European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - August 22, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Thursday August 22, 1991 incentive plan called Way to prevent the stars and stripes world b Page 9by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer Vaihinger Germany a the Pentagon thinks its proposed voluntary separation incentive could eliminate the need for cutting 10,000 to 15,000 mid career service members a defense department official said tuesday. The plan which is being considered by Congress for inclusion in the next defense authorization Bill would offer a Cash incentive to designated service members who Volunteer to leave the military. A we think that that a a package that enough people will find attractive. To hopefully eliminate any involuntary separations a said Robert Silberman the Pentagon a principal Deputy assistant defense Secretary for Force management and personnel. Silberman said the defense departments Force reduction schedule Calls for involuntarily separating 10,000 to 15,000 pre retirement so Diers and airmen in order to reduce its Active duty strength to 1.6 million from 2.1 million by 1995 As required by Congress. Compared with the total number of service members a a it a a fairly Small number a Silberman said. Nevertheless he said Pentagon officials would prefer to see those reductions made through voluntary separations. The incentive program however would not eliminate the need for reduced recruitment and some forced retirements said Silberman who was in Europe for briefings from service commands and the joint european come on draw Down status. The Pentagon also expects to lose some members through disciplinary separations. Silberman said he was optimistic about the chances of the proposed voluntary separation incentive in Congress despite complaints from lawmakers that they had not received the proposal in time to study it properly. A the criticism that its too late seems to be somewhat irrelevant a Silberman said. A if its a Good idea they should do it. Certainly its a Good idea to eliminate or reduce the number of involuntary  Silberman noted that the authorization Bill has not yet been debated in conference and that a lot of senators and representatives seem interested in the idea. A a we re hopeful that some of them will take it up and put it in the authorization Bill in Congress a he said. A if it does no to make it into the authorization Bill then there Are other vehicles with which to have it pass into Law this year As  the proposal also does no to require Congress to authorize additional funds Silberman said. A a that a one of the benefits of it a he said. A we would take the Money which is earmarked to pay a More senior Force and we would be getting a More Junior Force which costs less. The difference Between those two pay amounts is what we would use to fund these voluntary separation  based on a net present value the separation incentive would be three or four times More than service members would receive if they were involuntarily separated and awarded separation pay Silberman said. The separation incentive also dubbed a a reverse re enlistment Bonus a would be offered to service members in certain Over strength career Fields year groups or a grades As designated by the service secretaries. For volunteering to take off their uniforms service members would receive an annual payment equal to 2.5 percent of their base salary Multi a plied by their years of service. They would receive the payments for twice the number of years they served on Active duty. Service members who served 10 years for example would receive 25 Silberman percent of their base pay each year for 20 years. The Pentagon is also looking at the concept of vesting but not As an alternative to the Volunteer separation incentive plan Silberman said. Some lawmakers including sen. John Glenn a Ohio have frowned on the incentive plan pushing instead a study of vesting. Vesting would allow service members to become vested in a military retirement system if they left the service before serving 20 years meaning they would get some form of pension upon retirement. While vesting is an a interesting concept that the Pentagon is studying it wont help eliminate involuntary separations Silberman said. A if it is offered to everybody it does no to cause any relative incentives to get people to leave a Silberman said. Most reductions planned for this fiscal year were delayed because of the persian Gulf War but a few service members mostly those eligible for retirement have been involuntarily separated Silberman said. A the Haven to been very Many service members Are either currently being provided All transition benefits or will be Given them retroactively. A we told the services to go out and find them and make sure we make them  the transition program which provides such benefits As re employment assistance and extended medical and commissary privileges was not put in place until june 20. He reason you Haven to heard of very Many is there let been very Many a Silberman said. All affected Dod official scolds Congress for targeting foreign workers by Rosemary Sawyer staff writer Vaihinger Germany a the Pentagon a Job of running overseas bases will become More difficult next year if Congress insists on cutting its budget for foreign National employees by 25 percent a defense department official said tuesday. A if we have a base in Europe and there a a consensus that we need that base because we need to have forces assigned to Europe then telling us unilaterally you can to hire foreign nationals is really counterproductive