Members of the Maryland Air National Guard and their A-10 Thunderbolt aircraft -- no strangers to the skies over Bosnia-Herzegovina -- have been tapped to join the NATO peacekeeping mission there, officials said yesterday.
As part of a two-month rotation, the first contingent of the guard's 600 members will leave their base at Martin State Airport next Saturday and will operate out of Aviano, Italy -- a 45-minute flight from Bosnia.
The deployment of the 175th marks the second time the unit has served in and over Bosnia. In August 1994, while the Maryland wing served under the command of the United Nations, two A-10 pilots from Maryland's unit wiped out a Bosnian Serb anti-tank emplacement.
"It seems a little brighter this time because the [factions] are talking to each other," said Col. Charles A. Morgan, vice wing commander of the 175th. "The last time I visited, they were shooting at each other."
The 175th will join two other Maryland military units committed to the NATO mission: the 55th Signal Company, known as Combat Camera, an army unit from Fort Meade; and the 29th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment, Maryland National Guard journalists
and public affairs specialists headquartered in Baltimore.
The 175th will be part of a NATO force conducting Operation Decisive Edge.
"This time it seems a little more upbeat because we will have U.S. troops on the ground," said Colonel Morgan. The colonel, who lives in Laurel, flew eight combat missions over Bosnia during Operation Deny Flight in 1994.
Colonel Morgan is a traditional guardsman, a so-called weekend warrior, who flies commercial airliners for USAir. He will leave his wife and three children for 22 days when he departs for Bosnia duty in February.
Although harsh weather and flooding in Bosnia have hampered some NATO troop movements, and indigenous forces have fired on NATO aircraft with small arms, there have been promising signs since a peace agreement was signed in Paris Dec. 14, said Col. Walter T. Thilly, commander of the Air Guard's 175th Wing.
Rival forces withdrew this week from around Sarajevo, and all sides in the nearly 4-year war have cooperated with NATO ground troops in pinpointing land mines.
While the wing commander is optimistic about "peace breaking out," he said his pilots and other personnel are prepared for "whatever contingency arises."
