TWO SC POLICEMEN DESTINED FOR BOSNIA

SCOTT CITY -- History has a way of repeating itself.

About five years ago, Randy Zimmerman, a Scott City police officer, received a call to active duty and served five and one-half months in Saudi Arabia, Iraq and Kuwait during Operation Desert Storm.

Now he and fellow policeman Don Mestemacher likely will serve with other U.S. troops in peacekeeping efforts in Bosnia.

Both men are members of the 1137th Military Police unit of the Missouri National Guard based in Kennett.

"It was about five years ago to the date," Zimmerman said. "We got the call Dec. 3, 1990, that we were going to Saudi. This time it was Dec. 4."

On Saturday, both men were placed on active duty alert with their company. Zimmerman expects to leave by Monday.

About 60,000 troops are expected to be deployed to Bosnia. About 20,000 of them will be American soldiers.

The active duty alert is like living in limbo, Zimmerman said.

"I was nervous until we got the call," he said. "Now it's time to tighten your boots and get ready. We know we're going; it's just a matter of when."

The timing couldn't be worse for many of the reservists: The active duty alert means that many families will spend the holidays apart.

"My wife doesn't like it," Zimmerman said. "It's tough because we don't know when we're coming back."

When the unit was called to serve in 1990, Zimmerman spent a year in the Middle East.

Scott City Police Chief Danny Clubb isn't happy about losing two officers to an overseas assignment. "It hurts small departments like ours," Clubb said. "All our officers are key but it's hard to retrain somebody."

Clubb spent Monday afternoon making contingency plans with Mayor Larry Forhan. Clubb hopes the council will approve the emergency hiring of a reserve officer next week.

"We made the commitment to serve however it best helps our community, state and government," Zimmerman said. "Somebody has to stand up for what we believe in and we get to do it."

Mestemacher couldn't be reached for comment Monday. He spent most of the day in Kennett at unit headquarters.