Support to Military Operations

D COMPANY, 501st MILITARYINTELLIGENCE BATTALION
OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR

In early November, 1995, members of D Company, 501st Military Intelligence Battalion, a Regular Army unit stationed in Bad Kreuznach, Germany, received official notification that it would deploy to Bosnia. The unit prepared its personnel andequipment for an extended deployment. Under the command of CPTJames W. Holley, the company completed training at Hohenfels andnear Bad Kreuznach, with an emphasis on force protection.

The company departed Bad Kreuznach withvehicles and personnel on three separate trains, and personnel ontwo buses, on January 6, 10, and 11, 1996. Delta Company consolidated at the Intermediate Staging Base in Taszar, Hungary.The unit spent a week performing intensive maintenance, dealing with additional mechanical problems caused by the extreme cold weather.

An advance party from the company moved to Camp Harmon, near Zupanja, Croatia, on January 18, followed by themain body two days later. The unit crossed the Sava River intoBosnia, facing extremely difficult conditions for this road march due to ice on the narrow roads. Three oversized five-ton trucks, unable to be fitted with tire chains, slid off the road as thedrivers maneuvered to avoid serious mishaps. While no one wasinjured in these incidents, the leadership had the additional concern of vehicle recovery as the company moved southward.

The company moved into Tactical Assembly Area Diamondback, which was located in the abandoned rail station in Kelesia, Bosnia. Almost immediately upon arrival, the company began performing a 100% change of command inventory. Taking advantage of the hardstand at the rail station, the soldiers wereable to lay out much of the property, and identify items whichwere not available for the inventory. A problem which compounded the process was that the company MILVAN, containing a significantamount of unit property, had not yet arrived.

On February 5, 1996, CPT Van R. Sikorsky assumed command in a brief ceremony in the snow in the parking lot of the rail station, with a T-ration cake and coffee reception inside the station building immediately afterwards. Soon after the change of command, the unit deployed the Trailblazer assets to a remote site on top of a hill, slingloaded byhelicopter because the vehicles could not negotiate the smallroad to the top of the hill.

The company's main focus was force protection and ensuring that former warring factions were in compliance with theprovisions of the Dayton Accords. The company detached another element known as "Snoopy" with a similar mission. Thecompany also emplaced remote sensors near Task Force Eagleheadquarters at Tuzla Air Base. Initially inside the wire, thesensors were moved to their doctrinally correct positioning asthe weather improved. The Collection & Jamming Platoonestablished a fourth company site during mid-February.

The unit was in four widely dispersed locations, but communications were normally good because theremote sites were on high ground. The leadership made intensive efforts to comply with the four-vehicle convoy rule during frequentvisits to the various sites. The company moved from the railwaystation to Life Support Area Steel Castle, and the soldiers received an improved "standard of living," enhanced by Rest& Relaxation trips.

Delta Company was reorganized during theoperation. Initially, the unit consisted of a HeadquartersPlatoon, Intelligence & Surveillance Platoon, Collection& Jamming Platoon, and an Electronic Warfare Platoon. The companychanged to a pure Signal Intelligence company with two Collection& Jamming platoons and the Electronic Warfare Platoon.

In late June, the company received its first notification that the company would redeploy. As Delta Company beganits redeployment, it turned over two of the sites to othercompanies in the battalion, and consolidated. The company movedto Slavonski Brod, Croatia in August, 1996. The company moved forward to the ISB on August 20, and departed Hungary enroute toBad Kreuznach on August 26, having accomplished its mission ofproviding signal intelligence to U.S. forces in Bosnia.

Prepared by the Army Component Command Historian Section
OPERATION JOINT ENDEAVOR, September 20, 1996