Hawai'i soldiers head for Bosnia

By William Cole
Advertiser Military Writer

With green rucksacks and duffels brimming, a new peacekeeper flag on their shoulders, and the sense they are doing the right thing, 211 Schofield Barracks soldiers set out for Bosnia yesterday.

Staff Sgt. Christopher Darbonne says goodbye to his wife, Michele, and 8-year-old son, Tyler, as he departs on his first overseas deployment. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

For some, the gathering of gear and personnel at E Quad at Schofield Barracks earlier in the day was a chance to say goodbye.

Task Force Eagle Stabilization Force 11, with more than 1,000 Schofield troops, officially assumes six months of peacekeeping duties April 5.

Sgt. 1st Class Eric Broom, 39, had his wife and 10-year-old son with him as he taped a big green diamond on one of his bags indicating its destination, Eagle Base.

"It's the second time around for us," said Broom, who deployed to Bosnia in 1997 with the 229th Aviation Regiment out of Fort Bragg, N.C. "They know what I'm going over there for."

Denise Broom said their son, Trey, knows what conditions are like for children in Bosnia, "and it helps him know that dad is helping out making their lives better."

Andrea Silva, 19, a private first class from Hayward, Calif., sat on her duffel bag eating a meal from Burger King.

There is a Burger King on Eagle Base — but "last night I had sushi," she said, "because I know there's going to be no sushi."

Silva was looking forward to the deployment. "I think it will be exciting. Who wouldn't want to go see a new culture?"

Maj. Greg Mason gets hugs from his wife, Jonelle, and children Justina, 11, and Taylor, 6, moments before getting on the bus. The Gulf War veteran is now heading to Bosnia. Gregory Yamamoto • The Honolulu Advertiser

Other groups will be leaving through March 18. National Guard units from states including Indiana, Idaho and Montana, and reservists from around the country are part of the force heading to the northeastern Bosnian city of Tuzla. Task Force Eagle is part of Multi-National Division-North.

The total U.S. force is expected to number 2,100. That's down from the 3,100 U.S. troops that had been deployed there.

In mid-December, Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld had proposed reducing NATO forces in Bosnia by a third, saying the peace-keeping mission was placing a strain on the growing demands of the war on terrorism.

The number of 25th soldiers being sent also dropped for some units. A Logistics Task Force of about 240 soldiers originally was scheduled to make the trip, but now about 40 are going.

Maj. Gen. Charles Swannack Jr., the commander of Stabilization Force 11, said yesterday a number of successes had been achieved in Bosnia, "so we don't need to have as many forces over there.

"You've got to make sure you can fulfill the needs of the mission that we have over there, and I've been assured that we can (with a reduced force)," Swannack said.

While the peacekeeping mission from the country's 1992-95 war has remained largely that — peaceful — 25th Division soldiers know there are dangers. It is estimated that more than 1 million land mines remain in the country.

In January, troops took part in month-long training for the mission at Fort Polk, La., where Bosnian towns were replicated.

"If I rely on the training I was given, I shouldn't have any problems," Silva said, "because we actually went through a lot of training to probe for land mines, see what they look like and know what unexploded ordnances are."

Not all making the trip are soldiers. Shar Kaina, a comptroller in resources management at Schofield barracks who grew up in Kane'ohe, volunteered to go.

"This is the 11th rotation (of peacekeeping forces), so I figure they've worked out the kinks already," Kaina, 39, said.

Kaina has a different concern.

"I don't do good in extreme cold," she said.