December 23, 1995
Web posted at: 8:10 a.m. EST
From Correspondent Jackie Shymanski
TUZLA, Bosnia-Herzegovina (CNN) -- A break in the weather Friday allowed U.S. forces to get moving with their mission. An otherwise perfect day was marred by the first military hostilities directed at NATO since it took over the Bosnian mission Wednesday.
With a break in the fog, which had hampered landing in Bosnia all week, cargo plane after cargo plan touched down in Tuzla, the staging point for U.S. operations in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
A sharp reminder of the danger of the mission came in the form of a round of gunfire which hit a U.S. military transport plane over Sarajevo.
A NATO spokesman said the plane, which was delivering humanitarian aid, landed, unloaded and took off again without further incident. No one was hurt.
Also on Friday, a British Sea King helicopter transporting sick children came under fire, but was not hit, around Visoko, just north of Sarajevo.
"The pilot saw tracer fire arcing towards his helicopter and believed he was being targeted although he was not hit," NATO spokesman Maj. Simon Haselock said, adding that it also came under fire on the way back to Tuzla.
And so the deployment proceeded. With so much work to do, the bad weather that has slowed the mission was quickly forgotten. "I'm glad to have some good weather so we can finally get in here to the job we've been trying to do for the last week or so," said U.S. Air Force Capt. Paul Watson.
As his troops streamed in, Gen. William Nash, commander of the U.S. sector, went on with his task of starting a dialogue between the warring sides. According to the Bosnians, it's so far, so good. "Thanks to IFOR, trust will develop once again," said Gen. Sead Delic, commander of the Bosnian 2nd Corp.
There is a historic example that the warring sides could learn from: The German troop occupation of Yugoslavia during World War II. This time, they come as peace enforcers.
The international effort to develop a trust is in high gear. Former European Union mediator Carl Bildt is in charge of developing the civilian side of the agreement. In a seemingly catch-all position, Bildt is overseeing economics, elections, and a general keeping of the peace.
"I think the most difficult issue is going to be the issue of reconciliation. That everyone understands that the enemies of yesterday are the partners of tomorrow," Bildt said.
For now, residents of Tuzla are just getting used to their new neighbors. The U.S. troops are quite a curiosity. And if the weather holds, they'll keep coming at the rate of 30 planes a day.
NATO officials say that there are about 21,000 troops now on the ground in Bosnia-Herzegovina. That's about a third of the implementation force. The rest are expected within weeks. The U.S. contingent will be the biggest.
Reuters contributed to this story.
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