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

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CHAPTER 8 PREPARATION AND DEPLOYMENT OF THE INITIAL MEDICAL FORCE IN SUPPORT OF OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR Colonel William T. Bester Operation JOINT ENDEAVOR began in December 1995 in an attempt to enforce a peaceful resolution to the ongoing ethnic conflict in the Balkans. Over 20,000 American soldiers deployed into the Bosnian Theater in support of this effort. A critical part of this deployment was the medical support for soldiers deploying into or through the Intermediate Staging Base (ISB) in Taszar, Hungary; along the Main Supply Routes (MSR) in Croatia; and in key locations in the American sector in Bosnia. This monograph will look at one portion of that medical support, that provided by the 67th Combat Support Hospital (CSH), home-based in Wuerzburg, Germany. The 67th CSH is a 236-bed, Deployable Medical Systems (DEPMEDS) hospital. In 1995, it was the only hospital in the U.S. Army that served a dual role as both a full-up TO&E hospital and a full-time TDA facility supporting the Wuerzburg, Germany, catchment area. This meant that all the professional and personnel resources designated to deploy with the 67th CSH also served day to day in the Wuerzburg Medical Activity (MEDDAC) hospital caring for those soldiers and their family members needing peacetime health care. Upon my arrival at the unit in June of 1994, I quickly realized that the 67th CSH had, for some time, been preparing for a possible deployment into the Balkans to support some form of peace enforcement by the U.S. 213
military. As early as 1993, some single-parent military members were being encouraged to leave their children in the continental United States and go to Germany alone because of the high probability of a deployment shortly after their arrival. Although there was frequent talk of a possible deployment, the cry “Wolf!” had been sounded so often, and for so long, that upon my arrival any mention of a deployment was taken lightly and without concern or belief that it would actually occur. Approximately 15 months later, however, the atmosphere changed. By autumn 1995, there were more high-level command meetings and briefings regarding the possible support of a Balkan peace enforcement operation than I had seen since my arrival in Europe. In September 1995, we were tasked to support a multi-national exercise in Grafenwoehr, Germany. During October frequent inquiries into unit status and readiness came down to us from higher command. As peace talks progressed, the reality of a possible deployment began to strike home. In November the talk was not “whether” we would deploy, but rather “when.” However, many remained skeptical. Then, in early November we were ordered to deploy the CSH to Grafenwoehr for a validation exercise. All units designated as units to deploy in support of any peace enforcement measures in the Balkans were required to “validate” that they were trained, prepared, and equipped to immediately respond to such a deployment. The validation exercise was of grave concern to those of us in the CSH—purely from an equipment readiness perspective. The weather was extremely rainy during this period, and had been so for some time. Our major concern was the time needed to recover and clean the hospital tents, facilities, and equipment upon return from the validation exercise. We felt that our recent primary medical support of a major multi-national exercise “validated” that we were prepared to deploy immediately and support any plan or 214
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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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deployment. When offered the opport
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was due to retire from the Russian
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equipment for turn-in both at Baumh
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assume the FSG advisor role for the
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assigned weapons. It was a great co
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
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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
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Page 205 and 206: INITIAL SUPPORT OPERATIONS, ISB Aft
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Page 209 and 210: commander while assigned to the 1AD
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Page 213: Force protection became a necessary
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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
Page 247 and 248: kept track of the classified inform
Page 249 and 250: considerable time updating the book
Page 251 and 252: Fortunately, we never had to deal w
Page 253 and 254: • Good rear detachment commanders
Page 255 and 256: AFTERWORD Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II
Page 257 and 258: Colin Powell’s philosophy—we we
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