Newspaper Article

Peacekeepers' Pastoral; American Soldiers Contribute to Livestock Restoration Efforts in Bosnia

Cody, Edward

1997

Overview

Maj. Steven M. Watters, an Army veterinarian from Olympia, Wash., approached a placid Austrian cow with a golden coat splattered with white. After flattering her flank in a calming gesture, he plunged a needle into her tail, drew blood in a vial and moved on to his next victim. Watters, 41, wore a standard camouflage-patterned U.S. Army uniform. But on a warm August day, he worked bare-headed and without his sidearm. His flak jacket lay nearby in an unarmed Humvee. The only apparent danger in this hill town alongside the Drina River 35 miles east of Sarajevo came from restless beasts throwing their weight around the cow shed. Seemingly far from those concerns, Watters helped draw cow blood here in Gorazde as part of an Army civic action team helping the Bosnian Agriculture Ministry test imported livestock for bovine spongiform encephalopathy -- known as \"mad cow disease\" -- or other bovine infections. The team, based with others at peacekeeping headquarters in Sarajevo, the capital, has benefited from lighter security restrictions that allow for contact with a wide range of Bosnians and foreigners here with international relief agencies.

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