Peter-Vincent Schuld

Unstable countries, complex situations, horrific terror and terrible war conditions. For many a paratrooper, his face and soul are more and more marked after each mission. It is precisely when the situation is a proverbial minefield that the Belgian elite troops are allowed to make the difference.
From peacekeeping operations in NATO or the UN to evacuations of compatriots.
When it really matters, the paratroopers are deployed.

In the past, your reporter has regularly accompanied the regiment on foreign trips and has been deeply impressed.

You may have asked yourself the question: “Do I dare to go to war with you?”
In other words, dare to put my life in your hands in emergency situations?
Do I trust you enough?

Your reporter asked himself the question about the Belgian paratroopers.
“Do I dare to rely on these people in emergency situations?”
I didn’t have to think about the answer for a second and was a resounding “YES!”
The mutual camaraderie and professionalism ensure that you are in good hands.

The paratroopers are not only reactive and repressive;
Congo, the former Belgian colony, is the place where the Belgians know their way.
I still remember a flight with the Belgian Minister of Defence to Kinshasa. We arrived at Kinshasa airport and were met by the Belgian ambassador. The entire convoy moved with blue flashing lights, accompanied by heavily armed soldiers in civilian clothes, of the “close protection unit” DAS (Detachement d’Agents de Securété) belonging to the Belgian paratroopers. The trip went from the airport to the Memling Hotel in Kinshasa. Nothing escaped the attention of the men who kept an eye on the safety of the delegation.

But ordinary citizens like you and me, who have unintentionally ended up in turbulent territory and who have to be brought home, can also count on being relieved by the men with the wine-red beret, after orders from the government.

Every operation is carefully prepared. Intelligence and reconnaissance are analyzed and a plan is drawn up. Every detail, every possible and even imminent danger is examined before action is taken.
If the Belgians have an operation completely in their own hands, you can usually count on it to end well.

Belgian, easy-going but resolute. Ready to switch from attentive relaxation to immediate action in a split second.
The golden lesson in any crisis situation is to maintain calm and overview.

This is more or less hammered into every paratrooper during the training but also during the continuous training.
Yet the paratroopers are not formed into pure fighting machines. No matter how much training is done on the physical and military level, it is precisely the keeping of the brain and the empathy that is needed to give protection to those who need it, that play an important role in the permanent formation of a paratrooper.

Day in and day out, the paratroopers are busy protecting the civilians and intervening if necessary. We have seen them patrolling the streets of Brussels since the attacks on Zaventem airport and Maelbeek metro station. The military has already made a difference by neutralizing a jihadist with literally explosive plans at Brussels Central Station. Another jihadist who stabbed soldiers patrolling Brussels also had to be neutralized for security reasons.

Nevertheless, the (imminent) fires abroad are the main areas where the paratroopers are deployed.
As we announced this weekend on Facts Found, this week there are large exercises in the province of Antwerp which are organized by 3 Para who are stationed in Tielen near Turnhout.

During these days, situations were staged at various locations in and around Turnhout in which, among other things, expats had to be evacuated from areas controlled and dominated by rebels. These are not unrealistic scenarios, on the contrary.
It will not be the first time that Belgian citizens have had to be evacuated from, for example, Congo.

Simultaneous exercises are held at a series of locations.
Some exercises are fairly inconspicuous, while others attract the attention of the locals.

Training is provided on how to carry out reconnaissance, which is necessary to ensure that an evacuation takes place as safely as possible.
Fast Bombardier all-terrain vehicles and their heavily armed crews take up crucial positions and secure the area.

The town hall of Turnhout temporarily functioned as a fictitious embassy in which the mayor was briefly assigned the role of “Belgian ambassador” and spent the night in the building together with a group of “compatriots and fellow sufferers” to be evacuated from the building the next morning by the military and then first transferred by military truck to a safe location.

It’s a serious sight; Military personnel occupying positions with full and impressive armaments.
Semi-automatic hand-held firearms, mounted automatic firearms on the all-terrain vehicles, hand-held handguns holstered and imposing MAGs (air-cooled medium machine gun that can be deployed against ground and air targets -ed).

“Rebels” played by acting paratroopers make a bit of noise by firing their weapons (with blanks) in the air.
Paratroopers present act in a controlled manner. Apart from some (played) scuffles, the situation seems to be under control fairly quickly.

What is striking is the de-escalating actions of the intervening soldiers. The superiority of manpower and weapons quickly made the “rebels” realize that letting the situation get out of hand is not a wise move. Yet it is precisely this controlled and escalating action that ultimately makes the difference, so that the paratroopers eventually succeed in relieving a few compatriots and getting and keeping them safely out of the hands of the rebels.

