Re: How does a UN force operate?

Howdy,

agoodall@canada.com wrote:
> 
> On Tue, 20 March 2001, Andy Cowell wrote:
> 
> > My question, then, is "How does a UN force operate?"
> 
> All my books on UN peacekeeping forces are packed away.
> 
> My understanding is that the organizations maintain their structure
and composition based on the nation they are pulled from. So, Canadian
peacekeepers follow the standard Canadian TO&E. This makes a certain
amount of sense, as it's simpler to send whole units (at what level, I'm
not sure, but I think it's at the regimental level) to a war zone than
to send bits and pieces.

Yup.  Nations tend to operate as discrete units, or, with prior 
arrangement, in composite units with distinct subunits e.g. if 
memory serves me right, there's a Dutch/Canadian battalion 
currently doing Peacekeeping duty in the Horn of Africa.  However,
even then, the Canadians form a company or two, the Dutch for a 
company or two i.e. the sub-units stay intact.

With the current UN, the Security Council will dispatch a Peacekeeping
force of certain size.	The UN Secretariat has to negotiate with
countries
that want to participate in the mission as to what forces will be sent,
what support will be available, where they'll go, etc.	 

> 
> > To what extent is the UN
> > able to dictate what forces are necessary (such as air war vs.
ground
> > war, or requiring more tanks, etc...?), or do they pretty much take
> > what is supplied and work with that?
> 

[Allan makes good points]

It's also important to note the difference between peacekeeping and
peacemaking operations.  Peacekeeping operations tend to be run under
the auspicies of Chapter VI, while missions such as Korea are run under
Chapter VII.  Peacekeeping operations tend to be (as Allan pointed out)
short to long term low intensity/patrol situations, heavily dependent 
on Army troops.  While 'heavy units' (armour, aviation, etc) can get
involved, peacekeeping usually consists of what the US would call 
'light' infantry, patrolling a zone, trying to keep two sides from
killing each other while aid agencies try to get some meaningful work
done.

If you're operating under Chapter VII, all bets are off.  Korea and 
Kuwait are the big two Chapter VII operations that stick in my mind.  
Essentially, under Chapter VII, you're fighting a sanctioned war,
the modern equivalent of a Holy Crusade.
 
> > To what extent will given orders
> > be disregarded by subordinates in foreign forces?

[Allan makes good points as well]

Usually, however, most UN forces co-operate, or, at the very 
least, they structure the operation to minimize friction e.g.
each nationality gets their own area to patrol, reporting to the
person in charge of the peacekeeping mission and his/her staff.
(I don't think there's ever been a female head of a mission,
but that's only a matter of time.)  There have been incidents,
but they're in the minority.  (There's always friction, but they 
usually get the job done.  Of course, there are always exceptions, when
things get horribly messed up e.g.  Somalia and Rwanda.)

Thus, for SG2, if you want to simulate a UN peackeeping situation,
your troops will probably all be the same nationality, depending on
unit size and situation.  (You could get around this though -- 
one nations troops could be sent in to retrieve another nation's
troops in a tight spot.)  The big thing to make things interesting would

be the really tight ROEs (not allowed to shoot back until getting 
permission from HQ, even when taking fire)  and the weapon imbalances 
(peacekeeping forces traditionally are very lightly armed, though the
Yugoslavian missions are changing that view.)

JGH
-- 
*** Jerry Han - jhan@warpfish.com - http://www.warpfish.com/jhan ***
   "So when you find somebody to keep, think of me and celebrate,
	I made such a big mistake, when I was Mary's Prayer."