|
Last modified: Monday, November 16, 2009 3:52 PM CST
ND Guard commander: Morale high in Kosovo
BISMARCK, N.D. (AP) — The commander of about 650 North Dakota National Guard soldiers leading a peacekeeping mission in Kosovo says weekend elections brought no major problems, just minor skirmishes at polling places that local police handled.
North Dakota Guard Brig. Gen. Alan Dohrmann took over command of a multinational force on Saturday, a day before Kosovo’s first independent elections. The United Nations, which took over control of Kosovo from Serbia in 1999, ran previous elections.
Dohrmann, speaking by telephone Monday from Camp Bondsteel in Kosovo, said the few “minor skirmishes” mostly involved people who were “boisterous.”
North Dakota Guard members are among more than 2,000 soldiers from about 40 states and several countries with a mission to help keep the peace in the Balkans region. Guard officials say it is the state’s largest single deployment in more than 50 years.
The Guard says the bulk of the North Dakota soldiers arrived in Kosovo late last month and trained for about two years leading up to the mission. They are expected to be deployed for about 10 months.
U.S. forces have been in Kosovo for a decade on a NATO mission aimed at quelling conflict. Dohrmann said soldiers patrol and commanders meet with civil authorities “to keep a sense of how things are going on the ground.”
“We’ve been successful in taking care of problems before they become big problems,” Dohrmann said.
The North Dakota Guard commander, Maj. Gen. David Sprynczynatyk, returned to Bismarck late Sunday after visiting soldiers and commanders in Kosovo. He also traveled to the Horn of Africa nation of Djibouti to meet with the Bismarck-based Detachment 42 of the Guard’s Operational Support Airlift unit.
Sprynczynatyk said the seven-member unit has been flying two C-12 aircraft, transporting personnel and cargo in Horn of Africa countries.
The Guard commander said 37 North Dakota National Guard soldiers in Kosovo are related — parents and their children or siblings. He said two female soldiers serving in Djibouti are married to men serving in Kosovo.
The Guard said about half the soldiers serving in Kosovo have served multiple deployments in Iraq and Afghanistan since 2003. Sprynczynatyk said morale remains high.
“Everything I saw was very positive,” Sprynczynatyk said Monday. “Our people know they will make a difference.”
|
