The men live to age 40, one in five women die in childbirth, corruption is everywhere, and the situation could get worse in the blink of an eye. This was what Lieutenant Colonel Bill Adcock confronted upon arriving in Sierra Leone for a six-month tour of duty in December of 2007.

The Sheridan College professor and Canadian Forces reserve officer travelled to the West African nation to take part in IMATT (International Military Assistance Training Team) and bring order to Sierra Leone's large military and carry out reconstruction.

Sierra Leone is still reeling from a horrific civil war that lasted a decade, finally ending in 2002. The war saw a rebel group known as the Revolutionary United Front attempt to seize control of the country's diamond fields through a nightmarish campaign of fear that often involved the hacking off of limbs, widespread rape and the kidnapping of children for use as child soldiers.

This war, which went largely unnoticed by the rest of the world, claimed 100,000 lives. The atrocities were eventually stopped when the United Nations sent in 17,400 peacekeepers, but today the small IMATT group of 90 (including 11 Canadians) is all that's left.

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