10 Apr. 2008
Srbica/Skenderaj, Kosovo - Captain Andreas B., the company commander, is controlling the area of operations of his unit. The district consists of 52 villages and has approx. 70,000 inhabitants and always has been the poorest district of the Kosovo with a high number of unemployed.
The main task of his unit is the protection of enclaves which are partially inhabited by Kosoco-Serbs and Kosovo-Albanians, the conduct of patrols and the protection of the Devic Monastery.
The tasks of the soldiers include general patrol duty in addition to the conduct of own controls, in order to be able to ascertain any changes in the situation in due time and be able to react to them. A further part of his company is deployed to Devic Monstery. During the March 2004 riots the monastery was raided and burnt down by approx. 2,000 Kosovo Albanians. The then seven nuns could be evacuated in time.
On the way to the monastery, off the main road, we can see that the rainfall of the last days has rendered the way nearly impassable. When he reaches the small camp with the partially destroyed monastery complex, he sees his soldiers at work: While a part of them is surveying the access road, others are busy with the consolidation of the positions. On the embankment, the engineers of the ORF Battalion are reinforcing an access to the slope that was washed out by the rain, because the patrol has to ascend this path on their patrol to the mountain.
The commander knows that all supply goods and food for several days is kept in place here for the forces to be able to survive self-sustainingly for a long period of time.
The company commander appears belatedly enthusiastic about the training at the Combat Training Center. "The situations introduced there appeared a little exaggerated in Germany, but here we found that they apply one hundred percent and that what we are doing in the Kosovo is exactly what we exercised there."
(Story by Captain Gerhard H. Fahn, German Army)
