little if any racial awareness out Here Quot army. Sgt. Robert Crockett says late one eventing at a bustling Supply base in Al Days Uriah saudi Arabia. A a. Quot Sand storms hit everybody and when the tent is cold no one is the next Guy. We All want to go a Home in one piece and we All want to believe our buddy whoever he is. A would save our life without any. Thought of says Crockett a 39-year-old Black from Washington . A a a decades of discrimination have left their legacy however. Forty three years after the military was officially desegregated Blacks make up 23 percent of the a. Military s enlisted ranks but Only 7 percent of its office corps. A a a a. A a but Many Blacks As Marine maj. James Mcclain feel that individuals Are slowly changing the. -. System. A Mcclain grew up in. Dillon county s.c., where he a chopped tobacco and picked Cotton on his father s u tenant Arm. Following a boyhood dream of becoming a Jet fighter Pilot he found the key to advancement was v hard work and discipline not race. Quot. 1 a a being bom in America is a privilege Quot he think. We As a people have gotten away from the ethic of hard work and a a a Quot Quot the opportunities Are there for anyone who wants to take the. Responsibly Quot says command sgt. Maj. Timothy a Eldridge at fort Sill. Quot. Quot i know for a fact that my career has never been held Back because i m Black. I be worked hard and medejt"1 says Eldridge the son of a Texas Railroad labourer. Women who make up 11, percent of Active duty forces.,. Also find an increasingly Welcome environment. A. \ Cindy gats is a 28-year-old Marine Captain who grew. Up in a Tough neighbourhood in Queens. Quot i Don t flaunt the fact that i m a woman Quot she says at a desert air base in. Saudi Arabi. A i hardly even think about , .4-. Vij the key to commanding a platoon of Tough Young a v a marines she says Quot is to keep your physical training. Scores higher than a Aas Pope Urban ii discovered some 800 years ago a when he recruited the first crusaders to reclaim the holy land,.soldiers May be drawn by idealism but area. Sustained by discipline and camaraderie. A a a both Are cultivated from the first Day of military life the reason As the military has discovered Over the years is that soldiers will risk their lives for their comrades even if the ideals of patriotism fade under fire at the marines1 Parris Island Boot Camp recruits Are allowed their first phone Call Home Only after their entire platoon completes its first phase of training a a requirement that encourages the Strong to help the weak. Sgt. Ken Sanders wanted to be in the marines since he was 12 years old. A a a a. Quot i was impressed by the Glamour of it Quot says Sanders who grew up in a poor White neighbourhood in St. Joseph mo., where he and his siblings 1 a were Happy to get one a meal a Day and shoes for school every year Quot a a he enlisted when he was 17, and soon found in the a Marine corps the stable family he never had As a child Quot its a sense of belonging somewhere Quot says Sanders 24. Quot these Guys Are my Brothers Quot a. This Devotion is intensified among the military a Best commanding officers Scales recalls the Day 22 years ago when it came time to hand Over his command of an artillery Battery in Vietnam s a Shau Valley a. Quot wed been under incredible pressure wed been a nearly overrun twice we d lost 19 killed or wounded out of 55 men and we d been in the rain and mud for six a months and we were Down to 28 rounds. The general flew in for the change of command ceremony and i cried and could t . A a a Scales pauses for moments and then adds softly Quot this is an emotional business. 1 love this army the men. You re not Selling shoes a Quot a. Such intense bonding further distances soldiers from a quote Don t really have any Finlayson says Quot other than the Guys i was close to in what sustains soldiers like Finlayson is precisely what separates them from the. Rest of America their military. A calling a most people live out their fives in quiet desperation Quot he says. Quot their bodies decay and they just rot. Whereas a Soldier his life a and his death in Many instances a has a meaning. He Dies trying to accomplish something Quot to Many americans operation desert storm was a. Spectator event that required involvement than a a i flipping on the evening news Quot a. A a a a a but the Victory has launched the country into one of its a periodic infatuation with soldiers weapons and parades this embrace leaves some with a vague sense of a disquiet. A a a a a a a a a. A a. A a. A Scales is concerned that the relatively easy Victory combined with the detachment of most civilians from. Military life May whet the Public s appetite for More. Foreign adventure. Quot it s kid of grim to say this Quot he say Quot but what makes it probably dangerous in the Long run is that we will get into another of these conflicts and people will see a dead a a american on the to screen. And they will think Well yeah a he san american but he he asked for it. He s not part of my life a Cadet Thomas Gordon on the Parade grounds of the Citadel a military Academy founded in 1842. Marine capt Cindy gats is one of Many military women who served in the Gulf War. Newhouse news service 3 a we believe in the democratic process and in god a says David Bass a Cadet at the Citadel. . Soldiers patrol the Oil smoked desert of Northern dividing Factor by David Wood a Newhouse news service for a while the lost boys thought they were going to miss the fun in the persian Gulf War. Quot a the tank Crew which called itself Quot lost a boys Quot was assigned the supremely unglamorous Job of guarding the 2nd army Cav regt s rear the clerks and Cooks behind the attack a but shortly before the cease fire heir unit a crested a Ridge and saw before it some three dozen iraqi armoured personnel carriers manned and armed a. Staff sgt. Carlton Jones tank commander Quot i. Yelled at the Guys to Back up. We were a Little too close. My Crew was already loading rounds Gunne sighting on the targets. We went ahead and did the Job Quot. None of the iraqi vehicles fired Back. All Werea. Destroyed. There were no survivors -. Quot combat was great Quot enthused Jones. 29. From a. Midland there just want enough of it i. Don t envy the people who did t get to come Here and experience . /. A America and its soldiers Aren t supposed to a a. Enjoy War. But the adrenaline Rush of combat the camaraderie and sense of shared valor a e the experiences that indelibly distinguish those called to arms a Quot the Vietnam War was the one great Lyric passage of my existence.,nothing else hashed As much meaning or As much satisfaction says -. Marine col. Andrew r Finlayson. Who won two a Bronze stars and a Pur pie heart in three year s a a commanding a Rifle company and leading Long / Range patrols deep behind enemy lines. I Quot i Tell sometimes similar to when i was in a fast flights kid Quot says Finlayson an. A. Administrator at the Pentagon who tried in to a Wrangle an assignment to the persian Gulf the adrenaline gels going end you have a bloodiest a that s an honest feeling Quot. Quot. Quot there is a exhilaration to combat says air. A. A. Newhouse news service 2 a i have flown into the jaws of the enemy. And Defeated him a says air Force col. David Sawyer. Force col David Sawyer a 47-Yoar-ck.l former mormon missionary Sawyer is an affable a-10 fighter bomber Pilot a we us flew two combat Tours in Vietnam -. / -. Putting a Maverick missile into a tank and. A a. Seeing that sucker plow up. Especially one that s. Coming toward Friendly forces is to know you re doing some Good / a. A a. A A it s hard for people not m this kind of business a continued on Pago in. M a a c. Page ii b the stars and stripes wednesday june 49, -1991 the stars and stripes b Page Iii
