Joint Commission Observers (JCO) BH/RS

[Razor]

KW, thanks for the story. Your team leader had a funny account of his vs. the Tm Sgt's reaction to the impacts. Could you please also post an intro in the 'Introductions III' thread?

[Pigpen]

Wow, not to highjack, but I didn't know Darsy Rogers was the Group CDR now, good for him. I always liked that guy.

[Ret10Echo]

Anyone aboard that was downrange in '97 that was targeted in the "Fireside Chat" that was distributed nightly? ....otherwise known as the bitter SOCCE dwellers attack on the house dwellers?

[MtnGoat]

Originally Posted by SF18C

Bijeljina

Or as we referred to it Babe-a-lina! It was in the NE sector of the Republika Srpska! We never did find out what they put in the water but it we were positive it enhanced the female bust line! So many nights out looking for a good Sitrep!

This wasn't the house that had the "Grim Reaper" framer stop by one Night!!

Tony C.. just like him to say that.

[KW9598]

Razor, thanks for the reminder to hit the intro thread...my bad.

If ref to the house attack and our det cdr's version...i'm sure he had a similar perspective, minus a round impacting in the corner of his room. I still have the security camera video footage from that night...you can actually see flashes from the launch site and sparks/smoke from impacting the house. I also video taped everything with an hour or so of the attack, walking around the house showing damage, etc. No injuries to anyone, pretty amazing. The only casualty was a dead pigeon we found the next morning. Our terp's went thru a lot of "interviews" over that incident...there was just too much coincidence with where the rounds were aimed, where they impacted, etc. Nothing ever came out of it, as far as i know. I did hear the house was hit again and they finally moved to Milici. In another post there's a picture of the E40 house, that was the house that was oringally occupied and by the time we got there they had moved done the road a bit. I have a good picture from the front of the house that'll i'll post once i figure out how to do that lol

All in all, i had a great time there and met numerous B-Mus's i became very good friends with. Thanks to bombing serbia at the time, the B-Serbs in our area didnt want to have anything to do with us. Cant blame them.

Some of you might have seen the recent news of Naser Oric...charges dropped by the ICTY on his involvement in war crimes in the Srebrenica/Potocari area. During our tour there I was almost able to arrange a meeting with him in the Tuzla area, prior to him being sent to the hague.

[KW9598]

i might have gotten the number assigned to the Zvornik house incorrect in a prior post, can't remember any more lol

I have a picture of the house in Zvornik- circa 99, if you'd like to see let me know and i'll send. Having probs getting the jpeg from a PDF into here.

photo is from the SOCOM history PDF file located off the front page at http://www.socom.mil/ right side, middle file, page 65-69

[KW9598]

Here's a few good shots of a MIG that was shot down just before we arrived. The mayor and COP in Teocak guided us through minefields and forests for almost 2 hours to the crash site.

[rudelsg2]

Originally Posted by KW9598

[FONT= This is a first hand account. Jim B happened to be the only one awake at the time in the "ops" room and a round most definitely penetrated and passed through the room right next to him, impacting into a box of lithium batteries in the corner. [/FONT]

That's it. It has been like eight or so years since I've heard Jim's account, my bad not his.

[rudelsg2]

Originally Posted by Ret10Echo

Anyone aboard that was downrange in '97 that was targeted in the "Fireside Chat" that was distributed nightly? ....otherwise known as the bitter SOCCE dwellers attack on the house dwellers?

Yes, I loved getting chewed out by CPTs and Tm Sgts everytime they came to the SOCCE. It was then I would remind them, "Look I'm just the SSG that sends this thing out, do you really think I would write that, in that manner to you?".
One thing about working at the SOCCE, it taught me how to read "between the lines" in message traffic going both ways.

[Stras]

Same problems in SOCCE SW in '98... of course the response of "I just typed in the same crap that you sent us " went over real well with the TS and TL. Spellcheck is a wonderful thing.

We had a version of the "fireside chat" as well... damn, the memory is the 2nd thing to go........

We were always on the lookout for "JCO 6" since he never seemed to stay at home in Sarajevo, and was always out and about..

Anyone else still have nightmares from the JCO Methodology presentation that ran about 150 slides?

[Pigpen]

Or the JCO House SOP written by someone who had never been in one of the houses. I seem to recall a very colorful blow-up when Rod H. told the BC at the time it was a "cover your a$$ document". Just brings to my face thinking of it.

One of the big points of contention was we kept our weapons within arms reach of our bunks in the house. Which of course was not IAW the JCO SOP.

[ODA 226]

Originally Posted by Pigpen

@ ODA 226,
Indeed that was probably our plaque. We were the first 10th team to do the liaison work with HUBAT. (084) The time frame was OCT 95 - Mar 96(?).

The Hungarian CO considered that plaque as his prized possession and would not stop talking about you guys! Job well done!

It's a shame we weren't able to hook-up. My office was in Nova Gradiska and my boss was ex- SAS and our police adviser was ex-GSG-9. He later worked for Bundespolizei Einsatzabteilung Kranich. We had a real Special Operations OSCE Field Office. My girlfriend also owned a bar in Nova Gradiska in the middle of the town...

[KW9598]

Pics taken along the "exodus" route between Sreb and tulza area 99

[KW9598]

outskirts of Srebrenica at the DUTBAT compound

[KW9598]

roof damage, launching tubes that were found, and round debris found at the impact area