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

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CHAPTER 5 COMMANDING A FIELD ARTILLERY BATTALION IN A PEACE ENFORCEMENT ENVIRONMENT—OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR Lieutenant Colonel Jeffery W. Hammond INTRODUCTION Sir, We did a pretty good job in Bosnia. Guess it’s because those hardheaded soldiers really listened to us. About time someone listened to the noncommissioned officers. SFC “Smoke” Peterson/4-29 FA The purpose of this Personal Experience Monograph is to share the experience of Field Artillery battalion command in a peace enforcement environment. To this end, I will address predeployment, deployment, operations, and redeployment activities of the 4th Battalion, 29th Field Artillery Regiment in support of Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina. This monograph is organized into two sections. In section one, I present a historical summary of the battalion’s actions leading up to and in support of the mission in Bosnia-Herzegovina. My intent is to “tell the story” focusing on the battalion both in Bosnia and at home station in Germany. Section two identifies lessons learned for future commanders when faced with a similar mission and/or operational environment. The reader must understand this perspective is mine alone and thus extremely opinionated. This monograph tells the story of how I did things in command—right or 119
wrong. In this regard, the deployment provided an excellent opportunity to examine equipment, doctrine, and people over 11 months in support of a unique operation. My troops were family; we lived, ate, and slept together 24 hours daily. Thus, the lessons learned are numerous and based on practical experience. However, one must recognize the unique circumstances surrounding Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR. Any insight gained from this paper must receive full consideration in the context of its impact on Field Artillery and Combined Arms Operations doctrine. BACKGROUND Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR was initiated in December 1995 as a NATO-led peace enforcement operation in the Former Republic of Yugoslavia. U.S. forces from the 1st Armored Division served as the peace implementation force (IFOR) in accordance with the General Agreement for Peace in Bosnia-Herzegovina concluded at Dayton, Ohio, in December 1995. The 4th Battalion, 29th Field Artillery (4-29 FA) was an organic unit of the 1st Armored Division, V Corps, and United States Army Europe (USAREUR). It deployed in support of Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR from December 17, 1995, through November 30, 1996. The battalion no longer exists as an active unit, as it was redesignated the 4th Battalion, 27th Field Artillery in February 1997. 4-29 FA was a M109A2 equipped, 3x8 155mm cannon unit based in Baumholder, Germany, and assigned a direct support mission to the 2nd Brigade of the 1st Armored Division. The unit was organized as a standard selfpropelled Field Artillery battalion consisting of five batteries: three cannon, one service, and one headquarters. The battalion was reorganized for Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR as a Field Artillery Task Force (TF) with the addition of a Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) Platoon from Baumholder, Germany, and a Firefinder 120
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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
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east-west roads crossing the Zone o
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needed from his forces. This coordi
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This COP was manned by a reinforced
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attalion commander was executing a
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Page 73 and 74: On February 11, TF 3-325 began coor
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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
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Page 110 and 111: One piece of frustrated cargo defin
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
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Page 137 and 138: were required to carry these 12 rul
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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
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Page 159 and 160: assume the FSG advisor role for the
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Page 163 and 164: This created a daily stop at every
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Page 167 and 168: CONCLUSION The opportunity for batt
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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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