European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - July 18, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday july 18, 1991 the stars and stripes c Page 3 by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer . Army Europe officials have ordered commanders to Stop filling civilian Job vacancies until regional placement programs Are established for workers whose jobs will be eliminated when the command realigns its 37 communities. The army commands directive restricts hiring in certain pay grades. At least one major command however has gone beyond the directive by freezing hiring across the Board. Quot under the . Army Europe freeze no permanent appointments May be made to appropriated fund positions grades gs-7 or above until placement plans Are implemented for workers affected by realignment according to a message from the commands civilian personnel division. The message also bars filling non appropriated fund vacancies but a Usa eur spokeswoman wednesday could not provide a cutoff Point for Naf grades. V corps however has ordered a hold on hiring of All non appropriated fund or appropriated fund employees said a memo from the v corps commander it. Gen. David m. Maddox. The freeze is one of several Steps the personnel division has directed communities to take to ease potential Adverse civilian hiring of communities prompts order effects on personnel of Usa eur s realignment plan called the Community command plan. Usa eur Hopes to have it in place by oct. 1. A Community command plan implementation is very quickly approaching a Maddox explained in his memo. A we must take Steps now to centrally manage civilian attrition vacancies to minimize Adverse Impact on our  1the plan consolidates the army communities into 12 Hub communities called area support groups and three separate communities. Satellite communities of the Hub communities will be similar to the current structures sub communities. The Community command plan also eliminates a layer of Middle management by transferring routine administrative responsibilities from Usa eur major commands such As v corps and 21st theater army area come to Usa eur Headquarters. Tentative plans Call for 12 area support groups bad Kreuz Nach Frankfurt Hanau Heidelberg Nimberg Stuttgart Westpfal Wurzburg and 7th army training come All in Germany Southern european task Force Italy the Netherlands and the nato shape support group in Belgium. The three separate communities Are Berlin Bremerhaven and Munich All in Germany. A Usa eur spokeswoman could not provide any details on the personnel directive wednesday. Job openings saved in the freeze Are to go to a a surplus employees meaning workers in positions earmarked for abolishment. Both non appropriated and appropriated fund programs Are to be set up in each area support group to place surplus  the placement programs Are in position the vacancies can Only be filled by persons temporarily promoted detailed to the Job or filling the position on a temporary duty basis Maddox said in the july 9 memo. When filling jobs surplus workers from within the respective area support groups Are to receive hiring priority followed by surplus workers from throughout Europe. Area support group commanders also were instructed to consider the future work Force when considering tour Extension requests from army civilian employees. When deciding whether to allow workers to extend their Tours commanders Are to consider the likelihood of whether the requesting workers position will be affected by work Force reductions and to look at the placement needs of other employees affected by the reductions who have More time remaining on their Tours the personnel guidance said. A when these conditions do not exist but Are Likely to occur before completion of another tour the commander should consider limiting the Extension to a Shorter period Quot the message said. The message also said that promotions related to the initial merger Are to be temporary and limited to top positions. All permanent promotions will be handled competitively a to got the Best  the Community command plan currently provides for communities to be grouped in area support groups As follows in Germany bad Kreuz Nach includes Baum older and Mainz Frankfurt includes Darmstadt and Wiesbaden Hanau includes Giessen and Fulda Heidelberg includes Mannheim Worms and Karlsruhe Nimberg includes ans Bach Augsburg Bamberg Neu Ulm and Blid Tolz Stuttgart includes Gap Pingen and Heilbronn Westpfal in eludes Kaiserslautern Pir Masens and Wei Brincken Wurzburg includes Schweinfurt and Aschaffenbur and 7th army training come includes Gra few Der and Wil Flecken. The Netherlands area support group also includes Burtonwood England. The Southern european task Force includes Vicenza and Livorno. Torrejon Zaragoza air bases still pumped up by David Tarrant