Since the media can't seem to get this right:
I spent the past several days up at a border gate in northern Kosovo. Serbs had blocked in our camp with earth berms and the only way in or out was by helicopter. They had constructed a bypass to get around the gate. Yesterday morning we succeeded in breaking through the berm and shutting down their bypass. Demonstrators showed up later and taunted KFOR troops. They brought in a truck and made an attempt to use cable to pull our C-wire, which would have pulled it over many of our troops. Some US soldiers went out into the crowd to secure the truck and were attacked by the crowd. CS and nonlethal rounds were used. The crowd threw rocks, large fireworks and at least one grenade at us as the soldiers brought the truck into our perimeter. We also took some small arms fire. KFOR troops did fire at individuals who attacked US soldiers and some were hit. Many other rounds were fired, but not into the crowd. The intent was to drive the crowd away to either expose the people shooting at us or drive them away with the crowd. (My opinion only)
I can tell you all that all the KFOR troops did an outstanding job and used the minimum force necessary to protect ourselves. A lot of the media are presenting a different picture, claiming that we were firing into a crowd of innocent civilians. I guarantee you that if we had done that there would have been dozens of dead people out there. These soldiers, especially the US and Germans, made me proud. They acted with restraint and professionalism against a band of thugs and ignorant civilians.
