The White Falcon - 17.10.1958, Side 3

Friday, October 17, 1958
TIKE WHITE FALCON
Page 3
Crazy American Was
MARS Radio Operator
CLIFF DWELLERS — Instructors of the 2d BCT’s Search and Rescue School demonstrate their pro-
wess in mountain casualty evacuation; cliff descention and cliff climbing during a recent training cycle
held in the Thordafell Mountain area.
BCT Competes With Mountain Coats
For Search And Rescue Training
Sightseers and people out on
camera trips around the Thorda-
fell Mountain area have recently
returned to Base with tales of
“mass-suicide”. They have seen
men in Army Fatigues and Steel
Helmets literally jumping from
cliffs, sliding on ropes and slamm-
ing into the sides of mountains.
Actually, it is the 2d Battalion
Combat Team’s Search and Res-
cue School teaching Summer
Mountain Operations to BCT men.
The instructers, an officer and
seven NCO’s, are teaching the men
such “tricks-of-the-trade” as
Mountain Walking, including walk-
ing on steep grass slopes and
ledges; rope climbing; taking
stretcher-borne casualties as well
as equipment down steep cliffs,
and the use of rope including
types and characteristics, (The
BCT Men Use 4000 lb. tested
rope).
Supervising the School is 1st
Lt. George H. Jarrett of Delta
Company. Lt. Jarrett is a gradu-
ate of the Army’s Mountain and
Cold Weather Training Command
School at Ft. Carson, Colorado.
When picking instructors for the
BCT School, Lt. Jarrett took into
consideration the fact that the
instructors should, in addition to
meeting the qualifications of pro-
spective students, be able to ex-
plain clearly and demonstrate
precisely both theory and prac-
tice, when handicapped by lack
of uniform instruction areas.
The instructors are, SFC Gil
Schnitski, Alfa Co.; SFC Anthony
Amodeo, 95th Tank Platoon; S/
Sgt. Gorden Mauldin, Delta Co.;
S/Sgt. Miles Pinckney, Bravo Co.;
Cpl. Nelson Abreu, Delta Co.;
SP/4 Wayne Rinker, Charlie
Bttry and SP/4 James Gorden,
also of Charlie Bttry.
Each class spends two weeks
at Thordafell Mountain and a
third week in and around the
Security Camp (Tent City). The
third week of training will take
in all previous phases of instftic-
tion. During this period, the men
will endevor to evacuate simulated
casualties over extremely difficult
terrain such as cliffs, crevices and
jagged lava beds.
In a few months, the winter
training phase will begin. As one
of the instructors told a student
recently, “If you think this is
rough, wait ‘til December.”
Awards . . .
(Continued, from Page 1).
In the office of Col. Linwood
Griffin, Jr., Commander of U.S.
Army Forces, Iceland, CWO Leon
Finkelstien, adjutant of U.S.A.F.I.,
was presented a Commendation
Ribbon by Col. Griffin for out-
standing performance of duties
while assigned as Classification
and Assignment Officer At Fort
Bliss, Texas.
Mr. Finkelstien is spending his
second tour of duty in Iceland.
He was here from February 1942
to August 1943 as sergeant major
of the 168 Station Hospital. Later,
while serving with the hospital,
Mr. Finkelstien met his wife, the
former Miss Janet Lehman, a
Nurse with the hospital. Mr. and
Mrs. Finkelstien have four child-
ren : Lee Ann, 12; Billy, 11; David,
7; and Melissa, age 3.
Watch out for careless pedes-
trians, who are often wearing dark
clothing and difficult to spot in
the evening shadows. And, why
not slow down? Why not allow
yourself the luxury of wasting a
few minutes? You’ll find it makes
a more leisurely, more restful trip.
And it came to pass in the land
of sand and sun that a crazy
American had appeared on the
scene. This crazy American said
that he operated an infernal
machine called a radio, but he
said that he needed two camels.
Why should two camels be re-
quired by this man of fair skin
and strange clothing? Perhaps the
disease of the desert has fallen
upon him?
No, it was just another MARS
operator trying to line up an
antenna in his own Arabic Way
— between the two camels there
was a strand of wire. By cajoling
the two camels into action he was
able to maneuver his antenna in-
to the proper position.
At Keflavik Airport camels
have not yet figured in the op-
eration of the Military Affiliate
Radio System station. Instead two
airmen are assigned to the sta-
tion to assure its operational
readiness. They are A/1C Jimmie
S. Miller and A/3C Larry Olds.
Here in the land of “Fire and
Ice” it would not be at all un-
usual to walk into the MARS
shack and hear one of these men,
or one of the other amateur op-
erators, talking to the land of
perpetual ice. Contacts between
the Keflavik station and the IGY
station at the South Pole are
quite routine. Also routine are
transmissions to such widespread
places as St. Petersburg, Fla.,
Belgrade, Yugoslavia, and two or
three places in Australia.
