Afghan sunburn: life and death through the eyes of a military nurse. How Soviet women fought in Afghanistan

Dedicated to Soviet military doctors and nurses in Afghanistan! - page No. 1/1

DEDICATED TO THE SOVIET MILITARY DOCTORS AND NURSES IN AFGHANISTAN!

Military medicine originated in those distant times, when humanity began to resolve controversial issues by force of arms. Waging countless wars, each of the warring states understood that human resources are not limitless, and a warrior from conquered peoples is not a reliable soldier; it is much more important to heal the wounded, injured soldiers of their army and put them in line. Therefore, military doctors and medical workers became part of the regular armies; they accompanied the warring armies. And after the battles, it was to those medical centers that were far from modern that wounded soldiers and officers were taken and the doctors of that time provided medical care and eased the suffering of soldiers dying from injuries. The profession of a military doctor and medical worker has always been valued. During the Middle Ages, pirates, having captured a ship and built its crew, said: “the doctor and the carpenter take two steps forward, and the rest go overboard.”

The warring states agreed that doctors and paramedics providing assistance to the wounded should not be fired upon or killed; they are needed by any warring party.

It was the sacred duty of the doctor to treat with equal diligence both the victors and the vanquished. And the Hippocratic oath, perhaps the only and reliable oath in the whole world, carries with it high concern for human life. Soviet military medicine was a continuation of the glorious traditions, experience, and knowledge of Russian military medicine that arose at the turn of the 17th and 18th centuries; scientific and Practical activities prominent Russian scientist N.I. Pirogov, the founder of military field surgery. With the development of means of armed warfare, it became necessary to improve the entire system of military medicine.

The issue became especially acute in the 20th century, in which humanity suffered two world wars, and our country suffered a civil war and the Great Patriotic War.

During the Great Patriotic War Soviet military doctors, with their talent, knowledge and organization, returned 72% of the wounded and 90% of sick soldiers and officers to the armed forces of the USSR. A structure was built in the armed forces of the USSR medical support both in peacetime and wartime. It had a modern material and technical base, a network of research, clinical, special institutions, educational institutions, qualified specialists. Afghanistan historically belonged to those regions of the world where the following diseases were common: typhoid, dysentery, Botkin's disease, cholera, plague. It was the provision of military hygiene and sanitation that our military doctors had to deal with in the first place.

Prevention of mass diseases Soviet soldiers and officers of the 40th combined arms army were facilitated by timely medical reconnaissance. Our military doctors and medical workers were ready to provide sanitary-epidemiological and sanitary-hygienic support to the troops, since first of all, units and formations of the Turkestan and Central Asian military districts bordering Afghanistan were introduced.

Medical centers of units and military hospitals were staffed by officers who graduated from military medical schools, doctors who graduated from civilian medical universities, who underwent a two-year military service.

Specialist who graduated from the Soviet Military Medical School educational institution, in addition to special medical knowledge and experience in treating certain diseases, he had a high knowledge of military tactics, the ability to organize both the provision of assistance during combat operations and the timely evacuation of the wounded, and, if necessary, the defense of a medical post in the event of a threat of a breakthrough to it Dushmanov.

The battalion leaving for the mountains was always accompanied by a military doctor, he did not stand out in any way from other soldiers and officers, the same uniform and weapons.

He carried significantly less ammunition, but in his backpack and duffel bag there was everything necessary to provide assistance to the wounded and injured.

He equally endured all the hardships of the raid, dirt, impassability, cold, lack of water; he, like everyone else, could be killed or wounded.

And the awards they have are earned through hard work, sweat and sometimes their personal blood.

The medical workers remaining in the camp were in constant tension and ready to carry out operations in the event of the delivery of the wounded.

Medical stations were equipped with loudspeaker communications. In order to announce to the entire camp that they are wounded, they need blood. And there was no need to persuade anyone; soldiers ran to the first-aid post to donate their blood to their wounded comrades. They went to the mountains without documents, and everyone’s blood type was written down in them, so tattoos indicating the blood type were not an imitation of the SS troops of Hitler’s Germany, but a dire necessity in the war.

Tattoos indicating the blood type were made on the arms or chest, and therefore a medical worker could tell which blood types were needed from a flying helicopter.

So the Afghan brotherhood suffered through the blood that they shared with their comrades, and this blood was not divided along national lines, it was donated equally by Russians and Ukrainians, Kazakhs and Tajiks, Armenians and Azerbaijanis, Tatars and Georgians and many others.

Soldier's blood was international.

Providing medical care to the wounded is significantly different from providing assistance to a patient in peaceful conditions; a person arrives in dirty uniforms and underwear soaked in sweat and blood.

A shrapnel or bullet, in addition to injury and pain, has already introduced an infection into the human body, which, in a hot climate, has begun its destructive effect.

And it’s bad when several hours or days passed between the injury and delivery to the medical center.

Military doctors sorted the wounded into those who needed surgery first and those who could still have their wounds treated.

Surgery in the field requires knowledge, skill and endurance.

It's endurance. Since the surgical rooms were equipped in the same rubberized, sun-baked tents. Military doctors, working for several hours in the stuffy atmosphere of the tents, saturated with the smell of blood and medicine, lost consciousness within an hour, they were carried out and laid on the earthen parapets surrounding the tents, and even while unconscious, they held their gloved hands in the air towards the operating table I was already feeling a little rested.

Nurses, these fragile women, were forced to turn over and carry the wounded with their own hands, and stood next to the doctors for hours during operations. They patiently endured the rough swearing of those being operated on, the assistance provided, they also patiently endured the dirt and stench of war, that modest life of camp life, the lack of what was available to another woman in the Union.

Will anyone now dare to say something dirty about them?

We were all young, and the Afghan war could not deprive us of the everyday joys inherent in youth.

When does anyone count how many families were created by medical workers in Afghanistan, in hospitals, how many nurses threw in their lot with those who were operated on and treated.

Our Soviet military doctors also treated ordinary Afghans, conducted medical examinations, operated on their children, and provided assistance to those injured as a result of hostilities in populated areas.

Of course, at first glance it was funny to watch when Afghan Romeo brought his Afghan Juliet in a burqa for a medical examination, and, worried about his dear half, tried to enter the tent with her, but despite strict Muslim traditions, he received from his darling, just like It’s customary here in Ukraine, with a gentle knee in the ass, or a poke in the neck.

She sat like a faithful dog in the dust near the tent, waiting for her answer. Soviet doctor, and what kind of help he provided.

Our Soviet military medical workers left the most good memory from ordinary citizens of Afghanistan.

During the fighting, medical workers of the dushmans were also captured, those who provided assistance and treated the dushmans; these were mostly Pakistanis.

In accordance with the traditions of the war, they were released, our doctors could have a short conversation with them.

Despite the fact that the Dushman doctor treated our opponents, this is his calling, his duty to help everyone, regardless of what ideas or goals the soldier is fighting for.

During the Great Patriotic War, our orderlies died protecting the wounded who were evacuated from the battlefield.

Something like this happened in Afghanistan, during a major operation of our troops, the medical center to which the wounded were taken seemed to be a tasty morsel for the dushmans, but it didn’t work out.

The military doctor organized the defense, for which he was awarded a military award.

They live modestly, as befits medical workers, patiently endure the hardships of life, raise and teach children, treat the sick, endure the insults they silently inflict, in the conditions prevailing in last years health care poverty, trying to feed and warm their patients.

They were forgotten by all sorts of territorial communities; they forgot, especially in villages, to allocate a piece of land so that they could build a house for their children. And this was done by those who should be grateful to the grave medical worker, who traced his path from the embryo to the birth of the future hard worker.

They don’t wear awards on holidays because they are modest and maybe over a glass in the circle of family and friends they will remember that they twice started the heart of a wounded soldier, but death turned out to be stronger, and until the end of his life he feels as if guilty for this.

