European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 26, 1992, Darmstadt, Hesse Sprint helps Mars offer free Calls Home by Ray Rowden Washington Bureau Washington military personnel and defense department civilians have until Midnight saturday to make a free Call to the United states Courtesy of sprint and volunteers of the military affiliate radio system. For the eighth year the Kansas City based telecommunications corporation is opening its lines to people overseas with the military for the thanksgiving Holiday. Sprint places no limit on the number of Calls but local Mars operators May do so in the interest of fairness. Members of the Mars network use radio signals to relay Calls from european stations or ships at sea to other volunteers in the states. Those radio operators then use toll free sprint lines to connect the parties. Sprint provided free line Stormark a voice patches Quot throughout the persian Gulf War. Quot first time Mars callers Are sometimes confused by the need to say a Over Quot when they Complete a sentence said Bob Sutton the army Mars chief at fort Hua Chuca Ariz. A a that a because the radio operator has to know when to switch from transmit Mode to receive Mode Quot he said. A both parties can to talk at although their primary Mission is to provide emergency communications Sutton said Mars operators provide morale welfare and recreation services year round and Benefit from the practice. Officials with the 5th signal Conul in Worms Germany were unable to provide a list of Mars stations operating this Holiday by press time. For More information Contact the nearest Mars hit land for Holiday in dutch exercise by Kevin Dougherty Kaiserslautern Bureau Volkel a Netherlands a thanksgiving came Early for 40 members of the . Aircraft Carrier John f. Kennedy. Never mind the Turkey a these folks were just Happy to have their feet on the ground instead of on the deck of a ship at sea. A this is a Blessing from god a Petty officer 3rd class Erik Morea proclaimed As he stood in front of a Navy f/a-18 Hornet fighter. Morea a technician was among 40 seamen from the Kennedy who were taking part in a we Klong training exercise at Volkel a Southwest of Nii Megen. With the dutch As hosts the exercise involved planes and personnel from the United states Britain Canada Germany and the Netherlands. The . Contribution to the exercise at Volkel called vol kit �?T92, included three f-14s and three of a iss from the Kennedy which is operating in the Mediterranean and three f 15s from so Sterberg a Netherlands. A Kc-135 strato Tanker based at Raf Mildenhall England refuelled aircraft in the 100-by-70-mile training area 140 Miles from Volkel Over the North sea. About 45 planes and 250 military pilots and technicians from five countries participated in the event which concludes Friday. . Navy personnel and an air Force contingent from the 32nd fighter so at so Sterberg were to leave the dutch air base Early because of thanksgiving. Some planned to spend part of the Holiday at the base before heading Home. A just for us to get off the ship is a great said Navy la. Rob Kerner an f-14 tomcat Pilot. Werner and his shipmates were taking part in exercises intended to help the dutch air Force with its air defense training. Sometimes they played the Good Guys sometimes not. For Many of the . Air Force and Navy personnel the exercise also afforded the Opportunity to Exchange ideas and techniques As part of a joint operation. Kerner believes the lessons Learned from the persian Gull War coupled with the draw Down of . Forces have Kerner Morea reinforced the need for the services to train together even More than before. A with desert storm it showed that we All have to work together a Kerner said. A we arc going to be smaller so we need to bring All the assets training operations that involve More than one service is certainly nothing new. The . Military is always looking for opportunities to do joint and combined operations said it. Col. Virginia l. Pribyla a spokeswoman for the . Air forces in Europe. She defined joint operations As those that involve other . Services and combined operations that include Allied we have been trying to increase our joint training for a number of years a she said. The benefits of such training May not always be so obvious said Kerner and air Force tech. Sgt. Quinn a. Wright from so Sterberg. Tips on techniques and Maneu vers that might seem trivial or routine sometimes help in a big Way. A we do things differently from the Navy Quot Wright said a so we May learn something from them and vice versa. There is always a better Way. All you have to do is a amps John Bomor air Force sgt Scott rear readies his f-15 Eagle for an exercise Given by the Netherlands air Force. Police seek help in probe of 18 fires set in Heidelberg by Joseph Owen Heidelberg Bureau Heidelberg Germany at least fires have been set since Carly septem a on or near army facilities in Heidel re. And German and . Authorities be appealed for Public help in solving eases. Two tires were set in vehicles and one olved a stack of wooden pallets. The St occurred in trash dumpsters germ police spokesman i Leinz Giinthir Schur said. Umpier fire broke .1 Pete dressier i he most recent sunday night. It a Kiesman for the army a 26th area port group my the fires have occurred in the Mark Rin Village housing area or in the . Piping Center about a mile away he d. Army officials received a letter in june which an Anonymous writer claimed Mons Bilitz for a fire set in the Spring Scher said. But the writer did no make demands of the army or give an explanation for the incident he said. No letters have arrived since then. T he most serious recent Blaze ruined a truck and another vehicle parked behind the local Post Exchange in september. The fire was set in the larger of the two vehicles and spread to the smaller one Fischer said. A recent arson attack for which a Date was not available caused about $645 Worth of damage to a .-owned Volkswagen bus parked on i of Sawyer Strasse in the housing area he said. Police do not know if the same person or group is responsible for All the tires investigators regard the dumpster tires As mischief making that crops up occasionally in their jurisdiction but still is serious enough to warrant attention. Anyone with information is urged to Call . Military police at ets 370-6400 or civilian 06221-576400. Or German police at 06221-520222. Dropping homosexual ban draws fire from aussie vets Canberra Australia a veterans groups on tuesday harshly criticized the governments decision to allow homosexuals in the military. A to win wars we need a team who Trust each other 100 percent Quot said Brig. Gen. A Garland president of returned services league the largest veterans group. The Cabinet decided monday to end the Long standing policy of Banning Gays irom the 70,000-member australian dec exc Force. This follows the commitment of president elect Clinton to admit Gays to the . Military and a similar decision earlier this Yeai by Canada human rights commissioner Brian Burdekin said Quot Tor the first time in Australia we will see a recognition that Gay australians Are not treated like third rate human the decision was opposed by defense chiefs and the armed forces federation which represents rank and file soldiers. The chiefs have not commented publicly. Federation spokesman James Morrison said homosexuals could jeopardize the cohesion of a fighting unit and prominent veterans have loudly reiterated their opposition to lifting the ban. A when you Are fighting next to someone you need to have Conli Denic in that person. How can you k confident of someone when they have made suggestions to you said in Roden Cutler a Lormer new South Wales slate governor and world Wai ii hero. He holds the country s highest bravery award the Vietoria loss Paul costello of the new South Wales state Gay and lesbian rights lobby said homosexuals in like military is ill remain cautious Quot there won t be a sudden spate of people coming out Quot he said Quot la happen in any other workplace Why should it happen in the defense Torce a
