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http://www.estripes.com/article.asp?section=104&article=10754 SFOR troops gets some practice in the art of taming unruly crowds By Ivana Avramovic, Stars and Stripes European edition, Sunday, September 29, 2002 [Photo: Stabilization Force soldiers protect a police station against "rioters" during Wednesday's non-lethal weapons training on Eagle Base in Bosnia.] EAGLE BASE, Bosnia and Herzegovina � SFOR troops fired rubber bullets last week as a group of protesters, demanding the release of prisoners, stormed a police station in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Stabilization Force troops, decked out in full riot gear, were from Forward Operating Base Morgan. The protesters were fellow soldiers, dressed in T-shirts and shorts. And the confrontation came on Eagle Base during a training session on crowd control. �This type of training prepares us to rapidly respond to contingencies that could potentially happen in the communities,� said Maj. John Dowling, a spokesman for Multinational Division North. �It also demonstrates our abilities to assist the local police to provide peace and stability without use of deadly force.� SFOR does not normally respond to civil unrests, letting the local police handle them. But it must be prepared to act if needed. Two platoons from Forward Operating Base Morgan went through more than 40 hours of training in four days of lectures, demonstrations and the live-scenario confrontation. They learned about formations, crowd movements, hand-to-hand combat techniques, how to use rubber and sponge bullets, and how to work as a team and get beyond platoon rivalry. �You�ve got to work together,� Staff Sgt. James Choate of the 95th Military Company in Mannheim, Germany, told the troops after the first scenario was played out and some of the protesters got the better of them. �You guys took a beating.� Protesters stole some batons and shields, and a few soldiers lost weapons to the mob when the two groups of crowd-control soldiers failed to work as one. �They achieved their primary mission,� Choate said. �Could they have done better? Yes, but that�s why we�re training.� Choate trained two other platoons a week before. He often stayed late into the night, finishing at 2 a.m. one day. �I want to make sure everything�s down,� he said. �I don�t want them to get hurt.� The second time the scenario was played out, the soldiers did not let the mob get the upper hand. The troops agreed they had learned something. �It taught us a lot of techniques to be able to do it in a more peaceful manner instead of turning into a street brawl,� said Sgt. 1st Class Roy Johnson of Troop A, 1st Battalion, 104th Cavalry Squadron. �Nobody got hurt and that�s the intent.� Spc. Jon Anderson, also of the 104th Cavalry Squadron, said he had done some crowd-control training before going to Bosnia, but found these sessions helpful. �We were aware that it was just a training exercise,� Anderson said. �We tried to get it as real as possible without injuring anybody, so we get a feeling of what it�s really gonna be like.� And although troops faced only other soldiers on Wednesday, the drill broadened their crowd control experience. �It was good because we finally got to do it in a fairly real scenario,� Anderson said. �It helps us to see how our tactics actually work. I feel a lot better with this training.� __________________________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? New DSL Internet Access from SBC & Yahoo! http://sbc.yahoo.com --------------------------- ANTI-NATO INFORMATION LIST ==^================================================================ This email was sent to: [email protected] EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.bacIlu Or send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================
