Warriors in Peace Operations - Strategic Studies Institute - U.S. Army

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One piece of frustrated cargo defined the term. The Armor Launched Vehicle Bridges were too large to get to Bosnia by rail. Although Brigadier General James P. O’Neal, the ADC-S, had suggested months before that we send such cargo by barge, that idea had been dismissed by someone up the chain outside the division. Instead, there was insistence we send everything by rail. The bottom line was that the bridges could not be shipped there in time for use during the river crossing. We argued with several people at corps and 21st TAACOM about disassembling the bridges for shipment. We insisted we could not do it and get them reassembled in time to meet the requirements. We ended up shipping six bridges, I believe, by C-17 cargo aircraft. Another difficult issue we had to deal with almost immediately was determining priority for movement of cargo and units by air from Ramstein Air Base. There was a board process for determining priority for air. However, there was a difference between USAREUR movement board decisions and priorities on the airfield. The Division G-3, Lieutenant Colonel Ed Kane, sent Major Tom Muir, the G-3 Air, to Ramstein to represent the Task Force and to ensure our priorities were executed. It was a constant struggle. Part of the problem was the requirement that everything be done on JOPES; however, the lowest-level JOPES terminal was in Heidelberg at corps Headquarters. The primary JOPES operator, Mr. Oliphant, was almost a one-man show. Moreover, units were responsible for filling out JOPES worksheets so that he could input information from them into the computer. As movements changed, it required a stream of officers going to Heidelberg to sit down with Mr. Oliphant to update JOPES input. This was very disruptive for units trying to deploy. The next problem was what was happening on the ground at Ramstein. Sometimes, Air Force personnel would load lower-priority pallets before the higher-priority pallets. Muir’s efforts were invaluable as he helped get critical items flown to Tuzla in the early days. 106
The deployment was an unbelievable operation. The conflict between headquarters, the resentment built up based on conflicts, and the personal turmoil affecting soldiers and families were significant and to some degree avoidable. Although the mission was accomplished, it was not nearly as “successful” or pretty as those who write hyped articles for various publications attest. Most of the problems for the deployment were induced by several key factors. First, despite the fact that the Dayton meeting was concluded in November, the military was not given authority to mobilize reservists or begin deployment of “enabling forces” to ensure a smooth deployment of the forces who would perform the mission until the last minute. Secondly, in establishment of the transfer of authority (TOA) date, the time required to deploy was apparently not considered. TOA was established as December 2, 1995, and we were not given permission to deploy until December 15. No single deployment headquarters was established for the deployment. Possibly this was because 21st TAACOM is primarily a reserve organization, and authorization to activate personnel was received late. There were some self-inflicted wounds as well. TFE was not able to plan adequately because of simultaneous training and deployment requirements. I remember one day at Grafenwoehr when the brigade staff was planning the real Bosnian mission—planning deployment, participating in a fire coordination exercise, planning the movement of units from Grafenwoehr to Hohenfels, planning the exercise mission at Hohenfels, and installing a new communications system in all their vehicles. This was all in the same day, with a staff so sparsely manned that it had a difficult time planning a future operation while executing a current one. The result was considerable risk of mission success. Had the Bosnian factions not been cooperative, I believe it would have been very difficult for us to enforce compliance in accordance with the timeline established at Dayton. The other result was the immeasurable suffering by numerous 107
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WARRIORS IN PEACE OPERATIONS Edited
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CONTENTS FOREWORD .................