The night passes. In the early morning of Tuesday 24 October, numerous Unimogs (trucks suitable for moving through rough terrain) were stationed at Turnhout’s town hall, which was temporarily renamed an “embassy”.

In the meantime, soldiers have entered the building and are preparing the evacuation.
During the actions, 1 soldier appears to have been “wounded”.
A medical evacuation (medevac) by helicopter appears to be necessary.
The soldier is transferred to a grassy field near the courthouse in Turnhout.
At light, two helicopters circle above the lawn, with 1 landing and the other staying in the air to secure the area. The Agusta helicopter arrives and lands with precision at the agreed location.

A medic comes out of the plane with another stretcher on which the wounded soldier is placed. Together with the soldiers who brought the wounded soldier to the landing site, the victim is brought safely to the aircraft with the backs of the bearers bent. Constantly watched from the air by the second helicopter that can provide fire support if necessary to ensure the evacuation proceeds safely. Landing and take-off take only a few minutes.

The scenario moves back to the Markt in Turnhout where the “embassy” annex town hall is located.

Almost silently, the “evacuees” leave the building under the watchful eye of the paratroopers and are safely helped into the waiting truck. Tough men extend helping hands to people who can’t climb onto the truck with the greatest of ease.

The convoy calmly leaves the Markt of Turnhout, on its way to safer places.
Through countless missions abroad, the Belgian paratroopers have been able to make a difference on many occasions.
Through these exercises, these elite units remain ready to intervene anywhere at any minute when the order is given.
Loyal to their country, loyal to their mission, loyal to each other.

As I wrote here, if the Belgians are in control of their missions, they will be fine.
But the paratroopers also work in an international context, and then they can be at the mercy of a chain of command that does not interpret intelligence in a timely and proper manner, so that the necessary support is not forthcoming when it is needed. The consequences can be disastrous.

Thinking back to April 7, 1994….Kigali, Rwanda….a team of paratroopers carrying out a peacekeeping operation there in a UN context have been tasked with providing security for the Prime Minister of Rwanda, Mrs. Agatha. The situation is tense, danger is in the air. Hutu militias and mutinous government soldiers are erecting roadblocks and barricades everywhere. At about twenty minutes past five, the Rwandan Prime Minister Agatha and the Belgians and Ghanaians guarding her arrive at the Prime Minister’s residence. Fire is opened on the paratroopers. Support is not forthcoming, help is not forthcoming for the men who often do nothing but help and protect others through interventions. Prime Minister Agatha and her husband try to flee, are quickly discovered and killed on the spot.
Support from other troops is still not forthcoming.
Sustained fire knocks out two all-terrain vehicles.
Lieutenant Lotin and his men are disarmed.
Together with 5 Ghanaian soldiers, the paratroopers are transferred to Camp Kigali in a minibus.

The rumour has spread that the Belgians are responsible, which is not the case, for the downing of a plane carrying the Rwandan president.
Despite the fact that the allegations are unfounded, the Hutu militiamen and government soldiers are becoming more and more inflamed.
The hatred could be read in their eyes.

Four paratroopers were lynched on the spot and succumbed to their wounds on the spot. Six men and the Ghanaian soldiers took refuge in a small room that continued to be fired.
The men take cover under beds, brits, and behind the remains of a fifth Belgian paratrooper who was fatally hit by a projectile fired by an individual from the roaring mob of militiamen and Rwandan soldiers.
The firing is stopped for a while, the Ghanaian soldiers receive orders to leave the room. It was clear that the Belgians were targeted. A Rwandan soldier tries to enter the building where the Belgians had taken refuge from the top. The Belgian paratroopers stole his AK-47 from him and killed their attacker.
This victory was short-lived.
The firing continued, grenades were thrown through the roof at the places where the Belgian paratroopers were going through their last moments. Shortly after noon there was silence in the room…..the last 5 Belgian paratroopers were taken of their lives; brutally, cruelly and degradingly murdered in a country where 800,000 people lost their lives as a result of a terrible genocide.

Whether the wound heals is the question. In any case, the scar remains. Your reporter once entered the classroom at Camp Kigali and tried to imagine the agony of the brave paratroopers….shivers ran down your reporter’s spine. Amazing Grace…….

The building riddled with bullets and grenades is still there, a plaque on the wall tells us the names of the 10 paratroopers who died. Enlisted to serve the security of the country, died during their mission to serve security…. Back to Turnhout; I look again for the last time at the young guys who, 23 years later, have opted for the same goal and existence as the 10 paratroopers who had died. Namely, serving their country and security.
I hope they return home safely after each upcoming mission.

Special thanks to: Adjutant-chef Dirk Biemans