European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - January 21, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Friday january 21, 1994 the stars and stripes Page 3 Oesterberg learns from others lessons experience at base cos no " a leads to draw Down savvy shrinking Oesterberg statistics by Rosemary Sawyer Brussels Bureau Oesterberg Netherlands Oesterberg residents who have experienced a smooth draw Down ride at their Netherlands base should credit their air Force Kin. The people at such bases As hellenic Kon Greece Zaragoza Spain and Ber Lin s Tempelhof a pioneered the mechanics of base clo sure. Now personnel in Oesterberg s 32nd fighter group another units currently up stakes in Europe Are reaping the benefits of their hard work. It s a shame that we be become so Hodgkins Good at closing units Down but we have said col. Bil Hodgkins commander of the 32nd fighter group. We be Learned a  reacting to the Pentagon s june 29 base closure announcement Oesterberg officials first turned to experts who had already closed bases. And they obtained after action draw Down reports which they parcelled out to appropriate supervisors. Also supporting the draw Down science at Oesterberg is the experience of its air men who transferred from other closing installations said capt. Terry Bowman Public affairs officer who helped close Zaragoza a before moving to Holland. They know what it s like Bowman said. They have a lot of empathy for the folks that they re seeing  the fighter group is scheduled to com plete its departure from the dutch base sept. 30. Last week its last three f-15 aircraft left for Cape cod mass., where they la be flown by air National guard members. Experience has taught the air Force that successful base closures depend on Good communication said it. Col. Dal Ecollins commander of the 32nd support  Mills tend to run rampant Sowe try to confuse our people with facts Collins said. We have to communicate with the people and let them know what to sex  when Oesterberg s closure was announced the Public affairs office saw a substantial drop in the number of Calls to the base information hot line called the com Mander Gram Bowman said. Draw Down Lead ers at Oesterberg following the exam ple of other bases used surveys to so licit ideas and wishes from base personnel and their families. Collins All the surveys that we be done were improvements on other questionnaires from closing bases Collins said. We asked our people what facilities they wanted to close last and we re going by that quite  parents also were polled about their children s school schedule. As a result base officials worked wit school personnel to accelerate the teach ing schedule so school could end about three weeks Early. The following numbers reflect the rate at which americans Are scheduled to leave Oesterberg a Netherlands from april to september of this year. 1000 800 600 400 200 military dependents s5s military dependent children . Civilians april sept. Source Oesterberg a3 Oesterberg s family support Cente inherited plenty of expert tips from other bases. For example the staff worked All weekend before an assignments team visited last fall to ensure that they could provide airmen with information about various air Force bases. Lessons Learned from other bases also helped Oesterberg counter a Rise in the number of stress related Domestic and Al Cohol related incidents Collins said. Publicity was stepped up for various social programs and a taxi service to com Bat Drunken driving. Hodgkins also instructed Security police to increase random vehicle inspections at the base Gates. Too much government property i discovered missing during draw Downs. Is Susan hams said an article in the base newspaper explaining the random checks. Not All of Oesterberg s draw Down initiatives were copied from elsewhere though. Before the commissary Cut its stocks by 8 percent this month base officials came up with a plan to tag the items that were slated to go. That Way customers could talk to the store manager about any reductions that would cause them hardship. The draw Down know How Oesterberg inherited from other bases does have some drawbacks however. The 32nd fighter group is running ahead of its withdrawal schedule. I m starting to get a Little concerned about slowing this Down Hodgkins said. Inactivating 4s hard to do 502nd in by Ron Jensen Nairn Borg Bureau Forth Germany just about the time members of the 502nd Mobile army surgical Hospital were get Ting to know one another the army broke them apart. And that s the Saddest part of inactivating said sgt. 1st class Kellyanne o Neill the unit s noncommissioned officer in charge for nursing education and training. We got together to go to Croatia and now we re backhand they re getting rid of us she said following a ceremonial inactivation of the unit thursday at William o. Darby Cavern in Furth. The 502nd Mash will officially inactivate March 15. Although the unit can Trace its lineage to october 1933 when it formed As the 2nd surgical Hospital it has been inactivated and reactivated a handful of times since then. However the current group of soldiers has been to Gether less than a year. In March 1993, the ranks were filled with soldiers from various medical units to form a deployment team for service in Zagreb Croatia. Brig. Gen. Charles c. Cannon commander of the 3rd corps support come referred in his speech thurs Day to the moment 10 months ago when the unit was welcomed into his command. None of us could have expected then that today we d be casing your colors he said. The unit s inactivation is of course another step in the draw Down of the . Military from Europe. There is a changing world out there and the army has to change As Well said col. Brian Baker the unit s commander. When looked at in that Light it s a Posi Tive  but there is something unjust in it All soldiers said. We had just become a Good cohesive unit not too Long ago said Cpl. Rick Curtis an orthopaedic technician. Now we have to go away. That s what people Don t  if there is any Consolation it is that the 502nd went out with a flourish. During a 179-Day deployment to Zagreb that began last april the soldiers treated mus Lim refugees worked alongside foreign Peers including several russians and mingled in Goodwill with croats Baker recalled that deployment during his speech. He said the Well trained soldiers made his Job easy Dur ing the Mission. I charge you now to move on to take the experience you got there with you so that the spirit of the 502nd will move on he said. O Neill bound for fort Hood Texas and Curtis who is moving to the . Military Academy at West Point n.y., said the Croatia experience will be Long remembered. The croatian people welcomed us wherever we went simply because we were americans said Curtis who also counts among his friends now a russian lieu tenant colonel. O Neill said she will remember the children the sol Diers met while deployed. The kids were the Best part while we were in Croatia she said. Most of us received Christmas cards from two Little kids a brother and sister who Are in the Ronald Mcdonald House in san  soon those memories Are All that will remain of the502nd Mash. Is Jim Derooi first sgt. Michael Bourland Center prepares for the casing of the colors of the 502nd Mobile army surgical Hospital in Firth Germany on thursday