8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Feb 1985)

1/2

l ershina

Cable

Vol.

22 No.

2

February 985

C

 

UCVs arrive

by

rail for 56th Brigade

SIOI ) l,y Jucly A.

MC1"lriM

AJ companies throughout die Neu Ulm

commurury received dtnr

new

miliury

cargo vehicles, dtey found dte procedure

was not as cuy u unloading dte vehicles

from dte awaiting cars.

UnloadinJ dte

vehicles

wu jun dte fim

Step i.n * sen« of work

wh

.ch

wu

needed to

make the vthicles fully combat ready.

The

SSth ~n t c lW lc t

banalion wu

re-

sponsible for inprouuing all new vdudcs

for the 54th Brigade. Workloads were hand

led by Alpha company SSth for dte

1/41 F.A. and

ocher

units in

Schwiibisch

Gmiind

while

Charlie SStb was in charge of

all ncw vehicle inprocasing for die

l /M

F.A. in Heilbronn. .

Bravo 55th was in charge of all new vehic

ln coming through the Neu Ulm Commu-

nity and 2nd Lt.

Karen

Ba..,., OIC

of

that

operation,

pvc a

buic rundown of what

wu

needed

a

complne the job.

"Bravo u othCT 11ni11 of he SSch, inpro

cessed all

die

nnr vehicla for dte brigade.

Here in

Neu

Ulm we completed work on

I07 new vehicles in a matter

of

two week,,"

Beavus said.

"This

is

jun

one pan of the equipment

u~ u,d we knew die vehicles would be

anwing since early October. A

lot

of work

was needed on each

vehicle

a

make

them

combat ready," w added. ·

According a Jlcavus up a 90 ptl"Cfflt of

· die vehicla required commurucationa equip

ment u

weU

u yellow safety lighta,

TMP ·

numbers

u,d

other various electrical wiring.

"We

set

• goal of complning about 20 vc-

Mid-termer

waiver available

A reml is~t waiver which became

effective u of January I, 198S a,ay be we:

by commanders

in

order

a

wart

up to

10

points

of

the GT ,core rcquimnent for

reenlin:ment.

This waiv

8/17/2019 The Pershing Cable (Feb 1985)

2/2

Double

SMA visits · 6th rigade soldiers

by Joyce Arrington

Army Sgt. Maj. Gltnn E. Morrell

calked

with soldiers from all units

of

the 56th

Bdc.

during bis visit ro

Schwiibiscb

Gmiind Feb.

6.

Morrell

had

previously visited the brigade

May 10, last year, wbtn be stopped briefly

in Gmiind and toured brigade si«s

in

Heil

broM

.

Morrell wu

given

a tour of the brigade's

site at Mutlangen by USAREUR Command

Sgt.

Maj . James B. Craft, 56th Brigade Com

mand

Sgt.

Maj. T. A. Jackson, and 1- 41

Command Sgt. Maj. Malachi Mitchell Jr.

Morrell spoke ro soldiers there, inquiring

about their food and quarters, and answer

ing

some

of their questions.

Enlisted soldiers representing ·all brigade

units talked with Morrell at the Rodman

Theater before lunch, and NCO

call

was

held in the afternoon.

In response to questions about the condi

tion of qumers and other facilitie,, Morrell

said ,ha, renovation, arc being made both

oversea, and swe,ide. Money bas been ear

marked specifically for construction, and

be

saw no way that the money could be shihcd

for

some

other purpos

e.

h

i s not going as fut a, I would like,• he

$aid, '"but if we do screw up, at l~ast weu

h

ave a chance ro evaluate everything.•

Mor

rell also said that while renovation in the

works now might not be finished by the

time some soldiers PCS, those soldiers will

sec the improvements in their new duty sta·

Dons.