After all, few people saw that after almost a day of fighting for a soldier’s life, they literally lay side by side in the tent, exhausted.

Few people have seen an ensign whose skull bones were mixed with his brain by a machine gun fire, the wound was fatal, but the doctors did everything possible, duty obliges.

The doctors and nurses of the 340th district military hospital in Tashkent were perhaps the first to know that the country was at war. They were the ones who were put on alert when an IL-76 transporter arrived from Kabul, and they began to carry the wounded around the hospital into someone else’s army uniform with Asian appearance. And only by the swearing that was heard from the accidental impact of the stretcher against the wall, they realized that it was ours. These were wounded soldier-officers of the so-called Muslim battalion that stormed Amin's palace. Those who visited the hospital in those years saw these human stumps, burned and blown up, and who served in which troops could only be identified by their army hats. A one-armed man was pushing a stroller with a legless man, two cripples were helping each other go outside to breathe. fresh air, the other legless, armless, blind, a human stump, the parents take home, the doctors did everything they could so that he could live at least a little. Transport workers came at night so as not to confuse the public with the sight of what war could leave a healthy person normal person. And only from the noise of the elevators and the clatter of the medical staff could one guess that another batch of wounded had arrived from the Kabul hospital. The monument should be erected to the girl hospital nurses who saw enough in those years that not every healthy man could stand it. It was they, caring for the wounded and crippled, having seen enough of others’ pain and suffering, who went to study at medical institutes; the everyday sight of this cannon fodder did not discourage them from wanting to become a doctor. They married their former patients and went with them to new duty stations. The Khitskov family of Alexander and Galina lives in our city. She served as a nurse in Shindant, he went with convoys to escort cargo of the 40th Army. That's where we met. The Vdovichenko family of Vasily and Anna lives among us. Always together - where the husband is, there is the wife. More than ten garrisons were changed. He was awarded and she was awarded.

Combat nurse

Who would have thought about this modest woman who did not strive to be in the public eye, Alla Ivanovna Buravleva, that she had accomplished a feat in her life? A nurse at a military sanatorium, now an orphanage for disabled people... But more than 30 years of peaceful experience cannot be compared with combat. Two years and four months in Afghanistan is a lifetime.

They were the first
It never even occurred to Alla that she would someday become a heroic woman. She worked. She raised her daughter alone. There was a catastrophic lack of money, and she decided, as many did then, to go abroad: she wrote an application to the military registration and enlistment office.

I heard that contract workers are provided with good conditions. When she was offered Afghanistan in January 1980, she was not afraid, even though she knew there was war there. Either as a joke, or as an enticement, seriously, she and the cook Shura Semenova from Saperny (only two were selected from the region who qualified in all respects) were told that they were going to Afghanistan through the International Red Cross and would live in a suite, according to two people in a room...

The Leningrad Central Military Hospital No. 650 was formed, which recruited doctors and service staff from all over the Leningrad Military District.

Alla sent her four-year-old daughter to her grandmother in Ryazan, and she, along with other equally desperate girls and boys, went into thirty-degree frost to the Uglovo transshipment base, near Leningrad. Bunk beds in the barracks: cold, uncomfortable. They were told not to take anything special with them, and they suffered at first, as well as later, very much. Afterwards they were put into carriages and taken to Termez.

We drive at night and stand during the day,” recalls Alla Ivanovna. - Frost, wind. For two weeks we traveled in parallel with a train that contained tanks and guns - just like in war. Did anyone want to go back home? Certainly. But we were liable for military service, we knew: if they sent us, then we had to! Although they found out later that they registered us as civilian employees, without providing any benefits...

We spent two months in Termez. Tents for twenty people, all the same bunk beds, “bare” blankets and mattresses. The girls were given one pillowcase only on March 8...

On March 25, on a huge AN-22 plane, along with vehicles, they were sent to Afghanistan and landed in Kabul, where construction of a hospital was underway on the outskirts. We immediately got into work: we walked fighting, doctors and nurses treated the wounded. The heaviest were sent to the Union, and the “light” and non-transportable were treated on the spot as best they could.

The frost that year in Afghanistan was no less than in Russia, it was snowing, it was blowing strong wind. Potbelly stoves saved us from the cold, and in order not to burn out at night, two people were on duty. In the summer, the heat was 60 degrees and there was an acute lack of oxygen: 2 thousand meters above sea level is no joke.

How hungry we were at first! There was no water at all in their area, and the guys risked their lives to go to a source on the other side of Kabul. How many times did they return with nothing... They fired at us constantly. They had no weapons - a platoon of guards, and that was all. The risk of being cut out right in the tent is huge.

Was it scary? Very. The surgery and infectious diseases department are overcrowded. Instead of 40 people in the tent, there were several thousand wounded. Blood, pus, burns, hepatitis, fever, typhoid... And what exhausted, dehydrated soldiers were brought from the mountains! Just skeletons... The wounded often died. The hospital was shelled and thrown with grenades...

But the most terrible thing was something else. Nearby there was a medical battalion, where the corpses of the children killed in battle were brought. In the evening - stacks of galvanized coffins, and in the morning - not a single one... And so - every day.

It was hard to realize that there was peace in our homeland, but here it was such a mess. But they were told: the Motherland will not forget, well-deserved awards await you.

For each other - like a wall
Oddly enough, grief brings people together more than joy.

The guys there were good, they stood by each other like a wall, and Alla Ivanovna had tears in her eyes. - Everyone is visible: you immediately understand which of them is a friend and which is an enemy. And there were cowardly ones, and those who stole the last thing from a friend and sold them on the market. But there were few of them.

Eight months later, everyone was moved to the former English stables - 60 people per barracks: one was off shift, another was on shift, the third was resting... They began to issue warm clothes, it became easier with provisions, although it was difficult to call nutritious food...

Alla first worked as a therapeutic nurse, then as an infectious diseases nurse. All the girls got sick - some with abdominal pain, some with hepatitis, and some with both. Everyone was a donor, taking blood from each other for the wounded. All you could hear was: “The second, third group - on the way out!”

There was a lot to do, I managed to sleep two to three hours a day, and later Alla was transferred to a nutrition nurse. Resisted:

How to work? I don’t know anything!

We'll teach you and help you! - Shura Semenova encouraged. And it worked.

Alla Ivanovna recalls the following incident:

One so emaciated was brought from the mountains - bones covered with skin. Scabs appeared all over my body. Alive, but doesn’t understand anything. We have moldy canned food in jars, old stew... How to raise it? We took him in, soaked the scabs, and put on IVs endlessly. We bought food at the market with our own money. He recovered and said: “I wish I could eat some chicken.” Where can I get it? By the time they got it through the district headquarters, he had already lost the desire. And as soon as I got to my feet, I kept asking: “How can I help?” Then I began to fight hard for diet, and achieved a special diet for those in need...
“Afghanistan hurts in my soul...”
No matter how difficult it was, I didn’t want to leave Afghanistan, and the commander didn’t let me go. But her daughter had to go to school, and Alla returned to her homeland.

For three years she jumped up at night at the slightest noise, there was no rest during the day. All this affected my health, my heart ached. Nothing went in vain: Alla Ivanovna has been living with a pacemaker for 18 years...

Gradually everything got better, the daughter grew up and pleased her mother with her success at school. And in 1989, fate brought Alla together with a man with whom they are connected by the same Afghanistan. In the past, a military tanker, and now a DOZ worker, Nikolai Buravlev also served in Termez and has been on business trips to the Afghan mountains more than once. He became her husband and a faithful, understanding friend. Alla Ivanovna's best friend Lyudmila Klimenko also served in Afghanistan...

