A former Police Sergeant of the Bermuda Police Service has returned safe and unharmed, but changed forever after a year serving on the United Nation's Kosovo Mission.

Jeff Baron left this Island in February last year for his chance to make a difference in a world he had seen falling apart.

A Bermudian who had worked up the BPS ranks for ten years before he was accepted by the UN, it was an opportunity to expand his horizons.

He first applied in 2004, but was denied. Tenacity paid off though and he was finally accepted to fill the prestigious ranks of the UN field officers in 2006.

Asked what he though the most rewarding aspect of the trip was though and Mr. Baron struggled to pick one. He said: "The entire experience because I had 13 months of working in somewhere I had never been before.

"Personally I developed quite a bit and from day one I was very busy. Someone described it as drinking water from a fire hose."

More than three years ago a chance meeting of security officers working for the UN in Africa and realised that with his training it was something he could become involved in.

After talking with the officers he began the application's process which involved online applications, telephone interviews, flying to New York and more telephone interviews.

On December 15, 2006 he was told that he had a job in Kosovo.

Kosovo has been under UN administration since 1999. The UN are in charge of basic civilian administrative functions, facilitating a political process to determine Kosovo's future status and maintaining civil law and order, among other things.

Only weeks after he landed, though, Reuters news agency reported that a powerful blast ripped through several shops in Pristina, killing two people and injuring nine others.

Reports indicated that the blast was probably a showdown between criminal gangs and not related to the political tensions in the area.

Mr. Baron survived and was busy trying to recover evidence from the crime scene when this paper managed to speak to him last year.

But even as he struggled to get used to a new culture and an environment fraught with tension, Mr. Baron found time to volunteer and raise money for a woman in his office's lifesaving procedure.

He said: "I volunteered and we started a fund raiser for an Albanian girl with tumours in her chest.

"In two months she had a procedure and now the balance is paying for her drugs she needs."

Yesterday, at a news conference welcoming Mr. Baron home, Premier Ewart Brown said: "You are the first Bermudian I know of to hold such a position with the UNand you have set the bar very high for any young man or young women from this country who might try to following in your footsteps.

Again on behalf of the country well done."