![]() It was not just that he felt individually unsuited to the role he said that the entire brigade, 3,500 strong, had lost its war-fighting ability and would require six months of retraining upon returning home. He had been trained as an infantryman to close with the enemy and fight, and instead now found himself doing the work of a street-corner diplomat. The lieutenant was a willing soldier, but somewhat disillusioned. ![]() He had been given a script that required him to report on a few recently surrendered guns, as if this truly indicated progress toward a better future. Later in the evening the lieutenant was due to appear on a radio talk show during which he was supposed to encourage people to turn in their hoarded weapons-promoting a civic ideal that hardly anyone could believe in. Most of the adults ignored the Americans, and some gave them hostile stares many believed, erroneously, that the United States had become a force of occupation. This was how it normally went, the lieutenant said. During the walk to the central square the only Bosnians who got close were a few audacious children asking for gum and candy, which the soldiers were forbidden to hand out. In practice, though, the contact was limited by orders that required GIs to remain armed, helmeted, and clothed in their camouflaged combat gear. ![]() He could have driven there, but had parked his armored Humvees in an outlying neighborhood and proceeded on foot, because contact with the townspeople was said to be an important part of the job. ![]() infantry patrol through a sullen town named Bratunac, on a slow walk at dusk toward the central square. He was a big, blond Californian, nearly thirty years old, who had risen through the enlisted ranks before qualifying for his commission. Army, a peacekeeper there, who said he worried about America's role in the world. One day last fall in Bosnia, I met a lieutenant in the U.S. ![]()
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