Hello and welcome to a special edition of Statewide.

I'm Jana McGuire.

Last year, 400 Nebraska Army National Guard soldiers were keeping the peace in war-torn Bosnia.

Called Task Force Huskers, they were part of a NATO-led international peacekeeping force that's been in place since 1995.

This in the aftermath of a brutal conflict that claimed the lives of 250,000 men, women, and children, many killed in the name of ethnic cleansing.

Statewide's Mike Tobias was part of a small delegation that visited the troops in Bosnia and toured the war-torn country.

He joins us now with a look back at the soldiers, their mission, and Bosnia's future, Mike?

Yeah, thanks Jana.

For about three days, we had amazing access into the work and lives of the soldiers of Task Force Huskers.

First, we take you on patrol in northern Bosnia for a firsthand look at peacekeeping, and see how Nebraska soldiers used their wisdom more than their weapons.

Yeah, it'll be new territory for us, and that's always interesting, talking to new people, getting to know new people, yeah.

Should be interesting.

Looks like they're getting ready to move.

[Mike] Every morning, patrols leave Camp McGovern, home to most of the soldiers in Task Force Huskers.

The six-ton armed Humvees head into the rolling hills, carrying Nebraskans from many different walks of life: auto mechanics, salesmen, loan officers, and college students.

Now, they're peacekeepers in war-torn northern Bosnia.

The patrols constantly pass reminders of the bloodiest European war since World War Two.

As a soldier here, we go to the villages.

We go to towns, we stop in the schools.

We want people to know that, you know, we want a safe and secure environment.

We're encouraging economic development and political development.

We want people to progress to a point where, you know, everyone can live in harmony with one another.

[Mike] This patrol is working a new area.

Used to be the responsibility of Russian soldiers who've now left S4.

In the small town of Siegenluke, they're greeted by kids who know the soldiers are armed with handfuls of huge Tootsie Rolls.

They're also greeted by Dzevad Mujik, a Muslim and former Major in the Bosnian Army who fought against the Serbs during the war.

Are there any problems in the area?

(speaking in Bosnian) There have been some things happening in the past, but right now, all three sides are getting along good and it's back to normal.

[Mike] Siegenluke sits near the zone of separation, the line drawn to end the war and divide the country into Serb and Muslim-Croat-held territories.

Fighting here was fierce.

War wounds still mark the side of Mujik's house.

Artillery pieces were falling all around on the road here, and it actually hit the house.

It looked much worse than it looks now, but they repaired it.

The back part of the house, part of it was blown away, actually.

[Mike] It's Mujik's day off from work, so he invites the soldiers to drink strong Bosnian coffee under his vine-covered trellis.

It's an opportunity for the peacekeepers to learn about conditions and concerns in the village.

Actually, they found a mortar round the other day and they reported it to the police, but it hasn't been moved yet.

It's still up on the hill.

We'll stop back in the next week sometime to see if the police have picked it up, and if they haven't picked it up, we'll try calling and get someone maybe that can take care of it.

[Mike] Before they leave, Mujik goes to his garage and brings a freshly washed gift to the soldiers.

It's a light anti-tank weapon.

(speaking in Bosnian) Is it a light anti-tank weapon?

Okay, just tell him what we'll do is we have our explosives team that comes and picks those up.

This patrol can't take it because they don't let us, because we don't have the right kind of vehicle.

[Mike] As a neighbor serves the soldiers fresh strawberries, Mujik serves them ammunition and grenades, stored in his garage.

Oh, he said you used to be in the military and he said much more stuff, but he turned most of it in a long time ago and he was just waiting for a good occasion to get rid of the rest.

We don't want to do it in there where, in the town like that, one.

It's just a little bit safer if something happened out here, nothing happened this switch.

But mostly because they turn in weapons and ammunition under the conditions of anonymity.

They want to remain anonymous and we don't want to advertise to all their neighbors that they've been holding illegal grenades for five years.

683 rounds of 7.62, three rounds of 12.7 millimeter, 150 caliber round, and 18 hand grenades.

[Mike] Hildebrand, a full-time guardsman, says this was just another morning on patrol.

It's very typical in the aspect of somebody talking to you, inviting you in, coffee, juice.

The conversation's typically somewhat the same.

