Operation Just Cause... ...for as long as it takes
By Linda D. Kozaryn
INCIRLIK AIR BASE, Turkey -- America's men and women in
uniform make up the world's finest fighting force, and as
such, they deserve the best quality of life the nation can
offer, according to Defense Secretary William S. Cohen.
Cohen voiced the nation's pride and gratitude in mid-July
to service members while on a seven-day European trip.
Speaking in sweltering humidity in Hungarian and Turkish
aircraft hangars, on a scorching naval flight deck in the
Aegean and at an indoor sports center in Bosnia, his
message was simple and direct.
"You are the best," he told airmen in Turkey. "I want to
take as good care of you as you have been taking care of
the country." At each stop, Cohen thanked service members
for their professionalism, dedication and sacrifice and
called them vanguards of U.S. efforts to promote freedom
throughout the world.
Cohen landed July 12 at Hungary's Taszar Air Base, where a
U.S. joint logistics team runs a transportation and supply
hub for U.S. troops in the Balkans. Along with their
routine supply effort, the U.S. element also supported 24
Marine Corps fighters and other combat aircraft stationed
there during Operation Allied Force.
He traveled the next day to Tuzla, Bosnia, where Eagle Base
serves as headquarters for the 6,200 Americans who comprise
one-fifth of NATO's stabilization forces in Bosnia. A
senior defense official traveling with Cohen said NATO
authorities are considering reducing the size of the force
within a year, a decision that could shrink the U.S.
contingent to about 4,000.
After an update on the Bosnia mission, Cohen addressed
troops from the 1st Cavalry Division of Fort Hood, Texas.
The Army unit is nearing the end of its six-month rotation
in Bosnia. The 10th Mountain Division from Fort Drum, N.Y.,
is next in line for the peacekeeping mission.
From Bosnia, Cohen traveled to Thessaloniki, Greece, to
visit the 1,500 sailors and 2,000 Marines aboard the USS
Kearsarge. The 26th Marine Expeditionary Unit aboard the
amphibious assault ship was among the advance element that
entered Kosovo.
The Marines are now pulling out and the Army's 1st Infantry
Division is going in to serve with the NATO-led Kosovo
security force known as KFOR. Allied troops and heavy
equipment are passing through Thessaloniki in northern
Greece. The port will serve as the center for international
reconstruction efforts.
Arriving at Turkey's Incirlik Air Base July 14,
Cohen met with officials from the U.S. Air Force 39th Wing,
host unit at the base, and members of the 39th Air and
Northern Watch, the eight-year-old allied effort to ensure
Iraqi compliance with U.N. resolutions. It involves U.S.,
British and Turkish forces.
Cohen spoke to combat pilots and crews assembled in a base
hangar just hours after U.S. F-15E and F-16C fighters
struck northern Iraqi air defenses using precision-guided
munitions. "We truly appreciate everything you do," he
said. "We couldn't possibly be the force that we are
without you."
The secretary commended the air crews for their performance
in Operations Desert Fox, Northern Watch and Allied Force.
He said precise execution of tens of thousands of sorties
is unprecedented. While the nation's high-tech equipment
has proven its worth, however, Cohen stressed, "it's all
rather irrelevant if we don't have the best people to
operate it. So at the top of the pyramid of our interests,
we always have to put people."
Cohen said it's particularly important for him to visit the
field as often as he can to put "real faces" on the
deployment orders he signs each week. "You're real people
with real challenges and real missions." The secretary said
he especially wanted to visit service members throughout
the region, lest they feel forgotten, since people's
attention has been focused primarily on Kosovo.
Based on what he's learned during his field visits, Cohen
said, Pentagon leaders have focused on people issues and
have asked Congress for more money. "We can never pay you
enough, but we can pay you more than we're paying," he
said.
"I could not be more proud of the performance that you
carry out day in and day out. … Everyone in the Pentagon
takes notice of it,… everyone in the White House…, in the
Congress and ultimately in the country," Cohen said. "When
the crisis erupts and you have to respond, they see what
we're capable of doing. What they don't see is that you're
doing it every day."
American Forces Press Service
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