European Stars and Stripes (Newspaper) - November 17, 1994, Darmstadt, Hesse The stars and stripes thursday november 17,1994 a i at a glance David Smith says he never questioned his estranged wife s claim that the couple s two children had been kidnapped by a stranger until she confessed. See Story on Page 9. Tornado kills one a Tornado spawned by tropical storm Gordon ripped through a Flor Ida retirement Community killing at least one person. -. Pages i oversight stepped up the Federal aviation administration will begin regulating regional air lines under the stricter rules that cover major carriers. Quitting smoking even for smokers with Early signs of emphysema or chronic bronchitis it s hot too late to kick the habit a study says. Sleep disorder blamed a Pennsylvania Man says a rare sleep disorder caused him to shoot his wife to death in bed. Pages fed s move debated the Federal Reserve s decision to increase interest rates intensified a debate Over whether it should have acted tall. Page 14 Index Abby Ann Landers. 21 classifieds. 24-28 comics. 21 -23 commentary. 17 crossword. 21 faces n1 places. 20 Horoscope 27 Jumble 27 letters. 16 Money matters 14 sports t. 29-36 35 weather 15 for wags Washington a an air Force investigator recommended wednesday that a radar plane officer be court Martiale for his actions during the shoo Down of two , army helicopters Over Iraq earlier this year. The april 14 incident was one of the military s deadliest Friendly fire incidents killing 26 persons. A Pentagon study suggested that con trollers on Board the Azacs radar plane knew the two Black Hawk chop pers were in the area but failed to warn two f-15 pilots who reported that they had sighted the helicopters. The two Fly pilots believing the Lack Hawks were iraqi Craft violating a restricted zone shot them Down. The officer recommended for court martial is capt. Jim Wang the air Force said in a statement. He was senior director of the Mission Crew on Board the Azacs and faces five counts of dereliction of duty. The senior director is in charge of the Crew working a Given Shifton the radar plane. The investigator identified As col. William Cpl Well also recommended that one other Azacs officer charged in the incident 1st it. Joseph Hatch receive an administrative punishment. That Means he could received variety of punishments such As forfeit ure of pay or duty restrictions. the investigator also suggested that charges against three other Azacs offi cers be dismissed. Those officers were identified As maj. Douglas Martin Tracey and 2nd it. Rickey Wilson the air Force final decision on the punishments will be made by it Gen. Stephen Crock or who is commander of the 8th air Force and in charge of All airborne warning and control system aircraft the air Force statement article 32, which is the equivalent of a grand jury hearing has been held Forone of the frl5 pilots it. Col. Randy May. He is based in Spandau them Ger Many and no recommendation in that Case has been charges that the various officers faced and their assignments Halcli an in route controller four counts of dereliction of duty. An in route controller directs aircraft spotted by the a decline from Page 1 rapidly deployable Forward deployed forces that Are already stationed overseas and initial reinforcing forces that Are Fol Low on units based in the United states. No immediate threat to the safety of the nation looms As a result of the problem senior Pentagon officials said. Still the Penta gon citing Security concerns refused to identify the divisions involved. Perry said in his letter that the administration would seek supplemental appropriations to help bolster the army s operations and maintenance budget to offset the Cost of the overseas deployments. He say How much that would entail. Only a few weeks ago Deputy defense Secretary John Deutch told Congress that . Forces were better prepared than the were before the 1991 persian Gulf War and that readiness was not a serious problem. Defense department officials insisted that Perry s letter which was made pub Lic in a hastily called briefing was drafted sometime monday after the Secretary first Learned about the apparent erosion in readiness in the divisions. Nevertheless the briefing came hours after the release of a letter by rep. Floyd Spence , in line to be the next chairman of the House armed service committee questioning Deutch s Asser Tion that readiness still was High. Spence and other conservatives have warned repeatedly that the administration was cutting military spending to sharply to support the rising volume of peacekeeping operations forcing the services to Cut training and maintenance to meet their budgets. In their briefing for reporters tuesday Pentagon officials said the problem came to Light As a result of periodic readiness reports that the army requires of its units. The reports Chart each unit s personnel equipment on hand serviceability of that equipment and training. The goal is for army combat units to be at the highest level of readiness design Nateras cd. Senior Pentagon officials said tuesday that the three army divisions in the state Side based follow on forces have fallen to the defense department s third level of readiness c-3 meaning that 70 percent to 79 percent of the unit is pre pared to undertake wartime missions. Tracey the Mission Crew commander four counts of dereliction of duty. The Mission Crew commander has Overall responsibility for the officers conducting the Azacs radar Mission on Board the plane. Wilson the tactical controller four counts of dereliction of duty. His Mission is to find an identify aircraft in a sector scanned by the Azacs. Martin of the air combat com Mand air operations so at Langley air Force base va., was a member of the aircraft s command element and face three counts of dereliction of duty. The Azacs Crews were part of the963rd airborne control so at tinker air Force base okla. The maximum punishment under the uniform code of military Justice for negligent homicide is dismissal forfeiture of a pay and allowances and confinement for one year for each charge. Besides the 15 . Citizens killed inthe incident military officers from Brit Ain France and Turkey and five kurdish workers employed by the United states were on Board the choppers. The aircraft were ferrying members of a International group that had been working with the kurd in Northern Iraa since the endow the persian Gulf War in 1991. Warning from Page 1 the highest Levels of combat Readi Ness. / ". In their announcement Pentagon officials did not mention any for Ward deployed divisions which in clude the two army divisions in Europe about 75,000 Europe based sol Diers deployed to the persian Gulf in1990 and Early 1991 to counter an iraqi invasion of Kuwait. The num Ber of army troops in Europe is now about 72,000, Bridges said. Along with changed military an political priorities the army in Europe has been slowing Down training to improve facilities and services. We have Over the past two to three years taken Money from train ii Vaia Tai Vii Niv Nuj a. Moreover the . European ing accounts to fund Quality of life come is not directly affected by Bridges said the decrease in readiness said Navy the military training Standard is to cmdr. Ron a 1morse, command spokesman. Bridges said he would not discuss readiness rating for specific army units in Force is ready to do what it i asked to do he said. A a ton pretty damned Well. Every time the phone rings we can answer the Call within 24 hours ,0fck Bridges Usa eur spokesman but he said the nature of its Mission requests has changed dramatically in recent years in the midst of deep troop cuts. We be done pretty damned time the phone rings we can answer the Call within 24 hours Bridges said adding there is no Man Euver combat vehicles 800 Miles per year but i Europe that num Ber has fallen to600 Miles and in some cases fewer it s a matter of ready for what and ready for what at what time Bridges said of the Prepa redness Issue. Although rapid increases in technology have allowed most command ers to improve their staff training through the use of computer Simula Tion Bridges said one of the place simulation cannot help us is Down at of we 41vj of people packed and ready the platoon to go. However he said if we got therall for another desert storm we would not be responding in 24hours." although readiness May have slipped it does t mean troops Are c 11 i n St m of a a. A _ i _ 11 As a result he said teams such Astana Crews and infantry squads Are under trained in High intensity com Bat skills. And Many Are focusing in Stead on peacekeeper skills. People Are ready. People Are personally willing to do the things we re a of a. A. Toa a
