Village Day with the LMT...

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One dog begins to bark, and then there are others who respond in kind, and it merely disrupts the quiet of the countryside. I wonder if they are friendly greetings or a warning to stay within my boundaries. I suppose time will tell on this chilly December morning as I walk across the grass in northern Kosovo. We are walking towards the river to observe a destroyed walking bridge, which limits the townspeople from taking the shortcut across the river and forces them to drive or walk the long way around. Mostly impacting the route to the cemetery, which is so very important to all the families in this tiny village. I suppose the barking could just be a simple greeting of the day or maybe they are happy to see the soldiers who hopeful represent a brighter future for the former Yugoslav Republic that declared independence nearly two years ago.

I am traveling with LMT #1, or Liaison Monitoring Team #1, and they have graciously allowed me to tag along with them as they perform their daily duties. Best part is not only are these soldiers seen by the people in these areas as professional and very friendly, they are soldiers who served with me in Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom I, and I know for a fact that KFOR 12 couldn’t have chosen better soldiers for this particular mission. Their function is to sense the population. They embed themselves in the communities, municipal buildings and the local governments. Not literally, but more of a visiting friend, who conducts a not so casual drop-in. Most stops are for information gathering, and hopefully they come away with a sense of the town’s mood.


The team of two soldiers and an interpreter are not only armed with weapons, but also are given talking points - themes - that are important to assist in gathering information and spreading a common message throughout the entirety of Kosovo. The aim of the peacekeeping mission for years has been to patrol and conduct sensing missions across the cities and villages from one corner to the other of this troubled land, keeping peace between factions that for centuries have felt animosity toward each other. I would venture to say that over the past 10 years things have gotten considerably better between the two sides, the Kosovo Albanians, who are mostly Muslim and the overwhelmingly majority in the country, still share a little mistrust with the Kosovo Serbs, who are Orthodox Christians and make up around 10% of the populations. But the LMT’s are out there amongst everyone just to keep an ear to the ground.

We are in the heart of Serb country driving down the narrow europeans roads wide enough for about a car and a half, buildings close on each side, whn then low and behold there is a big piece of machinery across the road and there we sit nose to nose with a crowd of 20-25 men and a big yellow ditch digging apparatus. No problem. The team I am traveling with pop out of the vehicle with their interpreter and start engaging the men standing around the big ditch being dug across the road. The scene actually looked like something from the states at a construction site, you know, one guy running the machine while 20 others stand around and watch! Like a smooth running operation, the soldiers talked to the locals, the interpreter spoke for both sides, and it seemed like small talk but they got a real sense of how the people felt about the road project and how things were going in their village. They laughed on both sides, shook hands and smiled like this was a normal occurrence. Truth was. This was normal. The LMT’s were getting paid to talk, to assist with problem solving, and to know their assigned villages inside and out. Wow, I must admit I was a little jealous. What a great job to have!

We continued on our journey, the soldiers giving me a windshield tour of who lived where and what people were in charge of what municipalities, and how all of it fit together to form the political picture in the area. Eventually we had to stop and each lunch in one of the local restaurants a few cities down. Of course I couldn’t read a single word on the menu but the interpreter said that I couldn’t go wrong with the chicken spaghetti. So I lived on the edge and took his advice, not to be disappointed. It was the best meal I’ve had since I left Camp Atterbury back in September! The seasoning was perfect, a big basket of bread was served with a mushroom dipping sauce and the noodles were mouth watering. I was in heaven! This was truly a festive treat, not only to have a great meal but to be able to spend this much time with my former soldiers. They had grown up so much and had turned into the leaders of tomorrow. Responsible, civic minded and caring beyond words. I couldn’t be prouder than I was at that moment. They were no longer dodging IED’s on the sides of the Iraq roads, no longer driving through ambushes and no longer in danger like those we faced in a combat zone. We had survived those days together and now they were serving as the diplomats of KFOR 12. We trusted them with information and relied on them for information. Now here they were, they were the teachers today and I was the student. Amazing how times change.

We drove down the back roads, we witnessed all the unemployed roaming the streets, we caught a wave from the people here and there and we stopped at schools. One didn’t let us in because the superintendant wasn’t there and the teachers were not comfortable with just letting us in. We met a soldier from one of the maneuver task forces at another school so they could take a quick look at a construction project they were trying to get completed. It was nice to see different teams from different sections of our giant task force coordinating and working together out here in the middle of nowhere, miles away from the Colonels and commanders. Soldiers just doing what needs to get done.

We finished up our day by swinging into the local mayor’s office, finding him gone but his wife available to meet with us. Our interpreter swooped in and provided the bridge for a steady flow of information to occur. The woman was dressed sharply, carried herself as a true professional and was engaging and informative. To find out, she actually held her own position within the governmental structure of the area and was a clinical psychologist. Hmm. Titles can be deceiving. Wife vs. political powerhouse. The tone was relaxed; question, answer, question, clarification. She would talk and then laugh at the end of the sentences, but somewhere the laughter couldn’t quite get interpreted in the precise tones. But none the less, the female soldier and the female diplomat had a sincere exchange of words, smiles and small talk. It was nice to see the lighter side of soldiering in action. Handshakes and invites back ended our LMT day. After observing throughout the day, it sure felt like the people wanted us around, and that there was great potential to make a difference in someone’s life, somewhere across this country.

We traveled along those sparsely populated routes, daredevil drivers challenging us as they bopped around and across the center line on the narrow, broken roads giving us our biggest threat to life and limb. They continue to drive like there is no tomorrow. But as I recounted the day and enjoyed the views of Kosovo out my back window, I had a few thoughts on our purpose here in this forgotten deployment zone. While actions in Iraq and Afghanistan continue to capture the news; the sadness of our times; and the uncertainty of our future. Kosovo can boast that this is a story of deployments that have created a positive outcome. The mission is worthwhile, young soldiers can get a taste of deployment without experiencing the hell of true hand to hand combat and a land who is young in their independence can see the changes and hopefully feel the starting of comfortable peace.




This task force has brought civilian skills that are necessary in building relationships with the people and the requisite of maintaining the impartiality that this mission requires. I have no doubt that soldiers will walk away from this deployment knowing they were the right people with the right training at this particular point in the mission. My trainers of the day, LMT #1 were the best and we needed them to be here. Not only today…But tomorrow…when they will put the finishing touches on their missions and the many people across Kosovo, as those here in Kosovo learn how to live in peace, with each other and with their futures.

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