European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Lef deserters say that beyond special warfare regiments harsh conditions result in Little unit loyalty among enlisted troops in the red army. Account of soviet military life Unal Kiev 1c Oft Lor is a Ullh Din she Luman work met ills i .1 or of 3 our the is and me pie he everybody won with me on inc bus to Imo reception station there i received military identification and went with the others to wait in a Large courtyard i could see my family they were on the of her Side of a Fence no one was telling us what to do no Ono was giving any orders we were still Jerst a Bunch of Young men with hangovers we were put on a train logo to a Central receiving station near inc polish Border at each Slop along the Way More Young men still enjoying their going away party joined us there was a of of drinking and a Tot More sad goodbyes Bui i was not lonesome at the receiving station we Are finally Given uniforms and taught to March you know very stiff the Arm swinging round and round in a Circle we went i had visited a nearby Village and was still Tipsy the first Lime i marched that was a funny moment about 1.500 of us were gathered and officers from the Ukraine stood and made speeches they were very pompous and acted As if something big were about to happen we were leaving the Ukraine they told us we were going to turkmen they said a soviet Republic on the iranian Afghanistan Border ii was live Days by Irain to Ashkhabad the capital of turkmen when we arrived everyone was herded into a Large open Field that is where we were divided up for Basic training i was assigned loan artillery division and Hen to an antitank unit it was very very rough training and there was no Friendship Here and no More free Lime i remember the food of course. Porridge porridge and porridge aagh1 it was awful there was dried sailed fish deep Fried and of course potatoes actually the food was better in Afghanistan. It was canned mostly but the problem there was with pilferage All the Nice Lasly things like butter and meals were taken by the seniors senior enlisted men about to end their two years on Active duty and the officers. They told us Early on we were going to Afghanistan to Light chinese and american mercenaries we had All heard of Afghanistan of course but not from the news. Frankly. I thought the whole thing had just about ended. One night in october 1982 they gathered about 150 of us and marched us to the Airport at Ashkhabad at last we were Given our Parade uniforms and Greatcoat a kind of graduation. We spent thai night in tents along the runway. I will never forget the cold. The next morning a Tu-154 Aeroflot Jet landed and seniors being demobilized got off. Then we got on and two hours later i was in Kabul. I must say that As a Young Man it was rather romantic to me ii was very cold and the wind whipped dust around everywhere. It was like a scene from the patriotic training songs we had Learned in Camp. I thought i was watching a movie. The first Day there the seniors stole our new uniforms. Just like that when we came Back from a detail they were gone. The seniors would be returning Home soon and wanted to look Nice in new uniforms. We would do the same one Day. I soon heard there were no american or chinese mercenaries. Well who Are we fighting i asked. Someone pointed to a Bunch of old men and said there is the  everyone was frustrated i Ollon heard officers arguing with each other what the hell arc we doing Here they asked each other there was no discipline in the ranks except for the seniors making the Junior men do everything unpleasant and dangerous. Human life had no value a month before i left an enlisted Man killed a senior i never knew Why he did it but i did t see How we could go about shooting our own. Truly. I cannot Tell you All the reasons that i left i Don t know Why i left ii was t thai i haled communism. Maybe it was a desire to see the world to learn things for myself i made up my mind five minutes before i actually did it. It was Only moments before Sunrise and i was in charge of the perimeter guard after my Section left the wire i turned instead and walked away i made my Way through the protective minefield and was rearing the Crest of a nearby Ridge when i heard people screaming at me from the Camp come Back they shouted. I heard the motors in the tanks come on the whine of the helicopter engines. When i crossed the Ridge i turned and ran quickly towards the nearest Village. I saw the helicopters turn the other Way and Fly towards the mountains thinking i had gone there. An old Man from the Village had been watching me All the while. He knew. He Shook his head and gave me some of his clothes to cover my uniform then he led me  the stars and stripes Page 15