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

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.
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