Alone in Jabuka tower
By 2Lt Renaud de Quillacq
First published in
SFOR Informer #71, 29 Sept, 1999.
Zortaci - In Bosnia and Hercegovina it is not unusual to find
signallers of the SFOR nations perched at the top of mountains, cut off
from the rest of the world. After the Canadians and British "cavemen"
we spoke about in issue 69, here are the Portuguese, French and Italians
of Jabuca.
Jabuka is the name given by the Portuguese to this 1,279 metre-high mountain
overlooking Gorazde in Multinational Division South East. The French call
it Zortaci and for Italians it is just "the tower". Before the war a huge
Yugoslavian army radar tower stood here, it was destroyed in 1994.
Later the French came to set up a electro-magnetic wave relay. Since
1998, three nationalities share the building whose architecture is exactly
the same as the Bjelasnica Olympic site, now given back to the local authorities.
Seventeen people live up here, seven signallers, (five French and two
Italians) as well as ten Portuguese
paratroopers from the 23rd Coy, 2nd Airborne Infantry Battalion, based
in Vitkovici. The French Signallers are responsible for the Rita nodal
centre number 14, they arrived on August 4 for a four months tour. The
two Italians are in charge of the Sotrine network relay, they are based
in Zetra and have rotations every three weeks. The Portuguese Section
provides support and security, it changes every week. The 17 men have
their meals all together, they receive fresh supplies every two days from
Vitkovici.
The first mission for this relay station is to connect the Portuguese
Battalion to Sarajevo and to relay radio signals between all the users
of the zone. French Sgt.Maj. Louis Banchieri is the site commander. He
is a regular visitor of the theatre's summits, last year, nearly at the
same period, he was working in Bjelasnica signal base, in the Igman mountains,
at 2200 metres height. The challenge of a lonely life is of course to
stay busy. In mountains, you do not have a lot of forms of entertainment,
almost when the massif is deserted. In Jabuka, there are no flocks or
hikers. The only visitors to come up are SFOR soldiers.
According to Sgt.Maj. Acacio Pacheco, the Portuguese Section leader responsible
for the security, this loneliness is a good thing. "We are very well here,
we can rest and have the time to read and listen to music," he says. For
those who are staying longer, the time may be sometimes be a little long
but they seem to take to this mountain life very well.
Engineers have built a volley-ball court, a small body-building room
and a bowls court have also been set up. What the 17 men wait with some
trepidation is the approach of the winter, it could change everyday life.
Related Links:
|