Working together in Trebevic
1st Lt. Pedro Fernández Vicente
First published in
SFOR Informer#130, January 17, 2002
The Trebevic Telecommunication Centre (TCC) houses one
French and an Italian signals team, a Republika Srpska (RS)
signals technician and an Italian infantry squad. While each
signals team ensures that their own system works, the Italian
Battle Group (IBG) is in charge of the security and the supplying
of the centre. All of these groups live and work together
in an area the size of a football pitch on top of Trebevic
Mountain just east of Sarajevo.
Trebevic - Two different areas form the TCC: a transmission
area and a living and maintenance area. The latter consists
of interconnected Corimec buildings, the former, of a tall
triangular concrete tower. The tower is 83 metres high and
has 390 steps, which lead to four levels that house all the
communication equipment. The first and fourth levels house
the antennas, the second houses RS TV equipment and unclassified
military devices. The third level is reserved for classified
communication systems.
"Nobody, who doesn't belong to the French or Italian
signal teams, can climb the tower without an escort. In fact,
nobody from the Italian security squad is authorised to go
up alone. When a Bosnian Serb technician is involved, he is
escorted by one of us, and they may only see to their equipment,"
said 1st Lt. Laurent Lauwers, TCC chief.
Life inside
"Trebevic is like an island without resources. We are
on top of the mountain surrounded by a dense forest. There
are some mines in the forest, only the road has been cleared
of the mines. Last Monday we could hear an explosion and saw
smoke 300 metres from here. This happens sometimes when an
animal steps on a mine. The bad weather conditions increase
the feelings of isolation. Last November during the first
snowfall we were cut off for four days and we had to be supplied
by helicopter. Nowadays the IBG use a snow track to supply
us," said Lauwers.
"Our main problem here is the lack of space. Nineteen
people live in an area of 50 by 100 metres and this creates
a lot of problems for coexistence. There are four different
teams here, each with a different mission and a different
tempo of life, too. The French team is posted here for six
months; the Italian signals team is here for two months, the
Italian guard team for 10 days and the Bosnian Serb team for
a week. Thanks only to the goodwill of all the teams and iron
rules of coexistence can we live and work inside. Everybody
has his duty and his social responsibilities, too," underlined
Lauwer.
"Life in Trebevic is not easy. When someone arrives here
he quickly realises that we can only do our work by following
the coexistence rules," said WO Davide Caputo, leader
of the Italian security squad.
Complex work
"Trebevic is a very important SFOR transmission node
due to all the equipment that is inside. We cover Butmir and
the entire Sarajevo valley. With the French RITA System we
provide secure transmissions between Rajlovac, Tito Barracks
and Zorlac Mountain, near Gorazde. We could let someone flying
a helicopter 100 km from here speak with his home in France
in real time. Obviously this is just an example to illuminate
the possibilities. We process 174 different radio signals
to provide video conference cover," said Lauwer. "Trebevic
is a little SFOR, with a few people working together to guarantee
communications and a lot of people working outside to guarantee
our supply," concluded Lauwers.
Related links:
Nations of SFOR: France,
Italy
SFOR at Work
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