Fresh army unit to join Sinai peace-keepers

The U.S. Army will send a fresh battalion of 800 paratroopers to the Sinai for a six-month tour of duty starting in August, it announced Wednesday. This will be the fourth U.S. Army unit to serve in the Sinai with the multinational force to supervise the Egyptian-Israeli peace arrangement.
   The 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry, 101st Airborne Division, will travel from Fort Campbell, Ky. It will replace the 2nd Battalion, 508th Infantry, 82nd Airborne Division,, which will return to Fort Bragg, N.C. The 82nd Airborne Division unit has been on duty in the Sinai since February.

[Star Tribune, Minneapolis, MN, Thu, May 19, 1983, Main Edition, Page 7]

Olds to leave his Sinai command

   Lt. Col. Bowman M. Olds, 39 and a former Hiloan, who commands the 1st Battalion (airborne). 508th Infantry, U.S. Army in the Sinai as part of the Multinational Force and Observers, is scheduled to be reassigned to the United States this month.
   The Army officer's re-assignment was made known in a recent telephone conversation with his father, retired Judge Mark Norman Olds of Hilo. He also is the son of Donna Bowman Olds of Honolulu.
   After schooling in Hilo, where he was a newspaper carrier for the Tribune Herald Olds was graduated from the University of San Francisco, and. was a distinguished military graduate in 'ROTC. He later served in 'Vietnam as a reconnaissance platoon leader and then as aide-de-camp to Gen. Robert M Shoemaker.
   Afterwards, he was assigned to the 82nd Airborne Division in Fort Bragg. N.C.. and eventually re turned to the University of San Francisco for a master's degree in international relations. He also served at USF as assistant professor of military science.
   In 1979, Olds attended the Command and General Staff College in Fort Leavenworth, Kans., where he earned a masters of military arts and science degree, and later served a tour of duty with the 2nd Infantry Division in Korea.
   In 1980, the Army officer returned for a second tour with the All

American 82nd Airborne Division. In 1982, his unit was deployed to Grenada.
  The Multinational Force and Observers is an international peacekeeping organization created to help carry out the terms of the Egyptian - Israel Peace Treaty of 1979. Participating nations include Fijian and Columbian infantry battalions. Italian Naval Coastal Patrol Unit and support elements from Great Britain, the Netherlands, Australia, New' Zealand, France. and Uruguay.
   "This mission is a tremendous. challenge for the soldiers in my battalion," Olds told his father. "The desert terrain and weather are extremely harsh on men and equipment, and requires the type of individual who can withstand a six month separation from family and friends."
   And what are the thoughts of former newscarrier from Hilo now stationed in the Sinai as he looks back on his childhood  "I would never change my childhood experiences in Hilo mid the formative years I lived there," he remarked to the re tired judge.
   "The cosmopolitan nature of our people in Hawai'i, and tin somewhat rustic lifestyle of the early 1950s allowed me to develop a value system, and an appreciation of the background and culture of the many ethnic groups with whom I have come in contact. And I cherish the association and esprit de corps of the All American soldiers in my battalion."

[Hawaii Tribune-Herald, Hilo, Hawaii 22 Jul 1985, Mon, Page 5]