North Dakotans in Kosovo
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| Anne Kelly |
| 11/16/2009 |
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| After three months of intense training, the 650 North Dakota National Guard troops who were chosen to keep the peace in Kosovo have begun their mission abroad. But that`s not the only new beginning there for our men and women. As hundreds of North Dakota troops begin their peace keeping mission in Kosovo, the Guard is also taking command there. Where it will be responsible for leading not only North Dakota soldiers, but hundreds of others from around the county and world. Seven hours, or just a telephone call away, Brigadier General Alan Dohrmann of the North Dakota National Guard is getting used to his new role. Over the weekend, he accepted responsibility for more than 1,300 troops in Kosovo, among them the 650 members of the North Dakota National Guard who are beginning their peace keeping mission. "The soldiers are looking forward to getting on with the mission and right now morale is outstanding," says Dohrmann. Morale not just among North Dakotans, but among troops from 40 other states as well. Major General David Sprynczynatyk was in Kosovo just days ago to see Dohrmann take command. "The transfer of authority went very well, very smooth," says Sprynczynatyk. "It`s something our people have been training up for for nearly two years." That`s when the North Dakota National Guard first was assigned to Kosovo. The soldiers have quite a mission ahead of them, but the mission is expected to be far more peaceful than previous missions as many as half of the North Dakota soldiers have had in Iraq and Afghanistan. "The last time we had any significant unrest here was the riots of March of 2004, but we are always prepared to respond to that type of situation with soldiers trained on crowd and riot control, but the reality is with the patrols on the ground, with the interaction that we have with the citizens and the leadership, we`ve been very successful with taking care of problems before they become big problems," says Dohrmann. National elections were held in Kosovo over the weekend, and no big problems arose. In fact for the first time, the country put on elections without help from an outside organization. A step toward peace in a country that`s needed assistance for ten years. Sprynczynatyk says the deployment of 650 soldiers in Kosovo is the largest of its kind for the North Dakota National Guard in more than 50 years. Among the North Dakota troops in Kosovo there are 37 family relationships, such as husband and wife and brother and sister. |
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