MARCH 6, 2008--Staff Sergeant Scott Smail salutes during formation before
leaving on deployment with the 3175th Military Police Company of the Missouri
National Guard from the Warrenton Armory in Warrenton, Missouri.
Posted on 03/09/2008 6:29:20 PM PDT by Tailgunner Joe
Specialist Robert Terrio and his wife, Kary, thought they had avoided a dangerous deployment a few months ago when he learned that his Missouri National Guard unit would do a tour in Kosovo instead of Iraq or Afghanistan.
"There's a certain amount of relief that we weren't being deployed to an active war zone,'' Robert Terrio said.
Then, last month, Kosovo declared independence from Serbia, a move Serbia refused to recognize.
Suddenly, Kosovo started to look a little more dicey.
Demonstrators torched the U.S. Embassy in the Serbian capital of Belgrade, mobs attacked several United Nations border posts, and gun and grenade fights exploded in the ethnically divided Kosovo city of Mitrovica.
The declaration also unleashed rhetoric among world powers that harkened to the bitter days of the Cold War. Whereas the United States and most European countries endorsed independence for the tiny new nation of 2 million people, Russia, China and several other countries rejected it as a violation of international law and an incitement to breakaway movements within their own borders.
The increased tension comes just as Terrio and 1,000 other Missourians prepare to join the 16,000-member NATO peacekeeping force in the restless Balkans region.
It will be the largest single group of Missouri National Guard soldiers to mobilize together since World War I. Most of the force should reach Kosovo by June, where they are scheduled to serve until March 2009.
"The stakes remain high," said Brig Gen. Larry Kay, leader of the Kosovo task force. "Ensuring the safety of the citizens of Kosovo today sets the stage for Kosovo's entrance as a member of the international community tomorrow."
The Missouri troops will be based at Camp Bondsteel near the town of Urosevac, in relatively peaceful southeastern Kosovo.
(Excerpt) Read more at stltoday.com ...
What’s the timetable for removal?
Klinton’s Kwagmire
The Left screams about quagmires. This is one they were wholeheartedly for.
Godspeed to these soldiers and keep them safe.
Send treats to the troops...
Great because you did it!
www.AnySoldier.com
“mobs attacked several United Nations border posts” - this is a BAD thing, right?
“It will be the largest single group of Missouri National Guard soldiers to mobilize together since World War I.” Unbelievable.. Missouri IS the SHOW me state, right?? In the meantime......
NBC news: “The town of Valley Park, MO tries to stave off illegal immigrants.”
why is Bush doing this?
Doing What?
I heard March of next year will be the end of their time in Kosovo. I got word I might be going about three weeks ago but found out I had high blood pressure and nondeployable at the physical. A lot of the Guardsmen I talked to volunteered for it. I on the other hand didn’t.
It's a Quagmire over there.
Hope he knocked on wood when he said that.
Why the hell are we deploying our forces to that sinkhole? Let Europe deal with it. Those troops would be better utilized somewhere where we actually have a national security interest.
I was making a sarcastic reference to the antiwar democrats calling for timetables. I didn’t hear any calls for Clinton or anyplace other than Iraq. What’s the timetable for N. Korea, Germany, and on and on. They only call for a timetable when Bush is involved.
Dhimmi-gunner Joe wants out soldiers providing cover for the Kosovo Jihadists for as long as they need it.
Otherwise, the Serbs will put an end to the Jihad in Kosovo in about 2 weeks flat.
This is one time when Ron Pauline foreign policy makes sense; we have no business in Kosovo.
However, if the troops are committed from the United States, they go with my prayers for success. To wish for them to fail is treason.
“If the Europeans don’t want a general war breaking out in EU territory, they can find a way to control the situation without involving the United States”
True, but very difficult to do when the US is saying what’s what in Europe. Go with the flow, or fight the top dog. No offense, but we’ve overstepped our boundaries. Meanwhile, our politicians could care less about our own dilemmas here at home. As an example, have you been to New Orleans lately? Granted, the French Quarter still looks as beautiful as ever, but venture down a few miles and it still looks like a 3rd world country.
And jobs and the economy are significant in dealing with the former Yugoslavia. Each local economy is small and the temptation for corruption is great, especially where the local brand of communism knocked out the entrepreneurial spirit, such as Albania. Serbia could make things, as Yugoslavia did in the past, but her economic niche has been taken by China.
The best thing for the region would be an economic union with loose political ties, but the EU already exists and there's no need for it. So, for the short run the seven former republics are doomed to poverty and weakness.
More than 100 members of a National Guard MP unit are practicing.... practicing... practicing... for the real world of Kosovo. We've spent part of a day with them in a couple of their training areas But even before we got to their first site, on a remote dirt road at Fort Leonard Wood when a soldier steps into the road, stops our car and orders us out... Off the road several other soldiers have us in their riflesites. This is the first part of our trip through an Entry Control Point--a traffic control area where soldiers check for contraband and explosives. We are herded by soldiers with their rifles at the ready into a holding shack where we cannot see the car. If one of us had a trigger device to set off a bomb in the car, we would not be able to see where the car is, who is near it, or whether our driver is still with it. We won't know when to trigger the explosion.
While we're there, the checkpoint comes under a simulated mortar and small arms fire attack. Soldiers hit the ground, then scramble behind barricades, rifles pointed toward the source of the attack, eyes looking for movement, a different color in the brown woods. In a few minutes, a three-person squad heads into the woods to flush out the attacker, staying in sight of their colleagues or one another, staying in verbal contact with each other and their leader. Shortly after that, they return, a fellow Guard member playing the part of the attacker in custody.
The ranking training officer, Captain Barry Floyd of Laquey, says it's a simulation...but nobody treats it as a game. "'We wouldn't be there if there wasn't a need," he says, "so we train our soldiers to fight. Whether it be in Kosovo, Iraq, Afghanistan, the training is the same."
At the end the soldiers gather around for a critique. Not bad, says a sergeant. But not as good as they need to be to do a difficult job...and stay alive. They'll do it again the next day. and the next. [Photos by Jon Allison]
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.