A soldier from the Bosnia and Herzegovina armed forces tightens a tourniquet around an IV training arm during combat lifesaver training in Sarajevo. (Derrick Witherspoon / U.S. Army Reserve)
A Bosnian explosive ordnance disposal unit will head to Iraq next month, the first time Bosnian armed forces have deployed outside of the country.
The unit will support a U.S. Army or Marine unit for six months before being replaced by a similar EOD unit from Bosnia and Herzegovina, according to Lt. Col. Thomas Moffatt, U.S. European Command security assistance officer in Sarajevo.
Its mission will be to dispose of large amounts of captured ammunitions, Capt. Robert Beljan, operations officer for the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina Center of Professional Development in Pazaric, stated in a news release.
The unit comprises 36 soldiers from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s two separate armies, Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Republika Srpska, Moffatt said.
All of the soldiers, from three ethnicities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, volunteered to be in the unit and to deploy to Iraq. With the international community encouraging the two armies to combine into one Bosnian force, the ethnically mixed unit is an important step toward that end, Moffatt said.
“While it may not be the focus [of the unit’s creation], it is something that the citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the international community should be proud of,” he said. “This is a unit that is the way of the future, and it should be a source of pride for this country.”
The soldiers have trained for about five months on basic individual skills, specialized explosive-ordnance disposal training and advanced first aid, Moffatt said.
The training was provided by the 7th Army Reserve Command from Germany, California National Guard soldiers based at Forward Operating Site Eagle in Tuzla, the Maryland National Guard and a U.S.-contracted mobile training team, Moffatt said.
“We basically taught them all the necessary skills of a combat lifesaver ... how to control bleeding, treat shock, splint a fracture, attend to a sucking chest wound or an abdominal wound, and how to initiate an IV. Basically all the important techniques needed for assistance to a casualty,” Staff Sgt. Bruce Toland, an Army reservist, said in the release.
The soldiers also received training in the political and military situation in Iraq, and the unit’s leadership visited the U.S. Central Command headquarters in Tampa, Fla., Moffatt said.
The U.S. military began its stabilization mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina in November 1995 and currently has about 300 soldiers there.
The Iraq deployment could change the perception of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the eyes of the international community, Moffatt said.
“It is still a place that needs assistance from the international community for stability and reconstruction,” Moffatt said. “But, I think they are moving from a position as security consumer to security provider. It demonstrates to the international community that Bosnia and Herzegovina can step up and help in some way.”
A soldier from the Bosnia and Herzegovina armed forces tightens a tourniquet around an IV training arm during combat lifesaver training in Sarajevo. (Derrick Witherspoon / U.S. Army Reserve)
Sgt. 1st Class Jerry Taylor, an Army reservist with the 7th Army Reserve Command’s Medical Support Unit-Europe, places moulage on a Bosnia and Herzegovina army soldier during combat lifesaver training in Sarajevo. A platoon of explose ordinance disposal soldiers from Bosnia is preparing to deploy to Iraq in June. (Derrick Witherspoon / U.S. Army Reserve)
