A covert mission I can now talk about

:From the Soldier side As anybody who's been reading my blog for awhile may know, my Bosnia Deployment was one of the best! I'm not saying that as a joke, but I loved the job I had there. I was part of SFOR 14. SFOR= Stabilization Force 14= the 14th rotation from the Americans.

For much of the work I did there, I had to sign a secrecy oath. These oaths are usually for 5 years. Since that time has expired, and with careful editing, I can tell of one my best missions. It was about this time of year in 2003. It was cold and had been snowing on and off in our AO (Area of Operations). This was going to be a night mission and would require great planning, stealth and precise timing.  Properly done, we should be in and out without contact.

Our vehicle was a civilian Volks Wagon with over 300,000 kilometers on it. It looked like crap, but had been fully re-built….thus making it the perfect vehicle for such missions. It had no armor, no radio (we used mobile phones, or as the Americans call them- cell phones)

Our uniforms were blue jeans, locally purchases shoes, shirts, jackets and hats---to help blend in.

We were each armed with an M9 9mm pistol (AKA Beretta) loaded with 15 rounds of NATO ball 120something grain ammo, with a spare 15 round magazine. I also carried my Emerson CQ7 folding lock blade knife.

Our mission (now declassified) was to move out and locate one vehicle that belonged to the EUPM (European Union Mission Police) that was supposed to have been parked near the house a few of the EUPM cops were living in. This mission was a payback mission for a practical joke one of them had played on ME!

click on the pic to make it bigger and read the bumper sticker

I not only found the vehicle and attached the bumper sticker (see photo) but I sent the digital image to many other EUPM cops as proof.

Well, if you’re not laughing, I guess it was because you had to have been there.

Coming soon....Christmas in Bosnia 2003 and Iraq 2004.