She grew up, studied, became a teacher, then got married and gave birth to two children, daughter Marina. It would seem - live and be happy, raise grandchildren. But joy cannot be serene after what we have experienced. Afghanistan hurts my soul. Before my eyes are those with whom I had the opportunity to serve and whom I saved from death. No matter how difficult it was, he believes that they lived an interesting life.

Although we were not encouraged in any way, we stayed kind people. Once every five years we meet with the whole hospital - closer than family. Only half are no longer alive...

After thinking a little, Alla Ivanovna says:

They say that war was unjust. And if we had not entered Afghanistan, America would have entered, which is what is happening now... How much money has been poured into this country, how much has been built there! Whatever it was, we were fulfilling a noble mission: treating the wounded. To understand all this, you need to visit the hot spot yourself, experience everything on your own skin...

Would she do things differently now? Answers:

One day, shell-shocked guys were brought to the hospital from battle - wearing only their underpants. They were worried: “How are our people doing?” They were eager to go back, but the doctors wouldn’t let us in. “We’ll run away anyway!” - they said. One day we got into the car: we were in our underpants and drove off to the front line... Will you really forget this? If necessary and my health would allow, I would go again. My father was a military man, my mother joined the partisans at the age of 18, but how could I do otherwise?

Afghanistan is not only grief and pain, it is a huge school of life for more than one generation of our people. What did the poet say?

"Only he is worthy

honor and freedom,

Who goes every day

to fight for them."

This fight doesn't have to be bloody. In such a peaceful profession as a nurse, there is a place for heroism.

America? Your America is no more...

I came across a wonderful material dedicated to fallen doctors in the Afghan war
artofwar.ru/k/karelin_a_p/karelin2.shtml
Karelin Alexander Petrovich
Doctors who laid down their lives in the Afghan war

The article is huge and is constantly being updated. I recommend reading it. It is the duty of the living to remember the fallen. I think the author will not be offended that I allow myself to post fragments of his WORK. It was very difficult to select these passages because each person from this list is unique and behind his fate and life stand the lives of saved soldiers and officers. Low bow to them......

During the period of hostilities in Afghanistan, 46 medical officers died while performing medical duties.

"Let's erect a monument to doctors,
How to erect a monument to soldiers.
We trusted their hands
They entrusted their lives to medical battalions.
Let's erect a monument to doctors
Because they died in battles
And they bled there
Where the blood was given to the soldiers.
Let's erect a monument to doctors
For loyalty to conscience and duty,
That they went towards all the deaths
Dear fiery and long.
Let's erect a monument to doctors
Among the sacred obelisks.
Let the memory remain for centuries
Distant that was close.
Let's erect a monument to doctors!"

My colleague, doctor E. Aristov, dedicated this poem to all those who fell in that distant war.

List of fallen officers

Anishin O.V. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Begishev E.F. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Belov V.A. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Blekanov A.I. medical captain
Bogonos A.N. colonel of the medical service
Botov V.M. Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service
Bunak A.E. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Burov Yu.V. Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service
Valishin I.A. medical lieutenant
Vashchenko V.E. medical service major
Viberg S.U. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Volkov V.N. medical lieutenant
Dasyuk A.A. medical captain
Dobrovolsky V.V. medical lieutenant
Dranitsyn V.A. medical service major
Dubrovin A.D. colonel of the medical service
Zhibkov Yu.E. colonel of the medical service
Koksharov G.Ya. medical captain
Kozlov E.B. medical lieutenant
Kostenko A.M. medical captain
Kravchenko G.M. medical captain
Krasikov E.V. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Kryshtal I.N. medical lieutenant
Kuznechenkov V.P. colonel of the medical service
Latkin E.P. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Linev A.N. medical lieutenant
Metyaev V.T. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Mikhailov E.A. Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service
Mikhailov F.I. colonel of the medical service
Naumenko A.N. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Novikov V.D. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Palamarchuk A.I. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Ponomarev V.V. medical service major
Radchevsky G.I. medical captain
Reshetov M.A. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Savenko V.V. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Sakhnenko A.V. veterinary lieutenant
Serikov A.M. Lieutenant Colonel of the Medical Service
Shabenko N.N. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Totsky Yu.A. medical captain
Tulin Sh.M. medical lieutenant
Khodak V.I. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Chepurin O.V. medical captain
Chudov A.A. medical captain
Shapovalov Yu.I. medical captain
Shevkoplyas N.S. medical captain

Most of This list was provided by the Main Military Medical Directorate of the Russian Federation. Unfortunately, the first name and patronymic were indicated only by initials; the dates of birth and death of the officers were not shown.
As a result of the search work, this list was replenished with ten officers of the Ministry of Defense (Koksharov G.Ya., Dasyuk A.A., Zhibkov Yu.E., Vashchenko V.E., Shapovalov Yu.I., Belov V.A., Bunak A.E. ., Naumenko A.N., Palamarchuk A.I., Sakhnenko A.V.), one officer from the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Dubrovin A.D.); now they will not sink into obscurity (!), the names and patronymics of the officers, their dates of birth and death, and the circumstances of their death have been established. The list of dead nurses has been clarified and the circumstances of the death have been expanded. A list of deceased warrant officers has been compiled. A list of privates and non-commissioned officers(more than two hundred and thirty dead have already been included), as new dead are discovered, the list will be supplemented.

Begishev Elgizer Fedorovich. Art. m/s lieutenant, doctor 154 Special Operations Forces. Born 22.06. 1954 in the city of Tashkent, Tatar. Graduated from the Military Medical Faculty at the Kuibyshev Medical Institute. In the USSR Armed Forces from 16.08. 1975 In Afghanistan since October 30, 1981. He repeatedly took part in combat operations, providing medical assistance to the wounded and organizing their evacuation from the battlefield. Killed in battle (MTLB vehicle was blown up by a landmine) on September 6, 1983. Awarded the Order"For service to the Motherland in the USSR Armed Forces", 3rd degree and the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). He was buried in his homeland in Tashkent at the Minor cemetery.
The following is the material from Dmitry Reznikov: “Igor Skirta, a detachment officer, spoke about the tragic events during the transition in the convoy of scouts of the 154 Special Operations Forces and the death of doctors Kryshtal, Begishev and orderly Trofimov.” - From the memoirs “I will not forget you, Afghan...” I. Skirta: “September 1983... Finally, the long-awaited replacement has begun, several officers have already left, and you look forward to each helicopter arrival - suddenly your replacement will arrive too - but he still doesn’t fly, it’s an infection, but the order has “arrived” - 4 1st company to march to the village of Gardez to carry out a special event in this area. But look at the map! Someone’s “smart” head decided to drive us through the whole of Afghanistan under its own power instead of transferring us by helicopter to a given area with greater safety The battalion commander reinforced the company with three BMP-2s of the 1st company, group commander Nikolai Merkulov and a “tablet” - a medical evacuation vehicle based on MTLB with two surgeons - senior lieutenant Begishev and his replacement, a lieutenant who had just graduated from the Leningrad Medical Academy. In two days they successfully passed Salang without fighting and reached Kabul. We wanted to continue walking along the road of “death,” as it was called, Kabul - Gardez, but the commandant’s post stopped us and warned us that, even though we were special forces, they wouldn’t let us in alone - wait for a passing column. The senior group, Captain Posokhov, ZKB, decided to wait. Very soon a column of “liquid trucks” arrived - about 30 KAMAZ vehicles, and, accompanied by a group of Kabul paratroopers, we set off with God... I will not describe this horror. I’ll just give you the numbers: halfway through the journey, the spirits burned 12 tankers, the landing party lost 2 armored personnel carriers. After n.p. We decided to move to the barracks ourselves, but in vain - having driven 2-3 km, the "tablet" ran into a contact mine - an explosion enormous power turns over the MTLB and breaks it from the inside like a tin can - both officers and the driver die on the spot, crushed by the side of the MTLB. The sergeant-paramedic with the severed arm is still alive, we with difficulty free him from under the car and, with a helicopter arriving, evacuate him to the hospital, where the next day he died from loss of blood."
Igor Boyarkin, a sergeant of the communications group (at that time), also reported on the circumstances of the death of a group of doctors; his spelling has been preserved:
“We drove side by side the whole time, the first two BRDM vehicles, the first was Posokhov, behind him we, communications, in the KSh BMP, and behind us the medical unit in the MTLB. When we passed Kabul, our column ran into the tail of the column of tankers in KAMAZ trucks. These vehicles were with fuel and lubricants, barrels and trailers with smaller barrels. They were accompanied by "Vitebsk residents" with a force of no more than a company and there were also "turntables". We just left Kabul, Domrachev (he was on the tower, and I was in the commander's seat, behind the driver) told me and said, “put on your armor,” the column of tankers began to be fired upon. This column was large and stretched out in front of us for about a kilometer and a half. The tankers began to burn; in order to pass them, we had to climb under the armor.
We left Kabul at about 15 o'clock, on the left from the "green zone" the column was intensively fired upon from small arms, and there were many ambushes, they were long along the front, up to a kilometer. Around 23-24 hours the convoy arrived in the village. Barracks. During this time, the nalivniki lost 11 KAMAZ trucks (1 with a Zushka). The “Vitebsk residents” had an armored personnel carrier with its entire crew and troops blown up, and “turntables” were taking them out under fire.
We spent the night in Baraki; the 56th Airborne Battalion Battalion was stationed there. Early in the morning of 09/06/83 we moved further to Gardez. Before leaving, I remember well how Lieutenant Kryshtal washed himself - one of the young soldiers poured water on him...
We left. The pourers are ahead again. As soon as we passed these Barracks, the shelling began again, though this time from the right from the green. They set fire to 2 more pourers. ZIL, apparently an escort vehicle, began to go around the road on the right along a higher gentle slope of the road and, of course, blew up an Italian car. We successfully drove around all this “pile up” to the left. We started to catch up with the nalivnikov, but then something behind us seemed to “shy away”. We already had the stern thrown on the KShMka. I turned back, but everything was in smoke. At that moment, the MTLB was in the air 5-7 meters from the road surface, upside down, then crashed across the road. The tower flew off about 50 meters, and the stretcher flew through the air for a long time.
Of course, we stopped immediately. Everyone died immediately except for one soldier. He was lying on the asphalt, and his legs were crushed by armor. The sapper, Captain Ilyin (chief of the engineering service of the Detachment - author's note) examined the scene of the tragedy and came to the conclusion that the landmine was placed to lock the tracks. In the entire column (together with the tankers), the first tracked vehicle to drive along this track was MTLB..."