staff writer Torrejon a Spain a they were among the persian Gulf wars busiest service stations. And they re still getting lots of customers. Throughout the Gulf crisis Torrejon and Zaragoza air bases were popular stops for aircraft carrying troops and cargo from the United states to the persian Gulf. Since the wars end the two Spanish bases have been seeing Many of those same planes returning those troops and equipment. A a there a still a lot of stuff coming and going from downrange a said maj. Daniel Swain commander of the Aerial port so for the 625th military Airlift support group at Torrejon a about 15 Miles East of Madrid. With its Large ramp space excellent weather and location Torrejon a began playing a critical role the moment president Bush decided to Send troops to the Middle East in Early August after Iraq invaded Kuwait. Almost overnight traffic through Torrejon increased As much As 1,000 percent. A it was like we were slammed in the face a said sgt. John Hawkins a Load planner with the 625th�?Ts Aerial port so who worked the night shift. A from that moment until March we were  before the invasion Torrejon normally handled about 70 cargo and transport aircraft a month. In August it handled that Many aircraft the first three Days after Bush a decision. In january alone the base received 1,783 aircraft almost 60 a Day. From the Start of operation desert shield in Early August to the end of operation desert storm in late february the base handled More than 12,000 aircraft mostly heavy transport military Airlift come aircraft such As c-5 galaxies c-141 Star lifters and Kc-10 tankers. Air base personnel pumped More than 175 million Gallons of fuel into the aircraft through february and handled More than 150,000 tons of cargo. Almost 100,000 troops a 20 percent of the final Force strength of . Forces in the persian Gulf a passed through Torrejon. Zaragoza a which is a fraction of the size of Torrejon handled some 5,000 Mac sorties during desert shield and storm. Tefis Jim Derti Eim staff sgt. Ricardo Santiago directs a c-5 transport plane at Torrejon a. That meant the base which normally averages about 20 to 25 Mac sorties a month was handling More than 700 flights in that time Frame. Zaragoza doubled its efforts and then doubled them again to keep up with the refuelling needs of aircraft heading to the Gulf. Base personnel pumped an average of 14.5 million Gallons of fuel a month through the end of desert storm 14 times the Normal average for the base. To ensure that enough fuel was available sgt. Maurice Cogle coordinated expanded shipments from Spanish firms. A it got to the Point where we were receiving about 80 trucks a Day a Cogle said. But before the fuel could be put into the aircraft it had to be tested for impurities said airman 1st class Stan Stewart. / a it really tested our ability but we have some excellent people a said tech. Sgt. Bobby Powell a supervisor with fuels distribution. Overnight a temporary Home called a hangar 6�?� sprang up for the thousands of service members passing through Torrejon. Located in an aircraft hangar the reception area featured hundreds of cots showers toilets a Library Hig screen television and a Small food bar. Red Cross representatives handed out travel kits and chaplains dispensed advice. If the hangar seemed crowded with soldiers the base ramp was so jammed with aircraft at times that it resembled a super bowl parking lot. On Jan. 17, the first Day of the War and the bases busiest Day there were 49 air planes on the ground at one Point. A total of 117 planes were handled Overall that Day twice the number normally seen in one month before the Gulf crisis. A going to 1,700 aircraft in one Mont that was a big step for us a said capt. Craig of Neal maintenance supervisor with Torrejon a military Airlift support group. The key to handling the volume was to quickly service the aircraft perform necessary maintenance and get the planes Back in the air. This became More urgent when the High priority a desert express started at the end of october As a Way to rapidly transport spare parts to the Gulf Region. C-141s carrying important cargo had to be serviced including any needed maintenance and on their Way within 90 minutes of touchdown half the time normally allotted for the aircraft. Working 12 hours a Day seven Days a week during the operation was not unusual for maintenance staffers said chief master sgt. Louis Tortorello maintenance superintendent with the military Airlift support group. A in my experience we broke every record for turnaround of aircraft a Tortorello said. But the Best acknowledgement of their Success came from the troops and pilots returning from the Gulf said capt. Alan Blumhagen chief of the air terminal operations Center. A they say this is the Best they be seen in terms of support a Blumhagen said a the Best