Sunday,'June 27,1993

Page 2

THE STARS AND STRIPES

AT A GLANCE

SITES
From Page 1
facilities in New York and Alabama. .
v . r . r . . . -,'
Naval installations in Virginia, California, Mississippi, Texas,
.Connecticut, Washington state and the Maine-New Hampshire
border were among tho$e spared.
,. . j .
.
Commission Chairman Jim Courier said the decisions to
close the Charleston and Mare Island, Calif., naval shipyards
were the most agonizing for him.
,.
"Shipyards are the most difficult things to close' he said.
"We talked to workers whose grandfathers worked at shipyards.
These are terrible decisions."
.
. .:
"I feel like Abraham bringing Isaac up to the attar," commission
member Harry G McPherson Jr. said after reluctantly making the
successful rriotionjp close the Charleston Naval Station.
That decision came only hours before the panel voted to shut
down the city's naval shipyard as well. But commissfoa members
said they would try to move naval facilities into Charleston to
some significant degree" by today - their fifth and final day of
voting on military reductions and mission changes.
,
The commission departed from the Pentagon's recommendations only twice Friday.' Members decided to keep submarines at the New London base al Groton, Conh; And they voted

Air Force Master Sgt. Edward

Stern puts up a sign Saturday naming a street at Wiesbaden AB, Germany, for a pilot who died during
the Berlin Airlift. Army Spec. Kevin
Iwule waits to tighten the bolts.
Streets will be named after 31 men
who died during the airlift. The
names used to, be attached to roads
at nearby Llndsey Air Station,
which is closing. See story on Page
-12.';.;! : - : : , ; : . . . ; - ; ; : ' - . . . . , ' ' ;'-.

Aspln, chiefs meet

Defense Secretary Les Aspln met
for an hour with the Joint Chiefs of
Staff In a continuing effort to forge a
compromise over whether and how
to lift the ban on gays In the armed
:
services.
. -.: .. .. :.;.;.;. . '.;;-."
Page* _

the big freeze

Vice President Al Gore received a
cool reception from government
'workers over plans to freeze federal

pay. ' - . ' '

.

'.

'

- -

-Pages
*

Problem plants

The Nuclear Regulatory Commission added a nuclear plant near New

York City and another near Bay City,
Texas, to its list of problem-plagued
facilities.

Page 6

Kurds, police clash

Kurdish unrest flared again as police scuffled with Kurds holding an
outlawed demonstration in Berlin to
press demands for independence
from Turkey.
Pages

Market slips
,

The stock market was lower last

week, hit by a combination of disappointing economic news and bearish
earnings projections.
-Page 17
INDEX

Abby, Ann Landers ..... 16

Classifieds.......... 20-24
Commentary
Faces'n'Places

Horoscope
Utters
Money matters
Mutuals
Sports...,
Weather

15
16

23
14
17
17-19
25-32
13

to keep open the training facility at MAS Meridian, Miss,, which

the Pentagon sought to close.
__ _,; .
California did not fare well Friday. In addition to the closure
of Mare Island, the commission voted to close NAS Alameda
and the naval station at Treasure Island -~ all in the San FranciscoBay area.
:*
':'"
The decision to close Alameda by a 4-3 vote meant that the unfinished Naval Station Everett, on Washington. state's Pugct
Sound, would be completed and receive ah aircraft carrier from
Alameda. Commissioners said Alameda was too expensive to operate
::'';''''..
; : ' ' ' .. . ' ' ' '
But in another 4-3 vote, the commission voted to save the
Long Beach, Calif., shipyard,
,
. -.
.;.,,
Also selected lor closure were the naval stations at Mobile,
Ala., and Fort Wadsworth on Staten Island, N.Y., although the
latter will retain some housing.
. . '
.
the commission decided to keep open the Norfolk shipyard
at Portsmouth, Va.; the Portsmouth, N.H., shipyard on the
Maine-New Hampshire border, and the naval stations at Pascacoula, Miss., and Ingleside, Texas.
. , ,
The list of changes compiled by the commission In meetings
through today wilf go to the White House. President Clinton
will have until July 15 to accept or reject the list If he turns it
down, the panel has an additional month to change the list and
submit it to Clinton a final time.
If the president accepts a list, he sends it to Congress.

