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

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This change of plans caused a delay in our departure because now we had to wait for another 93B for the Residency installation to be flown in by C17. The New Year of 1996 came in with an unbelievable display of celebratory fire coming from the Serbian-held hills around the city—there was no question that the Serbs still had plenty of weapons (more than small arms) and ammo. CW2 Banner proved his indispensability again by solving a very complex communications problem for the British, much to Brigadier General Raper’s chagrin. He was convinced that it was a problem with the U.S. communications. During these days another of our comrades had a close call. He found a rocket propelled grenade (RPG) round sticking out of the fender cowling of his HMMWV after driving down Sniper’s Alley to the airport to pick up a passenger who just flew in. For one of those very lucky and blessed reasons, the RPG did not detonate. But he was not the only one with a close call. Captain Dave Alexander took me on a site survey for the Tacsat installation at Iliadza. British sappers had already cleared the ground of mines. Yet during a thaw on the following day, two British soldiers installing concertina over the same ground Dave and I had walked stepped on a mine. It was a small anti-personnel mine known as a kneepopper, about the size of a cigarette lighter, designed to injure and disable an enemy, rather than kill him. The two British soldiers suffered multiple shrapnel wounds in their backs and legs; one soldier lost a testicle. And while I prayed for their recovery, I also thanked the good Lord for His protection. Finally the second 93B arrived. The immediate installation was completed, and we returned to Zagreb on January 4, 1996. During these initial days of providing service to the IFOR staff and Admiral Smith, we realized the shortcoming of not having a major switch in Sarajevo. Captain Doug Muller really wanted his switchboard to have the flexibility to provide a full measure of signal support to the admiral. It would also provide an extra measure of redundancy that we presently lacked from terminating the 27
Tacsat systems with two independent remote multiplexers. After long discussion of pros and cons with Colonel Welch, my Brigade Commander, and Colonel Rodakowski, we agreed to put a large switch into Sarajevo. So plans were made to redeploy back down to Split and convoy the switchboard and crew to Sarajevo. Captain Muller was to prepare a site for it at the Residency—no easy task, with space at such a premium. After just 3 days in Zagreb, long enough to receive full SITREPs on the battalion and the many remote signal sites, we were on the road again to Split. This journey went much smoother. Roads were already being improved. Within a week, we were back again in Zagreb. With the initial installations completed, it was time to settle in and resume our normal battalion administrative, logistics, maintenance, and training systems. Although I felt guilty that I had neglected the battalion headquarters, I had focused my efforts where they were most needed. The signal part of the mission was being accomplished superbly through the expert planning of the CJCCC under the leadership of Colonels Rodakowski and Dempsey, supported by outstanding execution by professional communicators. The first month was over. The next weeks would bring many changes both in the network and in our living conditions. Sites were added in Doboj and Iliadza; so I visited the soldiers out there again just a few short weeks later. For reasons of force protection, the entire brigade in Zagreb was moved out of the Hotel Holiday just weeks after a contract was secured, to be billeted at Camp Pleso in field-type conditions. The staff of the IFOR Support HQs moved into the Hotel Holiday in our place. For some reason, they were not subject to the same force protection rules. But then again, plenty of things did not make sense on this mission. The greatest challenge for the soldiers was yet to come—the looming boredom once the initial work was over. But the first hectic month was over. Now we were in for the long haul. 28
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 and 24: it. They did not want us there or n
Page 25 and 26: containers as well. I told him I un
Page 27 and 28: promptly chambered a round in his p
Page 29 and 30: techniques, we found the railhead a
Page 31: answer. He quickly made himself and
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
Page 104 and 105:
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
Page 112 and 113:
soldiers who deployed into an area
Page 114 and 115:
support. After several false starts
Page 116 and 117:
Group leaders, who were not paid pr
Page 118 and 119:
Another lesson I learned was the ve
Page 120 and 121:
We also developed a rotational gunn
Page 122 and 123:
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
Page 128 and 129:
DEPARTMENT OF THE ARMY HEADQUARTERS
Page 130 and 131:
usiness taking their husbands away
Page 132 and 133:
transportation, shopping, and perso
Page 137 and 138:
were required to carry these 12 rul
Page 139 and 140:
The remaining combat elements of Ch
Page 141 and 142:
As we departed Baumholder, I felt c
Page 143 and 144:
140
Page 145 and 146:
Figure 7. 1st Armored Division AOR.
Page 147 and 148:
forcing Service Battery to expend a
Page 149 and 150:
Zvornik to regain control of the se
Page 151 and 152:
likely a key storage site for a mec
Page 153 and 154:
deployment. When offered the opport
Page 155 and 156:
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
Page 161 and 162:
assigned weapons. It was a great co
Page 163 and 164:
This created a daily stop at every
Page 165 and 166:
(at all times) and constant reporti
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
Page 173 and 174:
deactivation of the 53rd Transporta
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
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
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
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
Page 255 and 256:
AFTERWORD Dr. Douglas V. Johnson II
Page 257 and 258:
Colin Powell’s philosophy—we we
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