That guy was a little more educated than your average citizen, I think.

You know, after they get to know you, I guess it's typical in the fact that somebody will turn in something, whether it be a few rounds that they found or a hand grenade, or try to turn in a bunch of weapons.

It's really kind of unbelievable.

[Mike] Task Force Huskers has focused on disarming Bosnia since they took over peacekeeping in this area in February.

That same week, two local boys were killed playing with a hand grenade.

That type of thing, you're just not ready for.

So one of the things that we said we were going to make sure we were successful at is getting a message out that hand grenades and assault rifles, military weapons, don't belong in the homes, particularly where they've got these young children.

[Mike] In downtown Birchco, a city about the size of Grand Island, near Camp McGovern, soldiers set up a weapons collection point.

It's part of a project called Harvest Rewards.

Bosnians exchange guns and munitions for raffle tickets.

Five tickets for a weapon, three for each grenade, one for 20 rounds of ammo.

The raffle winner got a new car.

So we got like 13 hand grenades in here of different types.

We got some concussions, some fragmentation.

We even got one of these they call a helmet knocker today.

When you've got people rolling up in their little Volkswagen Golfs pulling stuff out of their backseats to give it to you, it's just, blows your mind to think that they had this stuff in their house.

[Mike] There are lighter sides to being on patrol.

(enthusiastic chant) It's field day at the school in Gornji Zovic.

First through eighth grade students celebrate the last day of school with a festival.

(excited cheering) I am very happy because I see you here.

[Mike] Principal Tomislav Slovanjrush invited Task Force Huskers soldiers to the festival.

In the school's cafeteria, they snack on meat and cheese and listen to the educator talk about conditions at the mostly Croat school.

And here we tried to make things better for kids, but right now, it's pretty hard.

(excited shouting) [Mike] Soldiers visit schools regularly.

Joining volleyball, soccer, and basketball games helps build relationships with the next generation of Bosnians.

We got our butts kicked by like eighth and ninth graders, or eight and nine year olds.

People are great around here.

They don't treat us any different than if we were in America, so like I said, it's a really good place to be.

Kids are probably the friendliest.

They always come up to us, wave, try to talk, because they have English in schools now.

[Mike] Soldiers get to know a lot of these kids at school.

During the school year, they visit classrooms, teaching them to recognize and stay away from land mines and unexploded ordnance.

These deadly remnants of war are everywhere in Bosnia.

That includes this road not far from a busy shopping area.

We were told the road had been cleared, but as you can see, that stake does mark a mine.

[Mike] There are more than a million known landmines left in Bosnia.

And there's no mapping done to these mine fields, so we don't know how they put them in, if they're buried, if they're on top, if they're hanging from trees, and we can't detect them.

As you can see, the foliage that's out there almost makes it virtually impossible to go in and clean.

You know, it's very hard work to do.

So, but we try to find them.

[Mike] Specialist Mathew Severin spots a UXO - unexploded ordnance - hidden in the grass.

They'll call in specially trained engineers to deal with it.

I'm not sure exactly what it is.

It could be homemade, for sure.

Looks like a UXO, just missing the detonator or the fuse, whatever you'd like to call it.

Mainly the fuse is what it's called.

(low rumbling engine) [Mike] Getting around may pose the greatest challenge and danger for soldiers on patrol.

Many Bosnian roads are in horrible shape.

There's a lot of unimproved roads that get to a lot of the majority of the rural populations, so it requires us to go off the road quite a bit, and sometimes it can be almost an adventure in itself, just the driving.

[Mike] High-tech GPS technology inside the Humvees doesn't help when a mapped road suddenly ends at a farmer's fence.

(muted shouting) Then, there are Bosnian drivers.

This white van trying to pass Humvees barely avoids a head-on collision.

Accidents are common on these narrow roads.

You'll be driving and you'll have a Mercedes buzz by you at, you know, 100 kilometers an hour, and then you'll come upon a horse and cart and it'll be people walking down the middle of the road, and then you'll have these little, look like lawn mower engines.

People sitting on a lawn mower pulling a trailer.

And it's very difficult to drive when you have all those different type of conditions.

[Mike] One accident claimed the life of a soldier in July.

21-year old Specialist Blake Kelly was killed on patrol when his Humvee was hit by an oncoming truck.