9th-12th-Lancers - Year 2002 - Page 0060
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| Regiment | 9th/12th Lancers |
|---|---|
| Year | 2002 |
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58 REGIMENTAL JOURNAL OF THE 9TH/12TH ROYAL LANCERS (PRINCE OF WALES’S) HQ SFOR - 802 G3 Training Reserves For those who have not served in Bosnia Herzegovina (BiH), as I had not previous to August 2002, it seems a rather old and forgotten theatre. It is seldom that a story of success breaks into the news. Contrarily, reports of woe: failing to capture additional Persons Indicted For War Crimes (PIFWC) coupled with the enduring trials in The Hague of those that have been caught or voluntarily surrendered. The Elections may make a subsidiarypage in a dailybroad sheet, but it is only on this level that BiH is reported on. The ongoing success of the soldiers on the ground and the reformation of the mature military environ- ment do not, due to public fatigue, achieve recognition. Without doubt, there are more popular tours being undertaken by Her Majesty’s Forces, but this should not take anything away from the BiH theatre. This is particularly relevant with the forthcoming squadron tours programmed for 2003. My position in HQ SFOR, SARAJEVO, is actually entitled C]3 Training Reserves, working for a Swedish S01 and along side an Argentinean S02 and forming the SFOR Training Section. At first this combination was a little worrying to me, assuming that there was a good chance that the bulk ofwork coming to the sec- tion would be off loaded on to my desk. Thankfully, this has not been the case, with this mixture, working fairly and bonding to be a close and friendly team. On initial analysis, the job seems to be rather mundane, some distance away from the pointy end of the sword. In the time that I have been the incumbent, the position has actually evolved enormously (not necessarily due to my efforts!). What originally encompassed the exercising and development of COMSFOR’s Tactical Reserve and the annual Operational Rehearsal (OP REH) of the Strategic Reserve, now incorporates the whole Over-The-Horizon-Force (OTHF) (essentially a home based Operational and Strategic Reserve Force (SRF)). The training title still stands, but the reality of the work sees the conceptual planning and operational deploy- ment combined with the training angle. This lends itself to a great deal of meetings, both in theatre and at AFSOUTH in NAPLES (not as pleasant as it sounds), including the obligato- ry and repetitive briefings, a continual drafting and updating of CONPLANS and SOPs, and a large amount of OP REH plan- nrng. The gradual reduction in forces throughout both BiH and KOSOVO required a contingency plan for theatre reinforce- ment if the stable situation should turn “unstable”. The chosen option was to have a force on stand by, based on Light Infantry Battalions that could continue with their routine national demands at their home bases but react if requested. The result is a multi battalion Operational Reserve Force (ORF) and multi battalion SRF. Subject to different Notice to Move times, this Maj Wbe and SFOR7 Tram/Hg i . l‘fi‘ SFOR7 Team OTHF force is able to deploy to either theatre in the Joint Operational Area and reinforce in theatre troops. This concept has been developed at a fast rate, through necessity, as OTHF OP REH began in December 2002, just a few months after the idea was conceived. To me, this meant evolving and developing the military environment so that it could absorb the surge of forces and the accompanying realities that are not necessarily planned for. Without doubt, this proved to be both educational and testing, especially when you throw in the added complica- tion of the multinational environment. BiH still has manyproblems as a country. The feeling ofbroth- erhood is at times rather shallow, recognising the national fragility. The countryside is still strewn with wrecked domi- ciles, that continually remind the military tourist quite how horrific some events of the warprobably were. There is the typ- ical Balkan variety of wealth. Numerous thirty-something “businessmen” parade throughout the larger towns in expensive imported clothing with swish new German cars parked outside their preferred café. A few miles outside of the hub, families struggle to live in their unheated homes. The World Bank recently declared that BiH had a long way to progress before it would be financially and economically strong enough to start standing independently in Europe. Perhaps this could have been one factor in the lack of international investors, or even an influence on the Olympic Committee when it rejected the BiH bid to host another Winter Olympics. The future of BiH as a NATO theatre will be interesting to the observer. There is to be a large reduction of troops and indeed contributing nations programmed for the near future. Since Major Wbe m fest/v9 sp/r/t |
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