Bundeswehr deployment in Mali: The experiences of a soldier and mother
Created: 12/25/2022, 4:49 am
By: Tobias Gmach
Rosi Hart on the Niger River in Mali.
© Bundeswehr
Christmas is a family celebration: Rosi Hart was separated from her husband and two small sons for four months this year.
The professional soldier stationed in Pöcking was deployed in Mali.
What she experienced there and how she kept in touch with her home with charming ideas.
Pöcking – As a career soldier, Rosi Hart understands a lot about strategic considerations.
As a mother, however, she came up with a particularly good tactic this year.
Crucial to the success of the mission were: a puzzle, gummy bears and a few books.
Rosi Hart
(name changed for security reasons by the Federal Ministry of Defense)
is 35 years old and loves physical challenges.
"Mountaineering in all its facets is my passion," she says.
She grew up in flatter areas, in Gera, the Thuringian accent sounds very soft.
Words such as configure, administrate and network connection dominate her use of language – if you ask her about her job.
Hart, rank major, is an IT executive.
Since 2020 she has been in charge of the VII inspection of the Bundeswehr School for Information Technology in the Pöckinger General-Fellgiebel-Barracks.
It has the upper hand over training when it comes to local deployable networks and decentralized server segments.
Complex IT systems obviously require complex terminology.
Hart, who lives in the northern district of Bad Tölz-Wolfratshausen, wanted to make the time between the beginning of June and the end of September this year as easy as possible for her family.
Her husband and their sons Michael (5) and Andreas (3).
After all, she was part of "Minusma" in Mali, the UN mission that is considered the most dangerous of all.
“For me, as a career soldier, being on duty is part of it.
It was difficult for a while because of the children.
When it worked again, I wanted to seize the opportunity as soon as possible," says Hart in her Pöckinger office.
She swapped the spacious room, decorated with memories of the Bundeswehr, for a container without windows in West Africa for four months.
Luckily with working air conditioning.
Because it was usually 45 degrees outside.
in the shadow.
The 35-year-old was separated from her husband and sons Michael and Andreas for four months – longer than ever before.
© Hans Lippert
Camp Castor, the operational site near the Malian city of Gao, which has a population of 100,000, consists of containers and rudimentary permanent structures.
A military base for 1300 soldiers, mostly German, in the middle of the desert.
Every now and then it is besieged by strong sandstorms, brown walls so high that you can no longer see the horizon.
The soldiers then climb onto roofs and take cell phone photos.
There is also a storm selfie from Hart.
When Bundeswehr pictures from Mali are seen in the news, they are mostly reconnaissance troops driving through the area.
The goal of the peacekeeping mission, which began for the German soldiers in 2013 and is scheduled to end in May 2024, is also: to gather and impart knowledge and thus ensure stability in the country.
Among other things, the Bundeswehr uses reconnaissance tanks as well as unmanned and unarmed drones.
The security situation has deteriorated significantly since a military junta took power in August 2020.
"I felt 99.9 percent safe," says Hart.
Their assignments outside the camp were manageable.
In addition to business trips to Camp Senou near the capital Bamako and Camp Vie Allemand in Niamey in neighboring Niger, she was once on patrol in Gao, involved in target practice and a blasting operation.
"IT material had to be destroyed," she says curtly.
Rosi Hart, stationed with the Bundeswehr in Pöcking, was in charge of the IT systems during the Mali mission.
© Falk Bärwald
Hart's job was not a loud one, she worked in the background - and as in Pöcking in a managerial position: as head of the S6 staff, responsible for the entire technical and digital infrastructure.
So that all soldiers can work and stay connected - despite the heat, despite the really heavy sand in the gears.
The task of the mission requires a constant exchange of data, both in the country of assignment itself and with the home country.
"The workload was consistently heavy, averaging 12 hours a day," says Hart.
And then she says: "I never had the feeling that time stood still.
I was extremely busy, which of course also distracted me.”
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So as not to ponder too much about how the family is doing at home, her husband, who has "managed everything, including kith and kin" over the four months.
Was saying goodbye difficult for the children, who would not see their mum for an unprecedented time?
"Nope," says Hart.
Only when she had to cry herself did Michael and Andreas do the same.
"Since you were born you've been used to the fact that one of us is always absent." Her husband is also a professional soldier.
As a military instructor, he teaches tactics at the Bundeswehr Medical Academy in Munich.
His wife reports: “He told me to concentrate on my task.
Even if we don't hear from each other for a day or two, I can be sure that everything will work at home."
But mom in Mali still thought about it.
She counted the days of the assignment before she left - to fill just as many gummy bears into glasses for her boys.
And she ordered a puzzle-shaped family photo.
She took the parts with her to Mali and sent them back in small packages.
The idea: "When the puzzle is finished, mum will be home again." When she was still far away in West Africa, the family met virtually for the reading lesson.
Rosi Hart read from a small children's book, while her sons looked at the large-format pictures of the same book.
Sandstorms are not uncommon at Camp Castor, the military base of the UN Mission Minusma in Gao.
© Bundeswehr
When she talks about it, Hart pulls another book out of the rules of her Pöckinger office.
It's called "Lena and Mama's Mission Abroad - the Encouragement Book for Soldiers' Families".
A picture book with a story that plays out the scenes and feelings that her family went through: the farewell, the longing, the worries, keeping in touch, the return.
On the last pages of the book there is a whole list of special advice literature.
The Bundeswehr Family Care Center (FBZ) in Munich was an important contact point, says Hart.
Before the Mali mission, the family attended events at the center and talked to other families in the same situation.
“It helped me a lot that there was someone my husband could turn to.
That gave me the certainty that he wasn't all alone.” Another plus: If the mobile phone network in Mali isn't working, the FBZ can reach the soldiers via other channels.
One thing was always clear to Rosi Hart during the four months: “The mere fact that I am on a mission in Mali harbors a risk.
Anything can happen.” However, this certainty does not shake her conviction as a career soldier in the slightest.
She says: "As a family, we are sure that this was not the last mission."
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