European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 12, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 2 b the stars and stripes thursday december 12,1991 at a glance a croatian lighter guards a Serbi an prisoner after a Battle tuesday at a Village near Lipik Yugoslavia. See Story on Page 8. Smith defense rests the defense rested in William Kennedy Smith s rape trial tuesday after Smith testified that his accuser picked him up at a bar had sex voluntarily with him but then Quot sort of snapped and accused him of rape. A Page 4 soaring health costs by the end of the decade the average american family s outlays for health care will jump from $4,296 a year to $9,397, a study says. A Page 6 murder suspect gives up a military trained sniper suspected of killing three Law officers and a sheriffs wife surrendered peacefully tuesday night after hiding for hours in a strangers Home. A Page 7problems with base project dozens of people associated with a building project in Vilseck Germany say that they Are in financial Straits and that their paychecks when they come have been late and often too Small. A Page 10there s no Quick fix Robert Reischauer director of the congressional budget office says that Many legislative measures intended to Jolt the sagging recovery could delay or jeopardize renewed growth next Spring. A Page 18 index.v.�?~..\, Abby Ann Landers. 15 comics. 15-17 commentary. .13 crossword. 15 faces in places. .14 letters. Money matters. 18 sports. 19-24 to listings. 23 weather. .11 47th area support unit ending operations at Raf Burtonwood by Amy Geiszler Jones . Bureau the largest army Headquarters in the United kingdom will close by july Usa eur officials announced tuesday. Twenty four military 13 . Civilians and 102 British employees representing about half of Raf Burtonwood a work Force will lose their jobs when the 47th area support group inactivates. Burtonwood is about 20 Miles East of Liverpool. The decision to inactivate the support group resulted from a August 1990 study of army units and facilities in the United kingdom . Army Europe officials said in a prepared statement. The study was conducted by the commanders of the 21st theater army area come and the 47th area support group. Usage urn a commander Gen. Crosbie e. Saint made the decision to inactivate the unit. The 47th supports Sites for Reserve storage activities in England and Wales. The Sites include a general Supply Reserve site at Burtonwood a conventional ammunition storage facility at Raf Caerwent near Cardiff Wales and Hythe near Southampton England. Two Sites used for medical storage at Raf Chessington near London and Raf Kirknewton near Edinburgh Scotland closed in september As part of the army a realignment said Yvonne Livesey a spokeswoman for the 47th. Last month. Pentagon officials announced that 109 . Family housing units at Burtonwood would be returned to the British ministry of defense she said. Most of the support group s approximately 180 . Soldiers Are stationed at other military bases and ports such As the military traffic come terminal at Felixstowe the entry and departure Point for such tilings As household goods and vehicles shipped by service member during moves. In addition to supporting the Reserve Sites the 47th also coordinated British support for the . Army and provided military and civilian personnel and finance services to its personnel in the United kingdom. Usa eur spokeswoman Millie Waters said wednesday that army personnel in the United kingdom will be paid through the army finance office in shape Belgium. The . Military Community in Schinnen Netherlands will provide other support for the remaining army forces in England. The 3rd air Force whose Headquarters Are at Raf Milden Hall will assume the role of coordinating British support to . Forces. A gis from Page 1. Whether the drug was responsible for their recovery. Bales who was the top Overall military health officer in the theater said the Low rate of illness resulted from a number of factors operating together. One important element according to Bales and other experts was the timing. The military buildup and fighting took place during the fall and Winter when the sandfly and other potentially menacing pests Are least Active. Bales also said . Troops had Learned the importance of drinking water during desert War games held at fort Irwin the National desert training Center in California and in Egypt. As a result there were very few cases of dehydration or heat exhaustion. Far More common was the ancient Scourge of armies a diarrhoea. Part of the problem May be in the training Bales said since . Troops rarely get a Chance to practice All the health tasks required of a Field army. In addition during the War Many commanders were eager to Supply troops with a morale boost Given the harsh climate and the general aversion to the military a prepackaged