Visit to KFOR Headquarters...

---

It’s not every day that I get to leave the sleepy hollow grounds of camp Bondsteel, so I was pretty excited to be attending the Logistics Conference in Pristina. We loaded the vehicle with our protective equipment and then me and my boss man were off early in the morning driving the traffic circles of Kosovo and navigating the oncoming traffic with a defensive eye and using our cat like reflexes to get out of the way of all the crazy drivers.

We finally arrived at the Pristina NATO Headquarters referred to as Camp Film City. This peacekeepers headquarters is surrounded by concertina wire and wood frame buildings with red tile roofs adorn the interior of the camp, which is named for its former ambition to be Yugoslavia’s Hollywood. But the films made here were to be porn and not the Disney animation films that would have maybe made it famous instead of shady.

Camp Film City was established in the summer of 1999 by NATO who took the lead in establishing a peacekeeping operation in support of wider international efforts to build peace and stability in this contested province. Most of us know it as KFOR headquarters and ultimately the soldiers and civilians who operate out of Film City are responsible to support the five multi-national task forces across Kosovo. KFOR is the military arm to creating a safe and secure environment and the United Nations representatives located here work to solve the status of Kosovo as an independent nation. It is home to 32 nations who work, live and socialize together…and socialize they do. The main street in Film City boasts shopping and drinking establishments from approximately 12 separate nations. Well, the Americans only have shopping in their building because we are not allowed to consume alcohol.

Enroute to our conference we walked the main drag full of shops and there were not only some wonderful places to eat but there a few families of kittens hanging out around the sides of the street. We stopped to play but they were only friendly for a few minutes and then ran away and hid underneath the buildings. Most of the stores sell snacks, a few articles of clothing and a few cheap trinkets here and there.

As we walked into the room that would be host to our conference, it was something that I would expect to see on the television, with the “U” shaped tables and microphones at every seat. There was a seating chart and each country sat in their prospective chairs, with all the extras filling in the back rows. There were representatives from Ireland, Morocco, Croatia, Germany, Kosovo, Portugal, Switzerland, Greece, Slovenia, Austria, France, Finland, Belgium, Turkey, Sweden, Hungary, the Netherlands, Denmark, Italy, Turkey, Czech Republic, Slovakia, and the United States. Wow, what a great opportunity to meet new people!

As the all day conference began I was more amused with my surroundings than the actual content, and with all the diversity I was occupied for hours upon hours. Each country had a different shade of green on their uniforms, accompanied by different hues of orange, gray, mustard, black and brown that filled in all the various camouflage patterns. I even think the Austrians have a uniform that duplicates that of a UPS driver; all brown with gold lettering above the left breast pocket.

It is mandated that the entire conference is in English, but most times it is like listening to Hans and Frauns of the old Saturday Night Live. You can hear the many variations of YES as each country gives their logistical briefings. “Ya” from the Germans, “Oui” (sounds like..we..) from the French, “Sim” from the Portuguese, “Tah” from the Irish, “Yah” from the Finish, and “Da” from many of the Croatian/Russian area soldiers. Even though the English is pretty good on average there were quite a few that would search for words and pause out loud with a “ah” and then continue on with their thoughts. Usually their thoughts are much faster than their words. But then I really started to listen and here was some of the translation of meanings that I picked up on:

From A to Zed …(English) from A to Z
One bump of fuel between here to there … (English) One fuel stop between here and there
What are your really concerns? … (English) What are your issues?
Large experience … (English) much experience
Pressing out to smoke … (English) Going out to smoke
Fly planes … (English) Airplanes
Biscuits … (English) Cookies

Needless to say, I find this international crowd fascinating. I am growing used to the broken English dialects and the rhythm of pronunciation. But have found it extremely difficult to eavesdrop on sidebar conversations because they are usually in their native languages.

So as the day drones on with briefing after briefing I make some observations that keep me occupied and humored all at the same time. Like most things I attend in the military, there were only two women at this conference, so I was surrounded by middle age men who don’t really know they are middle aged. No matter what country they are from, comb-overs are in style, receding hairlines come in all shapes and forms and everybody’s bald head shines under the bright lights of the briefing room. When trapped in an enclosed room for hours at a time, stinky butts will prevail and I am always running to the outside door as soon as a break is called. So men across the world are all the same, and they never stop amusing me!

One thing for sure, no matter what uniforms we wear or what shape of rank is embossed on the fabric, or what fancy patches and identifiers we wear proudly, all these logisticians from across the world share a passion. All focused efforts are to maximize the logistics efforts across Kosovo and to build capacity to support each of our countries for all our missions. An entire day of really black coffee with boxed milk that has a shelf life of “forever”, cookies that aren’t very sweet and fascinating company with people of many cultures, has been just another fine day here in Kosovo. Everyday seems to be laced with something different, new people to meet and different support missions to focus on.

I think I may have the best job here!

---