One area where Morrell is opposed to

changes

is

uniform items. After the new

BOUs become available, Morrell said, be

would oppose any attempt ro chani;c the

clothing bag. However, be did mcnnon an

improved combat boot, which be called

"bener than any boo, the Army

ha.s

ever

had;

and said it should be available

in

clothing sales stores in both regular and in

sulated styles for those that want them.

Morrell also said that he would prefer that

clothing

allowances

be paid at the beginning

of

the year in one lump sum, which could

be

slightly larger than the present allowance.

Another topic Morrell covered wu the GI

bill, which expires Dec. 31, 1989. The

new

biU

rakes effect in July, but Morrell said

"there is a catcb-

22

in thai - if you arc eli

gible for the Vietnam era GI bill, you have

to

serve

three years under the

new

bill be

fore

getting the benefiu.• He said that be

i

trying to get automatic eligibility for the

new bill. Morrell said under the new bill,

soldiers lose six months of education and

2500 dollars, "But at lea,t i, did not disap-

Wife

visits

too

pear

into the wild blue yonder.•

According ro Morrell, the position of the

Department of the Anny is to continue oth ·

er prognms such

a,

retirement,

commissary,

post ach:ange, "cdical and dental care, and

pay raises. However, he also said be wants

the Dept. of Anny Inspector General ro in

vestigate the current CHAMPUS system,

which Morrell described u • a bucket of

wonns.•

"Soldiers end up paying mon,ey out

of

dieir

own pockets ro get medical care they

were promised

when

dtey came in the

Army.•

Wc have to take a bard-line stance at Dc-

partmtnl of Army level, and quit letting

people reeolirt for present duty

as

signment

m overm:enl(lb MOS.•

Morrell also said

be is

trying to do away

with the restricted

file,

saying that it allows

individuib ro hide

things

that eventually

come out when the individual reaches senior

NCO

rmks. "We do not need that

and

we

never did.

need

it,• Morell said. •An NCO's

record sbould be open ro God and every

body ro look at if they so desire, and tbcn

we will M selecting the right leadership."

"Criteria for

s12ying

in

the Anny

is

going

to get tougher and rougher, Morell said.

"We need to lock in on

SQT

scores. Why

do

we promote someone ro the rank of E-5

and they do not pass their SQT? How can

they tnin, lead,

maintain

and care for sol

dim

out

there? They cannot do that.•

•we can reenlist • soldier today wbo i

not eligible

ro

be

promoted tomorrow, and

we can promote a soldier today who

i

not

eligible to be rcen.listed two yean down the

road, so we ue looking at putting that inro

one regulation and trying ro get that locked

in ro where it really means sometmng.•

Speaking during the NCO calf, Morrell

reminded them that

the

criteria for suying

in the Anny

and

getting promoted arc

estab

lished "by the sundards, policiesand

regwa

·

tiOGJ we have, and you and I are charged

with the responsibility ro make sure people

comply. So why have we bad to put people

out

of

the Army

at 10,

12

or 16

years of ser

vice?

Because

they -..ork for us, and we

have

seen them day in and

day

out but we did not

make

than comply, and 'hold their feet to

the fire' in accordance with the standards,

policies and regulations we bave. "Some of

our own peers we did not

do

that ro, and we

have seen

them disappear because they could

not meet the weight requiremen~ we have in

--.--,

oth

tn11118d

and NCO. were lll>le

to air

gripes and uk ~ uring

AmrySgt

MIJ

Glenn

E. MorNll'I

vlalt

to

the 51th Flelcl Attlllary

fll1gllde.

by M It. Diamond

The quality'of life at the ,6th Field Ar-

tillery Brigade wa, the main focus of the

U.S. Army Command Sergeant Major's

wife

K.artn Morrell on their recent visit to

Europe.

Since

the

qua

lity

of

life concepts revolve

around Army

families

and the di

ffi

culties

involved in being a family in the service,

Mrs. Morrell started her day with a visit to

the Child Care Center and Hardt Elemm·

tary School. After her tour

of

the school,

she visitcd t

he

Army Community

Service

Center and the Red Cross which were

hi~h on her list of priorities. Here s

he

met

with ACS director Nancy Slade and her

staff. Mrs. Morrell,

hdd an impromlU

symposium with the

ACS

staff and Red

Cross

si.ation manager

Kenneth Gosso.

