fiber in order to prepare optical fiber 10 of fig1 for connection with the assemblies 26 and 100 of fig2 and 5 respectively the following procedure is preferred cable 12 is first cut so that an end face not shown is prepared with all components flush with each other the outer protective sheath is removed over a predetermined length exposing the buffered optical fibers 22 and the cable strength members 24 the brass sleeve element 18 is installed over the fibers and strength members and is pushed onto the cable until the end of the protective sheath 12 hits a stop inside the brass sleeve element a pre formed v shaped tube is installed with one fiber and one strength member passing through each leg of the v shaped tube the tube is pushed on until it bottoms against a stop in the brass sleeve element 18 as shown in fig1 the legs of the v shaped tube are shown as protective sheaths 14 and 16 in fig1 the length of protective sheaths 14 and 16 is predetermined so that the appropriate length of buffered fiber and strength member protrudes from each protective sheath 14 and 16 each optical fiber is now.