European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - December 25, 1991, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 14 a the stars and stripes wednesday thursday december 25/26, 1991 military warrant ass Peggy Davidson chief warrant officer 3 Arthur a. Witchert or. By Peggy Davidson Kaiserslautern Bureau Sieg Elsbach Germany a when the army grounded Black Hawk helicopters in 1983, the need still existed to train soldiers who worked on them. Soldiers who used the Black Hawk to learn procedures for loading nuclear weapons were left without the real thing for practice. Chief warrant officer 3 Arthur a. Wiechert jr., a special weapons technician with the 525th Ord co in Sieg Elsbach worried that the soldiers would fall behind in critical training. After several years of review the result of his concern earned Wiechert $9,307 from the army suggestion program and the title of army suggested of the year for 1991. Wiechert said that in addition to working with the Active duty soldiers in the 525th, he was a working with National guard soldiers who feel they have no priority and Reserve soldiers who feel they have even less. The problem was How were we going to get them trained a Witchert thought about the problem for about a week. A i understood How the helicopters floor was made a he said. The floor was really All the soldiers needed for their training a the floor that is Complete with tie Down Hooks placed exactly As they Are found on the floor of a Black Hawk. Armed with surplus tie Downs that a unit was getting rid of some plywood bolts rough sketches of his idea and a Day off Wiechert proceeded to build a mock up of the helicopter floor in 1983. When not in use Wie chert a prototype can be folded up and easily carried and stored. Wiechert wrote up his idea attached his rough sketches and submitted the package to the army a suggestion program in May 1984. The army determined both air Force . To Benefit from reorganization of units Raf Mildenhall England a . Air Force civil engineering units in the United kingdom will undergo a reorganization according to a news release from 3rd air Force. Under a joint .-. Plan property services Agency employees who work at 3rd air Force bases will Transfer to the British ministry of defense and become part of . Civil engineering units. The reorganization started oct. 1 at Raf Mildenhall and is expected to be completed by april 1 at All 3rd air Force bases. According to the release spa is the British government Agency that manages facility operations maintenance and construction at All ., . And nato forces bases in the United kingdom. Although the . Air Force currently maintains a Skeleton civil engineering Squadron at each of its . Bases the bulk of civil engineering functions is performed by spa. With the reorganization All future civil engineering operations in the . Will follow Standard air Force procedures according to it. Col. Pat Burns 3rd air Force Deputy chief of staff for engineering and services. According to ministry of defense officials the reorganization will save the British government in overhead costs since spa regional offices serving . Forces will be consolidated into one location. Walter Shelton spa Cambridge group manager for , forces said spa currently maintains offices at Hastings Croyden Ruislip and Cambridge. Under the regional reorganization the Cambridge office will operate in its new role As the defense works services a . Forces. It will employ about 120 people who will continue to provide management functions and technical advice to the . Military. The Overall reorganization came about As the result of an announcement by the British government in May 1988 that spa would become a commercial organization and operate As a private company beginning in 1991 a that plan would have caused major problems for the air Force including increased costs for contracted operations increased time to Complete jobs and the elimination of a Loyal civilian work Force according to Burns. Ministry of defense the 3rd air Force and spa officials met in March and worked out a new proposal that transferred the spa work forces at the bases to ministry control rather than becoming privatized like the rest of spa. The plan gives . Military commanders More control Over the maintenance and construction work done at their installations and allows the ministry More efficient control of their subsidy for . Forces works. A a we were very fortunate to work with mod ministry of defense and spa professionals who could see the challenges from everyone a perspective a bums said. The end result will be a .-. Facility works system that benefits  Ben Waters 81st comptroller so 2 airmen Are honoured by Safe Raf Ben Waters England a the comptroller unit and two individuals were presented Safe awards according to a release from the base. The 81st comptroller so accounting and finance office was named accounting and finance office of the year. Master sgt. Mickey Lail was named budget airman of the year and senior master sgt. Stephen Schafer is the base level resource adviser of the year. According to an article in the base newspaper the accounting and finance office has consistently ranked at or near the top of several command management indicators. These indicators measure accuracy and timeliness of financial products and services. Lail was cited for installing and using a microcomputer based budget automated system. The system decreased by More than 50 percent the time required for processing reports. Lail was also responsible for tracking All obligations related to operations in Southwest Asia. Schafer is the resource adviser for the Deputy commander for maintenance. His accomplishments included identifying thousands of dollars in savings and the Early release of excess funds to the 81st tac fighter and fun severe used for morale boosting pro that in the first year of use Wiechert a suggestion saved $1,221,207. Wiechert a suggestion took several years to gain approval because various offices  agree on How much the idea saved the army during the first year which determines the monetary award Given to the Soldier. The original figure for savings was set Well Over the finally agreed upon savings of $1 million. Wiechert Smock up is used a in place of actual helicopters to satisfy the quarterly army training and evaluation plan requirement for nuclear weapons transport  Wiechert estimates that it Cost $75 to build the original mock up since he did no to have to buy the tie Downs. He made a second mock up and both have been claimed by units for their training programs. Other Sites seeing the practicality of the mock  have built their own Wiechert said. The helicopter mock up was not Wiechert a first idea to go through the suggestion program system nor is it his last. The warrant officer said he has another idea or two in the system. One suggestion is for eliminating a training item which is never used in tactical situations. The other idea involves safety issues surrounding a piece of equipment. Wiechert is a firm believer in the suggestion program but admits that it can be frustrating at times. It took years before his helicopter mock up suggestion was accepted and put into use. He offers a bit of advice for others who have ideas which can improve the military. A do As much research As possible before turning in an idea a he said a but Don t Stop from turning it in if you Don t have All the  As a second hint Wiechert said a keep track of it. Its your suggestion so keep tabs on where it  Secretary receives Safe award Span Dahlem a Germany a a Secretary at Span Dahlem a has won a . Air forces Europe award for improving accounting and finance operations. Linda Statler a Secretary with the 52nd comptroller so of the 52nd fighter Wing was named the Junior civilian information manager staff support of the year for 1991. Maj. Cesar Flores 52nd comptroller so commander also credited Statler with helping the Squadron earn a Safe a most improved accounting and finance office award for the third Quarter of 1991. Retirement ceremony honors Darmstadt Community Leader col. Darrel a. Mcferron received a legion of Meril during his retirement ceremony last week at the Cam brai Fritsch Cavern gymnasium at Darmstadt Germany. Mcferron had served 29 years in the army and came to Darmstadt in 1987 As its Deputy Community commander. Community commander maj. Gen. Gerald a Putman credited Mcferron As being the primary Force in Darmstadt a bid for the army Community of excellence which was won in 1990. Mcferron and his wife Karin and two children John and Mary retired to a farm in new Concord  commander takes Over at of site in Ghedi Italy it. Col. Gilbert l. Ornelas was Given the reins of command As it. Col. Dave Jones bid Farewell to the 7402nd munitions support so at a change of command ceremony nov. 26 in Ghedi Italy. Col. Tom Speelman commander of the 40th support Wing at Aviano a Italy presided Over the ceremony at the 125-person Remote site which is located on Ghedi Torre an italian base about 100 Miles East of Milan Italy. Before coming to Ghedi Ornelas was stationed at Moron a Spain. Jones is on temporary duty in Turkey awaiting orders for his next duty station