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

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U.S.-RUSSIAN FIELD ARTILLERY TRAINING We worked hard when presented the opportunity by the Division Artillery Commander to foster a working relationship with the Russian 2S-9 Field Artillery Battalion serving in support of the Russian Brigade. I like to tell the story that we virtually laid to rest any remnants of the Cold War by establishing a unique and enlightened partnership with our Russian counterparts. Unlike my battalion, the Russian unit was a selfpropelled airborne battalion, which looked good but, for the most part, seldom ventured outside their barracks while in Bosnia. In this regard, we took most of the initiative for training exchanges, which included small arms familiarization, combined fire support operations in the Russian sector, positioning a cannon battery and radar section in the Russian sector for combined operations, officer and enlisted soldier exchanges, and holiday visits (e.g., July 4 activities in the U.S. sector). Interactions between the enlisted soldiers were impressive. Language was no barrier, and the troops were quick to exchange uniform items and stories of girls and friends. Among officers, it was a bit different. The young Russian lieutenants appeared distrustful of my officers and almost incredulous when visiting living, morale, and recreation facilities in the United States sector. As I recall, when we escorted the Russian officers through the Steele Castle Post Exchange (which was full of attractive items), they simply appeared uninterested and wanted to move on. However, hours later when left alone, the Russian officers quickly ran to the PX and purchased stacks of goods to take back to their unit. My impression was that the Russian lieutenants simply did not trust my leaders, were Communists at heart, and were standoffish by nature. My counterpart, the Russian battalion commander, was uniquely different from his lieutenants. Foremost, he was a veteran of both the Afghanistan and Chechnya wars and 151
was due to retire from the Russian Army in months. He was very open and saddened by the contrast between his drab life and the attractive opportunities afforded an American citizen. More than once he told me the young Russian officers “have it all wrong and are too hard—caught up in the military fever.” I was impressed with the professionalism of the Russian Field Artillery Battalion, and the more time we spent together, the more relaxed the young officers became. Their attitudes improved; they looked like soldiers, and I was impressed with the way they performed their role in Bosnia. REDEPLOYMENT Before I discuss redeployment to home station at Baumholder, Germany, I will mention the official Rest and Recuperation (R&R) Leave program made available to the troops during the mid to latter stages of the deployment. All soldiers were authorized under normal leave conditions the opportunity to take 2 weeks R&R leave. This proved a great morale booster. Fortunately, the number of soldiers failing to return to theater following R&R leave was minimal. I had only one absent without leave (AWOL) and, in his case, he had a serious personal problem best addressed by “signing in” at the United States military installation nearest to his home. Two R&R programs were in place. In one, the soldier could fly back to Germany and remain there or within Europe throughout the 2-week leave period. The other program allowed him to fly, all expenses paid, to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and depart from there for leave in the United States. To manage the program, we had to resort to an order-of-merit list based on time in theater. Hence, those soldiers from C Battery who arrived the earliest in Bosnia were afforded the opportunity to take R&R leave first. Nevertheless, all eligible soldiers in the battalion were provided the opportunity for R&R leave—most took advantage of the program. 152
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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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creativity in accomplishing every a
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On February 11, TF 3-325 began coor
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their security. Hence, the title em
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deployed with the battalion to the
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at a confrontation going on at a ch
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he was deadly serious. I was convin
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As I reflected on the emotions I wa
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three times. The first time some ke
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pressure, intensity, and rigor of a
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gaining the sense of teamwork and s
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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 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
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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: deployment. When offered the opport
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
Page 165 and 166: (at all times) and constant reporti
Page 167 and 168: CONCLUSION The opportunity for batt
Page 169 and 170: A. He did not countermand the major
Page 171 and 172: CHAPTER 6 THE 28TH TRANSPORTATION B
Page 173 and 174: deactivation of the 53rd Transporta
Page 175 and 176: factors allowing us to stay ahead o
Page 177 and 178: drivers could not operate a motor v
Page 179 and 180: tied up with A/DACGS, CSCs, EAGLE E
Page 181 and 182: heat I received from the families b
Page 183 and 184: 260th TTD relied entirely on the 28
Page 185 and 186: When I split my battalion headquart
Page 187 and 188: no IG or congressional inquiries re
Page 189 and 190: unit home to Wuerzburg, Germany. Un
Page 191 and 192: Drivers were also beginning to show
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Page 195 and 196: mileage during my first year in com
Page 197 and 198: logistics operations in support of
Page 199 and 200: The 127th ASB is a Combat Service S
Page 201 and 202: along with a myriad of situations t
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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

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

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