European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - October 28, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Page 16letters to the Friday october 28,1994 the a a Lpes european edition Cou Steven s. Hoffman Usan. Commander publisher a. A a a Quot Bernard a. 20vist0sk1 a editor. A a a. \ a a news and editorial Deborah Absher news Edior. Bill Walker. European editor Bob Wicker sports editor. George Manet City editor to write us unit 29480 a a Apo a 09211 or Postrach 11 14 37. 64278 Darmstadt Germany news Tel fax 06155-601416 to Call us dial 06155-601 plus Extension or Dan 348-8 plus Extension As follows a 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 Effie bathed room 117, r6mor sir 104, 69126 Heidelberg Telephone Dan 370-. 7010 or civilian 06221 -23421 Telela 06221 -10554. ,. Kaiserslautern Germany Kevin Dougherty John Bohmer and Doyle Tillman. Building 2899, Pulaski Barracks Apo a 09227-3717 Telephone Dan 489-6585 or a civilian 0631-52104 Tot fax Dan 489-6357 of civilian. 0631 -5366357. A a a i Nurnberg Germany Ron Jenson building 21, Wil bom o. Darby Cavern Apo a 09222 Telephone Dan Quot 460-7256 or civilian 0911 -712563 Lei tax 0911-717130, Wurzburg Germany Dave Mela Ricon building 220, room 109, fou Lenberg Cavern Apo a 09036 tale phone i Dan 35v-42b9 or civilian 0931-286956 Tel fax 0331-6096770. A Mediterranean sue Palumbo and Marian Hamilton Naples. Italy pc 610, Box 56, Fpo a 096.19 Tole. A phone Dan 625-4880 or civilian 0017624049/4547 Tele lax 0033-81-7624049. A. Northern Italy j. King Cruger pc 54, Box 473 Apo a 0960.1 Telephone Dan 632-8176-or civilian 0039-434-66-8170 Tel fax 0039-434-668222. United kingdom Nancy Torner Marc Mcgonn and a. Dave did id building 464 Cess us Raf Mildenhall a Apo a 09459 Telephone. Dan 230-2226. Or. 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The appearance of advertising in ills publication including inserts or supplements does nol constitute endorsement by me department of defense or the stars and stripes of the products or services advertised. I am thrilled and delighted to shop at my commissary Here in Vilseck even though the Price of the majority of the items is a mystery until you reach the checkout stand. Not to say the prices Are not annotated on those Small bar code labels stuck to the shelf beneath where the items Are supposed to be. Imagine my Surprise when purchasing six seemingly identical boxes of kleenex to find that three were 11 cents cheaper than the other three even though they had All come off the same shelf. I was so grateful that i consulted with the manager. He was kind enough to Point out to me that although All of the boxes were stacked together on the Bot Tom shelf there was a bar code sticker and Price on the left and on the right Side of the stack. He was also kind enough not to Point out that i May be visually mentally or physically impaired having hot turned each Box Over and checked the bar codes on the Bottom against those which 1 did not Kneel in the aisle to observe closely and match with on the shelf. A Nice Man  a a a a 77 Quot v a  it be Nice if they issued each customer a pair of those Small theater binoculars upon entry to the store. 1 Tor one would be eternally grateful. Ernst g. Wenz Vilseck Germany need help dial .a. When was the last time anyone actually served in the . Military for god and country i think it was in the 1940s around world War  then the . Military has by Corne a 911 hot line number for any country that has a problem they cannot handle themselves. Quot who does the United states Call to help us with our problems. It sure does no to seem to be our government or our military. Both seem to be too Busy helping the rest of the world with their problems. It would seem we Are More concerned about the rest of the world than our fellow americans but that a politics Isnit it a what i do know is that the same politicians who Send us All Over the world go Home most every night to their loved ones. Needless to say a lot of us cannot remember the last time we went Home to our loved ones. It will be a while before you or i will serve to protect out country and our interest. But you can be sure we will be on our Way for any other country in the world that dials 911. Scott f. Kaufman Mannheim Germany to our readers let us know what you think we encourage our readers a Espe Olally those who have never submitted a letter a to write to us. Letters expressing readers View Points or opinions Are published Dally on this Page. All tetters must be signed and include address and Telephone number. 