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FOREWORD The Personal Experience Mo
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seldom practiced. The actual practi
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BATTALION COMMAND I assumed command
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all training, maintenance, and othe
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company training and log efforts, a
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the USAREUR staff was thought up an
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new times. Ops Center at the battal
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like the Jewish exodus wandering ar
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marvelous job of coordinating the e
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it. They did not want us there or n
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containers as well. I told him I un
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promptly chambered a round in his p
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techniques, we found the railhead a
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answer. He quickly made himself and
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Tacsat systems with two independent
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CHAPTER 3 THE BLUE FALCONS IN BOSNI
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monograph. My omission of such elem
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their advance around the safe haven
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unusual. In today’s environment,
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He also provided his timeline for J
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Within about an hour I was reminded
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eter. Even along these paths, I had
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for deployment. The pre-deployment
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a rehearsal for leaders, using a ve
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• Heavy weapons platoon from E Co
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The Blue Falcons exited the aircraf
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esponsibility for the base security
Page 59 and 60: sandbagged for force protection. Th
Page 61 and 62: Weather continued to deteriorate ov
Page 63 and 64: east-west roads crossing the Zone o
Page 65 and 66: needed from his forces. This coordi
Page 67 and 68: This COP was manned by a reinforced
Page 69 and 70: attalion commander was executing a
Page 71 and 72: creativity in accomplishing every a
Page 73 and 74: On February 11, TF 3-325 began coor
Page 75: their security. Hence, the title em
Page 88 and 89: deployed with the battalion to the
Page 90 and 91: at a confrontation going on at a ch
Page 92 and 93: he was deadly serious. I was convin
Page 94 and 95: As I reflected on the emotions I wa
Page 96 and 97: three times. The first time some ke
Page 98 and 99: pressure, intensity, and rigor of a
Page 100 and 101: gaining the sense of teamwork and s
Page 102 and 103: from 4-67, and now three tank plato
Page 104 and 105: Although the setup had changed in t
Page 106 and 107: trains per day to that point, thus
Page 108 and 109: soldier why there were differences
Page 112 and 113: soldiers who deployed into an area
Page 114 and 115: support. After several false starts
Page 116 and 117: Group leaders, who were not paid pr
Page 118 and 119: Another lesson I learned was the ve
Page 120 and 121: We also developed a rotational gunn
Page 122 and 123: CHAPTER 5 COMMANDING A FIELD ARTILL
Page 124 and 125: Target Acquisition Battery (B/25 FA
Page 126 and 127: Rather than the anticipated three w
Page 128 and 129: DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY HEADQUARTERS
Page 130 and 131: usiness taking their husbands away
Page 132 and 133: transportation, shopping, and perso
Page 137 and 138: were required to carry these 12 rul
Page 139 and 140: The remaining combat elements of Ch
Page 141 and 142: As we departed Baumholder, I felt c
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Page 145 and 146: Figure 7. 1st Armored Division AOR.
Page 147 and 148: forcing Service Battery to expend a
Page 149 and 150: Zvornik to regain control of the se
Page 151 and 152: likely a key storage site for a mec
Page 153 and 154: deployment. When offered the opport
Page 155 and 156: was due to retire from the Russian
Page 157 and 158: equipment for turn-in both at Baumh
Page 159 and 160: assume the FSG advisor role for the
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assigned weapons. It was a great co
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This created a daily stop at every
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(at all times) and constant reporti
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CONCLUSION The opportunity for batt
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A. He did not countermand the major
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CHAPTER 6 THE 28TH TRANSPORTATION B
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deactivation of the 53rd Transporta
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factors allowing us to stay ahead o
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drivers could not operate a motor v
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tied up with A/DACGS, CSCs, EAGLE E
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heat I received from the families b
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260th TTD relied entirely on the 28
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When I split my battalion headquart
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no IG or congressional inquiries re
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unit home to Wuerzburg, Germany. Un
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Drivers were also beginning to show
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unnecessary wear and tear on his un
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mileage during my first year in com
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logistics operations in support of
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The 127th ASB is a Combat Service S
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along with a myriad of situations t
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the battalion movement was not sche
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INITIAL SUPPORT OPERATIONS, ISB Aft
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SUPPORT PLAN The aviation brigade w
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commander while assigned to the 1AD
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The ground/air refuel and supply fu
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Force protection became a necessary
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military. As early as 1993, some si
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command, because the National Comma
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soldiers up at 1130 for a formal se
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actions—all at the same time. Onc
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eing, load-bearing equipment (LBE)
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teams and had one team erect the EM
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was ours. Once we received this add
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hospital area and our consequent ab
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our soldiers in a U.S. facility, bu
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• Treated 19,899 Outpatients •
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and Steve Walker, commanders of the
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the unique tasks required for the u
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could do to change it now. The good
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THE SUBORDINATE REAR DETACHMENT COM
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to Grafenwoehr for deployment-speci
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Those were some of the major missio
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kept track of the classified inform
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considerable time updating the book
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Fortunately, we never had to deal w
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• Good rear detachment commanders
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AFTERWORD Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II
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Colin Powell’s philosophy—we we
show all

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