Since then, involvement in protecting Kurdish refugees in 1991, peace-keeping duties in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo have kept the brigade busy.

BBC: Elite UK troops stand by

Along with the peace-keeping force will be military observers, staff officers and civilian police and among its main duties will be assisting preparations for next year's elections.

BBC: NEWS | Africa | UN peace force for Ivory Coast

We essentially worked seven days a week, but most of these people either, one, they put their previous life aside and devoted 100 percent to this investigation, or, two, some of them began leading two lives and keeping two jobs, and they did the investigation in the daytime, and they did their other duties at night.

CNN: Board chairman: Shuttle design safe

Duties are legally enforceable, and although they vary from state to state - in Minneapolis, they include keeping the pavement outside one's house free from snow - the idea is basically that the benefits of the citizen-government relationship must be a two-way street.

BBC: Is there such a thing as civic duty? And do we feel it?