http://www.eucom.mil/english/FullStory.asp?art=1854
HQ US European Command
Gates visits U.S. troops in Kosovo
Release Date: Oct 08, 2008
/Jim Garamone
American Forces Press Service/
PRISTINA, Kosovo — Defense Secretary Robert M. Gates visited with U.S.
troops assigned to NATO's Kosovo Force here, Oct. 7, 2008.
Gates - making the first visit to Kosovo by a defense secretary since
2001 - said he wanted to thank the 1,400 American servicemembers
deployed here.
"We haven't forgotten about them, and we know how important they are,"
Gates said during a news conference with Pentagon reporters.
The Europeans and Kosovars depend on the American presence, Gates noted.
"There has been a great concern that we might pull out, and what I have
reassured our allies is that when the president said 'in together, out
together,' [it] will continue to be our policy," Gates said. "We will
continue to fulfill our responsibilities there."
The troops are National Guardsmen assigned to the 110th Maneuver
Enhanced Brigade of the Missouri National Guard. The Kansas City-based
unit also has Guardsmen from Alabama, Illinois, South Dakota,
California, Texas and New Mexico. The unit arrived at Camp Bondsteel in
June and will return to the United States in March. A unit from the
California National Guard will take its place.
The unit works with other NATO units to ensure Kosovo remains safe and
secure as the country works through its political issues, said command
spokesman Army Sgt. 1st Class Craig L. Collins. Task Force Sabre and
Task Force Thunder - two units built around the 110th's maneuver
battalions - patrol various areas of the country and work with Kosovar
security forces to maintain calm.
Other members of the unit set up medical and dental civil affairs
programs for more remote villages in their area of operations.
Camp Bondsteel itself looks like the movie version of a World War II
prisoner-of-war camp. Gravel roads and paths run between wooden
buildings, and the whole is surrounded by a barbed-wire fence, with
guard towers at regular intervals. "But the rooms are decent, the
offices are good and we've got movies, a post exchange, coffee bars and
gyms," Collins said. "Believe me, no one is complaining here."
url = http://www.eucom.mil/english/FullStory.asp?art=1854
