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

needed from his forces. This coordination meeting was
typical of those with other Serb commanders. They did not
like to get directly to business. Usually they would offer
coffee and talk for about 20 minutes. Often the discussions
would involve their perspective of the war and why the
American press had it wrong. They would sometimes ask for
our personal views or our opinion of the Croat-Muslim
forces. During this first visit to Lopare, the brigade XO said
something that I’ve always remembered: “If the U.S. stayed
in Bosnia for 100 years, there will be peace for 100 years.”
He did not have to tell me what would happen if the United
States left Bosnia.
After the small talk, we would get out a map and chart
our plans for the day, explaining where we needed their
soldiers and what type of capability was required. They
always had an officer writing down what was said in each
meeting. The Serb commanders were frank about their
concerns and stated any preconditions. However, they met
their agreements every time. Their subordinate leaders
were always knowledgeable of their requirements and of
our intentions. This indicated an effective, professional
chain of command. They always provided a liaison officer to
travel with us.
The experience was not similar with the Croat-Muslim
commanders. They tended to be harder to establish a
meeting with and more formal once the meeting was
underway. They went directly to the business at hand,
agreed with everything, and then met about 50 percent of
their agreements. We generally had to ask for a liaison
officer. I never figured out if their failure to have leaders and
soldiers at the appointed time and place with the right
equipment was deliberate or if it was due to a less
professional chain of command. I suspected that it was
actually the latter.
Our operation to clear each of these major routes and the
surrounding ZOS followed a common model. I would make
prior coordination with the senior commanders, usually
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