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

deployed with the battalion to the Combined Arms
Maneuver Training Center (CMTC) 6 days after assuming
command. For the first 7 days we performed the normal set
of high-intensity tasks of deliberate attack, movement to
contact, and defense. Then we transitioned to a peacekeeping
phase for 3 days, where we established a zone of
separation between belligerents, established checkpoints,
escorted convoys, and performed a host of other peacekeeping
tasks. The First Armored Division had
incorporated these tasks into its training in anticipation of
deploying to Bosnia.
For the next 14 months my battalion, along with the rest
of the division, continued to train on peacekeeping as well as
conventional warfighting tasks. There was always talk of
the division deploying to Bosnia if a peace settlement should
ever be reached. In fact, the division staff was furiously
working on plan after plan on how it would accomplish
possible missions it was told to be prepared to do.
Fortunately, because of the foresight, discipline, and
wisdom of Major General Carter, the division Commander,
and subsequently Major General Nash, as well as
commanders of the 1st Brigade (Colonels Steve Robinette
and his successor Greg Fontenot), the “what if” drills were
kept above the battalions. We were able to concentrate on
training our units.
We established a semi-annual training event for 2-67
Armor, called either Spring Break or Fall Harvest
depending on the season, which trained Bosnian-type tasks
at home station. The concept was to take the entire
battalion to the field at Friedberg Training Area and
practice some of our combat skills, while also training on
peace operations tasks. The scenario we used was that the
battalion had been deployed to Bosnia to enforce a peace
plan. We were in an assembly area as the division reserve
and were preparing for combat operations while refining
our skills with some last-minute training. Inherent to that
was protecting ourselves with normal security measures
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