Photo By Master Sgt. Jim Greenhill | Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, talks with...... read more read more
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THE SINAI PENINSULA, Egypt — When Army 1st Sgt. Mike Haeffele learned his Kansas Army National Guard unit was deploying here, he turned to the Internet for insight on why.
"I didn't know anything about it," Haeffele said. "I had to ask, 'What are we going there for?' "
Like many people, Haeffele knew neither that the United States has maintained a continuous peacekeeping mission here for 27 years nor that the National Guard is currently making the lead American contribution to the Multinational Force and Observers, a gradual transition from active duty forces that began about three years ago.
"Our mission here is to observe, report and verify any treaty violations," Haeffele explained.
The peace treaty — the Camp David Accords — was negotiated in 1979. The United Nations balked at the idea of providing peacekeepers. A U.S.-led coalition of countries took the baton in 1982 and, sharing the cost with the treaty signatories, has been carrying it ever since.
"This mission is important to the Middle East peace process," Haeffele said. "Without us here, there would obviously be conflict."
Haeffele and other MFO Soldiers from the Kansas and Puerto Rico Army National Guard were visited here by Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley, the chief of the National Guard Bureau, who was on a Middle East fact-finding trip with several other senior National Guard leaders.
"I am very impressed to see citizen-soldiers and-Airmen performing the kinds of missions that we saw on this trip, not only [in] state partnership countries, but also supporting MFO-Sinai in the peace process," McKinley said. "We are a lynchpin to preventing future conflict in the Middle East with our troops there."
Regular Army Col. James Mingo, who is the MFO's chief of staff and commands Task Force Sinai, said the National Guard Soldiers were very well trained for this mission.
"I've had multiple opportunities to work with the National Guard," he said. "As an active duty tank battalion commander, about a third of my combat power was a National Guard element ... They're doing something for the entire Army, the total Army, in that this mission being taken by the National Guard allows us to focus other assets in other places."
America's armed forces have become more of a seamless force, McKinley said. "Our Army and Air Force now are integrating its National Guard in its overseas contingency operations at a rate that's unprecedented since the Second World War — and, at home, we continue to be the first military responders."
Motivated by a yen for travel and adventure, Pfc. Christopher Brown enlisted in the National Guard straight out of high school in 2008, graduated Basic Combat Training at Fort Sill, Okla., and deployed here.
"It's a really good mission," said Brown, who observes from towers and operates generators at one of the self-contained camps scattered throughout the operational area. "I really enjoy the fact that we're actually making a difference — we're doing stuff, not just sitting at home."
If a high school friend asks Brown what he's doing here, this 18-year-old explains: "We're in a strategically important area. We're making sure the peace treaty is followed between Israel and Egypt, because they've been at war for a very, very long time. They're finally at peace, and they still need the U.S. to keep stability in the region."
After stints in Bosnia and Kosovo, Staff Sgt. Hendrik Rijfkogel is on his third peacekeeping mission in 11 years in the National Guard, serving this time as an observation post site commander.
Rijfkogel and his troops watch primarily for overhead aircraft or vessels navigating the Gulf of Aqaba.
Rijfkogel said his Soldiers like the mission. "After all the training that they've done, they're glad that they can put it to use," he said. "A lot more would happen if we weren't here to keep this treaty in effect."
It is staff sergeants who lead the observation posts scattered across this sometimes-mountainous, sometimes-flat, always-desert peninsula, and it was staff sergeants who briefed the four-star and other senior leaders as they toured the operational area.
"They, no kidding, were being given the opportunity to really lead and develop those leadership techniques, understanding that they were responsible for their group of Soldiers 24/7," said Air Force Maj. Gen. Howard Michael "Mike" Edwards, the adjutant general of the Colorado National Guard, who is traveling with McKinley.
Looking into the staff sergeants' eyes, Edwards said he saw pride and professionalism.
"They have the knowledge of the importance of what they are doing, to preserve the trust between Egypt and Israel, to maintain peace," he said. "We have this citizen-soldier attitude where we come into an operation with [civilian-acquired skills], so we bring a different view of the world and working and interacting with another nation."
| Date Taken: | 11.02.2009 |
| Date Posted: | 11.02.2009 07:57 |
| Story ID: | 40952 |
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| Web Views: | 660 |
| Downloads: | 593 |
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