This article interrogates how the shift to a more robust mandate in Bosnia was made intelligible to the Swedish TV audience. The turn to peace-enforcement and NATO command in December 1995 represented a clear break with Swedish tradition and identity, and essentially signified a turning point in Sweden’s policy on the use of force. The analysis reveals how four characterizations of the Swedish UN soldiers served to make sense of recent events and ultimately paved way for future policy changes; throughout the six-month period under scrutiny, the depictions, very broadly, moved from weak soldiers and failed warriors, to honourable peacekeepers and unique combat soldiers. The Swedish peacekeeper figure is thus reconstructed, essentially accommodating an increased involvement in activities of peace-enforcement and war-like operations.