"When Canadian soldier Fred Doucette found himself deployed to Bosnia- Herzegovina as a peacekeeper in 1995, he had a premonition that this tour of duty would be different from anything he had experienced so far. And it was: "This was the beginning of the end of the Fred I had been for forty-three years."" "He'd been with UN peacekeeping forces in Cyprus in the 1970s and '80s, but the Bosnian conflict of the 1990s went beyond imagining. Here, Bosnian Serb forces from the army of the former Yugoslavia launched a massive, concerted assault on Bosnia's Muslims and Croats. Sarajevo, the largely Muslim Bosnian capital, was devastated by Serbian mortars and artillery raining down from the surrounding mountains and incessant sniper fire from both the hills and the city's rooftops." "Somehow, UN forces were supposed to impose and maintain a peace between the warring forces. It was an impossible task - one that took a huge toll on both the residents of Sarajevo and the peacekeeping forces. Thousands of Sarajevans, trapped in their beloved city, perished. And yet, in the midst of this hell, Fred Doucette found a home unlike any he'd known before. Billeted with a Bosnian family, he was offered a window into the soul of Sarajevo that few outsiders were granted." "When the Bosnian war ended, Fred Doucette returned to Canada. And another war began. Nightmares and flashbacks of violence and chaos plagued his days and nights. Traumatized by the horrors of Bosnia, Fred had to face himself, his family and his army. Now there was no turning away, no diversion in another overseas tour of duty." "Empty Casing is the story of the making and unmaking of a soldier, and the growth of a man."--BOOK JACKET.

"Foreword by General Roméo Dallaire"--Cover. Includes index.