An Cosantóir

irish personnel reduce in EUFOR BIH | 11 RIRISH PERSONNEL C amp Butmir, located beside Sarajevo Inter- national Airport, has housed successive headquar- ters of the two international peace-support operations based in BiH since the late 1990s. Elements of the NATO- led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) began the move into Butmir in 1997 and this mission was suc- ceeded by the incumbent Eu- ropean Force (EUFOR) in 2004. Formerly a police garrison adjacent to a sports airfield, the camp was well selected for its development potential. A public road, locally known as the Rajlo- vac Road, was commandeered and blocked, and the current military encampment was planned and constructed over a period of four years. With its perimeter of 3.5 KM the camp area is more than adequate to house its consid- erable infrastructure, which includes HQ EUFOR in 'Building 200'. The mission has reduced from an original strength of 6,500 in 2004, with troop gar- risons throughout BiH, to its present number of 1,400 with a reducing number of liaison houses in the country. Any troops of an operational and response nature (the Austrian- led Multinational Battalion and the International Police Unit) reside in and work from Camp Butmir. Headquarters Commandant The nearest equivalents to EU- FOR's Headquarters Comman- dant (HQ Cmdt) in the Defence Forces could be either the Camp Commandant , McKee Barracks, or the Barrack Com- manders in the Brigade HQ gar- risons. Such officers command the installation that houses the 'regional' headquarters, so to speak. Corporate memory at Camp Butmir suggests that the concept migrated to Sarajevo from the United States, as the first Headquarters Comman- dants were US colonels. They were also the senior colonel in camp. As such they only answered to the Chief of Staff (COS) and the Commander (COM) of the force itself. While there have been many changes in the force profile since 1997 that principle remains in force. HQ Cmdt continues to have an independent role as a division chief, answerable only to COS and COM. The provision of real life support (RLS) best describes the daily activities of HQ Cmdt Division. It is the largest com- ponent of the force with over Lt Col A. Bracken is presented with the key of the 'German Corner' by EUFOR COS Brig Gen Gunter Geisa on the occasion of the taking over of the facility by HQ CMDT Division, Feb 1 2011. THE DEFENCE FORCES MAGAZINE Lt Col Anthony Bracken BMC served with EUFOR BiH from July 2010 to April 2011 as Headquarters Commandant and OC 12th Irish Component. In this article he informs us of the role of HQ Commandant and on the reduction of the Irish com- ponent in July 2011... EDUCE IN EUFOR BIH

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