Memories of Kosovo00

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first briefing commences at 7:00a.m.Walking outside at 6:30 o load my

survival gear into the aircraft, I findthe flight engineer, Master CorporalAlain Bilodeau, brushing the snowoff our aircraft, one of eight Canadi-an Forces CH-146 Griffon helicopterssupporting the NATO peacekeepingmission here. A 1990s version of theVietnam-era UH-1 Huey, the Bell He-licopter Textron Canadamodel 412CF

s I awaken to my alarm clock,I can see my breath n the dark,stale air. Our generator musthave died during the night. It

5:30 a.m. in the middle ofJanuary in the Yugoslavian provinceof Kosovo, and according to my ther-mometer it is eight degrees Centi-grade (46 Fahrenheit) inside our six-man shelter. I have to get moving; Ihave three missions today, and the

Griffon is a tactical utility helwith twin engines driving a fomain rotor.

Outside it is below freeziover a foot of snow has overnight. By 7:00 a.m., the

commander, Captain Stephanand I have checked the weathour intelligence briefing, and the mission. We all look tireone slept well last night with



to defros

dfaBell412CFGriffand prepare it for flight.

off. At 7:30a.m. we start the engines,and it will take almost 20 minutes towann up all the systems. As aircraftcommander, Stephane s the decision-maker who has primary responsibil-ity for both the aircraft and the mis-sion. We'll usually share stick time,but as first pilot, I will be the one do-ing most of the flying, and I had bet-ter be on the ball today: We'll be op-erating in a known threat zone, and

addition t<;) heir personal we(nobody goes anywhere in Kwithout a weapon), will monitscene from above and coordinaeffort.

The Films have ntelligence rthat several houses n a particubanian village are harboring armdrugs. An hour into the raids,has been some resistance and al arrests have been made. By 1

there is no room for complacency.At 8: 15 a.m. we land at the Finnish

battalion camp near Lipjan, some 10miles south of Pristina, and pick upfour special reconnaissance soldiers.Our first mission is to provide an eyein the sky and top cover for a seriesof house raids being conducted byFinnish troops with dogs and armoredvehicles.

The soldiers in the back ofour aircraft, equipped with radios in

December 2000/January 2001



To the west of the monumenObilic, lies a coal-burning electplant, and when the winds are tile north, we can see ile brown sin the snow extending for mileneath the acrid plume that emanfrom the plant's smokestacks.

south of Obilic lies the town of Kv{) Polje (polje is Serbian for "fiewhich is a suburb of Pristina. FoKosovo Polje is a microcosm of Kvo the province. It is one of theremaining settlements n which SAlbanians, and Gypsies still livgetiler. But "living together" is nally accurate: In the months thave been here, scarcely a dapassed that a house has not beeon fire.

we are back at the Canadian camp,refueling our aircraft "hot"-with theengines~ and the crew strappedin and ready to go. Within 30 minuteswe are airborne again and back overthe scene of the raids.

Mter another hour and a half the

raids are completed. Several assaultrifles and some llegal drugs are seized,and a few people are taken into cus-tody. In the backyard of one Albani-an house, he flni1s find severalgraves.We can only speculate about the bod-ies; the conclusions will be left to theUnited Nations investigators, whowill arrive later. There are many gravesin Kosovo.

monolith commemorates an epic bat-tle fought on June 28, 1389, when aTurkish army under Sultan Murad Idelivered a crushing defeat to Ser-bian forces led by Prince Lazar, thenleft the bodies to be picked at by car-rion birds. Historical records suggest

that as many as 70,000 people diedduring this daylong battle. Serbs callthis place the Field of Blackbirds, andit is said that the soul of the Serbiannation resides here.

In the spring of 1987,SlobodanMilo-sevic, then the Serbian Communistparty leader, came to Kosovo and, be-fore an attentive crowd made up most-ly of Serbs resentful over treatmentby local Albanians, stated, "Nobody,either now or in the future, has theright to beat you." With those words,Milosevic aroused Serbian national-ism and hatred for the other ethnicgroups in the crumbling nation statesof Yugoslavia, thereby consolidatinghis hold on power. By the early 1990s,widespread ethnic warfare had dev-astated this Balkan region.

l ess than three miles northwest of

the town of Pristina, on a ridge

overlooldng the town and a broad

plain that sweeps beyond it, standsa simple brown monument about 100feet tall. It dominates the landscape,and although it offers a natural visu-al checkpoint, we avoid flying nearit because of what it symbolizes. The

l ast year, in the spring of 19

volunteered to join a CanaForces contingent that would

keep the peace in Kosovo. I wasone of about 48,000 roops from than 30 nations involved in the Kvo Force, or KFOR, the United

This Serbbarrackswas bombed ut, but the adjacentparade ground,now a NATO anding pad,was untouched.