Amateur radio is not concerned
with rank or profession. Opera-
tors at Keflavik run the ranks
from E-2 to 0-6. One of the op-
erators, S/Sgt. Bill Foley, has
had contacts with the owner of
a dress factory in New York, a
housewife in Michigan, a prote-
stant minister, a Roman Catholic
priest, a Saudi Arabian prince,
and a retired Navy commander.
Besides being an interesting
hobby for Armed Forces hams,
MARS is an adjunct to the mili-
tary communications network and
an emergency source of trained
communicators and maintenance
men. Last March when the Nor-
wegian sealing vessel “Drott” be-
came trapped in polar ice with
an injured crew member aboard,
it was MARS that established
radio contact since their equip-
ment could work the maritime
frequencies.
The Strategic Air Command is
converting all its radio facilities
to single sideband operations.
When General Thomas D. White
made his brief visit to Keilavik
recently, his KC-135 aircraft was
equipped with single sideband
gear. MARS had single sideband
equipment and kept contact with
the plane on its way to and from
Keflavik.
MARS is also ready to handle
communications for individuals
when normal channels are inac-
cessible or out of service. Or,
during regularly scheduled periods
on special frequencies, MARS can
establish telephone patches with
any point in the world. The system
is simple in theory — a telephone
here at Keflavik is connected with
the MARS transmitting and re-
ceiving gear. At the other end a
similar connection is made and an
ordinary telephone conversation
can be made with the aid of two
radio operators.
Although MARS is an amateur
organization it receives official
support from the Pentagon, where
MARS headquarters is located.
Funds are appropriated to help
maintain the stations, and the
various stations have official first
priority on any salvaged equip-
ment they need to improve or
modernize their facilities. You
may find MARS operating from a
tent in the shadow of a palm
tree; or, if you’re in Keflavik,
you’ll find MARS operating from
a quonset hut.
My Part in Winning
Friends for Freedom
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DEADLINE..
Nov.1
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V.M'
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THE historic church at Ulin, Germany, which claims the
highest steeple in the world, will soon have a new
stained glass window commemorating the friendship be-
tween Ulm citizens and the 47tli Inf. Regt., formerly sta-
tioned there.
Men of the regiment collected over $4,000 to make this
possible.
Money nlone won't win true friends, hut the spirit
of good ivill behind such generous acts by US
servicemen does wonders for the cause of freedom.
Can't you remember similar cases?
Putting them in letter form of not more than 500
words might bring you an award of as much as SI,000
if you enter the Letter Writing Awards Program of Free-
domSgFoundation, Valley Forge, Pa. “My Part in Win-
ning Friends for Freedom” is this year’s theme. Get your
letter in the mail before the Nov. I deadline.
Write Right Now
Army Enlisted Management Program
Outline Released Here By 2nd BCT
2d Battalion Combat Team Headquarters has released
an announcement from Washington outlining the Army’s
new management program for enlisted men designed to en-
hance their prestige and improve their effectiveness.
The new program, to be known
as the Enlisted Management Pro-
gram, incorporates two years of
Army developmental studies and
the philosophy of recent military
pay legislation. It 'is designed to
provide more attractive career op-
portunities by: the introduction of
a system to evaluate enlisted per-
sonnel against Army-wide stand-
ards; extra pay for greater pro-
ficiency; a system of centralized
assignment for the top two grade
non-commissioned officers, similar
to that of officers; and college
training in scientific, technical,
and managerial areas at govern-
ment expense.
Heart of the new management
program is its Enlisted Evaluation
System. This system, operated pri-
marily through the Enlisted Eva-
luation Center at Fort Benjamin
Harrison, Indiana, provides for a
relative evaluation of the profi-
ciency of each soldier based on
written and performance tests,
plus a job effectiveness report on
the individual by his unit com-
mander. The evaluation will in-
sure the selection of the b:st
qualified men and women Army-
wide for promotion, proficiency
pay, and further career develop-
ment.
One of the major applications
of the Enlisted Evaluation System
will be the soon-to-be established
proficiency Pay Plan whereby ex-
tra pay will be awarded to enlisted
men on the basis of their pro-
ficiency scores. An interim p’an
will be in effect from November
1958 through February 1959.
Electro ....
(Continued from Page 1).
galley and bunks. The fuselage is
distinguished by a plastic tail
stinger housing a magnetic an-
amoly detector unit. The craft will
be armed with the latest airborne
antisubmarine weapons.
VP-10 pilots on the October 9
flight were: Commander W. W.
Lape, squadron Commander, Lt.
Commander L. C. Lippincott, Lt.
Commander J. F. Scholfield, Lt
(JG) G. G. Williamson, Lt. (JG)
E. A. Tansey, and Lt. (JG) G. A.
Spitz. The Electra left Keflavik
October 10.