First installment

Early the next morning I awoke, dressed and kissed Paula goodbye, it took me fifteen minutes to find the place so I was in plenty of time, there was nobody there apart from the guards. They told me that the rest of the unit would arrive at seven and I should wait in the office for one of the officers to arrive, it was not long before they did and they told me that I was going to Zupanja at seven thirty for six days and then they asked me where was all my equipment was, I explained that I had not been informed that we were leaving and I had brought nothing with me, they talked to one of the men that had just come in and then he spoke in english,

"my name is Robin and if you don't live too far away I will take you home to get what you need and then bring you back" he said.

I told him where I lived and we got in a car and drove off. We arrived and I went upstairs, it didn't take me long to pack as I always kept most of my clothes packed just in case, I picked up my bag and threw a couple of extra items in and explaining that I had to go to the local sports hall that was just around the corner to tell Paula where I was going. Today was the first election day for Croatia as a new country and Paula had gone to vote bright and early and as we were driving up she was coming out, I told her what was happening and that I would try to phone her later on that day. There was only one thing left to do and that was to borrow some money as I had none, she gave me some of the little that she had and I kissed her and left. This was the first time that I had been away from her for any length of time since she arrived back in Osijek and I was not looking forward to it but that was the way it had to be for the present. We drove back to the base to find the bus waiting for us, they asked if I had a weapon and I shook my head, they gave me a brand new AK47, magazines and ammunition and then told me to get on the bus. On the journey I stripped and cleaned my weapon and Robin that they had three bases and that I was to be with him in a village called Babina Greda where the unit had two houses next door to each other. The route we took went directly past Laslovo and I wondered how long it was going to be before the inhabitants could return to what was left of their homes and I was able to go and see if I could find the body of Eric. The way the UN were working I was sure that it was not going to be in the foreseeable future, for the time being the chetniks had the village rent free and could ransack it and steal whatever they could. We went through various towns on the way and I recognized the names from watching the tv when that place was under attack, the Croatian tv always put the name of the town that had an air raid warning on top of the screen as soon as the shelling started. At the height of the war there wereh different names on the screen every few minutes and you could then work out where the hot beds were on the front and the name of Osijek was frequently seen and the name of Zagreb, well that didn't exist on the air raid list, they were never at war.

After about fourty five minutes we arrived, it was a small village and there was no noticeable war damage, only a few of the houses had any protection from possible shelling even though the enemy was only twenty kilometers away and well within shelling distance,if I had lived here I would have been sure to protect my house and family but I didn't and what I classed as my family were relatively safe in Osijek and this village was far from my opinion safe, my mind was going back to being a soldier on the front line even though I was not. We picked up our kit and left the bus, there were eleven of us in total in one house and command was in the other house, I went in and found an empty bed, once I had put my kit on the bed I went outside where Robin was planning a rota or something, I sat down in the sun and waited for Robin to tell me what was happening. After about ten minutes he and three of the men got into the lorry and drove off, where I wasn't sure but I would probably find out when they returned. It was a lovely day and I was quite enjoying the sunshine, shortly after I sat down the lorry came back with three different men in it so wherever Robin had been he had dropped the others off and brought these back. When he got out of the lorry he came and sat by me and proceeded to explain to me what we had to do for the next six days. We were not really security but security on our side of the Sava which was the border between Croatia and BiH, all we were to do was to watch the ferry and to look for anything suspicious at night. The base in Zupania was responsible for patrols up and down the river in Zodiacs and to watch for any possible attacks from the Serbian forces in BiH, I had gone from one type of guard to another, the only difference was that I was kilometers from Osijek and from Paula, perhaps I should have stayed at the Red Barracks, at least there I would have been closer to her but the choice had been made and I just had to make the best of it for the time being. The days soon went by and we would be on our way back for six days leave, even with that thought in my mind I still went to find a phone to telephone Paula. The closest was next door even if they didn't like you making personal calls, I dialed the number and she picked up, after explaining where and what I was doing I said goodnight and hung up as I didn't want to upset anybody, well not on my first day.