28 Air & space December 2000/January



from Quebec City, Quebec. Our unithere carries the name KRWAU, forKosovo Rotary Wing Aviation Unit.But the acronym KRWAU is pro-nounced "crow," a coincidental re-minder of the ever-presentblackbirds

that infest our hangar. Weare crowsamong the blackbirds.

The Griffon I will fly can carry upto 15people and has a maximum grossweight of 11,900 pounds. It has ar-mor in both the floor and the crewseats,a 7.62-mm utomatic rifle mount-ed on the cargo door, and missilewarning systems. It can handle in-strument flight in non-icing condi-tions, and the avionics package in-cludes all the traditional navigationaids, supplemented by GPS satellitenavigation for position data and

Doppler radar systems that measurevelocity over the ground. With all ofthe extra equipment we carry, theempty weight of the helicopter is rel-atively high-often in the neighbor-hood of 9,000pounds. fuel for 90 min-utes of flight plus a reserve adds 1,400pounds. That leaves room for a pay-load of 1,500 pounds, which means

that we can typically carry mum of five passengers.

Shutting down the helicopcampDK at noon, I can feel liein my legs as I clamber outcockpit. Armored seats are m

protection, not for comfort. Thand I have been strapped in fothan fouFhours, and we are estretch and eat some lunch. Tnot mJIch time as we still hamore missions to fly before ois over.

Shortly before 1:30 p.m. won the Kosovo side of Gate 3,the main border crossings inbia, guarded by both British andian soldiers. Herewe pick up alieutenant, two soldiers, andbanian interpreter. For the ne

we patrol along the border w.'bia ooking for any signs of tbian special police. NATO e,sta buffer zone about three mileon the Serbian side of the bordin which only Serbian borderare allowed. Any other Serbianforces are prohibited from en

The terrain here is deceivin

tions-mandated, NATO-led peace-keeping mission that began on June12, 1999, after the bombing campaignagainst Serb paramilitary forces end-ed. In Marc~'1999 I told my motherthat I would be sent on military du-ties in the Balkans. It was the kind of

thing no mother wants to hear, es-pecially not my mother, who had spenther teen years in London during theGerman bombing.

On December 18, 1999, arrived inthe Canadian camp at Donja Koreti-ca, or D K, ust a 30-minute drive westof Pristina, along with my squadron,430Escadron Tactique d'Helicoptere,

Master Corporal Bruno St. Laurent, flight engineer, scam for threats through a door that's open to bone-chiUin

December 2000/January 2001 Ajr & Space



mountainous and serene. To the un-trained eye it appears tranquil, withbarren, high, windswept hilltops, fewinhabitants, and not much activity.But we are not the only ones patrollinghere; we can hear Czech ground re-

connaissance eams on the radio. Dayor night, no matter what the weath-er, the Czechs are on watch, thoughthey are so well concealed you willnever see them. I must remind my-self that to the Serbs, KFOR is an in-vading and occupying force in aprovince that legally belongs to Yu-goslavia. Most Albanians welcomeNATO, but for those people who stillconstitutiohallYcown Kosovo, Cana-dians and N~TO are anything but wel-come here.

Our patrol takes 45 minutes and

proceeds without incident. We are todrop off our passengers at an Alba-nian house located on a mountain-top. Small solated dwellings like thesecan be seen all along the border. Thisparticular house is situated in a bleaklocation several miles from civiliza-tion. The British lieutenant tells usthat a couple, both in their 70s, livehere. They have no automobile or

tractor, no means of resuppl~ tllem-selves. The British officer visits fre-quently with medicine and food.

With the winds gusting, we landnear the house. The elderly coupleapproaches, hunched over and walk-

ing with long canes. They are bothdressed in light clothing, and theironly guardian is an emaciated Ger-man shepherd. We leave the Britishtroops and interpreter there. Theytell us they will make their own wayback-on foot, we suppose. As ourhelicopter lifts off, a large cloud ofsnow envelops the people on theground, and they wrap their armsabout tlleir heads and turn tlleir backstoward us. It is hard to imagine howthese two old people have survivedup here for this long.

At 2:45 p.m. the crew and I arriveback at the Canadian camp for an-other hot refuel. By 3:30 p.m. we areorbiting over a Serbian funeral thatwill last an hour and a half. Our jobis to discourage any violence fromerupting during the ceremony. Twodays earlier, an Albanian:youtll gunneddown a Kosovar Serbian fatller of fourwalking home in the late afternoon.

The murder was allegedly caras one of many acts of reprisacomes from all sides.

