European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - September 29, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16 letters to the editor thursday september 29,1994 thes european edition col. Steven s. Hoffman Usan commander publisher Bernard a. Zovistoski. Editor news and editorial Deborah Absher news editor Bill Walker european editor Bob Wicker sports editor George Menee City editor. To write us unit 29480 Apo a 09211 or Postrach 11 1437 64278 Darmstadt Germany news Tel fax 06155-601416 to caul us dial 06155-601 plus Extension or Dan 348-8 plus Extension As follows news ext. 237,255. 282, 226, 326. Sports ext. 225, 269, 263,332,321, 221. Features ext. 230, 245,341. Letters to editor ext. 208, 400. Education Jimi Jones ext. 226 business news ext,326. News bureaus Heidelberg Germany Effia Bathen room 117, r6merstr. 104, 69120 Heidelberg Telephone on 370 7010 or civilian 06221-23421. Kaiserslautern Germany Kevin Dougherty John Bohmer and Doyle Tillman. 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Pilot defended i am the wife of a military member stationed overseas. In the stars and stripes last week i read that the air Force is bringing charges against one of the pilots involved in the Downing of the Black Hawk helicopters Over Iraq. To say i was amazed would be putting it mildly. Dereliction of duty it seems to me that the Only reason those pilots were in the area was to enforce the no Fly zone Over raq. To me that Means it was their duty to be in that area. I do not know their exact orders but after receiving the information that enemy aircraft were in the area weren t they required to shoot them Down was t that their duty negligent homicide this to me implies that because of his negligence it. Col. Randy w. May murdered those  ple. Was it negligent to use the information Given to him that enemy aircraft were in the area and to act on it i am sure that some disciplinary action and or further training Are necessary for those involved in this incident however by charging a Pilot in this manner it seems to me that the air Force is just try ing to shift the blame. It. Ctol. May was the Leader of this mis Sion and is ultimately responsible for the actions of his subordinates. But in t the presi Dent As commander in chief ultimately responsible for the actions of those under his command i believe it. Col. May was carrying out his orders to the Best of his Abil Ity that Day. Because he did not have All the information he needed 26 people died. He will have to live with that for the rest of his life. After serving his country proudly for years if convicted he will be stripped of everything and will spend the next 26 years of his life in jail. His family will be made to suf Fer Aswell. I guess the Bottom line is no mistakes Are allowed. You cannot be human in to Day s military. In the future All military members need to make sure that their superiors and colleagues Are in posses Sion of All the Correct information and have come to the Correct conclusion be fore acting on any order Given. The death of those people was a tragic mistake. The . Government needs to accept responsibility for this Accident. The families of the victims should be assisted in any Way possible and compensated monetarily to help them carry on with their lives. Nothing will bring those people Back to life. Ruining the lives of those pilots will serve no purpose. Irish Cronin Miessau Germany More Italy information there is More to Europe than just Germany. The stars and stripes needs to Stop catering specifically to the German Community and give More attention to the rest of the european department of defense Community. Every Day Germany is losing More read ers because of downsizing. Southern Europe Italy especially is predominantly maintaining our present strength and even vastly increasing in certain areas such As Aviano. As time goes by a larger percent age of your readership is from countries located on the Mediterranean. Therefore to please and inform your readers you must give us More information about our communities and upcoming events. A perfect example is on Page 15 on Friday. You showcase the band . And. State Michael Stipe and his com. Rades in the influential Athens ga., band tackle Europe in a monster tour. Concert listings see pages 16 & 17." i look on Page 17 and find that this tour is in Ger Many Only. Being the die hard . Fan that i am i figure maybe my family and i will take some leave to arc  Misch and watch them perform in Munich on March 20. I Call the number listed for tickets in Naples Italy and find out that the band is also performing in Milan Bologna and Rome in february Rome is Only three hours away com pared with 13 to Munich. If you Are going to promote /s monster european tour Why riot Tellone readers All the venues where they will be performing by not doing so you Are Dis crediting yourself and thousands of read ers who rely on the stars and stripes for accurate and thorough information. Terrence p. Sutherland Naples Italy to our readers let us know what you think we encourage our readers especially those who have never submitted a letter to write to us. Letters expressing readers viewpoints or opinions Are published Dally on this Page. All letters must be signed and in clude address and Telephone number. Send to letters to the editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. Or fax country code 49 06155 601-395, Dan 348-8395, we Reserve the right to edit letters for clarity length and taste. Commentary revival of Blackbird May make sense by Guy Gugliotta in its heyday the sr-71 Blackbird spy plane was the sexiest item in the Busi Ness faster than a speeding Bullet More powerful than 30 locomotives and Able to leap As Many tall buildings As you could find. Take it to the Edge of the soviet Union and. Peek at the missile silos. Fly Over Nicaragua and Check put the sandinista so Viet style volleyball courts. Photograph terrorist style Pup tents in Southern Leb anon. But they were beasts to Fly Cost $300 million a year to operate and could be re placed by something new sorry we can t Tell you exactly what in the research pipe line that could Fly higher and faster and get even better pictures. So in 1990, the air Force retired the Blackbird. But this year concerned members of Congress have decided that because something new has not yet emerged from the research pipeline the Republic needed to bring the Blackbird out of Mothballs. This according to a Bill still pending this week will Cost taxpayers $100 million in the first year. In Congress endless search for astounding things to do at the legislative gaming table the Blackbird gambit is As fancy As it gets. This is no Penny Ante pork barrel project. We re talking about Mak ing a $100 million Down payment to Resur rect a program that is already dead. Even when it s Over in Congress it s not Over. It seems somehow fitting that Senate appropriations committee chairman Robert Byrd d-w.va., one of the Ablest Federal spenders in history is leading the Effort to breathe life into this Mummy. And according to rep. Dan Glickman d-kan., chairman of the House Perma nent select committee on intelligence and one of the Blackbird s sworn enemies the plane is definitely a Mummy. The sensors Are old the infrastructure to service it no longer exists they have to refuel too often and they re extremely expensive to operate Glickman said. The Blackbird is so dead that 14 of the 31 planes built Between 1964 and 1967 Are already in museums among them the Kansas cosm sphere in Hutchinson. The National air and space museum has one stashed at Dulles International Airport near Washington d. A waiting for floor space. Nasa uses three blackbirds for test purposes and the air Force has three in storage. Others Are gone for spare parts. Byrd has his Eye on the air Force three. The Blackbird does have its advocates. John Pike director of the space policy project at the federation of american scientists said he spent most of the sum Mer trying to figure out How the Byrd proposal fit into the senator s grand plan to relocate the United states to West Virginia and finally concluded that it did t. Instead he decided the Blackbird mad sense.  to Pike planners Origi Nally hoped to replace the Blackbird with a new plane called Aurora but after spending billions the defense depart ment apparently lost interest around 1989. It switched to a very Large very Stealthy drone that could go anywhere and hang around for Long periods Pike said hang ing around is called dwell in the spy plane Busi Riess this plan was scrapped a billion dollars later he said. Meanwhile the intelligence Community was catching heat because the satellites that replaced the Blackbird during desert storm did t deliver the goods. Satellites Pike explained hate Clouds have less dwell thai the fuel gobbling Blackbird and Are much better at photographing License plates than enemy encampments. Now the defense department is work ing on yet another drone scheme but Pike says this in t going Well either. Given the Overall track record then Why not bring Back the Blackbird Washington Post pm to 46 on Phi ibs our opt