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

This COP was manned by a reinforced rifle platoon from A
Company from January 14 until relieved by a Russian
airborne unit on February 1. To ensure responsive fire
support, we coordinated with the 1st Brigade, 1st Armored
Division and, when required, displaced a two-gun section of
our D Battery to Simin Han. On January 18, E Company
established another COP—COP Metal—along Route
Kansas in the ZOS.
The Blue Falcons executed ZOS enforcement missions in
the Russian Brigade Sector during January 18-21 and
23–30. Most often the Deputy Commander or the S3 led a
reinforced security element to check compliance with the
D+30 requirements in specific areas in the ZOS. We
coordinated the ground movement with air reconnaissance
craft whenever the weather allowed. Beginning on January
18, I flew the ZOS once a day to check for heavy weapons or
troops in the ZOS. We experienced only a few violations of
the Dayton Accords during these missions. The DCO
confiscated several heavy machine guns. Also, our
engineers disabled a Serbian T-54 tank with thermite
grenades. The policy was to destroy heavy weapons that had
not been moved out of the ZOS in accordance with the
Dayton agreements.
During January 18-21, the Blue Falcons were stretched
pretty thin. The rifle companies continued to secure Tuzla
Airbase, provide an airmobile QRF, and occupy COP Shark
on Route Georgia. E Company also manned COP Metal
along Route Kansas, provided heavy weapons platoons for
the ZOS enforcement missions, and provided escort for our
logpacks and the mobile QRF to TF EAGLE. The average
odometer reading on E Company’s new armored HMMWVs
was 2,200 miles at the end of January, a good indicator of E
Company’s OPTEMPO.
On January 18, I informed Major General Nash that we
could not provide the mobile QRF, support the operations in
the Russian Brigade Sector, and meet the need to maintain
and rest one heavy weapons platoon a day. I was concerned
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