Revelstoke RCMP Sgt. Art Kleinsmith spent three-and-a-half years in the military, however it wasn’t until 30 years later that he was truly able to witness the destruction of war first hand as part of a United Nations peacekeeping group in Kosovo.

Kleinsmith was in the war ravaged nation from September 2003 to March 2004 as a police officer helping the fledgling nation establish a democratic police force.

“That was quite the learning experience for me especially when you try and teach people they have rights and you have to inform them of their rights before you start taking any judicial type actions,” he said. “The other side is I had never worked, or never been, or experience a country that has come out of a war. It’s just unbelievable the destruction and the wants and the needs of the people that are involved. You just can’t fathom.”

Over 30 years prior to that, from 1967 to 1971, Kleinsmith served in the Royal Canadian Navy.

Born in Brockville, Ont. and raised in Sarnia, Ont., Kleinsmith dreamed of becoming an RCMP officer since elementary school, when he saw his uncle, who was in the RCMP, dressed up in his formal red serge.

Before he joined the RCMP, he followed the advice of some friends and enlisted in the armed forces out of high school. He served aboard the HMCS St. Laurent, and his duties took him to Europe, the eastern coast of the United States, the Panama Canal, Mediterranean Sea, and the Caribbean.

Kleinsmith served during peacetime, so he did not experience any conflict while in the military, however it did help prepare him somewhat for his RCMP service.

“Certainly the military instilled some discipline in me. It certainly built my self-esteem and gave you a sense of being and you realized that mum and dad aren’t just next door to help you out,” he said. “It taught you to stand on your own two feet and be a part of Canadian society.”

Kleinsmith’s RCMP service began in January 1971 as a cadet in basic training in Regina. His first posting was to Nelson. He served throughout the Kootenays, with postings to Radium, Invermere, and Kimberley, before being posted to Vancouver, Burnaby and then Ottawa. He arrived in Revelstoke in 1993 and has stayed ever since.

In 2003, the government was looking for police officers to serve as part of the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Kosovo.

“I volunteered my name and applied for it,” he said. “This was a chance to serve outside the country and I thought the experience would be something I would be interested in.”

Kosovo was the subject of a brutal civil war and an attempt at ethnic cleansing of the region’s Albanian population by the Yugoslavian dictator Slobodan Milosevic in the late 1990s. A concerted bombing effort by NATO air forces ended Milosevic’s campaign, but not before about 10,000 civilians were killed and much of the country destroyed. U.S. President Bill Clinton and UN Secretary General Kofi Annan referred to the ethnic cleansing as genocide.

Kleinsmith arrived in Kosovo in September 2003 as the province, then still a part of Yugoslavia, was still emerging from the war.

“I’ve had uncles and in-laws that were involved with the Second World War and they tell you some stories but its just not the same after you’ve visited,” he said. “It was just devastating. I couldn’t believe it.”

The culture shock for Kleinsmith was enormous and left his eyes wide open for the first few weeks he was there. Destruction from the war was apparent everywhere, with blown out buildings scattered about and shell holes still apparent. Many mine fields still hadn’t been cleared yet.

“A lot of kids were walking around with missing limbs - legs, arms. It was just really, really sad,” he said.

Kleinsmith’s role was to recruit and develop new candidates for the country’s fledgling police force. The recruits came from both the Serbian and Albanian populations of Kosovo – people that had just recently been at war and many of whom still had a deep seated hatred for each other. The challenge was getting them to work together.

“It was an exercise I had never experienced before,” he said. “I didn’t realize that there was that much conflict between the two. Once I was there for a while I understood the reason why.”

However, he added, some of them did make a concerted effort to work together, a necessity to deal with Kosovo’s rampant crime, which included a huge black market, drug smuggling, and even human trafficking.

“I don’t know if they were friends, but they were certainly cordial when working together,” he said. “I think one of the things they were taught in the academy there is that regardless of who you are and where you come from, as police officers you have to know and trust each other because you’ll probably be working together.”

Kleinsmith’s mission only lasted six months and he said he only saw a small difference being made.

“In six months we did the best we could and I think we made positive steps, albeit baby ones.”

Since he was there, Kosovo has declared its independence from Serbia and become its own country, a sign of the progress that’s been made.

Upon returning to Canada Kleinsmith said he realized just how lucky we are to live in Canada.

“We take our country and lifestyle for granted. It’s too bad that you have to go there to realize how great we do have it here,” he said. “Would I do it again? I probably would if I got the opportunity.”

Remembrance Day holds a special importance for Kleinsmith, and he believes its the responsibility to of parents to instill the importance of this day in their children.

“We have to remember these people. They made the big sacrifice. Some of them made the ultimate sacrifice,” he said.