Back to
the Balkans
British veterans of first KFOR mission
return to Kosovo after 20 years
Troops serving with NATO’s original
‘KFOR’ (Kosovo Force) mission have
made an emotional return to the
disputed territory for the first time
since 1999 – to complete a personal
pilgrimage to the precise locations
where they served twenty years ago.
The pair of British officers from the
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps completed
the trip to witness the progress made
in the country since 1999, with a visit
to the capital Pristina, as well as to the
two locations where they had been
originally based - Lipljan and Podujevo.
The first KFOR mission in June 1999
was commanded by the UK-led corps,
which had been stood up for the
task given its recent operational
experience from the Bosnia conflict
only a couple of years earlier.
By pure coincidence, our two Kosovo
veterans, Lieutenant Colonel Nathan
Webber of the Royal Artillery and Royal
Air Force officer Squadron Leader
Owen Newman, find themselves
serving with the ARRC once again
at the very moment it marks twenty
years since it commanded the ground
intervention in Kosovo.
FIELD TRIP
Owen Newman looks at the scrubby
field on the edge of Lipljan village and
attempts to piece together the site’s
1999 layout from memory.
As a member of the RAF’s Tactical
Supply Wing, the squadron leader
had been part of a team of specialists
responsible for providing a 24-hour
service refuelling NATO’s mixed
helicopter fleet. The airmen had
crossed the border during the early
days of KFOR’s advance into theatre
before setting up in Lipljan.
And it’s just as he’s reminiscing
about the Gurkha soldiers who
had responsibility for the camp’s
outer security – and for operating
the catering tent, with its regular
servings of Nepalese curry – that he
is approached by the farm’s smartly-
8
AUTUMN 2019 the imjin
It’s great to see
such a thriving
community
now.
dressed landowner, Valon Vehapi
(pictured above).
Speaking through our interpreter,
the men quickly discover that twenty
years ago they had shared that very
same Gurkha kitchen, where Vehapi
had worked as a locally-employed
teenager.
On establishing that the RAF officer
is the first UK military serviceman to
return there in two decades, the men
warmly embrace. Vehapi declares it
the “best day of his life” when the
British first arrived in 1999.
Soon afterwards the pair are sharing
Turkish coffee and memories in
Vehapi’s family home.
NORTHERN EXPOSURE
Our party continues its brief return
visit with a drive north of Pristina
@HQARRC
Allied Rapid Reaction Corps