The White Falcon - 02.04.1976, Qupperneq 1
• c White
Volume XXXII. Number 13
Falcon
Keflav*. Iceland
April 2, 1976
fIVlany bases may
close in CONUS
Secretary of the Navy J. William Mid-
dendorf II last week announced plans for
a formal study of base realignment, re-
duction and closure actions.
According to Mr. Middendorf, the pro-
posed actions, would save the Navy $56
million annually and would release near-
ly 2,100 military personnel from support
assignments to active combat units.
The Navy will study the environmental
impact of each of the proposed actions.
The evaluation process is expected to
take four to nine months.
The major actions to be studied in-
clude closing or reducing activity at
NAS Key West, NAS Memphis and NAS Corpus
Christi; consolidating Navy helicopter
training (NAS Whiting Field) with Army
and Air Force programs; restructuring
NAS Saufley Field as a training-manage-
ment complex; and closing or reducing
the capacity of the Naval Hospital,
Philadelphia.
In other realignment actions, the
Navy has completed the environmental im-
pact assessment on two proposals. As a
result, training squadrons one and five,
NAS Saufley Field, will be disestablish-
ed, and the international logistics con-
trol office will be relocated from Bay-
onne, N.J. to Philadelphia.
Additionally, 45 Naval Reserve cen-
ters and training facilities will be
disestablished by June 30. These facil-
ities merely are drill sites, having no
civilian or active duty military person-
nel assigned. These closures will re-
duce administrative and maintenance
costs.
New Marine training
A new concept for making Marine in-
fantry squad training more realistic
will be tested by Headquarters Marine
Corps. The program is called "SCOPES"
which stands for Squad Combat Operations
Exercise and is designed to provide two-
sided combat field training.
Under SCOPES, a Marine is tested on
his ability to detect and hit targets
with live ammunition, plus his skill in
reading numbers on an enemy's helmet
through a telescopic sight and then
taking that enemy under fire with blank
ammunition.
According to Headquarters Marine
Corps planners, the program offers sev-
eral skill sharpening aspects in ad-
dition to providing realism in field ex-
ercises. It gives squad leaders an op-
portunity to appreciate the difficulties
for the participants. In addition, it
roffers an opportunity to conduct small
unit training without the entire Marine
company present.
The SCOPES concept will be tested
during March by various units for field
evaluation. Once the evaluation is com-
plete, Headquarters officials will de-
cide if SCOPES will become a standard
Marine training method.
|Show opens Tuesday
A variety show, produced in conjunc-
tion with the Bicentennial Celebration,
will be held Tuesday and Wednesday at
Andrews Theater. The show, consisting
of 100 students and persons from the
community, starts at 6:30 p.m.
Originated by Elizabeth Nixon, Bicen-
tennial coordinator, the variety show
encompasses the Mississippi riverboat
.era. The steamboats, stopping off at
Ivarious river ports, would entertain the
flocal people with minstrel shows and
humor.
The variety show, produced by Joe
Derrick, Barbara Brown and Tom Avery,
will use a replica of the steamboat for
its background. The performers, cos-
tumed in the styles of 1830 to 1870,
will bring this segment of American his-
tory to life in 25 various acts. In
planning for nine weeks, the acts range
|from marching, baton twirling and in-
strumental solos to singing, dancing and
comedy skits.
This family orientated show is open
to everyone at no charge.
DS2 GEORGE MORTON tests a piece of equipment for C0MFAIRKEF staff dependents dur-
ing the of>n house. Watching the demonstration are Kellie and Bobby Ueisenbeck,
lower left and center, Stephen Reid, upper left and two other children.
(photo by PH3 Rene1 Pearce)
11 more FFGs to be built
The Naval Sea Systems Command has
announced the awarding of contracts for
the construction of the first eleven
follow-on ships in ths Navy's guided
missile frigate program.
The lead ship in the class, the
Oliver Hazard Perry, FFG-7, is presently
under construction at the Bath Iron
Works, Bath, Maine. Five more of the
new frigates will be constructed by the
Bath Iron Works, and the other six will
be constructed at Todd Shipyards Corpo-
ration, Seattle, Washington, and San
Pedro, California.
Navy Commissaries feel
Navy Commissary Stores worldwide face
adjustments of service levels to counter
increased costs of operation during the
first six months of the current fiscal
year. The Navy Resale System Office has
ordered individual commissaries to make
necessary adjustments to keep expendi-
tures within authorized budget levels
for the rest of FY 76.
"We have reduced our staff by dis-
charging eight part-time employees,**
said Warrant Officer Earl Donnellon,
officer in charge of the NATO Base Com-
missary Store.
Perry-class frigates will be 445 feet
long, 45 feet at the beam and displace
3,600 tons. They are equipped with
standard and harpoon missiles, a 76mm
gun, torpedoes, and two "lamps" heli-
copters.
Their primary mission is to provide
protection for underway replenishment
groups, amphibious forces and military
and merchant shipping against subsur-
face, air and surface threats, and to
conduct operations in conjunction with
other sea control forces tasked with the
protection of our sea lines of communi-
cations .
