Support Troops Greatly Boost Size of U.S. Contingent

For most of the past few months, the Clinton Administration has been telling the American public that it is planning to deploy about 20,000 U.S. ground troops for peacekeeping duty in Bosnia-Herzegovina--about a third of the 60,000-member force.

And that number is correct: The first echelon of that deployment--an advance party of 735 U.S. military personnel--will go to Bosnia early next week to begin paving the way by setting up communications centers and supply facilities.

The rest of the 20,000-member contingent is slated to arrive in mid-December.

But while those are the only U.S. troops that actually will be deployed to Bosnia, they will not be the only American military personnel in the region. The Pentagon is also planning to place almost 17,000 other Americans in nearby areas to provide logistics backup.

The list includes:

* About 1,700 Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps pilots assigned to bases in Italy will help provide close air support for U.S. and North Atlantic Treaty Organization ground troops in Bosnia to protect them from attacks by military units from any of the three warring factions.

* About 7,000 Navy officers and sailors will be aboard warships in the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas to provide offshore gunfire and air support, should the need arise. The armada most likely will include an amphibious attack group carrying 2,200 Marines.

* About 4,500 American troops--mostly from the Army--will be sent to Croatia to help provide supplies and logistics backup for the U.S. and NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia. They will be joined by 500 U.S. soldiers now on duty in Macedonia.

* About 3,000 U.S. military personnel will be stationed in neighboring Hungary, which has agreed to let the NATO-led force use its air bases and river ports as staging areas for the Bosnia operation.

With the exception of the 4,500 U.S. troops that will be sent to Croatia, most of these U.S. military units have been in the area for months--or even years.

For example, for almost two years, the United States has had warplanes based in Italy to help enforce the “no-fly” zone that the United Nations imposed over Bosnia.

The total number of pilots in Italy is not expected to change. Some will be diverted to provide close air support.

For about the same period, the Navy has had between 1,000 and 7,000 officers and sailors deployed aboard warships in the Adriatic and Mediterranean seas--both to help enforce the U.N. economic embargo against Bosnia and to participate in NATO air strikes against Bosnia’s Serbs.

The 500 U.S. soldiers now in Macedonia have been stationed there for more than a year to help guard the country’s borders against a possible Serbian attack.

While U.S. officials caution that any military operation--even training--is inherently dangerous, the support troops are not expected to be under direct fire, except in the case of warplanes that could be shot down.

Pentagon officials said the United States probably will dispatch about 1,435 U.S. troops early next week as part of a 1,600-member NATO “enabling force”--an advance party of specialists who will be assigned to pave the way for the arrival of the peacekeepers in mid-December.

Strategists said the advance team will include 735 Americans to be sent to various cities and villages in Bosnia and another 700 or so who will be deployed to Croatia.

NATO’s top policy-making panel, the North Atlantic Council, is expected to approve the move Friday.

Members of the advance team will set up communications and supply bases and make sure that roads and airfields in the area are capable of meeting NATO’s needs. A 10-member Air Force team was in Tuzla on Wednesday to survey the airfield there.