Oklahoma Army Guard units training for Bosnia

Monday, March 13th 2000, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- For the first time since the Korean War, about 120 members of several Oklahoma Army Guard ground units have begun training for active duty -- a peacekeeping mission in Bosnia.

The enhanced state Guard units include Alpha Company of the 1/279th Infantry Battalion of Tulsa and Charlie Company of the 2/279th Infantry Battalion of Oklahoma City.

Capt. Mike Dale, commander of the Tulsa unit, said National Guard units are increasingly being called up for combat and peacekeeping duties because the regular Army has been downsized since the end of the Cold War.

Part-time soldiers are also serving in peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and the Persian Gulf, where members of the Tulsa-based 138th Fighter Wing are among those patrolling the "no-fly" zone over northern Iraq.

Dale and Capt. Barry Guidry, who commands the Oklahoma City company, went to Bosnia last month to witness the everyday operations in advance of their troops' rigorous training schedule. The units are mobilized Aug. 14 to ship out for Bosnia.

Before then, the units have three weeks of intensified exercises at Fort Carson, Colo., for individual readiness training.

The Tulsa and Oklahoma City units are part of the active-dutyS eventh Infantry Division headquartered at Fort Carson and will be attached to the Third Infantry Division out of Fort Stewart, Ga.

"To be able to go to Bosnia, this (the Fort Carson training) is a requirement. For four or five days, they will learn convoy operations, mine awareness, force protection and country orientation awareness, and other tasks," said Dale, a teacher at Lewis and Clark Middle School.

The Tulsa commander said after Colorado, the guardsmen will return to Oklahoma and go to Camp Gruber to finish out the intensified training process.

The light infantry guardsmen will ship out to Savannah, Ga., for additional training on stabilization and support operations in advance of "the big test" July 27 to Aug. 9 at Fort Polk, La., where the company will be graded on its mobilization readiness and proficiency.

Guidry is a regional manager for a Pennsylvania company specializing in van bodies.