Viberg Sergey Uguvich. Senior lieutenant m/s, head of the medical service of the road commandant battalion. Born June 4, 1959 in the city of Abaza, Tashtyp district, Khakass Autonomous Okrug, Russian. In the USSR Armed Forces from August 15, 1980. He received military medical training at the military department of the Krasnoyarsk Medical Institute. In Afghanistan since August 1985 While participating in combat operations, he showed perseverance, dedication and high professional skill. On June 4, 1987, the automobile convoy, which included Sergei, was fired upon by the enemy. In battle, noticing that one of the soldiers was wounded, he, risking his life, rushed to his aid, but was mortally wounded by a sniper shot. For courage and courage he was awarded the medal "For Courage" and the Order of the Red Banner (posthumously).
About it tragic day the memoirs of an eyewitness are given: “They died on June 4, 1987, among the fallen were I.M. Shaidullin and I.M. Ibragimov. Shaidullin was a mechanic-driver of a Bteer, Ibragimov was a machine gunner,” said one of the outpost soldiers, warrant officer Alexander Stefan. - Near the village of Kalatak, "spirits" pinned down our column. The cars were burning. Company captain Kurbakov rushed to the burning KamAZ. Shaidullin jumped out after him - he was wounded in the stomach. A "nurse" arrived. The medic - senior lieutenant Viberg, along with the captain and the machine gunner They began to put the wounded man on a stretcher and carried him to the car. A new burst of fire came from the mountains. Everyone was killed, only the captain remained alive. Then he was treated for a long time in a hospital in the Union. Later on the highway one could often see "Beteer". On the car there is an inscription on a red background : "The crew named after Senior Lieutenant S.U. Viberga" - a fighting monument to a medical officer."
Vibergu S.U. was installed. and the obelisk on Ulang (southern part of the road to Salang). In this place, dushmans often attacked columns. Before the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, all Obelisks (including the Wiberg Obelisk) were dismantled and taken to the Union.
Sergei Uguvich was buried in the military cemetery of the Zaltsovsky district of Novosibirsk.

Volkov Viktor Nikolaevich. Lieutenant m/s, junior doctor of the medical center of the parachute regiment. Born 21.03. 1956 in Tomsk, Russian. In the USSR Armed Forces from August 19, 1977. Graduated from the Military Medical Faculty at the Tomsk Medical Institute in 1979. In Afghanistan since December 1979. Served in the 317th airborne division of the 103rd airborne division. In battle 2.03. 1980 was part of a parachute company. Under enemy fire, risking his life, he provided medical assistance to the wounded on the battlefield and supervised their evacuation. During the battle he was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield. Finding himself surrounded with the wounded, he supervised the actions of the soldiers in repelling the attack. While covering the retreat of the wounded with fire, he was wounded a second time, this time fatally. For courage and bravery, high military valor and dedication, he was awarded two Orders of the Red Star (the second - posthumously). He was buried in the city cemetery in Tomsk.

Linev Andrey Nikolaevich. Lieutenant m/s, junior doctor of the special forces detachment - 334 OOSpN (separate special forces detachment), Asadabad. Born on June 20, 1962 in Voroshilovgrad, Ukrainian SSR. He studied at school N37 in Voroshilovgrad. In the USSR Armed Forces from August 4, 1979. In June 1985 he graduated with honors from the Military Medical Academy in Leningrad. CM. Kirov (Naval Faculty). Was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. However, according to his personal report, Andrei was sent to Afghanistan in early November 1985. arrived at the 15th special brigade. appointments. In the military unit where he was sent, military operations were constantly taking place in the mountains; medical workers accompanied transport columns on combat missions. On December 3, 1985, Lieutenant Linev, as part of a special forces group, took part in a serious combat operation in the province of Kunar. Their reconnaissance detachment carried out the task of conducting ambush operations on the slopes of Mount Nasavasar (mark 3287) in the vicinity of the village of Ganjgal with the aim of destroying RS and rebel launchers, as well as mining the area. When approaching one of the uninhabited villages located in a mountain gorge, the group came under intense fire from the Mujahideen. During the battle with the enemy, when he attempted to be encircled by superior forces, the group in which Andrei found himself was pressed against a rock. An unequal battle ensued (special forces doctors more often than others had to take direct part in hostilities). Linev provided assistance to two seriously wounded, then, covering their evacuation, destroyed four dushmans with fire from his machine gun, thanks to which the enemy’s plan was thwarted and the victims were taken to a safe place. The doctor himself was seriously wounded in the stomach, but continued to fight until he lost consciousness. In the Kabul hospital, where he was urgently taken by helicopter, doctors fought for Andrei’s life all week, but it turned out to be fatal early on; on December 10, Andrei died. For the courage and heroism shown in fulfilling his international duty, Andrei Nikolaevich Linev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Battle (posthumously). At the formation of the detachment, when bidding farewell to Lieutenant Linev, battalion commander Major Grigory Bykov said: “He served us for a short time, but managed to prove that he is a real special forces man. May each of us forever keep the image of this brave sailor in our souls!” He was buried in the city of Voroshilovgrad. Secondary school N37 was named after Andrei Linev. The street where Andrei was born and raised is named after him...Good deeds do not go away with a person. The light of ideas does not fade if you serve them faithfully and carry them as the young doctor Andrei Linev carried them throughout his life...

