From: CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>
Subject: USAF News 08/04/92
Organization: Hq Air Force News Agency/SCC
Date: Wed, 12 Aug 1992 20:28:59 GMT


From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>




From CMSgt Mike Bergman <bergman@afnews.pa.af.mil>


617.  F-16 crash
618.  Relief missions
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617.  F-16 crash
     SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AFNS) -- The pilot of an Illinois Air National Guard
F-16A fighter was killed when his plane crashed in a field southwest of
Springfield's Capital Airport July 31.
     Capt. Donald Leckrone, 32, 183rd Fighter Group, Springfield, was en route
to Denmark for a NATO exercise when his plane crashed shortly after takeoff.
     His aircraft was part of an eight-ship formation.  The other planes went
on to Denmark.
     There were no other persons injured in the crash.
     The accident is under investigation.


618.  Relief missions
by TSgt. David P. Masko
Air Force News Service
     WASHINGTON -- Amid reports of widespread atrocities committed by Serbian
forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Pentagon said it will not commit military
forces but will continue to fly Provide Promise humanitarian missions.
     "We've refrained from making a commitment to put combat forces on the
ground in Yugoslavia because we don't believe that would be helpful," said
Defense Secretary Dick Cheney during a televised interview Aug. 3.
     Pentagon spokesman Pete Williams told reporters Aug. 4 that there are a
number of complicated issues involved in committing U.S. forces in the
war-torn region.
     "Our posture right now is to assist the United Nations in responding to
the needs of the people of the former Yugoslavian republic," Williams said.
"The only thing the U.N. has asked us to do is to provide humanitarian relief
flights into Sarajevo."
     Since July 3, the 37th Airlift Squadron, Rhein-Main AB, Germany, has been
flying humanitarian aid missions in support of Provide Promise, the DOD's
nickname for its portion of the U.N. relief effort in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
     Additionally, four C-130s from Air Force units in the United States have
been supporting the relief effort.  Two C-130s from the 317th Airlift Wing,
Pope AFB, N.C., one aircraft from the 167th Airlift Group, Martinsburg, W.Va.,
and one from the 934th Airlift Group, Minneapolis-St.Paul, deployed to
Rhein-Main July 13 to assist U.S. Air Forces in Europe in the humanitarian
airlift.
     As of Aug. 4, Air Force C-130s had flown 78 missions, carrying 950 tons
of food, medicine and equipment.  The U.N. reported a total of 500 relief
flights, and 6,200 tons of supplies delivered to Sarajevo for the same period.
     Although the Air Force flights have been successful, the transports have
encountered bad weather, mortar and small arms fire when they reached the
airport.  On Aug. 4, for instance, an Air Force C-130 from Rhein-Main was
turned back because of shelling at the Sarajevo airport, Williams said.
     Prior to Provide Promise, the Serbs insisted that U.S. ground troops not
be included in the peacekeeping forces.  Under U.N. rules, the parties
involved in a conflict have to approve the nationality of the peacekeepers.
     Since April, more than 1,500 U.N. troops -- Canadian, French, Norwegian
and Ukrainian -- have been deployed at Sarajevo's airport.  The U.N.
peacekeepers, and the humanitarian airlift, were needed after Serb forces
encircled Sarajevo, cutting off supplies to the 400,000 residents in the city.
     The government in Sarajevo has said 7,000 people have been killed in the
city, and 25,000 severely wounded, 20 percent of them children.
     Williams also told reporters that the Pentagon would not discuss any
further contingency plans for Sarajevo, and said the United States' current
posture is to respond to requests from the U.N.
     Cheney said on several occasions that the United States is prepared to go
further in supporting the international relief effort, including air support
for the delivery of relief supplies.
     Williams concurred with an assessment that the United States is not
ruling out air strikes against Serbian forces in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
     "We're willing to provide the further air support, but it's always been
predicated by further action by the U.N."
     At the same time, the State Department said the Serbs are operating
concentration camps in Bosnia-Herzegovina, and also accused them of firing on
a bus load of children leaving Sarajevo Aug. 1.  Two children were killed in
that attack.
     "Serbian forces are maintaining what they call detention centers for
Croatians and Muslims," said State Department spokesman Richard Boucher Aug.
3.  "And we do have our own reports, similar to the reports that you've seen
in the press, that there have been abuses and torture and killings taking
place in those areas."
     The fighting in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which has claimed more than 20,000
lives since the break-away Yugoslavian republic declared independence on Feb.
29, is fast becoming one of the most dangerous place in the world.
     United Nations' supply convoys, carrying food and medical supplies, are
finding mines on the roads outside Sarajevo.  Sniper and mortar fire is common
in and around the airport where U.N. troops stand guard, and Air Force and
other U.N. countries fly in relief supplies.
     "The security situation is not good, and never has been since it
started," said Robert Wolthuis, deputy assistant secretary for the DOD's
global affairs office.  "But there are some very good aircrews operating in
there, and we're getting the job done regardless.
     "Some rounds are hitting at the airport, and things are not ideal,"
Wolthuis said.
     Under the U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees peacekeeping banner, the
Air Force and 17 other countries have continued to fly humanitarian missions
into Sarajevo airport from Rhein-Main and the U.N. staging base at Zagreb
Airport, Croatia.
     "We've seen as many as 20 different aircraft per day," said Norwegian 1st
Lt. Oivind Moldestand, operations officer at Zagreb airport.
     The Norwegian said he didn't want to comment on how many C-130s have been
fired on in Sarajevo, but said it's difficult to control Serbian fire from
dusk to daylight at the besieged airport.
     "We have no idea when this is going to end.  We just do what we're told
to do and help out," said Canadian Capt. Bernie Castonguay, an aircraft
coordinator assigned to the 1,500-man U.N. peacekeeping force at Zagreb.
     "Our reports from Sarajevo are that the Serbs are well dug-in around the
airport, and have plenty of weapons and supplies," Castonguay said.
     Other than the pledge to assist the U.N. in its humanitarian relief
effort, President Bush has said all along that the United States does not want
to get too deeply involved in the Bosnia conflict.
     History has shown no peaceful outcome in the ancient blood feuds of the
Balkans.
     "Unhappily, the Balkan countries lack a tradition of good government,"
said Karl Lott Rankin, former U.S. ambassador to Yugoslavia.
     "A Serbian proverb says, 'At the grave of an official, only donkeys
weep.'  Representative government, introduced after the breakup of the Ottoman
Empire, was rarely successful.  It was accompanied by revolts and frequently
punctuated by dictatorships," Rankin said.
     The assassination of Austrian Archduke Franz Ferdinand, which
precipitated World War I, took place in Sarajevo, capital of Bosnia, an
Austrian province at the time.

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