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Sunday, September 3, 2000

Polish troops fill gaps in
Bosnia peacekeeping process

By Anthony Burgos
Bosnia bureau

BOSANSKA KRUPA, Bosnia and Herzegovina — When tensions flair in Bosnia, SFOR troops must be ready to mobilize quickly.

But when the soldiers and equipment move out to handle emergencies, someone has to fill in the gaps to make sure peacekeepers are still present. And the only way to make sure that happens is training.

Operation Joint Resolve, now in its 20th cycle, is a quarterly SFOR exercise designed to train multinational forces to cover all the bases when other troops are needed for peacekeeping contingencies.

This quarter’s exercise, which started Aug. 24 and ended Saturday, was conducted by SFOR’s French Multinational Division Southwest and involved more than a brigade’s worth of vehicles and equipment.

As part of the Joint Resolve exercise, Polish troops normally stationed with the NordPol battle group at Camp Doboj, filled in for Czech troops taking part in Operation Strong Guardian, a simulated response to tension in southern Bosnia.

The Polish troops assumed day-to-day peacekeeping operations such as presence patrols in Bosanska Krupa in the northwestern corner of Bosnia, while the Czech soldiers reinforced other SFOR troops involved in Strong Guardian.

On Wednesday, American Multinational Division North’s Chief of Staff, Col. Garry Patterson visited Polish troops, and got a firsthand look at the Polish troops filling in the gaps while the Czech soldiers took part in the exercise.

While on a presence patrol, NordPol battle group liaison officer Capt. Krzysztof Liszka, explained to Patterson how Polish soldiers take advantage of the Bosnian terrain.

"We use the hilltops to monitor everything down below like barracks or weapons storage facilities," Liszka said.

Liszka said that although the area was new to the Polish troops, their methods work.

"During 24-hour patrols, these sentries set up small camps. They use night vision goggles to collect information about situations in surrounding towns or weapon inventories," Liszka said. "That is given to SFOR to keep them informed of what’s going on,.

According to the Multinational Division North’s lead planner for Operation Joint Resolve, 1st Lt. Ron Plennert, the exercise is more than just the movement of troops. It tests SFOR’s ability to overcome obstacles that exist in a multinational setting.

"It’s a very good exercise in communication," Plennert said. "Sometimes our systems aren’t compatible so liaison officers are used on the ground to coordinate things."

Plennert said the frequency of this type of training contributes to SFOR’s peacekeeping success.

"Responsibility for the exercise rotates between multinational divisions every quarter. Since SFOR practices this four times a year, it runs pretty smooth," Plennert said.