Karasyuk Anatoly Vladimirovich. Ensign, paramedic-chief of the medical station. Born May 1, 1942 in the town of Chasov-Yar, Artyomovsky district, Donetsk region, Ukrainian. He studied at secondary school No. 19 in the city of Chasov-Yar and after finishing 8th grade he worked as a planer at a refractory plant. In November 1962, he was called up for active military service by the Artyomovsky OGVK. In 1968, after graduating from the Semipalatinsk Medical School, he entered long-term service. He served in the Semipalatinsk region, in Omsk, in Artyomovsk. From 1976 to 1981, warrant officer Karasyuk A.V. served in the city of Weder, Potsdam region. Raisa Semyonovna, the wife of Anatoly Vladimirovich, said: “My husband was very kind and sympathetic. When we served in Germany, he spent almost all his time treating soldiers and children of military personnel, so he rarely came home on time. He knew his profession well and loved it very much; He was proud that he was a military medic. Medicine was in the foreground, only then - family. But I was not offended by him - I saw how people needed him, because he was often called to duty even on odd days. He wanted Oleg's son see only a doctor..."
In Afghanistan since July 19, 1983 Served as head of the medical center of military unit 93992, Jalalabad.
Excerpts from letters from Anatoly Vladimirovich.
He wrote to his son Oleg (05/2/1984): “...I dreamed of becoming a doctor. And in the army, six months later, I was just lucky - I began to serve as an orderly. Yes! Yes, son, as an orderly. I carried out the “wounded and sick” from the fields teachings, cared for the sick, and rearranged and cleaned the wards, and sat next to the sick when necessary. I was not embarrassed and was not considered that this was “beneath” my dignity. And here I was even more convinced that my place was in medicine. At the age of 23, I entered the Semipalatinsk Medical School. In the same city, Raya, your mother, and I met. But my grandfather was against my studies. They say, I’ll get pennies, he suggested leaving medical school and going to study to become a driver. After 6 months work in a quarry and 300 rubles in your pocket. But son, it’s not about the money, my dear, happiness. But happiness and joy come when you get satisfaction from work, when you know that you are bringing benefit to people, that you didn’t just sit through a shift , and you come home from work tired and remember how much good you did during the day, how many people thanked you - your soul is happy. Now about you. After all, you, Olezhek, when we talked with you, promised to study better and enter a medical school. Now I have an assistant - a paramedic. He graduated from a medical school before the army, but today he is leaving for Leningrad, to the Military Medical Academy, and the other to a medical institute. So I would like you to set yourself such a goal in life and choose a specialty for life. Kiss. Papa Anatoly.
He wrote to his mother (05/28/1984): "... Yes, time flies. There is already one winter left and we will slowly get ready. So, Mom, I live with hopes and dreams about the future. Time will pass, Mom, decades will pass, and about us they will still say: “Yes! They were internationalists..."
In one of his last letters, Anatoly Vladimirovich wrote: “Well, my dears! All the best! Be happy, healthy and look forward to meeting me. I am alive and well, the service is underway. Don’t worry about me. I think everything will be okay Fine..."
Carrying out a combat mission, faithful to the military oath and his professional duty, Anatoly Vladimirovich died on July 6, 1984 in a plane crash on board MI-6. For courage and bravery shown in the performance of military duty, warrant officer Karasyuk A.V. awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). He was buried in Artemovsk. A memorial plaque was installed at the Chasov-Yarskaya school.
“As an integral part of everyday life, people here are used to it, and rarely does anyone linger on the embossed lines. The everyday life of our prosaic time flows by and school children grow up in time with it... Will they, the current ones, want it and will they be able to do it from “market” arithmetic? rise to the heights of the human soul. Question... I really want the character and human talent of Anatoly Karasyuk to be repeated in someone..."

The work of the “sisters” in Afghanistan is well described in Anatoly Golikov’s poem “Angel’s Eyes”:

It was like he saw an angel's eyes
Through a dried red-brown bandage.
A dragonfly circled in the sky nearby,
And the helicopter rotor hit my nerves...

And the angel, bending over the soldier,
Covered him with his whiteness,
With your sterile cotton outfit
From the dust, which smells strongly of war.

And he held on long and hard
For the angelic hand,
And I heard the voice of the angel on the mountain,
Someone quietly whispering “Rise up!..”

And he got up, got up and fell again,
Fighting the still rumbling war,
And only by the sounds of the young heart
Everyone knew he was here and he was alive.

And he looked and saw blue ones,
Unangelic blue eyes,
Flowed like a drop into the native streams
They contain an angelic light tear.

And he, holding the angel's hand,
He prayed: “Sister, sister, don’t let go!..”
And an angel in pink and white outfits
He whispered to him: “Darling, come on!..”

Moshenskaya Lyudmila Mikhailovna, nurse. Died on September 12, 1983. Born July 4, 1956 in Mariupol, Donetsk region of the Ukrainian SSR, Ukrainian. After graduating from Mariupol Medical School in 1974, she worked as a nurse in the children's department of city hospital N4. She volunteered to work in the army. On a voluntary basis, Ordzhonikidze RVC 7.05.83. was sent to work in Afghanistan. In Afghanistan since May 1983. Lyudmila became a nurse in the infectious diseases department of military unit 94777 (650 separate military hospital in Kabul). While working as a nurse, she demonstrated high professional training. While providing medical care to infectious patients, Lyudmila Moshenskaya herself became seriously ill and died from a severe form of typhoid fever. She was buried in her homeland at the Novotroitsky cemetery in Mariupol.

Gonyshev Alexander Ivanovich. Junior sergeant, medical instructor. Born 08/12/1965 in the village of Chernorechye, Orenburg district, Orenburg region. He worked on a collective farm. Drafted into the USSR Armed Forces on November 3, 1983 by the Orenburg RVC. In Afghanistan since May 1984 He served in 668 OOSpN. Died on January 30, 1985. For courage and courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home. The service description, written posthumously, says: “A small group of Soviet soldiers, in which junior sergeant Gonyshev was, was ambushed by dushmans in one of the gorges. In the ensuing unequal battle, two soldiers were seriously wounded. Gonyshev provided them with first aid , ordered the rest of his comrades to evacuate them to a safe place and report what had happened to the command. And he himself remained in place and covered his retreat to the rear with fire from a machine gun. When help arrived and the dushmans were knocked out, his comrades found Sergeant Gonyshev dead at the battlefield. At a cost own life Guard Jr. Sergeant A.I. Gonyshev saved his comrades, showing unbending fortitude and courage." The street where he lived was named after him. In the spring, a mini-football tournament in memory of A. Gonyshev is held in the village. At the school, near the memorial plaque in memory of Alexander, an hour in memory of the hero is held annually.

Dreval Sergey Alexandrovich. Private, reconnaissance orderly, 2nd group, 1st company, 334 Special Operations Forces. Born 01/10/1967 in the village of Kapustintsy, Lipovodolinsky district, Sumy region, Ukrainian SSR, Ukrainian. He worked at the Mikhailovka state farm. Called up by Lebedinsky RVC on October 8, 1985. in the Armed Forces of the USSR. In Afghanistan since April 1986 Acting skillfully and selflessly, repeatedly at the risk of his life, under enemy fire, he provided first aid to the wounded. On 12/27/1986, a reconnaissance detachment of the 1st company carried out a mission to mine a height (mark 2310) above the Marawar Gorge (Kunar province) on the border with Pakistan, in order to prevent the launch of RSs by the Mujahideen from this direction along the PDP (permanent deployment point) to new year holidays. At night, already approaching the target, the reconnaissance group in which Sergei was located lost its course and ended up in a minefield. It was then that Private Dreval died in the area of ​​the village. Barva-Kolan when the deputy group commander, Lieutenant V.P. Rudometov, was blown up by a mine, when he was trying to take him to a safe place. Before that, he provided medical assistance to two wounded people. Awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). He was buried in the village of Mikhailovka, Lebedinsky district, Sumy region. The field is named after Sergei.

