Folks back home may wonder where 1,000 members of Missouri’s Army National Guard, including about 150 from Northwest Missouri, are during this holiday weekend.

Those soldiers, deployed to Kosovo as part of a NATO peacekeeping mission, are now known as KFOR 10.

This acronym stands for Kosovo Force 10, meaning this is the 10th rotation of U.S. soldiers at Camp Bondsteel, said Capt. Tammy Spicer, a spokeswoman for the Missouri National Guard. Bondsteel is a base with about 950 acres in eastern Kosovo near the town of Urosevic.

“Kosovo’s a beautiful country with people who desire to work and raise their families in a safe and secure environment without the threat of inter-ethnic violence,” said Col. Daniel J. Dire, a U.S. Army Reserve physician working at Camp Bondsteel. This St. Joseph native is the commander of the 139th Medical Group. Since October 2007, the doctor has run a hospital at Bondsteel. He meets weekly with Kosovo physicians and other medical personnel.

“We conduct medical civil assistance missions several times per month,” said Dr. Dire, who conducted an interview via e-mail. “On these one-day missions, we set up a mobile clinic, usually at a school in a predominately poor or isolated village, and provide medical, dental and optometry services.”

This gets him out of the camp and into the countryside, where homes are constructed with cement, stones and brick. The surprising thing is that most civilians he meets speak English and are familiar with American culture, movies, music and professional sports.

Mountain peaks reach up to about 8,200 feet, providing a spectacular view, Dr. Dire said. The major distraction to the terrain is poor quality roads and a lack of organized garbage collection — rivers, streams and roadways are littered with trash, Dr. Dire said.

Local civilians are aggressive drivers. Soldiers receive hazardous driver training. “No fatal accidents have occurred since I have been deployed to Kosovo,” Dr. Dire said.

Medical personnel do see soldiers with seasonal illness such as colds and upper respiratory infections, the doctor said. Most injuries are due to intramural sports such as softball, basketball and football, Dr. Dire said.

The weather is similar to St. Joseph’s, although fog is a frequent morning visitor. The fog can last all day in winter, Dr. Dire said.

One difference with Kosovo is that the power plants utilize high-sulfur coal. “During the cold weather there is a constant stench in the air,” Dr. Dire said.

Relaxation on base means movies, reading books and a chance to have video teleconferences via the Internet, he said. Soldiers can view 12 Armed Forces Network channels and national newscasts, such as the FOX channel, the doctor said.

The doctor and his wife were 1977 Central High School graduates. He attended Missouri Western State University before going to the University of Missouri. His wife, Cynthia Heschong Dire, also attended Missouri Western. They have four children and one grandchild. He misses them all.

Marshall White can be reached at

marshall@npgco.com.