Web Cast Inspires Vet

The day I walked through the doors of Old West as a new alumna I was also commissioned a second lieutenant in the United States Army, for I complemented my studies at Dickinson College with military training. The combination worked, giving me a solid international-studies background combined with leadership skills honed in Dickinson's Reserve Office Training Corps (ROTC).

Five years after Bosnia's warring factions signed the Dayton Peace Accords I found myself part of the NATO Stabilization Forces (SFOR) peacekeeping mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina. While policymakers debated the effectiveness of the Dayton summit, the U.S. Army deployed my unit, the 629th Military Intelligence Battalion, to Bosnia in February 2000 to support the 49th Armored Division, Texas Army National Guard. This gave me a personal glimpse into U.S. foreign policy beyond academics.

Recently, an e-mail notification from Dickinson caught my eye. I read that on Nov. 20 a live Web cast, co-sponsored by the Clarke Center for the Interdisciplinary Study of Contemporary Issues, the Carnegie Council and the U.S. Army War College, would occur from ATS Auditorium. Having just returned from Bosnia, I felt it only natural to participate in "Human Rights, Humanitarian Action and Military Intervention."

Journalist David Reiff, a levelheaded writer with extensive experience in Bosnia, was the keynote speaker. The other panelists included Dickinson trustee and former commander of the U.S. intervention force in Haiti, Gen. David Meade '62; Col. Jeffrey McCausland, dean of academics at the U.S. Army War College; and Martin Cook, War College professor of ethics. My former international-studies advisor, Prof. Douglas Stuart, was to moderate. I wondered how they would approach this complex subject.

Reiff gave the opening presentation, highlighting the difficulty of placing a conventional military force into a humanitarian mission. The other panelists joined in. Those of us in the virtual audience watched the streaming video, listened to the opinions expressed and submitted questions in a chat format to the technical moderator, Paul Levit '71. Current students and faculty responded to the panelists.

"How do you measure the success of a peacekeeping operation?" I posed the question that nagged at me during my nine-month stay in Bosnia. My conventional military training insisted there must be some tangible assessment. Sometimes, it seemed that we were just counting returnees and house cleanings, a slow process at best. Other times, it felt that we were making a real difference. It is hard to evaluate something when you are in the middle of it.

Reiff was skeptical about defining the success of a humanitarian mission, asserting that the short-term alleviation of a crisis (in this case the cessation of fighting) is just that-short-lived. The poverty and political factors that presage a crisis develop slowly, and only deliberate political, economic and social development can address these issues over time. Col. McCausland said it is hard to measure a negative. In this case, the absence of fighting is considered an indication of success and the maintenance of a safe and secure environment a precursor to rebuilding.

Experiencing the live Web cast evoked distinct memories of Bosnia for me. Though the physical damage of war was obvious, Bosnia possessed a strange and dangerous beauty. Narrow, twisting, shell-marked roads carried a variety of vehicles that could come barreling around the next corner. Peaceful orchards lined rolling hills, in all likelihood still mined. House foundations stood naked under the rubble, awaiting the re-erection of walls. Every creek and stream was filled with garbage-you could discern the high-water mark by the toilet paper suspended in tree branches. The pungent odor of burning trash mixed with that of fertilizer that freshly covered the fields.

As the Web cast proceeded, I recollected that the mental damage to the residents was harder to spot than the damage to property-and even more difficult to mend. Vive Zene, a psychotherapy trauma center for women and children in Tuzla near Eagle Base where I was stationed, addresses the mental and physical needs of refugees, displaced persons and evacuees, helping them reshape their world. So many of the people live in limbo-no real homes, no privacy, no real lives. The center's director, Jasna Zecevic, worries about the mental trauma uncertainty extracts on the women. After five years, they expect her to tell them what will happen to them, if they will return home-wherever that is-and she doesn't have the answers. Disconcertingly, neither did we.

In the end, as Reiff said during the Web forum, there are no humanitarian-only political-solutions to humanitarian problems. I remain hopeful that politicians and leaders will take a long-term view. SFOR's presence in Bosnia provides the safety needed to rebuild society, both mentally and physically. While it takes far longer to rebuild than it does to destroy, I'd much rather be involved in the rebuilding.

Opportunities to revisit an experience from such a unique perspective-through a live Web cast-are rare. I am pleased that Dickinson College remains on the leading edge of innovative, international education. This first Web cast was an important technological and educational step. For alumni, it was a chance to share life lessons with today's Dickinsonians and to help them associate policy with its impact. For the school, it showcased Dickinson's commitment to host quality public events in a multi-media environment.

Meredith M. LeBard '94, a captain in the U.S. Army, spent February-October 2000 in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Assigned to the Maryland Army National Guard's 629th Military Intelligence Battalion, she was stationed at Eagle Base, near Tuzla, Bosnia. She majored in international studies and East Asian studies at Dickinson, graduating magna cum laude. Her writing also appears in several online and print publications.

My Polaroid camera was a hit with kids and adults alike at Vive Zene, a psychotherapy trauma center in Tuzla.

Women stand idle in Mihadovici Refugee Camp.

Srebrenik Castle has dominated the landscape near the small town of Srebrenik for hundreds of years.

Gentle, orchard-covered hills in Bosnia's spring. Mines lurk everywhere, stopping this peacekeeper from wandering the fields.