COL Nick Ducich, commander of the California Army National Guard’s 79th Infantry Brigade Combat Team (IBCT), visited Camp Butmir in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina to meet with California Army National Guard Soldiers stationed there and for an office call with NATO Headquarters – Sarajevo Commander Brig Gen Robert Huston.
The 79th IBCT is the command element for Kosovo Force (KFOR) Multi-National Battle Group – East (MNBG-E). The Soldiers of the 79th IBCT are deployed to Kosovo on a nine-month peace and security mission. Each KFOR rotation provides Soldiers for NATO Headquarters – Sarajevo to oversee Camp Butmir, support the Bosnia and Herzegovina training mission, and provide essential services to the camp for the European Union Force (EUFOR) Althea peacekeeping element.
After a 90-minute helicopter flight from Camp Bondsteel, Kosovo, COL Ducich sat down with California Guard Soldiers stationed at Camp Butmir to hear about their mission.
“In a roundtable conversation format, the Soldiers of the California National Guard were enthusiastic in describing their performance of their diverse assignments for NATO – Sarajevo and the Balkans Area Support Team,” COL Ducich said. “Their commitment to the mission, the camaraderie among a small element, and their dedicated professionalism were my takeaways from the group discussion.”
Six officers and noncommissioned officers assigned to the 79th IBCT are stationed at Camp Butmir. They handle such diverse functions as NATO Advisor for Training and Standardization, logistical coordination with EUFOR, postal operations and administrative support for the headquarters.
“We are so far removed from the actual KFOR mission, the fact that COL Ducich came up here showed that we’re all working together – different pieces of the same Balkans’ mission. It was motivational,” said CPT Mike Scott, a California Army National Guard Soldier who serves as NATO Headquarters – Sarajevo joint logistics officer and liaison officer to EUFOR.
“At a professional level, being able to work with different nationalities and learn how they do their jobs has been a great experience,” CPT Scott said of his mission. “I’m a logistics officer, but I’ve never worked at this level – working with NATO at a strategic level in a multinational environment.”
CPT John Kuczmanski, a California Army National Guard member who serves as a NATO advisor for training and standardization, said, “We are helping the armed forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina build up a capable army.”
CPT Kuczmanski added that he is the only American in the building where he works in downtown Sarajevo. He said he works alongside Hungarians, Austrians, Italians, Turks, Slovenians and Bosnians.
“We work with numerous nationalities,” he said. “It’s great meeting everyone from different cultures, especially when we Americans are such a small group here. It’s an interesting and dynamic work environment.”
SSG Rowena Becerra, a California Army National Guard Soldier who works as a NATO Headquarters – Sarajevo supply sergeant, said a highlight of her tour has been the opportunity to see the country on morale and welfare trips offered every weekend.
She has visited northern Bosnia, the military bunker of the late Josip Broz Tito – the former communist President of Yugoslavia who died in 1980 – and she has skied at the site of the 1984 Sarajevo Winter Olympics.
“It’s a great country to visit with lots of history,” SSG Becerra said. “It’s green and beautiful – the rivers, the mountains. It’s a beautiful country.”
By CPT Jason Sweeney, California National Guard
