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

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established our sequence plan for logistics operations in the ISB. I deployed on Christmas Eve by C-17 and landed as two battalion trains arrived in the ISB. There were 100 soldiers from the battalion on the ground conducting rail off-load and aircraft support operations on V Corps aircraft from the 12th Aviation Brigade. We got the picture quickly: the battalion would support all aircraft involved in the mission both north and south of the Sava River. This was absolutely an unplanned requirement, but the soldiers quickly improvised and provided quality assistance to all. This total support requirement hit home Christmas eve. I received a call from USAREUR Forward Headquarters—the command and control headquarters located at an old MiG airbase in Tazar, Hungary, approximately ten miles from WIAA. The message: report to headquarters to receive a mission for recovering an aircraft that had gone down in Bosnia. The UH-60 aircraft of the Intervention Force (IFOR) Commander, Admiral Lopez, had encountered maintenance problems in Bosnia, but his pilots safely landed the aircraft. It was located in Bosnia near the area of Banja Luka. Because of severe mechanical problems, the aircraft could not continue flight and would require an aircraft aerial recovery mission in Bosnia. This recovery was completed before the 1-1 Cav crossed the Sava River. Thus the 127th ASB conducted the first tactical operation in support of Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR. The aerial recovery mission team included an infantry squad deployed from Tuzla for security, two AH-64s, two UH-60s, one CH-47, and a downed aircraft recovery team from the battalion. The team deployed on December 27, with the mission to rig the aircraft for a CH-47 sling load and fly the downed aircraft back to the ISB for repair. The team departed at 1000 hours and returned 6 hours later, mission complete—a successful operation. 203
INITIAL SUPPORT OPERATIONS, ISB After arriving at the ISB, the unit provided maintenance support for all aviation units involved in the mission, to include the command and control aircraft supporting the V Corps commander and the Commander in Chief of USAREUR. This was not a planned activity. Eventually, over 130 aircraft were supported under the logistical umbrella of the battalion in very extreme weather and austere working and living conditions. Furthermore, the command and control structure that the battalion would operate under was ambiguous, to say the least. As stated earlier, the battalion was assigned to the 1AD DISCOM and worked for the DISCOM commander. During deployments, the battalion worked for the 1AD 4th Aviation Brigade commander but was under the direct control of the DISCOM and Assistant Division Commander, Support (ADC-S). However, while in the ISB, the battalion had another command layer, USAREUR Forward Headquarters (a three-star headquarters) and 21st TAACOM (a two-star headquarters). This meant that on a given day, the battalion received missions from four different headquarters, usually involving competing resources. This placed the battalion in a tenuous situation. The fact that the battalion was deployed in Bosnia, Croatia, and Hungary placed the soldiers directly under units with different guidance, rules, and policies. However, we had one rule that we lived by: do not violate the 1AD Division commander’s guidance, rules, or policies. This proved to be a very wise decision, which kept the battalion and myself out of trouble! Upon arrival in the ISB, we found only one small hanger available for maintenance. There were no plans for any other facilities, and absolutely no consideration for soldiers working in extreme weather conditions. We were suppose to improvise until called forward for movement to Tuzla. The basis of this rationale was that Army equipment did not break so why have facilities for maintenance. This mind-set quickly changed when the “commander’s” aircraft could not 204
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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
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Although the setup had changed in t
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trains per day to that point, thus
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soldier why there were differences
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One piece of frustrated cargo defin
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soldiers who deployed into an area
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support. After several false starts
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Group leaders, who were not paid pr
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Another lesson I learned was the ve
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We also developed a rotational gunn
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CHAPTER 5 COMMANDING A FIELD ARTILL
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Target Acquisition Battery (B/25 FA
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Rather than the anticipated three w
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DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY HEADQUARTERS
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usiness taking their husbands away
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transportation, shopping, and perso
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were required to carry these 12 rul
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The remaining combat elements of Ch
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As we departed Baumholder, I felt c
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140
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Figure 7. 1st Armored Division AOR.
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forcing Service Battery to expend a
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Zvornik to regain control of the se
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likely a key storage site for a mec
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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
Page 169 and 170: A. He did not countermand the major
Page 171 and 172: CHAPTER 6 THE 28TH TRANSPORTATION B
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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
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Page 201 and 202: along with a myriad of situations t
Page 203: the battalion movement was not sche
Page 207 and 208: SUPPORT PLAN The aviation brigade w
Page 209 and 210: commander while assigned to the 1AD
Page 211 and 212: The ground/air refuel and supply fu
Page 213 and 214: Force protection became a necessary
Page 215 and 216: military. As early as 1993, some si
Page 217 and 218: command, because the National Comma
Page 219 and 220: soldiers up at 1130 for a formal se
Page 221 and 222: actions—all at the same time. Onc
Page 223 and 224: eing, load-bearing equipment (LBE)
Page 225 and 226: teams and had one team erect the EM
Page 227 and 228: was ours. Once we received this add
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Page 233 and 234: • Treated 19,899 Outpatients •
Page 235 and 236: and Steve Walker, commanders of the
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Page 239 and 240: could do to change it now. The good
Page 241 and 242: THE SUBORDINATE REAR DETACHMENT COM
Page 243 and 244: to Grafenwoehr for deployment-speci
Page 245 and 246: Those were some of the major missio
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Page 251 and 252: Fortunately, we never had to deal w
Page 253 and 254: • 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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