By Linda D. Kozaryn
American Forces Press Service
 

WASHINGTON -- Like budding crops, rows of Southeast Asian
huts, known as SEAhuts, have sprouted in Kosovo where about
6,000 American troops are supporting the NATO-led
peacekeeping force known as KFOR.

U.S. forces entered Kosovo in March following NATO
Operation Allied Force. Since then, military officials have
worked to rapidly improve service members' quality of life.
In contrast to the Bosnia peacekeeping mission where troops
lived in tents for many months before moving into hardened
structures, DoD decided to erect the SEAhuts from the
start.

About 4,000 U.S. service members are stationed at Camp
Bondsteel in the farm fields near Urosevac, and another
2,000 are at Camp Montieth, near Gnjilane. Both camps are
named after medal of honor recipients, Army Staff Sgt.
James L. Bondsteel, honored for heroism in Vietnam, and
Army 1st Lt. Jimmie W. Montieth Jr, honored for heroism in
France during World War II.

  Contractors are building about 160 troop SEAhuts, dining halls,  fitness centers and other facilities at Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, headquartersof U.S. Task Force Falcon. The single-story wooden structures were first used  in Southeast Asia and then in Bosnia. The military redesigned the SEAhuts specifically for Kosovo. Each wooden structure has a male and a female latrine and six rooms housing six service members each. The huts have heat, hot water, air conditioning, plumbing, electricity and telephones.
(Photo by Linda D. Kozaryn )

Another 500 Americans support the operation from Camp Able
Sentry in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. The
U.S. contingent is known as Task Force Falcon.

Duty life at Bondsteel involves long hours and 7-day work
weeks, according to Capt. Garth J. Case, HHC, 3rd Brigade,
1st Infantry Division. Case is the battle captain for G-3
operations, a section that tracks what goes on, he
explained, "sort of like '911.'"

"There are no weekends here," Case said. Some of the
headquarters people are working 18-hour days." The overall
mission, he said, involves protecting "a lot of people from
the dangers here that would be even worse if we weren't,"
he said.

An ethnic Albanian woman, one of about 400 contract
interpretors working for the task force, said NATO troops
relieved her people of a heavy burden. Prior to Operation
Allied Force, Serb authorities made it hard for Albanians
to live in Kosovo, she said, forcing them to speak Serbian
and to show identity cards. "Now," Makfire Pajaziti said,
"I feel like I just fly."

U.S. forces in Kosovo conduct about 350 squad-size security
operations every day, according to Task Force Falcon Chief
of Staff, Army Col. Ellis W. Golson. Eleven-man squads
patrol on foot or in HUMVEES in the towns and villages
within the 23,000-square kilometer American zone.

"Our aviation assets flying support missions fly about 40
hours per airplane per month, which is about four times the
normal rate for any unit in the States," he said.

Along with Bondsteel and Montieth, Golson said U.S. forces
man 27 out-lying sites 24 hours a day, where they operate
checkpoints, control traffic and clear roads. "We have
civil affairs soldiers who are out every day working with
the U.N. mission in Kosovo, trying to set up the local
government, get power reestablished and identify all the
needs we have."

"We're asking young sergeants, E-5s and E-6s, 21 and 22
years old, to make decisions that represent the U.S. Army,"
Golson said. "They sit in on local leaders meetings where
we're trying to get local people to come together. They
resolve conflicts between Albanians and Serbs, and
sometimes, Albanians on Albanians."

In one case, a soldier dealt with two people arguing over a
cow, for example. "Both of them claimed it was their cow.
So the soldier said, 'I'll shoot it, then you all can
butcher it.' One of them said, 'No, don't do that.' So the
soldier told him, 'OK, it must be your cow.'" This soldier
obviously had "paid attention in Sunday school," Golson
said, referring to the biblical story of King Solomon's
ploy to determine the real father of a child.

Golson said the security situation in Kosovo was
"volatile," when the Task Force first arrived. It has since
improved. "Now it is equal or better than any city in the
United States across the board," he said. As far as
establishing a safe and secure environment, yes, we've done
that."

Task Force Falcon's operations sergeant major, Steve
Wilson, said today's Army is prepared to do its job. "Our
job right now is to keep the peace here in Kosovo."