Tag: UNPROFOR

My Posts

My Message to Fellow Vets with PTSD

lesleyanne2 Comments

Recently, in Canada, there’s been a rash of suicides by veterans of Bosnia and Afghanistan. It is likely the tip of the iceberg and a problem not limited to Canada. Huffington Post contributor Jeff Rose-Martland gave me an opportunity to tell my story and offer my advice to any veteran considering suicide.

The article can be found here.

I don’t usually ask for shares, but if you are military or think someone in the military might read this, please consider a share. If it can help one person reconsider suicide or help anyone seek help for their PTSD symptoms, it would be worth it.

Things do get better.

My Posts

Travel Shorts – Visoko, Bosnia

lesleyanne9 Comments

I served as a United Nations peacekeeper in Visoko, Bosnia from October, 1993 to April, 1994. My job was in administration, but as anyone in the military will tell you, you are a soldier first and a tradesman second. For me, that meant army stuff came before the paperwork so if they needed extra hands to man the sentry bunkers that surrounded our camp, for example, I could be pulled from my job for guard duty. Continue reading “Travel Shorts – Visoko, Bosnia” →

My Posts

The Book Club Experience

lesleyanne10 Comments

If you’re part of a book club, I imagine it must be pretty thrilling to have the author show up to answer some questions.Braco

As an author, I can tell you, it’s exhilarating to be invited to a book club to answer questions. Unlike readings or book fairs where I’m trying to sell the book to people who often know little or nothing about it, the book club is completely different. I don’t have to sell anything. They’re already sold.

Recently, I had my second opportunity to meet with a book club. Two members of my writing group, Kate Robbins and Melanie Martin, belong to this club and Melanie picked the book. They got together at 7 pm for a discussion and I showed up at 8:30 to an enthusiastic crowd of six from varied backgrounds including a nurse, a former reporter, a sister of two soldiers/peacekeepers and a historian. Continue reading “The Book Club Experience” →

My Posts

Why I wrote Braco

lesleyanne5 Comments

When I started to write Braco, a lot of people were interested in where I came up with the idea for the book. It’s a personal story that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to tell, but the response has been so positive, I decided to include it in my readings.

Srebrenica is a small Bosniak town located close to the Serbian border about eighty kilometres east of Sarajevo. Before the war, the town had a population of six thousand with 60% identifying themselves as Bosnian Muslim/Bosniak and 30% as Bosnian Serb. (Today, the population is 95% Bosnian Serb).

When the war broke out in 1992, the town was quickly surrounded by the Bosnian Serb army and the Bosniak population in the town swelled to over 50,000. With little aid making its way through the Serb lines, a humanitarian crisis developed. Thousands lived under blankets in the streets in sub-zero temperatures. People killed each other over food. Disease was rampant, and through the winter of 92-93, the Serb army continued to shell the town from the surrounding hills. It was only a matter of time before this caught the attention of the world press. Continue reading “Why I wrote Braco” →