A member of the 810th Military Police Company out of Tampa, Fla., Cote has been in Bosnia since October and won't come home until May. He says the situation there is as chaotic as news reports suggest, but the people he has met give him cause for optimism. "The vast majority of Serbs, Muslims and Croats I've met on my patrols are very appreciative that we're here," he said. "They're working hard to rebuild their country."     And there's a lot of rebuilding to be done, Cote says. "To say this country has been devastated would be an understatement. Whole towns, cities and villages have been completely wiped out. The most difficult part is seeing the refugee children and widows. A generation of husbands and fathers have been killed," he said.     Cote's unit is located near the town of Brcko ("birch-co"), one of the most hostile sites in Bosnia. There has been no direct engagement of the American peacekeepers by insurgents, nor does Cote expect any. But he concedes that some Bosnians fear the presence of the U.N. troops is merely postponing an inevitable future conflict by the warring parties. "They see this as sort of the halftime show between wars," Cote said.     An international studies major at Colby, Cote briefly pursued an acting career following graduation. He appeared in several nationally televised commercials, including a Nike ad that appeared during halftime of the 1996 Super Bowl. He decided to join the military, he says, for the same reasons many others give: a desire for a disciplined life and a sense of duty to his country. "I had always regretted not doing ROTC at Colby through UMaine because of commitments to football and baseball, so I figured that at age twenty-four, this was a good time," he said.     Cote, who enlisted as a military police officer, had expected to transfer out of his Florida unit to a reserve unit in Maine and attend law school, but those plans changed when Bosnia called. His unit was activated shortly after his basic training was completed in August last year and then, after a two-month training exercise, he left for Bosnia in October. He says he arrived "expecting to see gun-toting lunatics roving the streets" but was surprised to see just the opposite. "What I have found for the most part are kind and hard-working people," he said.     Moved by the deprivation of the people and the children in particular, Cote has organized a program in his platoon to provide candy and toys for local kids. "The program isn't life changing, but M&Ms and comic books really make their day," he said. He also is exploring scholarship opportunities for college-age students who have the skills to study in the U.S. but lack the funds.     Cote is a firm believer in the United States' role as peacekeeper and he sees hope for Bosnia's future, but there is profound sadness at the losses incurred by the people he sees every day on patrol. "The graveyards are overcrowded," he said.