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

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support. After several false starts, the 3d Infantry Division (soon to become the 1st Infantry Division) was designated to support us. They did a magnificent job. Their DISCOM commander and shop officer were wonderful, treating us as their own, and often with more responsiveness and effort than we were used to from our own DISCOM. One issue arose immediately when I returned. 2-3 FA had numerous Heavy Expanded-Mobility Tactical Trucks (HEMETTs) which had not been turned in after they had been replaced with newer vehicles. They were in various states of readiness, and it was immediately obvious that my maintenance personnel could not get them prepared for turn in. Additionally, my maintenance personnel could not even maintain the vehicles I had under my control. I had lost 14 tanks and all of the mechanics that would normally work on them when A Company deployed. However, I gained 45 tanks with the rear detachments that came to me. Additionally, in order to fill their shortages, the deploying units had stripped the mechanics and crews for those tanks. In fact, we had more tanks in the brigade rear detachment than the brigade which had deployed to Bosnia, but with a much smaller portion of maintenance assets. So maintenance of this equipment became a major issue. Despite a lot of resistance from TF VICTORY (the Corps rear detachment) and the maintenance community in general, we managed to push through the idea of contract maintenance. We hired some contract personnel who performed organizational and direct support maintenance on the non-battalion equipment left behind. It was really the only way that we could have kept the equipment maintained, and I believe the concept was very successful. In fact, the equipment was probably in better condition when the units returned than when they departed. They even managed to get the 2-3 FA HEMETTs to standard so they could be turned in, which was no small feat. Although maintenance was a significant issue when I returned from Bad Kreuznach, the biggest issues were 110
family-support related. I found an unintended consequence of the battalion staff’s and my departure and execution of the DOC mission was the signal it sent the family support group (FSG) leaders. Some felt that it minimized their importance and the importance of the rear detachment in general. There was resentment that the rear detachments and families were not first priority. While undoubtedly it was the right thing to do to keep deployment as the first priority, in retrospect we should have communicated better with the FSG leaders. In one of the first meetings I attended with the Base Support Battalion, Family Support Group Leaders, and Rear Detachment leaders, I saw the major problem with the relationship among the three. That is, roles and responsibilities were not well defined, and, in my opinion, the Army‘s community side had not taken responsibility for family support as they should. The particular instance I remember was a briefing by one of the people from the community on Family Assistance Centers (FACs). She talked about their role, describing the Family Support Groups as the first line of defense, with the rear detachment reinforcing the FSG, and the FAC as the last line of defense. I was very upset at this line of reasoning and felt I had to speak up. In my mind, the Family Assistance Center was the first line of defense, not the last. It is at the FAC where the paid professionals exist whose job it is to support families. It is not, in my mind, the primary job of the unit rear detachment, nor the Family Support Group. My feeling was that the rear detachment supports the deployed unit first, then the soldiers who are not deployed, and then serves the families as a conduit of information. The Family Support Group role, in my opinion, was one of emotional support to each other. That is, any support group’s purpose seems to me to be emotional support. Parents Without Partners, Lupus Support Groups, Alcoholics Anonymous, and others do not provide community assistance. They provide emotional support to individuals. I felt it was unfair to saddle Family Support 111
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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
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sandbagged for force protection. Th
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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 110 and 111: One piece of frustrated cargo defin
Page 112 and 113: soldiers who deployed into an area
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
Page 161 and 162: assigned weapons. It was a great co
Page 163 and 164: 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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