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

the medical profiles and those in hiding. Work it from
day one, before you are alerted.
• Get to know the Division Inspector General long
before you deploy. You will no doubt hear from him on
more than one occasion, and it helps to know each
other and appreciate roles.
• You will have your share of individuals who simply do
not want to deploy. They may resort to various
pretexts such as feigning suicide, hurting themselves,
etc. Know the proper policy and legal methods for
handling such cases. I had an officer feign suicide and
learned that the proper management of such a
situation is difficult and distracting, particularly
when preparing for an operational deployment. Do
not get caught short here.
• Train your Field Artillerymen in their basic combat
skills, and they will be successful in any peace
environment. The tough and realistic training
imposed on my soldiers translated to successful peace
enforcement operations. We were successful because
we were trained to fight a war. Honing the combat
skills prior to deployment was made easy because of
the high standards and expectations of combat MOS
training.
• Units must continue to train during the deployment.
Basic skills need constant attention. Soldiers are not
accustomed to carrying loaded weapons around all the
time. We had problems in the 1st Armored Division
with regard to small arms misfires. Fortunately
nobody was hurt; however, soldiers who carry loaded
weapons every day must receive constant safety
awareness training. Also, everyone needs to fire
individual weapons as much as possible when
deployed. We constructed our own small arms range
and routinely familiarized/qualified soldiers on
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