7 sen let to letters to the editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. Or fax country code 49 06155601-395, Dan 348-8395. We Reserve the right to edit letters for clarity length and taste. Military update 1 catch up pay hike in 96 seen As possible slower than expected wage growth in the private sector should help defense Secretary William Perry keep his Promise of a More competitive Mill tary pay raise in 1996. / in fact Pentagon officials said there a enough Money set aside in the preliminary fiscal �?T96 budget to support a slight catch up raise if the Clinton administration decides to ask for , however is a big if. 7 .1,thanks to Congress service members will get a 2.6 percent increase in january. That s 1 percentage Point higher than recommended by the administration. But Perry serving his first full year As defense chief has vowed to do better by service members in january 1996. Data released by the Bureau of labor statistics in late october should help him do that. Here a Why by Law the Baseline for setting the 1996 pay raise will be determined by private sector wage growth during fiscal 1994, As measured by the governments employment Cost Index. The delay in applying a wage growth Index is unavoidable. The Index for �?T94 will be the most current available when Congress gets the proposed 96 budget in january. But last summer when Pentagon officials began planning the fiscal �?T96 budget they did no to know what the Index would show. They were forced to set raise estimates based on a Rosy White House forecast of 3.7 percent. The projected figure was never what military people would get in 1996. Administration policy is still to Cap military pay raises 1.5 percentage Points below the Index which in this Case would be 2.2 percent. Perry however ordered his budget officials last summer to add 1 percentage Point to the capped figure. So in a draft fiscal �?T96 budget the department set aside $2,1 billion to cover a possible 3.2 percent raise. Tom Philpott on tuesday the final Index figure for �?T94 was released. It showed wage growth of Only 2.9 percent not 3.7. That Means the 3.2 percent pencilled into tie 96 defense budget is 0.3 percentage Point higher than needed to fully match private sector wage growth. So what will Perry and the White House do they have several options and will act by Early december. One is to keep a 3.2 percent pay raise in the budget and ask Congress to apply the extra 0.3 percent toward reducing a perceived pay Gap with the private sector. Service leaders contend Mill tary pay has fallen As much As 13 percent behind private sector pay since 1982 some defense economists say the Overall Gap if the services used a More appropriate Index is closer to 1 percent. A second option is to ask Congress to approve Only a 2.4 percent pay raise in 1996 a which is the indexes figure minus 0,5 percentage Point. That would adhere to the formula originally backed by Perry and mandated by the current deficit reduction Law. This option while it Lowers the raise could free up about $528 million in fiscal 1996 for Quality of life programs including perhaps a special increase in quarters allowances. But defense department officials also could decide to shift the Money into any other defense program including weapon purchases. A third option is to stick with president Clinton Scall to Cap raises 1.5 percentage Points below eci. That would mean a 1996 raise of Only 1.4 percent. This option is unlikely Given Congress past refusal to support Clinton a pay Cap plan and Perry a commitment to bigger military raises. Whatever is decided defense department officials Are grateful that the Index came in 0.8 percentage Point below the White House projection. Each percentage Point Rise in military pay costs$660 million a year. Chasing the higher Index figure whatever pay raise formula is used could have Cost the Pentagon an extra $2.5 billion through 2000. The Bush target the draw Down is Over. Correction. The draw Down would be Over had president Bush won re election in 1992. Under president Clinton however it has five More years to go. / Bush a defense plan called for Active duty Force strength to level off at 1.610.000, a half million below the 2.1 million Peak reached in 1987. The defense department achieved that target in Early october and sped by still dropping manpower at a rate of 7,200 a month. Clinton a target of 1,453,000 wont be reached until october 1999. The severity of the next stage of the draw Down will vary by service. For the Marine corps the draw Down truly is Over. Corps strength will stay at 174,000. Army strength will level off by october �?T97 at 495.000. Only the Navy and air Force will to continue to lose some strength in each of the next five years. Readers com rents and suggestions Are Welco Natl while 1o military update co editor the stars and stripes unit 29480, Apo a 09211. More of the Samf we me la Are of amp Seo sep my my pee \ the Way most people Sebit you re a e7rchg leaper eos7wn6 that the to fifth yelps to your of you Versye a higher truth f