If everyone here •iuck ro their job

description,"

;be

said, • nothing would get

done. That's

-why

we're bett; to help each

other, the service member and their fami·

lies."

•And the reuon I'm here i s to help you.

T

al.k

to me. Tell me your problems."

The group did not need much promp

ting. Within five minu«s after her arrival it

was dear that tbc lines of communication

were: open.

Although there

wett

no immediate solu

tions ro any of the problems Morrell heard

on her visit here she gave ber word that

SM would take everything she beard up

her chain of command, lieginning with her

bu,band.

"Today there :arc not only Army wives,

but Army husbands, and they all

have

a

Pershing Cable

the

Army. That weight standard bas

around for

a

long time. So we must m

sun we do

the

identifu:ariou, selection,

ning,

and continue

to

enforce that wher

we.may be assigned."

In closing, Morrell c:a Jed today's A

better

than

any

we

lu.u

previously

a.dcliug. We have a

good

Army .today,

it's getting bctt.cr all the time."

Things

that Morrell is

uying

to chang

assignment and ETS procedures.

N

ob

knows wbett

th,ey

are going until they

thett, &0d with all the

modemiution

the

smart

people we ha•e in the Army

should be able ro assign a soldier to at

bmalion level." Another change in

works is to let soldien E1 S from where

arc assigned. •we should have looked

that

a long time ago.

Morrell nressed the need for a

NCO

corps in tbe Arrn7.

He

empbu

the imporuuce of linking schools with

motions and retention, saying that he w

like to make graduating from PLDC ma

tory before promotion t o E-S, and suc

fully completing BNOC. PCT or BCT

fore E-6.

Morrell said that soldiers

in

combat

rpecia.lties spend 45 to 50 weeks in s

during a 20 to 30 year

caner,

while co

suppon and service s uppon spend so

weeks during their career. Stating tha

aver

age

for

an

enlisted soldier at NCO

is 62 weeks, Morrell said. ·tt s a small

ro pay for the

mileage

.,... get out o

NCO

corps."

Morrell said he hopes to get a badly-

ed OPS/INTEL course on-line by late

year, which would round off the A

school

syttcm

. He stated he is not lob

for more schools, saying •we have got

schools right now,

all we

need to do is

tinue to improve them."

Morrell stressed the imp oruuce of a

NCO corps, soying "You are the ones

should be able to identify ,be sbortcom

tha1 a soldier we wan,

t.o

retain bu w

nine months that they work for you. A

you cannot do that within nine month

you

have

a problem.•

"You arc just Jetting a soldier up to

failure, because it i s roo late at 30 mon

they arc on a three-year cnlist mtnt, an

to late

ac •o

months

if

they arc on a

year enlistment

.

Morrcll's

other

main topics were _p

tion and retention. Hl- said

that

cu1off

will remain high in overstrength speci

adding We have good soldiers that c

get promoted because we mi,manage

force and we have got

to

get a hand

tha1.

chain of command. The problem is, t

arc not

all

awvc of it. I think we nee

do a better job of disscmcnating infor

tion to family members.•

Elaborating, with

an

anecdote, sbe s

· · t remember when Glenn made first

geant. All

of

a suddtn

J

wu

cxpttte

know everything about the Army. W

didn't; and I still don't, but at lt2St I k

where I can go to get :answers."

In addition to

wbett

she can go for

wers to her questions, more than

8

y

u an NCO's wife

has

taught Morrell w

she can accomplish on her own. "Toda

Army wife can set her mind to d

something and work miracles. Ten y

ago she would have been a meddling

male. And in

10

more years 1 think

will have

an

even greater influence."

Fetiruary