erald Union H Wiesbaden: Your home in Germany
Vol. XV, No. 14
April 25, 2013
News flash
Unit honored
Photo by Wendy Brown
Photo by Karl Weisel
First V Corps Soldiers welcomed home
Community members turn out in force to welcome the first batch of returning V Corps Soldiers from Afghanistan April 15 at the Wiesbaden Fitness Center. The group signalled the first of many homecoming events in the Wiesbaden military community in the next several weeks. Photo right: Aukamm Elementary School Principal Debbie Parks and kindergartner Asher Heffron help reunite the school’s mascots Daisy, Liberty and Duke during the homecoming event. Duke was deployed with V Corps and returned with Parks’ husband Col. Kendall Parks while Daisy and Liberty kept the home fires burning.
Review delays furlough decision By Robert Dozier
U.S. Army Installation Management Command
Employees will have to wait a bit longer to find out the details of their furlough, including the exact number of non-pay status days, as officials attempt to minimize the impact on mission and personnel. The extensive planning and deliberations for the release of Notice of Proposed Furlough Letters to Army civilians have been
stalled between Congressional action and White House budget proposals. The reason for the delay is complex. On March 21, the Pentagon put off sending out notices to give officials time to review the Consolidated and Further Continuing Appropriations Act of 2013. This continuing resolution put $10 billion back in the budget, restored tuition assistance for military members and gave the services some flexibility in the application of the furloughs.
After a detailed review, the Defense Department revised the number of non-pay status days from 22 to 14 and delayed the start of furloughs until mid- to late June. Around 750,000 civilians had been facing a 20 percent reduction in pay for the remaining weeks of fiscal year 2013. Congressional approval of the defense appropriations bill late in March reduced the shortfall in the budget from $46 to $41 See Furlough on page 3
Mailboxes to move to basement May 24-28 By Karl Weisel
U.S. Army Garrison Wiesbaden Public Affairs Office
Phase II of a project to upgrade the Postal Service Center and provide more mailbox space will see the temporary relocation of mailboxes into the basement of the facility. “It’s a big project and it has a lot of moving parts,” said Earl Small, U.S.
Inside Green Boot
New program aimed at encouraging units to save energy, resources. See page 5.
Army Garrison postal services officer, explaining that with the increased number of patrons due to U.S. Army Europe transformation, better use of the available space and an increased number of boxes are required. Photo by Chrystal Smith Mailboxes will be moved into the basement Patrons will check their mail in May 24-28. During that the basement starting May 29. time access to all mail- pickup point will not be boxes and the package available to patrons.
Flower time
See pages 14-15 for our Earth Day photo contest winners and a story on the Frankfurt Palmengarten.
The Postal Finance Section will remain open during the transition. “We’re going to do our best that when we reopen our doors on May 29 everything will be set,” said Small.
“This renovation, conducted in three phases, will enlarge the community’s postal capacity from the current 6,500 mailboxes to 8,500 and create a more efficient behind-the-scenes operations flow for the employees,” said Roger Gerber, director of the Transformation and Stationing Management OfSee Mail on page 4
RoboWarriors
High school’s robotics team returns from national competition with special recognition. See page 12.
U.S. Army Europe r e c o g n i z e d Wi e s baden’s Company E, 1st Battalion, 214th Aviation Regiment, as the winner of the USAREUR Petroleum Excellence Award for fiscal year 2012. Baumholder’s 24th Quartermaster Company was named runner-up. The award recognizes the units for their “hard work and improving their logistics readiness, maintenance excellence, training in petroleum operations, accountability and management.” Winners advance to the Army Petroleum Center/American Petroleum Institute Awards Competition for fiscal year 2013. (USAREUR Release)
MOAA meeting
Active duty, guard/ reserve, former or retired commissioned and warrant officers of the uniformed services are invited to the First European Chapter of the Military Officers Association of America meeting of the membership May 4 at 11:30 a.m. at the Quack Restaurant and Biergarten. The restaurant is located near Kleber Kaserne in Kaiserslautern. Make reservations and get reservations by sending an email to alanjolsen@gmail.com.