Zhuravel Leonid Vasilievich. Junior sergeant, sanitary instructor of the 345th separate guards parachute landing of the Red Banner Order of Suvorov, 3rd degree regiment named after the 70th anniversary of the Lenin Komsomol. Born 12/27/1965 in the village of Chernozubovka, Kokchetav region. (Kazakhstan), Ukrainian. Upon completion of the rural high school entered PTU-22 in Omsk. Called up on May 7, 1984 Served in the Airborne Forces. In Afghanistan since November 1984 "Leonid wrote from Afghanistan to his younger brothers To Nikolai and Yuri: “Do it, train yourself as much as possible in sports, get used to all adversities. Like here in Afghanistan. It’s difficult for those who haven’t prepared themselves for anything. It’s much easier for me, I can do a forced march over a long distance in mountains, and even with a load on their shoulders. I feel sorry for the weak guys, they cannot withstand the difficulties and become limp..."Leonid took part in 17 combat operations. More than a year fought on Afghan soil. He fought skillfully and bravely, and it was not without reason that he was awarded the medal “For Military Merit” for his distinction in battles. IN last letter I reported home that demobilization was coming soon. However, on December 14, 1985 he went on the next combat operation...Lines of the award sheet of the guard junior sergeant Leonid Vasilyevich Zhuravel: “December 14, 1985, the parachute unit fought the enemy in the Khazar gorge. L. Zhuravel acted boldly and decisively, under the fire of the rebels he provided medical assistance comrades. During the evacuation of the wounded man, he himself was mortally wounded. For the courage and bravery of the guard, junior sergeant Leonid Vasilyevich Zhuravel was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). He was buried in his homeland. Much reminds of him. An obelisk with a portrait of Leonid was installed in the cemetery, there are two once a year on memorial days, school students go. And the school itself now bears his name - the name of Leonid Zhuravel. The street on which he lived is also called after him. In the Urals, in the city of Satka (Chelyabinsk region), fellow soldiers created a military -patriotic club named after Leonid Zhuravel. good words His family, friends, classmates, and fellow soldiers talked about Leonid. And, perhaps, everyone will join them, although they have never heard of the guy from Chernozubovka near Ishima. Leonid doesn’t need all these words, we, the living ones, need them!” (from Pavel Andreev’s essay “I feel sorry for weak guys”). Currently, the Zhuravel family has left Kazakhstan and lives in Germany - the historical homeland of Leonid’s mother, Irma Robertovna.

Kolaev Andrey Vladimirovich. Junior sergeant, sanitary instructor of reconnaissance company 191st separate infantry unit. Born 09/10/1966 in Novokuibyshevsk, Russian. Called up 10/20/1984 In Afghanistan since March 1985 He died on April 6, 1985 from wounds received in a mine explosion. Awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home.
Colleague Alexey Levin (letter provided by I.P. Nekrasov) recalls the circumstances of the death of Andrei Kolaev. The reconnaissance unit was alerted - a signal was received about the observed movement of dushmans in a village not far from the regiment's location.
“From the side, you could see how an invisible force grabbed them all from below and lifted them up. When the car was thrown to the right, it was thrown up again. The car was blown up twice. I was driving the third BMP-2 and watched with bated breath what was happening, still not really understanding anything , what happened. We quickly jumped off the BMP-2 and ran to the blown up vehicle. The artillery officer, already experienced and having served half his term, who jumped off with me, shouted that we should approach the blown up vehicle carefully. The fact is that The "spirits", when laying a landmine or an anti-tank mine, also laid anti-personnel mines nearby within a radius of 6-8 meters, knowing that the victims would be provided with assistance. However, this was not always done.
This was my first emergency call and the first explosion, unfortunately, not the last before my eyes. But for two of my friends, this first trip turned out to be the last. Having opened the landing hatches, we saw a terrible picture. Andrey Kolaev’s leg was torn off, and the other was held on only by the skin; when he was taken out of the landing force, it had an unusual shape. The old-timer Salmin was not at a loss and immediately tied what was left with a tourniquet, near the groin. Andrey even seemed to come to his senses. He periodically tried to get up, but the guys held him down and told him not to get up, for fear of losing blood.
Someone said it was agony. I don’t know whether he heard us at that time or not. But his moans and individual unintelligible words became quieter and quieter. It felt like Andrei was trying to tell us something. He lost consciousness, then returned, and he, as if awakened from bad dream, tried to jump up and run.
Later the doctors told us that the injuries internal organs were incompatible with life (kidneys were torn off, bladder burst, etc.). Andrey joined the DRA and our company 2-3 weeks before this event as a nurse. Not long before this, the Union had just graduated medical instructors. After this explosion, we didn’t have a medic for a long time..."

Klyutsuk Vasily Borisovich. Junior sergeant, medical instructor. Born January 6, 1965 in the Khmelnitsky region, Ukrainian. He worked as an outpatient paramedic in a village. Called up 04/13/1984 In Afghanistan since October 1984 He died in battle on December 16, 1985 in the area of ​​the Panjshir gorge, before which he provided assistance and evacuated three wounded soldiers from a damaged armored personnel carrier. Awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home.
From the memoirs of Andrei Yuryevich Luchkov (the story “While the Sky Cries”): “...a dim light bulb. A multi-bed tent for 40 people, I do a weight press with one hand, the “well-wishers” are counting. Vaska the doctor just won me right hand. Now there is a chance to win back on the left, I thought that I was stronger! I resist to the last, and I manage to beat Vasily! Draw! We smile, tease each other, agree on new meeting, making plans for joint training, bragging. But it’s easier for me to prepare for a new meeting, after all, the “sports equipment” - two 16-kilogram weights filled with lead up to 24 kg - are mine. I “stolen” one from the Teply Stan construction battalion, exchanged the other for something, I don’t remember from whom.
Quite a bit of time passed and now, “Bulba”, the postman, brought the news: Vaska, the doctor, was killed! U-bi-li! I will not win against him on his right hand - NEVER! He's gone forever. And he remained young forever. Just like the song says. A good-natured, tall, slightly wide-cheeked guy...
Vaska the medic, killed by a well-aimed sniper shot to the forehead. With a neat entry hole. Blood on the dusty face. Wiry neck..."
From the afterword to A.Yu. Luchkov’s story: “Information. Volodymyr Dragan wrote: “Hello, Andrey! Yes, Vasya Klyotsyuk, a medical instructor from our regimental medical center of the 181st motorized rifle regiment (my fellow countryman and great friend originally from Kamenets-Podolsky, Khmelnitsky region, Ukraine) died in December 1985 at the entrance to the river gorge. Panjshir. Our sappers made a slight mistake and turned onto the wrong road. The column was ambushed. The armored personnel carrier in which Vasya was traveling was hit by a grenade from an RPG-7. There he died. Eternal memory to him!
Yes, that's his last name. Typical, Ukrainian. I’m not entirely sure of the spelling, but in the Museum of the Afghan War in Kyiv, where there is a monument to “Afghan” soldiers, the names of all those killed, called up from Ukraine, are engraved on granite stones, and he is listed that way.”

