European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - May 10, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Vol. 51. No. 23sunday, May 10,1992 d 8693 army plans floating depot ships to store tanks in Indian Ocean by Joseph Albright co news service Washington the . Army plans to dispatch a permanent floating Force of 158 heavy tanks and armoured personnel carriers to the Indian Ocean off saudi Arabia As a Long Range preparation for some future persian Gulf War officials disclosed Friday. Army chief of staff Gen. Gordon r. Sullivan is considering which army brigade should be sent to meet the tanks in Case of another operation desert shield a senior army planner told reporters. The exact timetable for deploying the floating tank depot remains classified but the target Date is apparently some months off. The object of the plan devised by the army a War plans division is to minimize what the defence department recognized As a a window of vulnerability in its recent postmortem on the conduct of the Gulf War. For More than a month after the first . Lightly armed infantry troops and Marine units landed in saudi Arabia the Pentagon report said they Quot lacked the combat Power to defeat an iraqi  according to the report the first heavy armoured unit a the 24th inf div Mech from fort Stewart a. A began loading equipment in the port of Savannah on aug. 10, 1990, four Days after the military received the order to deploy. But because of a shortage of ships and the Long sea transit this first . Heavy armoured unit did not move into fighting position until sept. 23 a six weeks later. Under the new plan the marines and an army Light infantry division a presumably the 82d airborne from fort Bragg . A would keep their traditional roles As the first ground troops to land if there were another major a regional  within a week or so these soldiers would be backed up with a limited number of Marine tanks from floating Marine depots just As happened in desert shield. What is different is that the army is making provisions to Field its own heavy Armor much faster. 1 he new plan Calls for Navy cargo ships to deliver 1 h army m1a1 Abrams tanks and 58 Bradley fighting vehicles to the scene of a persian Gulf crisis within about two weeks of the presidential a a go order. As Many As 550 More heavy tanks Are supposed to arrive by last sea lift ships from . Ports two weeks later. This wave would consist either of two heavy armoured divisions or one armoured division and a helicopter assault division. The plan earmarks three divisions As available for this a a surge deployment within 30 Days of the first orders. They arc fort stewarts 24th, the 1st Cav div from fort Hood Texas and the 101st airborne div see army on Page 2the Best advice from mom new York up with the second sunday in May Here thoughts return to Good old mom and All that wonderful advice she has to offer. A mothers Day Survey commissioned by Dis Aronno amaretto asked 500 adults around the United states what they considered their mothers Best advice. J. A always Wear clean underwear in Case you get in an accidents took first place with 15 percent. A stand up straight done to Hunch was second with 14 percent of those  Good to the people you meet on the Way up they re the same people you la meet on the Way Down had 12 percent. Fourth place went to a a done to talk to strangers and fifth to a a done to talk with your Mouth full a and momus favorite sayings a because i said so and in a the mom Quot was first with 18 percent. A not while you re living in my House was second with 17 percent. A a you re not leaving the dinner table until you clean your plate think of ail the starving children a took third with 14 percent followed closely by Quot ask your father Quot and a if you come Home after Midnight done to bother coming Home at  another Survey commissioned by the National coalition of girls schools 2,500 school girls aged 5 to 18 were asked to name their Choice for woman of the year. Forty percent named their mothers. Shuttle set to link with errant satellite Cape canaveral flu. A through an intricate series of Altitude changes the space shuttle endeavour and its target satellite were almost on a collision course saturday and closing fast for today a rendezvous. The Effort to retrieve repair and reboot the $157 million satellite was going by the Book and the original 8,437-mile Gap Between the two spacecraft was narrowing at the rate of 78 Miles each orbit. A we have been Able to reach most conditions for rendezvous a said Pierre Madon vice president of engineering for the International telecommunications satellite organization Intelsat. A we have reached almost the Altitude of the shuttle. That Means we Are sure to be at the rendezvous  astronauts Pierre j. Thuot and Richard j. Hieb will go into the open cargo Bay about 4 30 . Edt today when the paths of endeavour and the Intelsat 6 satellite Are about to intersect 225 Miles above Earth. Thuot standing in a fool restraint on the shuttles robot Arm will Hook onto the base of the satellite with a special tool that then can be grabbed by the shuttle Crane. In a sequence rehearsed by the astronauts for More than a year the satellite will be attached to a Booster rocket in the shuttle cargo Bay for later release into orbit and reboot. The Intelsat which can handle 120,000 International Telephone conversations at one time was launched from Cape canaveral in March 1990 on a Titan rocket. But the rocket was miss Rcd and the satellite was marooned in a useless near Earth orbit. Lawsuits involving Intelsat and Martin Marietta which makes and launches the Titan Are in the appeals stage. Intelsat is paying Nasa $93 million for the reboot attempt. A months and months and months of planning and rehearsals and debates Are see shuttle on Page 2af general anticipates Pilot shortage by Kevin Dougherty Kaiserslautern Bureau the air Force is keeping More pilots than it needs because the service anticipates a shortage of qualified fliers in the next couple of years said the Man tabbed to become the air forces top personnel official. In the last 12 months the air Force has lost 2,665 Pilot slots because of the draw Down of . Forces said Brig. Gen. Michael d. Mcginty vice commander of the air Force military personnel Center at Randolph fab Texas. Mcginty who has been nominated to head the personnel Center and for a second Star is on a 10-Day tour of . Air bases in Europe. Mcginty is scheduled to visit 12 air bases in Germany England and the Netherlands. His presentations to airmen have entered on personnel issues including new recruits reassignments and the draw Down. Addressing a recent Story in the stars and stripes about some Pilot training graduates having to wait up to three years for a flying assignment Mcginty said the service has no Choice but to Feather its nest. A we Are going to have a Pilot shortage sometime in the future a Mcginty said. His assessment is based on a current Pilot retention rate of 38 percent for those with experience of Between six and 11 years. That is Why pilots Are offered an annual Bonus of up to $12,000 for As Long As six years Mcginty said. The anticipated shortage is also the reason Why fliers Are precluded from applying for one of two Early voluntary separation plans. A we have been directed not to mortgage our future a Mcginty said also while the service is cutting its Force from 492.000 in fiscal 1992 to 429,000 by fiscal 1995, the number of recruits should Rise Mcginty said. About 30.000 enlisted personnel and 3,000 officers Are expected to join the air Force this fiscal year. Concerning reassignments the air Force is instituting new programs and policies that should improve both enlisted and officer systems Mcginty said. By july the air Force is expected to decide whether to keep a new reassignment system for enlisted personnel now being tested. Mcginty said the system is promising because it provides better Access to Job openings which has helped More airmen get the assignments they prefer better Access and a More personalized approach Are see Pilot on Page 2