Large NATO readiness exercise
gets under way in Balkans
By Jon R. Anderson, Bosnia bureau
Pfc. Duane Brown / Task Force Falcon
Soldiers with the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment take their
positions after parachuting from five C-130s over Vitina as part of the Adventure
Express/Dynamic Response 2001 exercise on Friday. |
NATO
launched one of its largest exercises of the year Friday, beginning two weeks of maneuvers
designed to test the alliance’s ability to react to trouble in the Balkans.
Dubbed
Adventure Express/Dynamic Response 2001, the exercise couldn’t come at a better time.
With a
contingent of U.S. Marines and Army paratroopers among the 1,500 NATO troops hitting the
ground, Dynamic Response will see NATO flex what commanders call the alliance’s
Strategic Reserve Force in Albania, Bosnia and Kosovo.
The
exercise comes as tensions are flaring throughout the region. Among the hot spots:
Bosnia
— Croat separatists are trying to pull out of the Muslim-Croat Federation that forms
half of the Bosnian government. Tearing off their federation patches, rebel troops are
occupying weapons depots in the south, and violence flared up three weeks ago when
peacekeepers clashed with Croat mobs in Mostar.
Kosovo
— Ethnic Albanian insurgents operating along Kosovo’s provincial border with the
rest of Serbia continue to be a thorn in the side of U.S. peacekeepers in the region. With
the permission of NATO, Yugoslav troops have begun patrolling part of the buffer zone
along the border that the rebels have been using as a safe haven.
Pfc. Duane Brown / Task Force
Falcon
Soldiers with the1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment leave their aircraft
over Vitina airfield Friday during the Adventure Express/Dynamic Response 2001 exercise. |
Macedonia
— Another group of ethnic Albanian rebels, calling for equal rights in Macedonia,
have skirmished with government troops in recent months. While a Macedonian offensive
cleared out a rebel stronghold in the mountains, many in the region fear the problem is
far from over.
Montenegro
— This week’s election results in Montenegro make it likely that
Serbia’s junior partner in what’s left of Yugoslavia will move forward with
plans to hold a referendum to be the last republic to pull out of the Yugoslav federation.
"We
have been planning this for many months — it’s not tied to any current real
world events," Navy Capt. Steve Burnett said of the exercise. Burnett is a spokesman
for NATO’s Allied Forces Southern Command, which oversees the Balkans region.
The
exercise, however, does "demonstrate that NATO can bring in additional forces very
quickly, if needed," he said.
Coming in
by air and sea, the exercise kicked off with more than 200 Marines from the 22nd Marine
Expeditionary Unit securing a drop zone for a 300-strong company of U.S. paratroopers from
the Southern European Task Force.
Pfc. Duane Brown/
Task Force Falcon
A soldier with the1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment prepares
to land near the Vitina airfield Friday. |
Elements of
the 1st Battalion, 508th Parachute Infantry Regiment jumped into Kosovo from five C-130
transport planes after a three-hour ride from their home station in Vicenza, Italy.
With a pair
of F-16s prepping the drop zone with simulated combat runs, the jump took place near
Vitina, in the U.S.-led sector of Kosovo.
The
Marines, currently on a six-month tour in the Mediterranean aboard the three-ship Nassau
Amphibious Ready Group, came into Kosovo from Croatia after two weeks of exercises there.
Meanwhile
in Albania, Italian and Argentine troops began live-fire exercises that are scheduled to
run through the weekend.
On May 1,
those forces will shift into neighboring Kosovo to begin patrols with international
peacekeepers there.
That’s
also when Dutch, Polish and Romanian troops will begin exercises in Bosnia.
All
Strategic Reserve Force units "will conduct routine patrols, man checkpoints and
perform other peacekeeping duties along side the in-place forces," said French Maj.
Jean Deschard, a NATO spokesman.
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