FY76 money crunch
"There will be no change in the op-
erating hours of the commissary," ex-
plained CW03 Donnellon. The NATO Base
Commissary has had to rearrange person-
nel work schedules to obtain greater
flexibility to provide service during
peak sales periods and minimize customer
inconveniences.
"The adjustments we have made here
will have very little effect as far as
our patrons are concerned," added CW03
Donnellon. "We try to provide all the
service we can."
Marine uniform changes scheduled soon
The results of the most recent Marine
Corps uniform board have been released,
and have set the stage for some long-
awaited changes.
Two of the more far reaching deci-
sions are the deletion of the barracks
cover from general use and the adoption
of camouflage utilities for all marines.
The elimination of the barracks cover
or frame cap and its cloth covers from
the initial allowance list for recruits
could save the Marine Corps more than
$500,000 a year'. It will be retained,
however, in the supply system for use by
marines on special assignments and for
purchase for wear with the dress blue
uniform.
The adoption of camouflage utilities
will begin later this year with recruits
receiving two sets of the new uniform
along with two sets of the present cot-
ton sateen uniform.
In conjunction with the new utili-
ties, a new camouflage cap is also under
study. Several styles are under con-
sideration, but the most popular appears
to be a duck hunter's hat which features
a sloping crown and a brim completely
around the cap instead of a bill.
New utilities are also planned for
women marines. The present blue women's
utilities are not suited for wear in the
more physical jobs women marines are now
doing. The new uniform will consist of
a jacket, short sleeve shirt, slacks,
utility cap and boots.
Camouflage utilities are also beinj
tested for women in order to achiev
uniformity with the new camouflage uni-
form for men.
The uniform board also took steps to
revise regulations in order to allow
women to wear rifle and pistol marksman-
ship badges.
The beltless service coat, which had
been discussed as a possible replacement
for the standard green service coat, has
been abandoned. The Commandant, General
Lewis Wilson, had worn a beltless coat
to test the idea, and he received over-
whelming support for retaining the belt.
Also of good news to marines is the
study to adopt a combination overcoat-
raincoat to replace the two items now
used. The coat would be cut along the
trench coat design with a zip-in lining
for cold weather. The coat will also be
of a color compatible with both the ser-
vice and dress uniforms.
Headquarters Marine Corps will be re-
leasing more information in the near
future on these uniform changes.
COMFAIRKEFLAVIK
Open house
A group of 130 Commander Fleet Air
Keflavik dependents participated in a
tour of COMFAIRKEFLAVIK last week. The
"open house" provided an opportunity for
the wives and children to view their
sponsor's work areas, as well as pre-
senting an overall view of the staff
mission.
The tour was divided into four ses-
sions to accommodate the large group.
Captain A. W. Howard, Jr., chief of
staff, welcomed the first group and ex-
pressed his appreciation for the fine
support they have provided their hus-
bands/fathers during the tour in Ice-
land. All of the groups received pres-
entations on the functions of the staff
by key members of the command.
The groups were given a Command/Air
Force presentation followed by a tour of
the data processing division. A movie
on the P3C Orion aircraft was viewed be-
fore touring the communications spaces
and the computer room. After touring
the analysis section, the visitors high-
lighted their day by visiting a P3C
Orion from VP-5.
The tour proved educational as well
as enjoyable for all. Refreshments were
served as all remained to discuss the
events of the day.
MI11HL DEFEItSIUE DRIVING IB
This week is National Defensive Driv-
ing week for 1976. The Defensive Driv-
ing Campaign is a campaign to save
lives, prevent human suffering and
economic waste by preventing traffic ac-
cidents. The National Safety Council
tries to prevent accidents by creating
better driving. It creates better driv-
ers by teaching the accident-avoidance
techniques found in the National Safety
Council's Defensive Driving Course.
The course is taught on the NATO Base
by CM1 Julio Velez of the Public Works
License Office. The course is open to
both military members and dependents.
"Anyone who needs to get a govern-
ment driver's license or renew his
license has to take the course unless he
has gone through it in the past year,"
said Licensing Petty Officer Velez.
"The course is also required for people
who have accumulated six violation
points from traffic court here," he
added.
Traffic accidents are the leading
cause of accidental deaths in the United
States. They claimed more than 45,000
lives in 1975. As of January 1976, over
two million persons in the U.S. have
died since the first recorded motor ve-
hicle death.
Driver error is still the major cause
of traffic accidents and accounts for
approximately 85 per cent of all traffic
accidents.
Drivers can drive better by learning
the techniques of defensive driving. The
single most important asset you will
gain from the Defensive Driving Course
is knowledge. Knowledge that will en-
able you to recognize driving hazards,
understand the proper defense and act in
time to avoid an accident. That is the
kind of knowledge that can literally
mean the difference between life and
death.
The time to prevent accidents is be-
fore you are involved in a crash. For
information on the Defensive Driving
Course, call the Naval Station License
Office at 7109.