European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 18, 1993, Darmstadt, Hesse Thursday november 18, 1993 the stars and stripes Page 3 floating warehouse n come aah gear loaded aboard first of 8 vessels by Rosemary Sawyer. Brussels Bureau Antwerp Belgium the army is expected to Fin ish loading the first of eight ships today that will serve As floating warehouses for heavy combat equipment. Soldiers and civilian contractors at the port of ant Werp Are packing about 500 pieces of equipment aboard the ship. Over the next five months six other ships will be filled with excess equipment in Antwerp from units drawing Down in Germany. The next ship is due into Antwerp on nov. 29. An eighth ship will be stocked in the United states. Together the ships will carry enough heavy equip ment and supplies to outfit a heavy brigade of two a Mored and two mechanized infantry battalions they la also hold support supplies and equipment needed to sus Tain a Force for is Days. The a repositioning program dubbed prep afloat allows the military to base heavy combat equipment in locations around the world so that the army can quickly respond to contingencies. The army s goal is to be Able to unload enough equip ment to outfit a brigade within three to five Days of arriving in said col. Mike Garden assigned to the army s logistics division in the Pentagon. The army will conduct exercises to see whether that target time can be met Garden said in a news conference at the port tuesday. The ships were pulled from government owned inac Tive vessels that form the ready Reserve Fleet. The first ship to be loaded tuesday was the 20-year-old gape Douglas from Norfolk a. The ship had been Moth balled since operation desert storm but has since been equipped to provide an air conditioned dehumidifier environment for the stored equipment. Contractors will operate the ship and maintain the equipment aboard. The gape Douglas had a Crew of 27. Military officials could not provide a comparison be tween the costs of storing the equipment aboard ship compared with on land. ,. However it. Chris Godfrey executive officer with the is a Soldier loads a tank onto a Railhead in Schweinfurt Germany last month for the trip to the port of Antwerp Belgium. Navy s military sea lift come s european Headquarters i Rotterdam Netherlands estimated that it costs about $25,000 a Day to keep each maritime warehouse afloat. The ships can travel about 14 to 18 knots 16 to 21mph. In the next few years eight other ships will be added to the Fleet of storage ships bringing the total to16. These larger Roll on Roll off ships will be Able to travel about 20 knots 23 Mph Garden said. The army ships Don t require modern ports such As Antwerp to unload. However the Fleet will be restricted to deep water ports because of the severity of the ships drafts which will average 30 feet about the same As a aircraft Carrier. These storage ships Are not to go in and fight their Way into he said. The army is complementing the Marine corps. We need the about 130 soldiers from the 21st theater army area omd 80th area support group v corps and the Mili tary traffic management come Europe arc involved in the port operation. Most of the equipment being loaded in Antwerp came from the Lith army Cav regt in Fulda and the 2nd Bri Gade of the 3rd inf div in Erlanger both in Germany. The Pentagon plans to station one ship at the Indian Ocean Island of Diego Garcia. Others May be berthed in Shuket or Satta hip Thailand. Storing heavy equipment on ships provides a capability the army lacked in the persian Gulf War and should come As Good news for the Soldier said Brig. Gen. James m. Link Deputy commander of 21st theater army area unburden soldiers from having to prepare their equipment at Home station move it to , Load it and maintain it link said. We have it prepared for them and ready to Romania to seek place in nato when time is right general says by Gary Miller Mediterranean Bureau Naples Italy Romani eventually will ask for representation in nato and the West Ern european Union but not before it gets its Domestic housein order a top romanian Mili. Tary official said tuesday. It. Gen. Dumitru loan Ciolina Romania s chief of general staff said that As his country political economic and military reforms proceed Romania i working step by step toward membership in various euro Pean Security organizations. Out joining such alliances must be done Only when Roma Nia is ready Ciolina said at a news conference because those alliances should not take us As a Ciolina and several officers Are in Naples for meetings with . Adm Mike Boorda that Are expected to end today. Boorda commands Allied forces Southern Europe. Boorda s command works with 14 of the 26 Central and Eastern european countries that belonged to the former soviet Union or the former Warsaw pact. The command Aims to Foster democracy in the former communist nations through talks with top military leaders is Gary i incr it. Gen. Dumitru loan Ciolina. Slowly but surely Boorda said. . Defense Secretary Les a Pinhas proposed offering some members of the former Warsaw pact associate status with nato. However top Mili tary leaders representing the former adversaries have held a number of meetings since the collapse of the for Mer East bloc. Romania and the other countries that came from the Warsaw pact enjoy this partnership with nato Ciolina said adding that it helps his nation s military to restructure along More democratic lines. I d like to go As far As possible from this regime which has brought a lot of troubles for our part of the world he said in reference to former dictator Nicolae Ceausescu who was killed by romanians following the collapse of his soviet style govern ment in december 1989. But even during the communist Era Romania maintained a special Independent status within the Warsaw pact that enabled it to refuse to Send troops to help put Down re volts in Czechoslovakia and Hungary Ciolina said. The Independent Streak Means Romania will set its own course in Domestic restructuring and in joining the rest of Europe Ciolina said. What Romania has done slowly it has done Well he said. Schweinfurt go acquitted of Ltd distributing charges Schweinfurt Germany is Schweinfurt Soldier accused of distributing 600 Ltd tablets to other soldiers was found not guilty at a general court martial nov. 3. Pfc. Michael a. Orr of he co 2nd of the 15thinf in was acquitted by a jury of seven officers and noncommissioned officers on four counts of distributing Ltd and two counts of conspiracy to distribute Ltd according to his civilian attorney David court. They were a. Variety of drug related charges that occurred Over october and november last year court said wednesday. Orr was held about a week past the end of his enlistment so he could be tried court said. The government s theory in the Case was that although my client May not have distributed the drug himself he wanted it to be distributed court said. The jury deliberated for just More than an hour court said. About 100 tablets of Ltd sell for about $1,200in Germany. Copter on nato duty crashes Sudha Bay Greece a a civilian helicopter retrieving targets from a nato missile Range crashed into the sea off the Southern Island of Crete on wednesday and its two crewmen were missing the merchant Marine ministry announced. It identified the two Crew members As Dimitris Kara Rillakis and Thomas Raris. It was not immediately Clear Why the helicopter crashed nor what Type it was
