June 1995

There is no vacation like it [page 7]

WATCHING A FIGHT Canadian Forward Air Controllers (FAC) keep tabs on an artillery duel taking place down the valley from Visoko between Bosnian Government and Bosnian Serb forces

The vehicle radio beside me crackled, and in a no-nonsense tone the voice ordered, "Close-up the convoy, helmets and jackets on, threat of sniper activity is high". The jacket was tailored for flak and the helmet painted blue was made of kevlar. Like the Canadian Armed Forces recruiting ads use to say, "There is no life like it". Well as a member of the Army Reserve, there was no vacation like this one. During the day I work for Ontario Hydro in Mississagua. But today we were about to make a run through sniper alley, one of many over here and not a destination of choice for most vacationers.

This was the final leg of a 350 kilometre, 10-hour convoy. Our day had started at 0300hr and we left the Canadian Forces Logistics Battalion base, which is known by the acronym CANLOGBAT, by 0500hr. The 250 men and women who operate this supply base at Primosten the on the Adriatic coast are drawn from 5 Service Battalion in CFB Valcartier. These soldiers provide all the supplies necessary to maintain the 770 members of the Royal 22 Battle Group, known as CANBAT 1. The Van Doos, who in-turn have just taken over from 1st Royal Canadian Regiment, are based at Restevic in Croatia, which is located to the Northwest of Primosten.

This convoy, on the verge of sniper alley, was heading to the Royal Canadian Dragoons Battle Group, CANBAT 2, in Visoko, 25km northwest of Sarajevo. Wedged into the back seat of a canvas-covered jeep, we drove down a narrow twisting, hedge lined road with no soft shoulders. My initiate feelings of exhilaration started to be replaced by some nagging doubts. I recalled my flak jacket, which I was issued with in Toronto and being government policy had been purchased from the lowest bidder, had an information label stitched inside in both official languages. The label was really a disclaimer. In capital letters it states, "THIS BODY ARMOUR MAY SAVE YOUR LIFE". The small print offered that the jacket could provide protection against shell and grenade fragments, but made no mention of sniper bullets. The rubberized canvas walls of the jeep started to look really thin, almost transparent. I racked my brain to recall the words of the convoy commander, Sergeant Joyceln Trembley, at last nights briefing. He had said, "If we come under fire keep moving. Do not stop for anything! If the vehicle ahead of you hits a mine, drive around it. The armoured convoy escorts, two Cougars each with a 76mm gun, and two Grizzlies with a 50 calibre machine gun will provide covering fire if necessary. The Bison armoured ambulance, will stop to help". This is a standard operation procedure, part of the accepted occupational hazard of Peacekeeping in a hostile environment.

Just after we rolled into the Canadian compound, two NATO jets roared very low overhead going in the direction of Sarajevo. Virtually all the new arrivals hit the ground because noise of the aircraft sounded like the explosion of artillery. In a matter of seconds, the plane were specks as they zigzagged down the valley. As we sheepishly got up of the ground, a convoy driver looked over the hood of his vehicle, grinned and said, "Welcome to Visoko".

The Royal Canadian Dragoons Battle Group are one of three Canadian Peacekeeping commitments in the former Yugoslavia. Visoko is the base of operations for the Canadian 830 men and women who were in the process of successfully completing their six-month United Nations Peacekeeping tour in Bosnia/ Herzegovina. These troops occupy observation posts along the confrontation line between the Bosnian Government and Bosnian Serb forces. They operate traffic control points, observe and report on military activity, provide convoy escorts, keep main supply routes open and conduct mine clearance and awareness operations.

In Visoko outside the Crystal Palace.

When not on duty, many provide voluntary humanitarian assistance at hospitals and schools in Visoko. Before the recent round hostilities the soldiers of CANBAT 2 are the only United Nations contingent to have observation posts and liaison officers in the territory of all three warring factions. This provides them with an unprecedented level of credibility and impartiality when dealing with the various armed forces in the country. Despite all this liaison and contact, the Canadians are still living and working in a war zone, and 55 of them were detained for 16 days just before Christmas by the Serbian Forces. They were held as a shield against the possibility of a United Nations requested air strikes.

I had been sent to Visoko for a week to produce a series of television interviews for stations and networks in Canada. This was the second time in seven months that video camera operator, Corporal Frank Vilaca of the Hastings and Prince Edward Regiment, and I had been overseas. Last October we were in Rwanda. The interviews we were sent to orchestrate are called double-enders. When they are broadcast they look and sound as if they are live from the field. The live part of the interview is conducted over the telephone with the reporter in Canada. The soldier being interviewed looks at the television camera as if looking at the reporter. After we return to Canada, the participating television station is given the complete interview tape plus a second tape with scenes of operations in Bosnia. The station then edits the interview tapes together or has the reporter ask the questions again while looking at a television monitor. Either way a news story is created that looks like a live on the spot interview. There is a six-hour difference in time between Toronto and Visoko and because of that we had only a four-hour window of sunlight to conduct interviews. During a two-day period, 14 interviews with 20 soldiers were done with all but three of the television stations in Ontario south of Sault Ste Marie.

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