The rotor blades make a louping noise as I bank the helsharply into the wind and my thveer with it. I focus on the grthe family below must feel. Atheir pain, they must enduretrusion of a noisy helicopter life of a father and husband ored and they bid him farewe

Our flying day finishes shoter 5 p.m. CanadianForces flyinstate that aircrews are allowedimum eight hours of flying day-exactly what we haveWe must have had at least twmissile-warning alarms everAs I lumber out of the cockpifive pounds lighter than I did started my day. Stephane analso emerge slowly and witheffort, the fatigue visible as theytheir backs. Many of my musctight, and I am thinking only omeal and bed. Luckily, we areing to night flying the followinand can sleep in the next mWe don't know it now, but wneed the extra sleep for tom

night's m~ssion.

A bombed-out smelting plant, one of Europe's largest producers of nickel,awaits reconstruction--and the return of displaced workers.

I t is snowing again, but at legenerator keeps working anis ample heat in my shelte

a good seven hours of rest, Iand bus~g myself with plansupcoming weekly meeting of thKosovar Scouts. Several of usdian servicemen and -womenscout leaders for a group of 2

30 Ajr& space December 2000/Januar



humed and examined by UN warcrimes investigators. After the in-vestigation was complete, the bodies

were laid to rest in separate burialplots. This was the 11th mass gravethat I'd seen in four months.

When I arrive at Sheremet's horne,his family immediately invites me andmy driver, Corporal Carlo Senegal,into their home. A single 30-foot-square room, which Sheremet andseven members of his family mustshare, serves all of them as bedroom,

guest room, and kitchen.While we sit and speak to his

ther in French, Sheremet's older

ter quietly pours coffee from a get} metal decanter into small cthat hold no more than a cQuplounces. But then, with this coftwo ounces is more than enougis closer in texture to maple sythan to what we know as coffeNorth America. The coffee is sweet, the taste is pleasant, anwarms me.

Mounted on tlw beUyand above lw windS'hield, cable cutters are rakedforward so power lines meet sharp blades before they can entangle the rot

var Albanian boYsand girls, who rangein age from 10to 17. Once a week fortwo hours, the group meets in the

Canadian camp, where we teach thekids everything from orienteering andbuilding a camp fire to dental hygieneand landmine awareness.

Working with the scouts is the eas-iest part of my job in Kosovo. Thekids are always happy, upbeat, fullof vigor, and ready to tackle any chal-lenge-not what you would expectfrom a group of kids who have justbeen through war and organized per-secution. Many of their fathers orbrothers are either dead or unac-counted for.

Most of the children have badly de-cayed teeth. The dentists in Kosovousually leave rotting teeth in ratherthan pull them. They reason that it isbetter to have a rotten tooth than notooth at all. I take Sheremet, a boy of14, to see our Canadian Forces den-tist one day. There is no choice butto pull one molar that has been caus-ing him a lot of pain. Afterward, Idrive Sheremet home in one of ourmilitazy vehicles. It's a 30-minutedrivedown a road full of very large pot-holes-scars of war.

On the way we pass a mass gravejust outside Poklek, Sheremet's vil-lage. It is the first time that I haveseen a mass grave up close. I haveseen many from the air, but it is verydifferent when you can reach out andtouch the graves. This particular graveis located on a back road behind Pok-lek in a remote location where no onewould ever hear the shots. There aredozens of bodies at the site, all ex-

December 2000/January 2001 Air & space



Close-and noisy-observation of events ike this organized protest march is designed to prevent violence.

Arriving in the vicinity of treference, we see wo flashes the -murk from a handheld ighcating the exact location for There are no other lights avaiwave us in; we are close to theand he helicopter must remainout, as must the people below.cle once to get a good look at thing zone. I can see that the LZtight spot. In the narrow vallwith the strong winds prevailinthe north, there is only one op

the approach-from the southhave to fly over some electricaand there are also lines on thethe LZ and trees on the rightwill be no room for error, as just enough space n the LZ tohelicopter. I conflml the locatiStephane and Alain and givebreviated briefing on how I wil

The room is cool and damp, andSheremet's father offers to light thewoodstove. I decline, having noticedthat there was no wood stored out-side the house. After half an hour,Carlo and I prepare to leave.Sheremet's father invites us to stayfor supper, but they have little food,and we politely decline the offer. Ialso have a night mission that takesoff in less than three hours.

with limited visibility in a region that

is very mountainous. In these condi-

tions, the performance of our night-vi-

sion goggles, which amplify ambient

light, is significantly dimillished. Cana-

dian Forces rules allow us to fly when

the visibility is as low as one nautical

mile.( a bit more than a statute mile) if

we can remain 200 feet above the high-

est obstacle. Flying at the edge of our

weather limits with a fuzzy picture

through the goggles is very uncom-fortable, like driving down the high-

way in a downpour. To get to the pick-

up zone, we haVe o wind tlu'Ough valleys

to avoid the overcast, which is pierced

only by mountaintops. It is important

that we complete this mission. It is an-

other sub-zero night, and the Swedish

patrol will have to spend it outdoors

in a high-threat area if we don't pick

them up.

