A behind-the-scenes look at Peace Shield 96 exercises in Lviv (10/27/96)

A behind-the-scenes look at Peace Shield 96 exercises in Lviv

by Roman G. Golash

CHICAGO - Peace Shield 96 took place at the Lviv training area with 120 U.S. troops from the 1st Infantry Division participating. The peacekeeping excercises were organized and directed by U.S. and Ukrainian troops (members of the 24th Mechanized Rifle Division) on June 1-10.

The exercises also included soldiers from Poland, Moldova, Romania, Slovakia, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria and Russia. Belarus canceled its participation during the planning stages, while Hungary decided not to participate days before the start of the program.

The U.S. troops arrived by C-130 transport planes assigned to the West Virginia National Guard. The six Bradley Fighting Vehicles, 12 jeeps ( now called Humvee or HMMWV), one HMMWV ambulance, one five-ton truck and one M984 wrecker for the company maintenance section arrived by rail and took three days to travel from Germany to Ukraine.

Peace Shield 96 follows Peace Shield 95 (Lviv) and Peace Shield II (Kansas). According to official briefings by the 1st Infantry Division in Wuerzburg, Germany, "The aim is to continue building on previous scenarios and lessons learned by establishing and exercising a combined battalion headquarters and multinational companies to operate in a peacekeeping environment." The purpose of the exercise was to "promote regional stability through continued combined exercises with members of the Partnership for Peace program."

The training was divided into two sections. First, training was conducted at stations on particular areas needed for peacekeeping missions. The second part was a field training exercise in which the previous training was put into practice by conducting scenarios.

The first part of the training included training areas such as: observation point operations, checkpoint operations, patrols, escort humanitarian convoy, mine warfare, emergency medical evacuation, providing security, communications, quick reaction force duties, water crossing and rifle range familiarization. The training was conducted with mixed platoons so that soldiers had the opportunity to learn to work together.

Maj. Gen. Montgomery C. Meigs, commander of the 1st Infantry Division, was present throughout the exercise. U.S. Secretary of Defense William Perry was present for the opening ceremony, and Gen. Shalikashvili was present for the closing ceremony. Maj. Gen. Kondratenko was the commander of the Ukrainian troops.

The mission included five Ukrainian interpreters from active duty and reserve units as well as national guard units: (Capt. Lee Gabel from South Dakota, now serving in Kyiv; Maj. Roman G. Golash, a reservist from Chicago; Spc. Adrian Hreshchyshyn, a national guardsman from West Conshohocken, Pa.; 1st Lt. Ihor Kobryn, a national guardsman from New York; and Spc. Yaro Rohowsky, active duty soldier from Chicago now residing in Augsburg, Germany.

The mission also included civilian Ukrainian interpreters: Maj. Gen. Nicholas Krawciw (ret.), former commander of the 3rd Infantry Division in Wuerzburg from 1987-1989 now residing in Annandale, Va.; George Sajewych of the State Department; and Stan Chernin, originally from Chicago and now residing in Augsburg.

At the end of the exercise Capt. Gabel met the Rev. Petro Zeleniuk, who suffered under communism and is now attempting to initiate a chaplain corps in the Ukrainian military. The Rev. Zeleniuk served as an "unofficial" chaplain for the troops at the training area.

The issue of language was still significant as it was last year. All the signs were in Ukrainian, but one would hear Russian being spoken among the Ukrainian troops. However, Ukrainian is becoming the dominant language in the military though not as fast as one would hope.

Also, in the Ukrainian military English is the most popular second language to learn. Last year the Ukrainians had perhaps two who could translate, now there were close to 20, mostly cadets from the military institutes. It was stated more than once that the Ukrainian military and the people know that if they lose the Ukrainian language, they will lose their freedom.

The Ukrainian military prepared three nights of concerts for the multinational troops and at the end of the exercise a picnic was held. Last year the Americans hosted, the picnic; this year the Ukrainians were the hosts.

With many missions to Ukraine now taking place, fluent Ukrainian interpreters are needed. However, due to lack of knowledge, sometimes Russian interpreters are tasked by the military to join missions in Ukraine.

The lessons learned from these missions were later discussed at a military conference on September 28 in Chicago.