Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
Sent in by Veterans News and Information Services
by Master Sgt. Bob Haskell
TUZLA, Bosnia (Army News Service, Dec. 22, 1999) -- The Department of Defense's top civilian leader brought holiday cheer - and top-notch entertainment - to thousands of U.S. troops serving in Europe and provided some good news for Army National Guard and reserve troops.
During Christmas week, Secretary of Defense William S. Cohen led a star-studded, United Service Organizations' holiday tour to Italy and to wintry Bosnia, Macedonia and Kosovo where Army troops are engaged in peacekeeping duties.
Cohen also gave members of the Army's reserve components a holiday gift with the announcement that he will not cut 25,000 people as scheduled because, Cohen maintained, they are needed in order to sustain America's global military operations.
"What this reflects is the success of the Total Force," Cohen told reporters at Aviano Air Base in Italy the day after announcing on Monday, Dec. 20, that he would postpone the reserve component cutbacks called for in the congressionally directed 1997 Quadrennial Defense Review.
"The Reserves and the Guard are playing an equal role in many cases, and they are bearing a full share of the responsibility," said Cohen. "I came to the judgment that if we are going to continue to carry out our current missions, we can't afford to go down any further."
"That is absolutely good news, because we felt we had already been cut to the bone," said Army Reserve Command Sgt. Maj. Collin Younger, the senior enlisted advisor to Charles Cragin, the Defense Department's undersecretary for reserve affairs.
The Army Guard has already been reduced by 17,000 troops, and the Army Reserve has lost 3,000 slots based on the QDR recommendations. Cohen's decision means the Army Guard's strength will remain at about 360,000 troops and the Army Reserve will stay at about 200,000.
"Leaving us at that level will let us continue to do the things we have been doing to support the active services," added Younger, who traveled to Europe with the Cohen delegation.
Younger observed that the Army National Guard and Army Reserve would have been reduced in strength just as they are assuming a greater share of the peacekeeping duties in the Balkans.
Beginning in March, for example, three National Guard divisions will command the American sector's multinational-national force in Bosnia during seven-month rotations over the next four years. Guard combat brigades from North Carolina, Oklahoma and Georgia will supply ground troops for peacekeeping duties there beginning next October.
"The Guard and Reserve are certainly capable of taking on this peacekeeping mission so that the active Army can focus on training for its combat missions," said Younger. "But, if you're going to shift this responsibility to us, don't cut us any more. We have to reach a balance of supporting the Army without pulling away from the civilian employers too often. Cohen supported that assessment with his late-December announcement.
"We didn't anticipate having both Bosnia and Kosovo and some of the additional peacekeeping missions," Cohen explained. "The reserves will continue to play an important role." The Defense Department plans to review its missions and future requirements beginning in January 2001.
Cohen led a diverse delegation of entertainers, celebrities and sports stars -- including singers Mary Chapin Carpenter and Ruth Pointer, football Hall of Famers Terry Bradshaw and Mike Singletary, six Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders and comedian Al Franken -- on a whirlwind tour of five shows in three days.
He met members of an Army Guard medical evacuation unit, the 112th Medical Company, from his native Bangor, Maine, at Eagle Base in Bosnia the Wednesday before Christmas -- after two storms had dumped 50 inches of snow on the countryside. Those citizen-soldiers from Maine underscored his confidence that Guard and Reserve forces are pulling their share of the load.
"The base commander told me about the strong work ethic they have in Maine and how well they deal with the issues, such as snow, that would make the folks in Bangor so proud of them," Cohen said. "The impact they're having on all of the other forces who are there is making them a real model."
The 112th, recently trimmed to 59 people and six Blackhawk helicopters, had flown 13 missions and more than 800 hours since joining Task Force Eagle in September, explained unit spokesman Capt. Mark Sullivan.
A recent mission involved a 40-mile flight to save a Russian soldier whose hand was blown off when an anti-personnel mine exploded and killed another Russian soldier, Sullivan said. A Bosnian citizen had turned the mine over to those soldiers, he added.
"We haven't done anything that's easy," said Sullivan as the crowd of peacekeepers cheered for super model Christie Brinkley, who appeared on stage. "People's lives have been on the line on every mission we have flown." In short, the Balkans is still a hazardous place where the Army Guard and reserve have helped to sustain the peacekeeping force for the past four years.
(EDITOR'S NOTE: Haskell is a public affairs senior noncommissioned officer and print journalist with the National Guard Bureau headquartered in Washington, D.C.)
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