S hortly after 7:30 p.m., Stephane,

Alain, and I are flying toward a map

grid reference-the only informa-tion we have-where we are to pickup four members of a Swedish recon-naissance section. From the map, wecan see that the landing zone lies in anarrow valley close to the border withSerbia. To add to the difficulty of themission, it is a cloudy, snowy night

32 Air 0; Space December 2000/Janua



Norwegian troops (in the rearmost rank) took over sponsorship of the FiKosovar Scouts, ocal school-agekids, when the Canadians returned hom

ately go to tile instruments to keep ilehelicopter level and climbing-a toughtransition to make rapidly when youhave been ooking outside for tile pasthour. The troops in tile back are obliv-ious to all this; tiley're just happy to bein a warm place. My fmgers tense as Iimagine tile wires to tile left of me andtile trees to the right, which I can nolonger see. Alain is unable to keep hishead outside the aircraft because oftile intenseblowing snow. The secondsfeel like hours, and a sense of frustra-

tion washes over me. I want to see out-side and be reassured tilat we're clearof tile obstacles. Finally we break outof tile snow cloud and find our aircraftin a safe climb out of tile valley.

We still have o weave through morevalleys to clear tile clouds on our wayhome. Mindful that valleys are idealplaces to hit electrical wires, my eyesstrain to detect surprises. We are alsolow on fuel, and ile doors start to closearound us. Back in Canada his wouldnot be as big a problem-we are in ahelicopter and can land in any open

>- field. But this is Kosovo, where tilereare reported to be more than 20,000

buried mines in tile British-Canadianarea of responsibility alone. Stephaneknows how to work tile fuel-remain-ing numbers, and minutes later webreak out of tile mountains and intothe lights of Pristina. We drop off ourpassengers at the Swedish camp on

; tile outskirts of tile capital. The weatil-

er s much mproved between here and

approach. Stephane gives me sometips; he has much more experiencethan I do.

Stephane keeps his hands close tothe controls as I make the approach.If I lose battery power to my goggles,

I will be blind and he'll have to takeover. A hundred feet high and 300 eetaway from the landing zone, the ap-proach looks good, but I start to feelthe embrace of the valley around me.Alain has the back door on my sideopen and his head is outside the air-craft. I can hear his voice shiver as hereports our proximity to obstacles. Asoldier in a clearing is signaling to uswith his han~, but.! am barely able tomake him out, Stephane continues tocoach me through the approach. Thir-ty feet high and 30 feet away from the

LZ, the downwash from the rotors en-gulfs us n a thick, blinding snow cloud.Alain is still able to see he ground, butI lose all outside visual references. Iimmediately nform Srephane,who stillhas the ground in sight on his side ofthe helicopter. Stephane takes overand plants us firmly in the near-knee-high snow.

The four Swedish soldiers jumpaboard our aircraft, each carrying abackpack weighing about 80 pounds.With the snow and added weight, thetakeoff will be even trickier than the

landing. We are tight on fuel, close tothe Serbian border, and we cannotlinger on the ground Alain calls "Ready"and I commence the takeoff. Feelingthe urgency to depart, I yank the heli-copter off he ground. Instantly our air-craft is smothered n snow and all threeof us lose sight of the ground. There isonly one option, so our eyes immedi-

tile CaruIdian camp, and we have en

ruel to make it back with a safe res

Back at the Canadian camp'we

er-taxi to our parking spot and

down. Three technicians drive up,

dled in so many layers of clothing

they look like astronauts on a swalk. I watch them hook up a tow

andjack the skids up on trolleys,

reddened and numb fingers de

ately trying to work on the stub

metal parts in the cold. The gro

crew are wizards, and I owe the

lot. During a si.x-month period, kept at least si.x of our eight air

serviceable every day.In the distance, I can see CoI}

Bill Street walking the helicopter

Street is a military policeman w

wife and young child back in Winn

Manitoba. He's part of the Cana

Airfield Security Force, and his joan entire si.x-month tour is to pu

hour shifts guarding our helicopand the airfield.

I will fly more missions tomorr

and Bill Street will be out here a

all night, shivering and protecting

helicopter. My mother will be war

her Toronto apartment, worried But I get my comfort throughout

time in Kosovo from the pride I fe

being a peacekeeper and a Cana

Captain Jonathan Knaul returfrom Kosovo in June 2000 andtinues to serveas a pilot with hisbased at Valcartier, Quebec. -+

December 2000/January 2001 Air& Space

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Memories of Kosovo00