Kravchenko Mikhail Alexandrovich. Sergeant, medical instructor of the parachute battalion of the 345th airborne division (military unit 53701, Bagram, Parvan province). Born 07/15/1967 in Penza, Russian. Called up 10/25/1985 In Afghanistan since April 1986 Mortally wounded in battle on April 15, 1987. Awarded a medal"For courage" and the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home.
During his service in Afghanistan, Mikhail helped many of his wounded colleagues. “At the first trouble, rushing headlong to help the victim, regardless of the situation and the danger to oneself - this showed all of Misha’s character. However, Mikhail was like that in civilian life, from childhood: impulsive, persistent, accustomed to always doing what he did. , which he outlined. In the Arbekovsky microdistrict he had his own strong company of eleven teenagers, ready to go through fire and water for each other. For such cohesion and intransigence, local guys nicknamed them “elephants.” It is known that teenagers like to give each other nicknames, sometimes not always pleasant. But Misha Kravchenko’s friends respected him, and therefore the nickname sounded somehow respectful and respectful - Kravchenya...
The Afghan war began to pull the guys out of the close-knit company with the pincers of the military registration and enlistment office subpoenas. And sometimes forever. When Igor Dergach, who died in Afghanistan, was buried, only five of his eleven friends stood at his grave. The rest had already paid their military debt to different parts.
Misha Kravchenko stood for a long time at Dergach’s grave, then quietly but firmly said to the guys: “I will definitely go to Afghanistan, I will avenge Igor. And if anything happens to me, then bury me next to him.”
It cannot be said that his decision was greeted with joy in the family, but they reacted to it quite calmly: who and where to serve will not be decided by Mikhail. The family continued to live in its measured rhythm. His father, Alexander Ivanovich, worked as a design engineer at the Central Design Bureau for Valve Engineering, and his mother, Tamara Aleksandrovna, was a conductor on the Sura train. They knew about Mikhail’s illness (during a medical examination upon admission to the sambo wrestling section, doctors discovered color blindness) and deep down they hoped that because of this their son would not pass the draft board of the military registration and enlistment office.
But Mikhail, not used to wasting words, already had his own plan of action. Through medical student acquaintances, he managed to obtain an “atlas” with multi-colored circles, triangles, and squares, which doctors use to determine color blindness. And he learned their location so that if he woke up at night, even when he was asleep, he could accurately reproduce any page from memory. And the “Kravchenko method” worked at the medical examination without a misfire. Mikhail was found fit to military service. But which one? Mikhail did not want to take risks: he should only get into airborne troops, because, in his opinion, there is the greatest chance of ending up in Afghanistan. And he came up with another extraordinary move: he wrote a letter to the Minister of Defense with a request to draft him into the Airborne Forces. And he was lucky again! The letter eventually reached the minister's desk. The same did not remain indifferent to the conscript’s request. And in the end, Mikhail received a letter from the minister himself, which stated that his request to be drafted into the Airborne Forces would be granted.
The minister's letter was received differently in the Kravchenko family: the son was in seventh heaven, and the parents, naturally, were concerned about his fate. They had already seen enough television reports, read newspaper articles about Afghanistan and understood that there was a real war going on there. Of course, you could go to the military registration and enlistment office and tell about your son’s illness. But this would be a direct betrayal towards Mikhail, which he would hardly be able to forgive. But didn’t they themselves cultivate in him independence and perseverance in making decisions? No, the mother and father did not have the courage to stop their son...
In October 1985 he was drafted into the army. Mikhail ended up in Lithuania, where the Central Airborne Training Division was stationed. The military specialty of a conscript, as a rule, is not determined according to his wishes. So Kravchenko became a medical instructor.
From the first days of service in Afghanistan, Mikhail proved himself independent guy timid ten. This was especially evident during the young medical instructor’s first outings on combat operations. And how many wounded he bandaged and carried during his year of service in Afghanistan! If necessary, he picked up a machine gun and covered the guys with fire and his body. It is no coincidence that Alikhail’s surname Kravchenko appeared on the list of those awarded for the operation. And the reward corresponded to his military deeds - the medal "For Courage".
In the spring of 1987, units of the regiment took part in the operation near Jalalabad. The reconnaissance platoon of the 3rd battalion, together with the reconnaissance company of the regiment, landed on one of the mountains above the “greenery”.
“We were already going down the hill when we met the scouts of the 3rd platoon,” recalled reconnaissance company soldier Safomidin Gadoev. “There was a woman with a small child with them. She was trying to explain something. Misha Kravchenko came up to me: “You’re a translator, talk to me.” with her. Maybe she knows where the “spirits” are?” From a conversation with the woman, I understood that she wanted to show us a “spiritual” cave with weapons. Finding an ammunition warehouse is a great success. This is the main task of most combat exits, and we went behind her. The woman approached the cave first and disappeared inside with the child. Misha followed her. Aimed shots from the cave hit him in the head and neck. Mishka fell and rolled down. That was the first time I saw the death of a comrade. And it was a hundred times more painful because it was Misha - a man who could do everything for any soldier, could give the last piece of bread. He was equal with everyone: with those guys who had already gone to combat, and with soldiers who had not yet smelled gunpowder. After battle, we took Misha down and sent him by plane to Kabul. But before that we surrounded the cave and threw grenades at it..."
It is difficult to add anything to such words about a comrade in arms. This is what they say about a Man with a capital M and a big heart. This is exactly what Misha Kravchenko was. Misha is a medical instructor. Like all fallen soldiers who honestly fulfilled their military duty, he was awarded the Order of the Red Star. But I think such a guy deserves more" ("Misha the Medical Instructor", essay).

In total, privates and sergeants died - 232 people.

The total number of killed doctors is 328 people.

At the end of this material, a poem by Vladislav Ismagilov “To Military Doctors” is given. This author himself served in military service in 1986-88. in Afghanistan, since 1987 - as part of the Special Operations Forces there are 22 special forces brigades in Kandahar...

Drink. I'm so thirsty
But I need to forget even to think about it.
That's what my sister said.
Live. How I want to live.
I scream with my soul, but I remain silent with my body.
Eh, a sip of water.
Pain. The pain spreads.
The abdominal area is numb, and the rest of the arm is tied with a tourniquet above the elbow.
Salt. There's only salt on my lips.
I'm probably in hell and I can see my own bones.
Here, in the medical battalion, I’m lying,
I look at Varlam; they say he is with death on YOU. He is a surgeon from God.
I am waiting. I'm waiting for deliverance.
And in the eyes there are circles, then colorlessness, then that damned “Simurgh” with a surprise.
That's it, I'm going into oblivion.
I see my body from above,
And Varlam, who with his sister casts a spell on him.
Eh, he's going to drink today
Even if he mends the holes, I might end up alive.
Down. I'm falling from above,
It was as if I had taken a step behind the cornice. Darkness.
Either this or that.
Takeoff. The board hung over the base.
The wind blew over me, which means I’m alive and off to Kabul.
Well, Varlamych, with victory!
There, under Afghan's back.
This board is not a “tulip”; the pilots turned towards us along the way. Alive Well, thank you, Varlam!
You bargained for me, and again you are sick of this work.
To you,
To you,
The entire family medical service, who, like designers, assembled us piece by piece day after day.
To you,
Who, amid groans and screams, bloody bandages, fulfills his duty.
God bless you for your hard work!
God bless you for the lives you saved and your care!
God bless you for insomnia scary nights!
God bless you! And He will definitely give, for sure.
To you,
Dear sisters, nurses, doctors, paramedics, medical instructors.
To you, the entire dear medical service, who are us, like designers...
To you from sisters, mothers, daughters, sons,
Wives, brothers and friends, and, of course, us - bow to you.
Everything a soldier can do to a soldier, despite his shoulder straps.
God bless you! God bless you! God bless you!

Medics of the 40th Army gained enormous experience in the Afghan war. From the moment the troops were brought in until the minute the last soldier left Afghanistan, military doctors conducted colossal work, saving the lives and restoring the health of thousands of our soldiers.

Under the 40th Army, several hospitals operated in Afghanistan. The central military hospital was deployed in Kabul. The personnel arrived here at the end of February 1980 from the Leningrad Military District. At first, doctors lived in tents on the outskirts of the city. They had surgery there. A few weeks later, the Afghans specially vacated the premises, and the hospital was moved to the central part of the capital.

