Bratunac - On the border of the road stays a Portuguese Chaimite, an armored light vehicle which can carry 10 soldiers and is equiped with 12.7mm machine-gun, one 7.62mm Browning 30 and Milan anti-tank missiles. One hundred and fifty meters further, another Chaimite and a vehicle of the United Nations. The action takes place close to the village of Bratunac in MND-N. An International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia team is demining the place.
To secure the place, the US Thunder Squadron of the 3/3rd Armored Cavalery Regiment (ACR) based in Camp Dobol asked for help from the Portuguese 2nd Company of the 2nd Mechanized Infantry Battalion.
The compound is made up of 104 soldiers, of which two are women. The company is commanded by Capt. Paulo Loureiro and is usually based in Visoko, a town about 20 kilometers from Sarajevo. It is part of the operational reserve.
On the ground, while deminers are doing their job, an American vehicle and its staff come to strengthen the Portuguese workforce. They provide a 24-hour per day watch of the area, the time of the operations.
2nd Lt. Dinis Duarte has been on the place for two days. ''We hadn't have any problem in this area. But we had to send soldiers in Srebrenica where there had been some trouble,'' he said.
The Portuguese soldiers took place in Camp Dobol for five days, Aug. 18-23.
''I'm glad to be here and my guys also becasuse we can practice what we're learning and training about in Visoko where we stay until next January,'' said Loureiro. The soldiers are patrolling in the cities, but also are providing a strengthened presence when necessary.
The Portuguese work with two companies of the american squadron - Ironhawk and Lightning. They know the area well because between 1995 and 1999, they were in charge of an area which contains the towns of Rogatica, Gorazde and Viktovici.
Everyone seems satisfied with the missions executed each day. And among those satisfied is Maj. Gregory Julian, Chief of the Plan-Ops cell.
''That is the first time we have worked with the Portuguese Army. We worked as good as we did with the Portuguese Navy last month because they have adopted training very close to ours,'' he said.
If you ask 2nd Sgt. José Coimbra if he doesn't get bored with always being on the road, from a place to another one, he answers that he is not.
''On the contrary, I like to work with different people. So that we can exchange a lot of things and experiences. We'll also take part to the Joint Resolve exercise that will happen soon,'' he said happily.
Others operations are also planned with the Nordpol Brigade, the British and the Czechs.

Related link:
Nations of SFOR: Portugal
SFOR at Work