ON DECK

"The American Army is very much ready," reports TIME Bonn bureau chief Bruce Van Voorst. "They have been ready for weeks, even months." The second squad of U.S. soldiers, part of the NATO "enabling force" of up to 2500 soldiers from various NATO countries, may be in Bosnia as early as next week. "Some of them will go to Sarajevo, where the headquarters of the operation will be," says Van Voorst. The Americans are expected to be in Tuzla, setting up the transportation, medical, communications and logistical bases for the full complement of an expected 20,000 American soldiers. "They will be protected by air cover, but there's no doubt they are expecting isolated sniping and terrorist incidents," says TIME's Massimo Calabresi. "Right now they don't foresee the Bosnian Serb Army trying to mount any resistance. The Serbs have not likely forgotten the pounding they took earlier this year." Calabresi adds, however, that the Bosnian Serb military commander General Ratko Mladic, who is also under indictment by the International War Crimes Tribunal, still has not been seen.