meals ready to eat. Many commanders tried to procure hot meals and fresh produce whenever they could risking contamination. Navy capt. William Berg of the Navy environmental health Center in Norfolk va., said diarrhoea was Fay far the most prevalent complaint among the troops. Conditions were worst at the Start with As Many As 4 percent of troops in some units seeking treatment in August 1990. Berg said the problem was not related to water but to lettuce noting that some locally grown lettuce contained Patho Gens even after being treated with bleach. On sept. 15, 1990, the Marine expeditionary Force simply banned lettuce and the other branches took similar Steps shortly afterwards. Once they did the diarrhoea incidence tumbled although the disorder still spread among the troops primarily because of not washing hands enough not Fly proofing latrines and improper handling of food. In interviews after the conference the Militsky experts agreed that they were surprised try How Little disease affected Allied troops in the Gulf War but they were Quick to note that saudi Arabia is in a dry climate and is a wealthy nation with a sophisticated infrastructure that includes Good facilities providing clean water. If troops Are sent to a poor wet nation the outcome could be very different they  from Page 1 that the question of who commands the soviet military will be settled in the next few Days. He said Yeltsin had spoken twice with soviet defense minister Yevgeny Shaposhnikov since the Commonwealth s formation. Gorbachev a aides said the soviet president still controls the nuclear Button and still considers himself president of the entire county. They said he was a victim of a a coup do a Tate by the three slavic republics. Gorbachev has disputed their right to split from the soviet Union and his of fice said there was a �?o50-50 chances he would speak to the National supreme soviet legislature today when it was scheduled to consider the slavic pact. The pact was also on the russian Legislatures Agenda today starting with a speech by Yeltsin. The Ukraine and byelorussian approved the Accord tuesday. Adding to the flurry of meetings phone Calls and rumours that have swirled around the soviet capital this week Tass reported that Gorbachev and Yeltsin met in the Kremlin again wednesday. No other details were immediately available. The importance of control of the military was demonstrated during the failed August coup when Many senior officers refused to follow the plotters orders including those of the defense minister. The army a loyalty is of special concern because or potential unrest Over Winter food shortages. Since the failed coup the republics have stripped Gorbachev scentral government of almost All of its Powers. The people have Little sympathy for the soviet president because they blame him for an unprecedented economic slide. Yeltsin has shut off funding to scores of soviet ministries putting Gorbachev in the humbled position of presiding Over an apparatus that is disintegrating discredited and broke. Presidential adviser Georgy Shakhna Zharov predicted tuesday that the resignation of the 60-year-old Gorbachev who came to Power in March 1985, was just around the  from Page 1 Tant to recognize that this new role for the Western european Union does not duplicate that of nato. This could upset the americans and hasten their exit from Europe. None of us wants  Western european Union members Are Britain Germany France Italy Belgium the Netherlands Luxembourg Spain and Portugal. It has recently come into prominence a and controversy a after years in the Shadow of the dec which also includes Greece Ireland and Denmark. The Union has been billed As the european pillar of the Atlantic Alliance that would play an increasing role As the soviet threat diminishes and . Forces withdraw. The French and to a lesser degree the germans have pushed the Union As the eco a future major military Arm. But this primary role has been resisted by Britain Italy and others who do not want to see natos influence diluted. The controversy was reflected in the language of the treaty being negotiated in maastricht the French talked of the eco so a instructing the Union to take on military tasks the British wanted the word changed to  the British seemed to have won approval for their wording and one official in maastricht talked of a winning the Battle of  but the germans and the French saw the final decision a and the altered wording a As a justification for their insistence on a new european defense pillar. German Chancellor Helmut Kohl called the final wording a a very reasonable  a French spokesman said a for the first time we see the objective As a Clear common defense. The we is an integral part of the european  the nine foreign ministers of the Western european Union countries held a joint meeting in maastricht on tuesday and approved the final wording