In 1999, the breakaway Yugoslavian province of Kosovo was engaged in an armed insurrection against Serbian forces under Slobodan Milosevic. In order to contain the conflict and stabilize the Balkans,  NATO intervened with air strikes against Serbian forces, after which a large multinational force spearheaded by NATO command was deployed, establishing the UN Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). UNMIK shortly after was tasked with conducting elections — in a country that had not had free elections in generations.

In order to insure the elections were seen as democratic and transparent, personnel throughout Europe and North America were sent to Kosovo. These volunteers ranged from school teachers, lawyers, New York City policemen, investment bankers, university students, junior diplomats, and even a stray US Navy pilot — William Tyson, Captain USN (ret.) from the US Mission to NATO. Hear some of his stories of what it was like to run elections in the remote mountains of a war-torn country.

Bill Tyson was a career Navy pilot, including many hours in an E2-C Hawkeye, commanding officer of Naval Air Station Sigonella (Italy), military advisor to the US Ambassador to NATO, and faculty at the National War College in D.C. and at the US Army War College. He has Masters degrees in National Security Studies and American History. He has a keen appreciation for history and the role of democracy on the world stage.