BREMERHAVEN, Germany (Army News Service, June 22, 1999) -- Heavy combat equipment from the 1st Infantry Division is now en route from Germany to support peacekeeping forces in Kosovo.

The equipment and supplies are being shipped from the port of Bremerhaven, Germany to Thessoliniki, Greece, where they will be moved forward to support Task Force Falcon and the U.S. Army's 1st Infantry Division in Kosovo.

A total of about 7,000 U.S. Army personnel based in Europe and the United States will deploy to participate in "Operation Joint Guardian," officials said. The soldiers will be part of the Kosovo peace implementation force, known as KFOR. Most of the U.S. contingent, designated Task Force Falcon, will occupy the "multi-national brigade sector, southeast" in Kosovo.

Operating components of the Military Traffic Management Command's 598th Transportation Terminal Group, and the Military Sealift Command, Europe, are on-site at Bremerhaven, overseeing the onload of equipment aboard two large Navy cargo ships. MTMC's 838th Transportation Terminal Battalion and the 950th Transportation Terminal Company are loading the U.S. Naval ships Bob Hope and Soderman.

The ships will transport thousands of wheeled and tracked vehicles, including M1A1 Abrams tanks, Bradley fighting vehicles, howitzers, armored combat engineer vehicles, heavy moving equipment, and various supplies.

"For the Army, this is the critical move," said MTMC spokesman John Randt. "This will establish a solid, heavy Army task force (in Kosovo)." Randt said the Army presence in Kosovo is currently a "light force" and the shipment underway will provide the armor and artillery needed for security in a theater of operations.

"This heavy equipment will put us in a position to protect the citizens (of Kosovo)" Randt said. He said the equipment will allow the Army to take control of Sector V of Kosovo from the Marine Corps.

The 1st Infantry Division equipment is expected to arrive in Greece early next week and be sent forward to Kosovo through Macedonia. Randt said the move "shows our maneuverability, our speed, our deployability."

The two ships transporting the equipment are new Large Medium Speed Roll-on/Roll-off vessels, known as LMSRs. The USNS Bob Hope is the first new-construction LMSR. It is the first of a new class of ship on its first operational voyage, and is named for the legendary entertainer who provided more than 50 years of service to U.S. forces around the world. It's sister ship, the Soderman, named for a U.S. Army Medal of Honor recipient, is a Shughart-class LMSR ship originally built in Denmark and modified by National Steel and Shipbuilding Company, San Diego, Calif.

The LMSR is similar in size to a Nimitiz-class aircraft carrier, measuring about 900 feet in length and displacing anywhere from 55,000 to 70,000 long tons fully loaded. Bob Hope is one of 14 new construction LMSRs scheduled to be built by the year 2001. Soderman is one of five converted commercial ships in the Navy's LMSR inventory.

MSC and MTMC are components of the U.S. Transportation Command headquartered at Scott Air Force Base, Ill., providing air, land and sea transportation to deploy and sustain military forces worldwide. The 598th Transportation Terminal Group is responsible for port operations and the onward movement of cargo in Europe, Africa, and southwest Asia.
 
 

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