Posted on 06/26/2002 8:43:55 AM PDT by Stand Watch Listen
RAMJANE RANGE, Kosovo — Since U.S. soldiers began deploying to the Balkans in the 1990s, many military and civilian leaders have said peacekeeping has undercut the Army’s war-fighting skills.Peacekeeping rotations have led the Army to downgrade its divisions’ war-fighting readiness after units return from six-month peacekeeping deployments in the Balkans.
Now, with the war on terrorism taking troops to Central Asia and the Persian Gulf, military officials realize units can’t take a long time to regain their readiness because they might be needed to quickly change from woodland camouflage to a desert battle-dress uniform once their peacekeeping mission is done.
That’s why troops from the Germany-based 1st Infantry Division, which was given the lowest readiness classification after it deployed to Kosovo in 1999, are practicing their war-fighting skills during their second peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.
"America is at war," said Brig. Gen. Douglas E. Lute, commander of the U.S. peacekeepers here. "Over these six months in Kosovo, our commanders and our soldiers have a special responsibility to maintain their fighting skills. This is very important to us because we don’t know when and where America might call us to go next."
Now, after a month of familiarizing themselves with their peacekeeping duties, soldiers have begun war-fighter training.
"Ka-boom" blasts the 105 mm gun from an Italian Centauro armored vehicle. The concussion is felt by soldiers of the 1st ID’s 2nd Brigade Reconnaissance Troop and their Italian allies, who recently were at the Ramjane Range, about two miles from Camp Bondsteel.
Setting up this live-fire range and others in Kosovo was one of the lessons learned about peacekeeping in Bosnia and Herzegovina, retired Gen. Wesley K. Clark said last year. Troops can’t afford to retrain for combat after returning from a peacekeeping deployment.
"The range is booked solid," said Capt. Dirk Ringgenberg, the brigade’s training officer.
On this day, the soldiers were training with the Italians to become familiar with the Centauro.
"This is a new weapons system and it gives us a chance to check out its capabilities," Riggenberg said.
The Italians also were eager to train with the Americans.
"We need to work together," said Italian Army 2nd Lt. Domenico Colella. "We need to work on procedures together. In the future, we will have to work together against terrorism, and we cannot win without working together."
"Any time you get to shoot downrange it helps," Army Sgt. Jason Detty said. "And I think working with other nations helps with coordinating things in the real world."
Helicopter pilots and crews at Camp Bondsteel are training for high-intensity conflicts, working with Greeks, British and Russians.
The end result is to qualify for combat, the pilots say.
"We role-play in the cockpit [over different combat scenarios]," said 1st Lt. Brook Bedell of the 1st Squadron of the 4th Cavalry Regiment.
They flew reconnaissance and surveillance missions along the border with Macedonia in the past month as part of their peacekeeping duties.
Now, they are working on their war-fighter skills, Bedell said.
"We have set up areas where we can fly desert ops and another for mountain ops," Bedell said. "Kosovo offers us a lot more versatility than in Germany."
In Germany, pilots are restricted to certain times and certain altitudes when they train. Pilots easily log more time flying in Kosovo than in Germany, the pilots said.
In Kosovo, pilots can fly at low altitudes, 15 to 20 feet from the ground in training, said Chief Warrant Officer Matt Fitter of the 1st Squadron of the 4th Cavalry Regiment.
"Guys need to practice this to be ready for combat," Fitter said. "We need to be used to flying close to the ground because that’s how we survive, using the trees and hills to hide."
But the training isn’t benefiting just the pilots. It’s helping step up the tempo for the crews hidden away in hangars.
The crews work on the helicopters’ weapons systems and constantly are performing preventative maintenance, said Staff Sgt. Harry Chambers of 2nd Squadron of the 1st Aviation Regiment.
"In Germany, we work a 12-hour day," Chambers said. "But here we are flying day and night, and we work 12 hours but we are on for 24 hours."
In Kosovo, the crews put their training to use, increasing their experience, and new sergeants can improve their leadership skills, said Staff Sgt. Charlie Winchell of 2nd Squadron of the 1st Aviation Regiment.
"You can take a young soldier and, because there are no distractions here, their maintenance knowledge increases 80 percent," Winchell said.
While peacekeeping might undercut a whole division’s ability to train, it is great for squads, platoons and companies, especially when it’s coupled with war-fighter training, said Charles Moskos, sociology professor with Northwestern University, who tracks U.S. peacekeepers.
"It takes them out of the training environment, puts them in a real-world environment to make decisions and it trains troops for combat," Moskos said recently.
That is no more true than with the troops of Company Bravo of the 1st Battalion, 26th Infantry.
On Saturday, the troops from Camp Monteith were training for air assault when they got a break from peacekeeping.
This training helps soldiers practice how to board and leave the helicopter in a hot zone, said Staff Sgt. Eric Bloom.
"Air assault is good training for combat," Bloom said.
"It trains us just in case something else happens here or in some other place," said Pfc. Jason King.
War-fighter training keeps up the skills needed for the Army’s primary mission: fighting and winning wars, the soldiers said.
"Although we are on a peacekeeping mission, we could go into combat tomorrow," said Sgt. Joshua Deuel.
"Kosovo offers us a lot more versatility than in Germany."
Well, now we get a better picture of the REAL reason for NATO's occupation.
In Kosovo, pilots can fly at low altitudes, 15 to 20 feet from the ground in training, said Chief Warrant Officer Matt Fitter of the 1st Squadron of the 4th Cavalry Regiment.
Did NATO need a training area so bad? Had NATO asked, I'm sure Yugoslavia would have let them come in and fight Albanian/Islamist terrorist. They could have gotten plenty of experience. I'm sure they would have been allowed to storm Albanian strongholds in a humane fashion or bomb them from a humanitarian 15,000 feet.
as we've been saying
15 to 20 feet
bet the locals just love that
Of course, they should be spending their time fighting the KLA instead of resquing them from the mountains in FYROM.
VRN
VRN
Cheers,
VRN
I was watching footage from the 1993 WTC bombing by Moslem terrorists; Clinton did not even visit the site, and the media failed to crystallize the hate of the radical Islamists (ALL MOSLEMS)? Islam, the religion is the problem. A person who really believe in Islam, in other words, a good Moslem, is by definition is a savage-barbaric-subhuman person!
Hard to fathom this thought of it being true, Voronin, but it is true.
VRN
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