The Role of the Iowa Guard in Operation Joint Endeavor
History of The Iowa National Guard
Sgt. 1st Class Carolyn Tenney
JFQH(STARC) Military History Section
The history of
Bosnia-Herzegovina perhaps best could be described as tempestuous.
Centuries of struggle left the country with three religions--Serbian
Orthodox, Roman Catholic and Moslem--and two alphabets, Cyrillic
and Latin.
Civil war
followed the breakup of the central authority of the former
Yugoslavia in 1992. By 1994, it was estimated that more than 200,000
people had been killed and many more wounded. About 60 percent of
the pre-war population (2.7 million people) had been displaced
from their homes.
After several
failed cease-fires, the presidents of Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia
signed the Dayton Peace Agreement on Dec. 14, 1995. The
NATO Implementation Force (IFOR), a coalition of 30 nations,
began to deploy into Bosnia-Herzegovina to secure peace.
U.S. Army Europe
(USAREUR) shouldered most of the responsibility for the Army
mission in Bosnia. However, because USAREUR had recently
experienced a tremendous drawdown (from 215,000 troops to 65,000),
it became necessary to mobilize reserve units to help support
Operation Joint Endeavor, the peacekeeping effort in Bosnia.
Three units from
the Iowa Army National Guard were called to active duty: the 34th
Transportation Detachment, the 186th Military Police Company, and
the 135th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment.
The 34th
Transportation Detachment, commanded by Capt. Esther Beechler,
became the first Iowa unit to be activated for Operation Joint
Endeavor when it received its alert notice on Dec. 9, 1995.
A farewell
ceremony was held on Dec. 17, and the seven-member unit left for
Fort Dix, NJ, the next day. They deployed from nearby McGuire Air
Force Base on Christmas Eve, arriving in Germany on Christmas Day.
Unit members went
to work the next day at their new office in Hanau. By Jan. 20,
they had assumed responsibility for coordinating loadouts and
tracking all surface movements in and out of Germany.
Transportation operations ran at a furious pace, 24 hours a day.
Rail deployment operations ceased at the end of February, but
truck and bus deployment operations remained constant.
Operations
screeched to a halt in April because soldiers in Hungary and the
former Yugoslavia needed time to catch up with unloading all the
cargo that was pushed out of Germany. In May, units started
coming back to Germany from the area of operations, and the rail
mission picked up.
The replacement
unit for the 34th arrived in July, and the 34th reported to the
Reception, Staging, Onward Movement and Integration (RS(~I) site
in Giessen, Ger., on July 29. The unit left Germany and flew to
McGuire AFB on July 31. After outprocessing at Fort Dix, they
flew to Des Moines on Aug. 3. The unit officially completed its
active duty on Aug. 26.
Mobilization
began for the 186th MPs, commanded by Capt. Dana Heil, on their
report date, Dec. 27, 1995. The unit’s mission was to
provide backfill support for USAREUR, performing the law
enforcement duties of deployed MP companies. Specifically, unit
members were to maintain order and enforce the law in American
military communities in Germany—at a level consistent with
community expectations. Their efforts were rewarded with numerous
awards and plaques from the communities they served.
The 186th MPs
fell under the operational control of the Michigan Army National
Guard’s 210th Military Police Battalion, headquartered in
Mannheim, Ger. The Iowa MPs were assigned to four separate German
communities: Headquarters and 1st Platoon, Bad
Krueznach; 2nd Platoon, Baumholder; 3rd
Platoon, Wiesbaden; and 4th Platoon, Kirch-Goens. They remained
apart until Aug. 7.
Duties in Germany
included patrolling the communities, enforcing traffic
regulations, performing security checks, setting driving-while-intoxicated
checkpoints, and investigating incidents. Soldiers throughout the
company had the opportunity to use a firearms simulator and
become certified in the use of CPR, the Intoxilyzer 5000, and
radar. Special highlights included helping a woman in labor,
providing additional security for First Lady Hillary Clinton, and
helping with security duties at an air show in Belgium.
The 186th was
replaced by members of the 273rd Military Police Company. The
latter arrived on July 14, and assumed 100% of road mission and
patrol operations on July 31.
On August 2, the
186th held its first company formation since Jan. 17 at the RSOI
site at Giessen, Ger. The unit flew to Fort Benning Aug. 10 and
home to Des Moines on Aug. 14. Their last day of active duty was
Aug. 16.
In January 1996,
the 135th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, commanded by Capt.
Roger Etzel, received word that it was on a list of units facing
possible deployment as part of the second rotation in support of
Operation Joint Endeavor. That possibility became reality and 18
unit members reported for active duty on June 5. Twelve
came from the "original" 135th. which is
split between Iowa and Minnesota; the rest were volunteers from
Iowa and other states.
After several
days at Fort Dix, the unit arrived in Germany on June 17. Four
days later, the unit was split up—and split up again several
times, depending on mission requirements. PAD members ultimately
were sent to 11 different countries.
One team was
based at Wiesbaden Air Base with Task Force Victory, and the
other two at Heidelberg, one serving US Army Europe (USAREUR) and
the other, V Corps. Five unit members spent three months in
Bosnia supporting an engineer battalion. The executive officer,
Capt. Greg Hapgood, spent five months in Macedonia as the public
affairs officer for Task Force Able Sentry, a UN initiative.
Missions included:
daily analysis of media coverage of USAREUR operations;
designing, editing and mailing the USAREUR annual report;
shooting and editing video and releasing it to the media; and
writing and photographing for print stories. Unit members also
dealt with outside media and performed many staff functions.
The 135th was re-united
in Heidelberg in mid-January, outprocessed at Babenhausen, Ger.,
outprocessed again at Fort Dix, and returned to Des Moines during
half-time of Super Bowl XXX.
The U.S. mission
in Bosnia has been extended indefinitely, and the name has been
changed to Operation Joint Guard. "While the number of
committed American troops has been reduced, we don’t know
what the future requirements will be for Iowa Guard members,"
says Lt. Col. Robert King, public affairs officer for the Iowa
National Guard. "Hopefully, one day we’ll see peace
come to that troubled region and we can bring all of our American
soldiers home."
This article was
based on after action reports supplied by the commanders of the
deployed units.
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