"A town, a goat, a story" a Tuzla Travel Page by american_tourister

Tuzla is about 10 miles from where I was based while deployed in Bosnia. It is a pleasant town of about 100,000 people. It has the most amenities around the area and is the cultural and economic center of Northern Bosnia.

It has been occupied by people for about 1000 years and has a very interesting history. Some of it's saddest history has been the last 20 years though.

Tuzla is the largest city in Northern Bosnia and was the location of some of the fiercest fighting in the recent war. I have heard many, many stories of hardship and suffering that were endured during the war. One of the most poignant was that of a woman I know here who worked for us.

She became pregnant during the war and had her child in the midst of the fighting. She had no pre natal care and when she went into labor there was no one to take her to the hospital. She walked alone while the city was under an artillery attack. No one was on the street except soldiers rushing from place to place. After delivering her child she was given 3 hours to recover before they bundled the baby and pushed her out of the hospital to make room for wounded soldiers. Once again she walked home alone, this time with her baby.

When I hear these accounts first hand it does not make me angry, it makes me sad. I am sad that good people always suffer in any conflict. I hope that the people here learned from the experience but I fear that they are doomed to have history repeat itself. There is a lot of simmering resentment and want for revenge here.

After 9 years US forces finally left Tuzla. It was a happy and sad event all at once. Happy because it menat that no one had to come over again as peacekeepers. Sad that already being forgotten success of the US military was coming to an end.