a said Robert Silberman principal Deputy assistant Secretary of defense for Force management and personnel. A and if you Combine that with saying you can to hire civilians Well its very counterproductive because what Are we going to do to run the base we need plumbers and we need electricians and we need people who can handle that base support Structure  the current draft of the 1992 defense authorization Bill cuts funding for foreign National employees by 25 percent. It mirrors the same Cut in this years authorization that was eventually waived by Secretary of defense Dick Cheney said Silberman who was in Europe for briefings on the draw Down status. The move is believed by some to be an Effort to Force Host nations to Bear a larger share of their defense costs. Silberman said he could not comment on Why the Cut had been included in the Bill but he characterized it As a a misguided attempt at trying to help  a we done to run the defense department to hire foreign nationals or to build bases or to hire . Civilians overseas. We run it to provide the common defense a Silberman said. A attempts to Micro manage us by limiting our ability to hire either foreign nationals or . Civilians really runs counter to our ability to provide that common  acknowledging concerns by German workers Many of whom have worked for the . Military for 30 or 40 years Silberman said a a in a hopeful Well be Able to get it  As for . Civilian employees affected by base closures and defense cuts Silberman said he expected the defense departments priority placement program to take care of career civil servants whose jobs Are abolished. _ a basically what it Means is that when you re displaced you have a seniority a right to Roll into jobs that Are opening elsewhere in the defense department a Silberman said. A and so it will be effective for the individuals who Are in  All service members and displaced workers will be Able to take advantage of the defense departments transition assistance program which helps workers move to private sector jobs Silberman said. Congress recently appropriates an additional $150 million to be used by the department of labor to help defense department personnel through these assistance programs he  leaders huddle again from wire reports Belgrade Yugoslavia a mortar fire hit a major City in rebel Croatia again wednesday reportedly killing a policeman and wounding six civilians. Meanwhile leaders of Yugoslavia a quarrelling republics continued to seek a political solution. The leaders resumed talks in Belgrade on wednesday after they agreed tuesday to respect each others sovereignty and right to secede. The talks were expected to focus on ways to ensure the functioning of the Federal administration until an agreement on the country a future Structure is  wielder wounds 7 Sydney Australia a a Man went berserk with a knife late tuesday wounding seven people in a 15-minute rampage along a Street in suburban West Ryde police said. They said they were holding an 18-Ycar-old Man in custody. Police said that the incident began at a railway station and that the Man ran in and out of Homes and Yards stabbing people at random and ransacking a video rental shop. Six people were hospitalized one in serious condition with a stomach wound.6 turkish soldiers killed s1rnak, Turkey a kurdish guerrillas killed sue soldiers in two attacks in Southeastern Turkey a government official said tuesday. Guerrillas using rocket launchers raided a police station near silo i on monday night killing five soldiers said the official on condition of anonymity. He said one separatist was killed. He said guerrillas also fired on a group of soldiers near shirt killing one. Kurdish guerrillas Asir killed two villagers in neighbouring Mardin province monday local sources  deaths listed Geneva a fifty five judges and lawyers were killed and 168 others were detained or harassed worldwide in the past year an International organization of jurists said tuesday. Reed Brody director of the Center for the Independence of judges and lawyers told the . Subcommission on human rights that the United nations should actively Monitor the Protection of judges and lawyers. A list he presented to the meeting contained the names of 55 lawyers and judges killed 103 detained and 65 who have received threats in the last 12  s slides kill 12 Manila Philippines a Rivers of mud loosened by Monsoon rain swept Down the slopes of the mount Pinatubo Volcano wednesday sending More than 55,000 filipinos to evacuation can ters. At least 12 people were killed and two were reported missing officials said. Seven people were killed and two were missing after mudslides engulfed the towns of Bamban Santa Rita and Porac near the Volcano 60 Miles North of Manila said Relief officials and the military office of civil defense. At least five other deaths were reported from the torrents of volcanic Ash Sand and boulders that engulfed portions of the towns of Mabala cat Gagua and san Fernando on  group captures Competition for Drill teams Heidelberg Germany a a team from the . Army medical Materiel Center Europe was the Overall Winner in the 7th medical come Drill team Competition held in Heidelberg on aug. 10. The team from Pir Masens Germany scored 183 out of a possible 200 Points in Competition with 12 other teams from medical units in Germany and Belgium. The second place team was from Lan Stuhl army regional medical Center which finished with 182 Points. Each team of four soldiers and one no Leader performed 50 individual Drill and ceremony movements and was graded on whether each command was executed correctly