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

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the Sarajevo site for the IFOR Forward HQs at the Residency (the former residence of Yugoslav Prime Minister Marshal Joseph Tito). It seems the plan was to link up the communications with Zetra Stadium, the signal site on the outskirts of the city: it supported the Ace Ready Reaction Corps (ARRC) Forward HQs. The link was less than a mile as the crow flies, but it had to go across a high ridge and apartment buildings and was connected by no less than four different communications means. Since signal support for the IFOR Forward HQs was the mission of my battalion, he asked me to go to Sarajevo and do some on-the-ground signal surveys. The following Tuesday (December 19), the first flight out found me and CW2 Banner, our brilliant Tacsat warrant officer, aboard a C17 bound for Sarajevo. Once in Sarajevo, we soon discovered the dire living straits of our soldiers supporting the ARRC at Zetra Stadium. Captain Dave Alexander and the 58th Tacsat Signal Company had arrived 5 days earlier. They had put in communications and were bedded down at Zetra. This was the location of the ice skating events of the 1984 Olympic Games, where Dorothy Hamill of the United States had won the gold medal. The stadium roof was very badly damaged from the shelling. The main stadium floor was flooded with approximately 3-4 inches of water throughout. The toilet facilities were Mideastern, only a hole with footprints. They were inoperable, overflowing with an unbelievable stench. The water did not work anywhere in the building: no showers, no laundry. Water for cooking and cleaning had to be carried in. Our soldiers had to sleep on cots in hallways under the stadium seats—the driest place they could find. But they were still under water. I quickly found the Headquarters Commandant (HQ Commandant), an Australian officer assigned to the ARRC, to tell him of my displeasure and to hear his assessment of the situation. According to him, his engineers were working very hard but had been unable to fix the plumbing. Maybe in another week or two. But they had already been there 5 days. In addition, he said he would be moving in Karomic portable toilet 19
containers as well. I told him I understood that he felt he was doing the best he could, but this was a very unhealthy and unsatisfactory condition. It was not being fixed fast enough. I intended to inform my higher command and request assistance. When I informed my Brigade Commander about the deplorable conditions, he told me to report it directly to the Commanding General (CG) of 5th Signal Command. The CG was very supportive and assured me that he would do whatever he could to improve the situation for the soldiers. Next I called the ALOC to contract for floor lumber for the tents to get the soldiers out of the water—but there was no guaranteed method to get the supplies to Sarajevo. Postal service was not working yet, and the flights in were extremely erratic. There is really a price for being the first in! The next day I awoke in four inches of water that had seeped in during the night. Breakfast consisted of cold eggs and baked beans, served in a dimly lit area. Water constantly dripped onto the food. It felt similar to being in Fort Douamont in Verdun, where we had taken the battalion officers for an Officer Professional Development (OPD) just 5 months previously. Today was the TOA to IFOR; it was time to survey the communications for the Residency, located in a heavily wooded lot in the city, with an extremely high ridge on one side and high-rise apartment buildings on the other. It did not look like a promising location to set up a Tacsat for a direct shot. The look angle would not clear the trees, the ridge, or the high-rise buildings. Additionally, the IFOR Forward HQ Commandant, a U.S. Army colonel assigned to AFSOUTH, was not very inclined to give any assistance. In fact, he made it plain that he had no room to quarter any more soldiers. He did not care about communications. His sole concern was how to accommodate CINC IFOR Admiral Smith and his staff, who were arriving in about a week to man the forward headquarters. After looking around, CW2 Banner and I both agreed that our only possibility was to elevate the Tacsat 20
Page 1 and 2: WARRIORS IN PEACE OPERATIONS Edited
Page 3 and 4: CONTENTS FOREWORD .................
Page 5 and 6: FOREWORD The Personal Experience Mo
Page 7 and 8: seldom practiced. The actual practi
Page 9 and 10: BATTALION COMMAND I assumed command
Page 11 and 12: all training, maintenance, and othe
Page 13 and 14: company training and log efforts, a
Page 15 and 16: the USAREUR staff was thought up an
Page 17 and 18: new times. Ops Center at the battal
Page 19 and 20: like the Jewish exodus wandering ar
Page 21 and 22: marvelous job of coordinating the e
Page 23: it. They did not want us there or n
Page 27 and 28: promptly chambered a round in his p
Page 29 and 30: techniques, we found the railhead a
Page 31 and 32: answer. He quickly made himself and
Page 33 and 34: Tacsat systems with two independent
Page 35 and 36: CHAPTER 3 THE BLUE FALCONS IN BOSNI
Page 37 and 38: monograph. My omission of such elem
Page 39 and 40: their advance around the safe haven
Page 41 and 42: unusual. In today’s environment,
Page 43 and 44: He also provided his timeline for J
Page 45 and 46: Within about an hour I was reminded
Page 47 and 48: eter. Even along these paths, I had
Page 49 and 50: for deployment. The pre-deployment
Page 51 and 52: a rehearsal for leaders, using a ve
Page 53 and 54: • Heavy weapons platoon from E Co
Page 55 and 56: The Blue Falcons exited the aircraf
Page 57 and 58: esponsibility for the base security
Page 59 and 60: sandbagged for force protection. Th
Page 61 and 62: Weather continued to deteriorate ov
Page 63 and 64: east-west roads crossing the Zone o
Page 65 and 66: needed from his forces. This coordi
Page 67 and 68: This COP was manned by a reinforced
Page 69 and 70: attalion commander was executing a
Page 71 and 72: creativity in accomplishing every a
Page 73 and 74: On February 11, TF 3-325 began coor
Page 75:
their security. Hence, the title em
Page 88 and 89:
deployed with the battalion to the
Page 90 and 91:
at a confrontation going on at a ch
Page 92 and 93:
he was deadly serious. I was convin
Page 94 and 95:
As I reflected on the emotions I wa
Page 96 and 97:
three times. The first time some ke
Page 98 and 99:
pressure, intensity, and rigor of a
Page 100 and 101:
gaining the sense of teamwork and s
Page 102 and 103:
from 4-67, and now three tank plato
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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
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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
Page 126 and 127:
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
Page 153 and 154:
deployment. When offered the opport
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was due to retire from the Russian
Page 157 and 158:
equipment for turn-in both at Baumh
Page 159 and 160:
assume the FSG advisor role for the
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assigned weapons. It was a great co
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This created a daily stop at every
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(at all times) and constant reporti
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CONCLUSION The opportunity for batt
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A. He did not countermand the major
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CHAPTER 6 THE 28TH TRANSPORTATION B
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deactivation of the 53rd Transporta
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factors allowing us to stay ahead o
Page 177 and 178:
drivers could not operate a motor v
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tied up with A/DACGS, CSCs, EAGLE E
Page 181 and 182:
heat I received from the families b
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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
Page 193 and 194:
unnecessary wear and tear on his un
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
Page 203 and 204:
the battalion movement was not sche
Page 205 and 206:
INITIAL SUPPORT OPERATIONS, ISB Aft
Page 207 and 208:
SUPPORT PLAN The aviation brigade w
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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
Page 229 and 230:
hospital area and our consequent ab
Page 231 and 232:
our soldiers in a U.S. facility, bu
Page 233 and 234:
• Treated 19,899 Outpatients •
Page 235 and 236:
and Steve Walker, commanders of the
Page 237 and 238:
the unique tasks required for the u
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
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AFTERWORD Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II
Page 257 and 258:
Colin Powell’s philosophy—we we
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