BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA —
A Protection POW/MIA Accounting Company (DPAA) restoration crew completed a joint subject exercise (JFA) in Bosnia and Herzegovina on Could 31, 2024. They labored rigorously with native officers and the U.S. Embassy to aim to recuperate the stays of a U.S. service member lacking since World Struggle II. This crew, composed of specialists from numerous fields, is united by a standard mission: to deliver our fallen heroes again residence.
DPAA conducts intensive historic analysis on every case earlier than excavation. Matt Cheser, a historian working at DPAA assigned to the Bosnian area, emphasised the significance of the work.
“There are nonetheless roughly 12 personnel lacking from World Struggle II in Bosnia,” Cheser acknowledged. “It’s our sacred obligation to deliver them residence.”
DPAA is dedicated to offering closure and peace to the households of the lacking. To attain this, every crew deploys both a forensic anthropologist or forensic archaeologist as a scientific restoration skilled (SRE) to check every case and lead excavations. This restoration crew’s SRE, Dr. Laurel Freas, a DPAA forensic anthropologist, has been with the company for 15 years. She defined how her intensive expertise has ready her for this mission.
“Each subject mission I’ve accomplished previously has taught me vital classes that assist me put together for every new, upcoming mission,” Freas stated. “For this mission, essentially the most worthwhile previous experiences relate to touring to a brand new nation, interacting with native officers we’ve by no means met earlier than and who’ve by no means collaborated with DPAA earlier than, and dealing with the crew to bridge our variations in tradition and language to convey the humanitarian nature of the company’s mission.”
Freas highlighted the significance of incomes belief and assist from native officers.
“On this mission, we’ve been very lucky to have glorious assist from the native well being inspector who has jurisdiction over the location the place we had been working,” stated Freas. “I attribute that to the professionalism and dedication of the whole crew.”
Garnering assist from native officers is crucial to mission success however every mission and case are particular and maintain their very own distinctive set of challenges.
“On most of my previous missions, we had been working in distant and remoted areas which can be tough to seek out, and even more durable to get to,” stated Freas. “On this mission, we’ve been working in and round a well known native memorial monument, with all of the considerations and sensitivities that go together with that. It’s essential that we take heed to our actions always, to ensure we’re all the time being respectful to the area we’re working in.”
To face this problem head-on and guarantee collaboration success, DPAA works in partnership with a number of completely different organizations, instructions, and applications. They purchase brief time period particular person augmentees (STIA), akin to linguists, who’re worthwhile belongings on each restoration crew. Among the many crew members was U.S. Air Pressure Grasp Sgt. Nikola Bozic, a STIA linguist who beforehand assisted the DPAA in investigating this case again in 2022. Bozic’s distinctive language expertise and cultural consciousness proved invaluable for navigating the advanced cultural panorama of Bosnia. His experience, mixed with the great hospitality of the native officers, ensured the whole mission ran easily.
“Rising up in Bosnia has had a profound impression on how I approached numerous conditions throughout our mission,” Bozic shared. “My deep understanding of the native tradition and customs has allowed me to bridge the hole in understanding how the area people perceives our crew’s efforts. This understanding has been essential in navigating delicate conversations and constructing belief, resulting in extra profitable operations.”
To realize a greater understanding of not solely the language however the cultures and customs, linguist akin to Bozic endure intensive coaching of their backgrounds. Bozic obtained additional coaching from the Air Pressure Cultural Language Heart, particularly by way of the Language Enabled Airman Program (LEAP) and eMentor language coaching.
“This coaching has geared up me with sensible expertise for present and future DPAA missions or partnerships,” Bozic famous. “It has underscored the significance of cultural understanding in our missions.”
Previous to 2022, Bozic by no means thought that his coaching would contribute to such an operation.
“I used to be initially unaware of what DPAA does,” stated Bozic. “Nonetheless, after collaborating in DPAA missions, I can confidently say that these had been essentially the most fulfilling experiences of my army profession. These missions allowed me to contribute to a noble trigger and assist deliver again our lacking service members. If given the chance to be a part of DPAA’s missions, I extremely advocate seizing the possibility to do one thing that you’ll bear in mind positively for the remainder of your life.”
Bozic is among the many linguists invited again by DPAA to extend mission success. He, like different STIAs, returns as a result of he holds a deep perception in DPAA’s mission.
“It’s a noble trigger devoted to finding and bringing residence the stays of lacking service members.” Bozic stated. “The tireless work of DPAA signifies its dedication to fulfilling the promise made to our service members that they’ll by no means be forgotten or left behind. This dedication provides reassurance to households that at some point, their family members’ stays can be positioned and returned residence.”
Freas echoed this sense, stating, “I really feel extremely honored and privileged to be part of DPAA and contribute to the Company’s mission. I’m pleased with the work we do to supply solutions to the households of the lacking.”
Because the DPAA crew continues its work in Bosnia, they carry with them the hope and dedication to deliver closure to the households of those that served and sacrificed a lot throughout World Struggle II. Their efforts are a testomony to the enduring promise that no service member will ever be forgotten.
See the total picture gallery right here: Bosnia and Herzegovina
By SSgt John Miller
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