Far From Home
AN OREGON STATER IN KOSOVO

Photos by Dennis Wolverton

Mike Anderson (far left) on patrol in the city of Gnjilane, which is located near Camp Monteith about 50 miles east of Kosovo’s capital city of Pristina. “When I joined the National Guard in Corvallis,” he told photographer Dennis Wolverton, “I never thought I’d be deployed. I thought I would put in my six years and move on. It didn’t work out that way.”

With possibly hundreds of OSU alumni serving overseas in the military, it’s easy to think first of Iraq or Afghanistan. These war-torn countries have dominated our news the last several years. But Oregon Stater Mike E. Anderson, who grew up in Gresham and graduated from OSU in 1997 with a degree in history, has a different perspective on serving in places far from home.

In February of this year, the Army National Guard lieutenant found himself 7,000 miles from Oregon, at Camp Monteith in Kosovo, in a region which lies in southern Serbia and is sandwiched between Montenegro to the west, Albania and Macedonia to the south and Bulgaria to the east. The camp sits near the city of Gnjilane and incorporates a former Serb Army post. It houses one armored battalion and one battalion of infantry within its two-plus-mile perimeter fence. Established in June 1999, it is named for World War II Medal of Honor recipient, Army 1st Lt. Jimmie W. Monteith, and currently serves as home to about 2,000 U.S. service personnel. Mike has completed one-third of his 18-month deployment.

Leading a staff meeting at 7 a.m., Camp Monteith. “This assignment is a bit more gray than the Middle East,” he said. “It’s not always easily explained or understood by our soldiers, especially the young.” About the Bradleys, he quips: “I like to roll the vehicles late at night or early in the morning when there’s much less traffic. When you put a 36-ton Bradley on these roads, no one goes around you.”

Peering from inside a Bradley Fighting Vehicle.

	Exchanging a handshake with Swedish soldiers on their way to a shopping spree at Camp Monteith’s Post Exchange, or “PX,” in the parlance of the military. The trio is part of the thousands of troops from NATO countries committed to keeping the peace in Kosovo. Says Anderson: “The French are impressive in the way they handle riots. Our troops are more combat trained.”
	Checking out the latest movies at the camp theater and hoping he’ll have time to see one. “Free time is limited, and I spend mine reading, jogging or writing e-mails to my wife,” he says. “I’ve kept all the e-mails she has ever sent me, and we talk once or twice a week by phone. I can receive calls in my room but I can’t dial out.”
	M-16 at the ready, Anderson greets a passerby while on patrol in downtown Gnjilane. “We’re here to prevent problems from getting too large and to stop them while they’re still small. There are any number of events that could change things rapidly.”