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Isle-based troops
will go to Bosnia
in April 2002

The 25th Infantry Division
is scheduled to deploy 2,500
soldiers from Schofield to
Europe as peacekeepers

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By Gregg K. Kakesako
Star-Bulletin

The 25th Infantry Division (Light) is being sent to Europe -- for the first time in its 59-year history -- to be part of the multinational peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

The deployment of 2,500 Tropic Lightning soldiers from Schofield Barracks will take place in April 2002.

In 1995 the division sent 3,700 soldiers to Haiti as part of a peacekeeping force in Operation Uphold Democracy. Most left the Caribbean nation on March 31, 1995, with about 500 soldiers from Oahu staying three months longer.

TROPIC LIGHTNING Oct. 1, 1941: Formed at Schofield Barracks nine weeks before the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor. Jan. 11, 1945: Participated in the liberation of the Philippines. July 5, 1950: Ordered to the Korean peninsula. December 1965: Sent to South Vietnam in the largest single troop movement in history (4,000 soldiers and 9,000 tons of equipment). January 1995: Sent two brigades to Haiti for a six-month peacekeeping mission.

The Bosnia NATO-sponsored peacekeeping operations began in December 1995, following the end of the four-year war and the signing of the Dayton Peace Agreement.

Maj. Nancy Makowski, 25th Division spokeswoman, said Maj. Gen. James Dubik, who took over the division Nov. 3, is expected to command and control the Multinational Division in the north and Task Force Eagle in Tuzla from April to October.

Multinational peacekeepers

Peacekeepers in the Multinational Division (North) are provided by soldiers from Russia, Turkey, Estonia, Latvia, Finland, Poland, Denmark, Lithuania and Norway.

Besides Tropic Lightning soldiers in Task Force Eagle, Dubik will command soldiers from the Idaho, Minnesota and Indiana Army National Guard in this 11th Army and National Guard rotation.

Although the 25th Division maintains a brigade of nearly 1,700 soldiers at Fort Lewis in the state of Washington, all of the soldiers who will be sent to Bosnia in April 2002 will be from one of the two brigades at Wahiawa, Makowski said.

No National Guard members

No Hawaii Army National Guard soldiers will be called up for the Bosnia deployment, she added.

Makowski said the Army does not expect the six-month European deployment to hurt the 25th Division's major mission, the defense of Asia.

Nor will the division pull back from its community support commitments, such as the military air ambulance medivac service, and other activities such as firefighting support, parades and other local festivities, Makowski said.

However, she said the loss of Makua Valley as a live-fire weapons training area for company-size units has affected its readiness.

The Army is completing an environmental study and has said it hopes to return to the Waianae Coast training range using smaller units.

Helicopters included

The division will be deploying about 500 infantry soldiers, augmented by another 1,000 or so aviation and other combat support soldiers.

It also is expected to send some Black Hawk helicopters now stationed at Wheeler Army Airfield.

Makowski said all of the division's three brigades have trained for these peacekeeping missions at the Joint Readiness Training Center, the Army's premiere combat teaching facility at Fort Polk in Louisiana, which has constructed a mock European village to simulate field conditions.

However, the unit selected for the Bosnia mission will get a more intense refresher course before it leaves for Europe, she added.

The 25th Division will replace the 29th Infantry Division from the Virginia Army National Guard.

The 25th Division is one of two light infantry units in the Army. The other is the 10th Mountain Division, at Fort Drum, N.Y., which went to Bosnia in 1999.