MPs
From Page 1
said. "There was very heavy fire."
"It was pretty scary," said Pfc. Shawn
Flack, the gunner in the lead vehicle. "I
still think about that first person I shot-*
a lady with an AK," which is a type of
Russian rifle.
One soldier in each of the Humvees
Was grazed by a bullet. Spec. Michael,
Mosher, the gunner in the second vehicle, was grazed on the wrist. Sgt. Angel
Rios, the squad leader in the first vehicle,
Was grazed by a bullet that left a mark on
his neck.
; "..
The incident has received little publicity because its consequences were slight
compared with the Pakistanis' deaths,
which changed the atmosphere in this
city dramatically.
Since then, caution has been the byword for U.N. forces moving throughout
the city. Movement between U,N. ean>
pounds is done only in convoys protected
By automatic weapons.
The shooting has not stopped. Gunfire
is heard every night, and the MP patrols
that continue to crisscross the city in the
daylight are being shot at daily.
/'I wouldn't say every patrol (is shot at)
every day, but every day a patrol gets shot
at," Farlow said.
"I've had a few rounds zinging at me,"
said 1st Sgt. James Mead, the MP company's first sergeant. "It's not fun."
The patrol ran into the ambush shortly
after noon June 5 while searching for a
Canadian truck reported missing within
the city with five people aboard.
The vehicles had turned onto a street
that was fairly busy with people, Pflugrath said,

"We turned the corner, and the street

cleared like that," he said with a snap of
his fingers.
The quick disappearance of the people
on the street warned the MPs that something was amiss. Seconds later, the shooting began, coming from the second story
of some buildings and from along the

ground.
"All I had to do was give my order
once. That was, 'Move and shoot,' " Rios
said. "Everybody just did their job. That's
the only reason we're here now."

He shook his head and said, "Awe-

843: Davo Casey

Members of an MP patrol who were fired on June 5 in Mogadishu include (bottom, from left)
Sgt. Angel Rios, 2nd U. Mike Pflugrath, Sgt Christopher Pruttt, Pfc. Joe Parrish and Pfc.
Shawn Hack. On top are Spec. Michael Mosher (left) and Spec, Bertran Hurst

some soldiers."
The two drivers, Spec. Bertran Hurst
in the first vehicle and Pfc. Joe Parrish in
the second, sped down the street crashing
through or driving around obstacles of
wood, barrels, cement and the like that
hadvbeen piled in the street to slow them
down.
Meanwhile, the other soldiers instantly
returned fire.
"The soldiers believe we got 10 of
them," Pflugrath said.

None of the soldiers could say exactly

how long it took for their vehicles to clear
the ambush, but Sgt. Christopher Pruitt,
the team leader in the second vehicle,
took a stab at it.
"Forever," he said.
The 1,000 yards seemed like 10 miles,
Pflugrath said.
"I have nightmares about it," Pruitt
said.
Two bullet holes were found in the
driver's seat of the lead vehicle after the
ambush.
No one can explain how the soldiers
were able to escape serious injury in the
battle. The question elicited crooked
smiles and shrugs.
Since than, the MPs have left their

sanctuary at a university complex with a

heightened sense of awareness.
"It just gave you a different perspective," Pflugrath said. "Anyone out there
is a potential threat to your life."
The MPs still patrol the streets daily,
providing the eyes and ears for the entire
operation, Farlow said/Other than the
quick reaction force made up of 1,000
soldiers from Fort Drum, N.Y., the MPs
are "the closest thing to a combat force,
he said. "We're in big demand."
But even the compound is not a haven.
Snipers pepper the university grounds
with sporadic fire nearly every night.
"It can be just a few shots or a major
gunbattle," Mead said.
His company includes veterans from
campaigns in Grenada, Panama and the
Persian Gulf.
"All of them say, 'I didn't see anything
like this,' " Mead said. "When you go out
the gate, if you have the mind-set 'I'll be
shot at,' then your mind is right."
"It still may be called a humanitarian
mission," Farlow said. "But for us, it's a
combat zone."

NATO, Russian military to trade teachers, articles

CASTEAU, Belgium (AP) - NATO
and Russian military officers will teach at
each other's schools and write in one another's magazines as part of measures announced Friday to forge closer East-West
links.
U.S. Gen. John M. Shalikashvili, commander of NATO forces in Europe, said
in a statement that the alliance is moving

"from words to deeds" in trying to improve ties with Russia's military.

Under a new accord, officers from the
European command of the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation w ill teach at Russian military academies.
Russian officers will attend courses on
peacekeeping anil the environment at the
alliance's school in ObcrummcrLMu, tier-

many. A Russian officer will lecture there.

The arrangement also calls for Russian
officers to attend special NATO conferences and for Western delegations to visit
Russian military headquarters in Moscow, St. Petersburg and elsewhere.
Senior officers will be asked to w i i l articles for each other's military in-'!'-"
amines.