European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - June 3, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Wednesday june 3, 1992 the stars and stripes a Page 13 commentary Walter r. Mear incumbents with seniority Are running scared Stos Lufi or it Fol to la Tel in i regime in a California Campaign commercial the bad Check Issue bounces across the television screen. In Cleveland it is aimed at a Veteran congresswoman. Senior democrats with House Bank overdraft records have just been denied renomination in Arkansas and Kentucky. And the congressional primary election season is Only beginning. This is a year of upheaval in a Congress sometimes so sluggish that president Bush once said it could slow the aging process. It is an institution slow to change but a new wave of first term members could Force a shake up next year. Earlier guesses on How great that turnover will be Are proving Low. Forecasts now Range from 120 to 125 seats in the House and a dozen or More in the Senate. Eight senators and 65 House members already have retired or in 10 cases lost primary elections. Thirteen of the departing House members Are seeking other offices. The retirement list still is growing rep. Dante b. Fascell d-fla., announced on wednesday that he wont run for a 20th term. He would have faced a new set of constituents in a redrawn District. Reapportionment and redistricting Are one reason House turnover could be the greatest in 60 years encouraging retirements such As Fascelli a and pitting incumbent against incumbent in states that lost House seats a three to Date a fourth in the Ohio primary today. Another is frustration not Only among voters who done to see much being accomplished in Congress but also among members some of whom have said in quitting that they done to see Many accomplishments either. The trend shows in the Public opinion polls. Fewer than one person in five approves of the Job Congress is doing majorities still approve of their own representative out the margin is narrowing. Scorning Congress but voting to re elect the local member of Congress has been a pattern in past elections but May not hold this year. This time there Are More challengers for House seats. Since 1955, an average of 63 House members had been returned without opposition. That number will be Down sharply perhaps below 20. The House Bank scandal seemed to have subsided after the place was shut Down. Party leaders promised Reform and the names of the members who wrote overdraft checks were published in full grudgingly. But it remains a Banner for challengers a winning primary Issue against at least four democrats on the overdraft list a threat to the rest and a headache even for members with few overdrafts or none. It is a simple Symbol of congressional privilege. A poll conducted earlier this year showed 72 percent of americans thought the bad checks represented Busi Ness As usual in Congress. Last week rep. Carroll Hubbard or. Of Kentucky and rep. Bill Alexander of Arkansas both senior democrats both on the overdraft list were Defeated for renomination. Blanche Lambert a former aide to Alexander beat him in a landslide and said the overdrawn checks had a major Impact. A it is an easily identifiable Issue for people a she said. Rep. Beryl Anthony jr., d-ark., held Short of a majority and forced to a Runoff after a Campaign in which one of his challengers urged voters to a Bounce Beryl a to punish him for his overdrafts. The new voter mood and its peril to incumbents shows when those outcomes Are compared with the unopposed nominations and overwhelming re elections of Anthony and Hubbard two years ago. Alexander did have a primary Campaign two years ago but swept to a 12th term. Nobody ran against him in 1988. House checks Are an Issue in the California Senate Campaign dramatized in a 30-second commercial in which rep. Barbara boxers picture bounces around the to screen to boing boing sound effects. Its an and for state it. Gov. Leo Mccarthy one of three candidates in tuesdays primary for the democratic nomination to succeed retiring sen. Alan Cranston. So too in Cleveland where the challenger to democratic rep. Mary Rose Oakar Calls her a a leading Check bouncer with her 213 overdrafts. She a been a landslide Winner in the past but faces a Tough test because of the checks other ethics controversies and a redistricting that has changed her constituency. Seniority and incumbency Arentt what they used to be. Seq Robert Dole who has both and is seeking a fifth term joked in Hays kan., last wednesday that he had been advised not to talk about prior service in Washington. A so in be never been to Washington a the Republican said to the laughter of Home state voters. He a been in Congress since 1961. The associated Pross Harry g. Summers primping More important than performance Gen. H. Norman Schwarzkopf need not apply. Neither should Gen. Frederick m. Franks jr., who led the . Vii corps main attack in the persian Gulf. Ana if they were still alive neither could american military heroes like Henry Knox Winfield Scott Ulysses s. Grant Walton Walker or Creighton Abrams. They All would fail the primary test now prescribed for military leadership a they Are not pretty enough to pass Muster. What is the most significant document in a soldiers personnel file today citations for bravery commendations for outstanding performance testimonies to their Devotion to duty their character their loyalty a a mention in dispatches for their courage under fire the answer is a none of the  according to personnel a a experts now briefing officers in the Field on How to maximize their chances for promotion or retention the single most important item in their file is their official photograph. That is the Only thing say the a experts a that the promotion and retention boards really see. The remainder of their personnel file with its record of their past performance is scanned in a Mattero seconds. No Mustache that takes care of Gen. Franks. No rumpled uniform that takes care of Gen. Abrams and Gen. Grant who both prided themselves on looking like unmade Beds. And not even the slightest appearance of being obese that takes care of the rest. Primping and preening has become More important than proficiency and professionalism As uniforms Are routinely taped to eliminate wrinkles and the underside of shoe tips arc polished to ensure no unsightly Brown soles mar the portrait. The great irony is that the emphasis on appearance began As an Effort to improve the combat efficiency of the army. Concerned with what he believed to be an army that had gotten out of shape after the Vietnam War in 1976 then army chief of staff Gen. Bernard w. Rogers began a a fat boy Campaign. His argument that a Soldier had to be physically fit to perform his military duties was unassailable. It was a message that All understood. But it was soon perverted. When the program was institutionalized by Pentagon staff officers it underwent a fundamental change. What began As a fitness program degenerated into a Beauty contest. Under their new guidelines soldiers could achieve a maximum score on their physical training it test yet still be eliminated from the army for the a a appearance of being obese. To put teen into those guidelines height and weight As Well As it test scores were entered on annual efficiency reports and the requirement for an annual full length photograph was imposed. Thankfully a suggestion that a profile photo in a Speed of swimsuits also be included in the file was rejected. The sensible proposition that soldiers remain in Good physical shape to perform their Battlefield missions has been transformed into a deadly cancer. A Bane of the peacetime military has traditionally been the a paint the rocks syndrome in which a coat of paint that can be seen replaces vehicle maintenance that cannot. Looking Good becomes far More important than being Good. And today As an Extension of that syndrome the official photograph becomes the most important document in a sol Dierks file. Paradoxically that syndrome is exactly what army chief of staff Gen. Gordon r. Sullivan is trying to avoid. His emphasis is on proficiency and performance in the Field. And the reality of the promotion and retention boards several generals who have just chaired such selection boards told me is that official photographs do not actually have the importance that is ascribed to them. But the perception in the army at Large is that the photograph is everything a perception fuelled by the briefings of the personnel  that perception a variant of the Vietnam War a body count Quot malignancy Fosters the pernicious attitude that appearance is what counts. It is especially ironic that the military which bars homosexuals from its ranks has allowed the idea to develop that Homo erotic a pretty boy standards Are the basis for promotion and retention. A lecturer in str elegy and  at the army College. Col summer a the Suttar at on strategy ii a critical analysis of Tia persian quit War c 1992, los Angela time Syndicate