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

BATTALION COMMAND
I assumed command of the 72nd Signal Battalion on
June 10, 1994, and was immediately briefed on the “Bosnia
Plan.” It was apparent that this plan had been pretty fluid
for some time because there were a lot of blank parts—and
even more that others did not agree with, particularly
within the 7th Signal Brigade itself. We already had
elements of the 72nd deployed to provide “Bosnia Theater”
support: a large extension node switch (LEN) and a large
tactical satellite (Tacsat) hub terminal (TSC 85B), with a
team of wiremen and signal leadership in Zagreb, Croatia,
to provide communications for the Joint Task Force (JTF)
Operation PROVIDE PROMISE; a small extension node
switch (SEN) attached from our sister battalion, the 44th,
with a Tacsat link terminal (TSC 93B), wire team, and
leadership to provide communications support for JTF
Operation ABLE SENTRY in Skopje, Macedonia, formed to
prevent escalation of the conflict into Greece; and a large
message switch (TYC 39) in Dal Molin Air Base, Vicenza,
Italy, to provide record copy of the air tasking order for
Operation DENY FLIGHT, which was restricting a
potential Balkan air war. However, 1 month later, instead
of the expected Bosnia deployment, we found ourselves
deploying to Africa. For me it was redeploying, but this time
to Rwanda, for Operation SUPPORT HOPE. SUPPORT
HOPE needed only a small but well-conducted network.
We learned many worthwhile lessons. A key lesson dealt
with task organizing: Putting complementary signal
equipment together from different organizations into
flyaway packages. On the equipment/team level, this
consisted of medium and large packages of switching
equipment and transmission equipment (normally
Tacsats). On the battalion level, this involved the division of
network areas of responsibility.
SUPPORT HOPE had no sooner ended than the brigade
was involved in putting in the theater architecture for
Exercise Atlantic Resolve, a massive simulation-supported
4