In addition, large hospitals were located in Kandahar, Puli-Khumri, Kunduz under the 201st Motorized Rifle Division and in Shindand. Later, in these same cities and Jalalabad, the command of the 40th Army had to set up infectious diseases hospitals. A fairly large network of hospitals was supplemented by medical battalions and medical companies of units where first aid was provided.

Our doctors literally pulled people out of the other world after severe injuries, injuries and illnesses.

One of the first serious tests for military doctors was the hepatitis epidemic that overwhelmed the Limited contingent. We failed to promptly organize strict compliance with sanitary standards by everyone and avoid mass infection diseases that are traditional in South-East Asia. The dry climate, high temperature, lack of drinking water and field conditions for the deployment of units made it difficult to combat epidemics. Jaundice was no less for us dangerous enemy than dushmans.

For example, in October, November and December 1981, in the Shindand garrison, where the 5th Motorized Rifle Division, which I commanded at that time, was stationed, more than three thousand people were sick with hepatitis at the same time. With varying degrees of severity, including critical, all the deputy division commanders, except one, were hospitalized with me. Of the regiment commanders, only two remained in service, four were in the hospital. Thus, the division found itself in a difficult situation during this period.

In subsequent years, hepatitis, typhoid fever and other diseases made themselves felt, although not in such alarming proportions as it was at first. And yet many soldiers and officers of the Limited Contingent suffered these terrible diseases. Military doctors showed all their skills in these critical situations. The patients were provided with qualified assistance. Over time, special equipment was brought from the Union, and excellent stationary laboratories and diagnostic centers were created.

Among the military doctors who were part of the Limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, there were many scientists, including candidates and doctors of science. The vast majority of them graduated from the Military Medical Academy in Leningrad.

In the 40th Army, doctors were cherished and loved. Many were known by sight. For example, there were legends about the golden hands of the military surgeon Colonel Andrei Andreevich Lyufing. For a long time he headed the Central Military Hospital in Kabul. Under him, field surgery in Afghanistan rose to a very high level. The lives of many soldiers and officers were saved by the brilliant military surgeon Colonel Yuri Viktorovich Nemytin. And there were many of them. I don't think they were specifically selected for service in Afghanistan. Most likely no. The very system of training specialists for the armed forces presupposes the presence of real professionals in the army.

Over nine years, military doctors of the 40th Army acquired invaluable experience. From the point of view of the participation of Soviet troops, the Afghan war became the most massive in the last half century. Until 1979, Soviet military personnel participated in local armed conflicts in Egypt, Syria and some other “third world” countries. But in these wars, as a rule, they were assigned the role of military advisers. If the Soviet leadership decided to use combat units, it kept their number to a minimum.

This was the first time we had to deploy an entire army on wartime staff and conduct large-scale military operations involving aviation after the end of the Great Patriotic War.

Medical personnel, especially military doctors, who were always with the units in the area of ​​operations, showed great personal courage. During major military operations, they were assisted by combined teams and operational groups of surgeons formed from hospital employees. Field operations were set up just a few kilometers from where the battle was taking place.

During the years of the Afghan war, more than fifty thousand people were injured of varying degrees of severity. Military doctors and nurses spent almost all the time next to the wounded, nursing and raising soldiers and officers to their feet.

Elmira Aksarieva returned from Kabul in December 1988.

February 15 is the official date for the withdrawal of the Soviet contingent from Afghanistan. Several hundred Kazakhstanis disappeared or died from 1979 to 1989 in this country. They, simple boys who remained forever in the mountains of Afghanistan, are called “heroes of someone else’s war.”

This is rarely remembered, but in addition to male soldiers, there were also women there. Little Russians (then all people from Soviet Union called Russians - Approx. author) girls with frightened eyes who had to pull fighters out literally from the other world.

Nurse Elmira Aksarieva told the correspondent about how to exchange peaceful Tashkent for war-torn Kabul, return back and not forget yourself in the Afghan war.

“I was 28 years old. I wanted to work abroad. At that time I was a KGB employee in Tashkent. I was called to the military registration and enlistment office only in July 1987, from there I was assigned to the central hospital of Kabul as a nurse. I worked for a year and a half until the first withdrawal of troops in December 1988...", recalls Elmira.

Only on the plane from Tashkent to Kabul did the girl finally realize that she was flying to war.

"I ended up in transit with everyone. We took off at night. We flew for 45 minutes on a military plane and were in Kabul already in the morning. Because of my worries, I immediately fell asleep. The next day at 10:00 we were lined up and distributed, who went where. We were women and men of different professions, civilians. They were brought to the hospital and distributed into modules, now they call it barracks. They lived there,” says the woman.

Work in Afghan therapy was clearly different from Tashkent. People were brought here in very different conditions. Sometimes and in parts...

"There are a lot of patients - very different. They were brought to in serious condition... Lots of tests, consultations throughout the hospital. They worked for days, two on their feet. It was impossible to sleep at night. The hospital in the military unit was closed. It was impossible to leave: it was a protected zone,” says Elmira.

Everyone was on edge.

The hospital was located not far from the houses where Afghans somehow tried to survive: people angry at the war, devastation and strangers who had lived in their city for almost ten years.

"I just stayed in the department: I stayed with a fellow countrywoman. I went out into the street after duty. Something exploded. Hardly. The car near the walls of the hospital was filled with explosives from our laboratory. No one was hurt, but the guard was stunned. I was frightened, I was in shock people. We calmed the sick. Everyone started running... It was scary! This is the central hospital, the dushmans did not approach it very much, but they frightened Soviet citizens in such ways," the woman says.

Doctors and nurses did not dare to go out into the streets of Kabul alone. But there was a temptation: there were too many foreign goods on the shelves for the inexperienced Soviet eye.

"We went with the permission of the authorities. Usually with an escort. And it was so scary to walk. Such cases were told that they could kill people and do even worse. When I first went out into the city, I remember that it was divided into poor, middle and richer areas. It was scary to go out alone, although I can’t say that Kabul was destroyed. It was poor. Can’t be compared with our cities: I compared it with Tashkent - heaven and earth. But there were foreign goods there, and on the market you can I had to find everything,” recalls Elmira.

Residents of Kabul looked at the visitors with caution, but gradually they began to get used to the visiting doctors.

"Shuravi. They called us "Shuravi" - Russians. The common people who lived nearby did nothing bad to us. There was no aggression. They just looked at us with interest. The small children already knew the Russian language, because our military were not there the first year. They came up and could start talking. But I didn’t learn the local language,” says the woman.

It’s hot in Kabul in the summer, and Elmira looked with incomprehension and regret at the Afghan women covered from head to toe.

Until I met them on the volleyball court.

“I am a volleyball player, and a whole team gathered because we had to compete with a team of Afghan women. I was the captain of the team. They came to us on the territory of the hospital, we had a playground, and there we played together. I was surprised that they In general, there are volleyball players. In the city, women go mostly covered. It’s rare to see an uncovered girl. Even young girls are covered with a black scarf, and there is a net over their eyes. Their faces are almost invisible. But they came to volleyball like ordinary girls: in sportswear and shorts , with uncovered hair,” Elmira recalls with a smile.

By the way, there, at work in a military hospital, she met her future husband, a military man who ended up on the operating table in surgery.

They merried.

“After recovery, he returned to his unit. When we went home, during the first withdrawal of troops, on December 22, there was no such winter, the Afghans said. It was cold. But I wouldn’t say that: winter in those days was like in Alma-Ata It was snowing, it was 1988,” says Elmira Aksarieva.

They arrived in Tashkent, and from there they left for Kazakhstan.

Then, what is now commonly called the fashionable word “post-traumatic syndrome” or “PTSD” began to happen to her husband.

He hasn't fully "returned" from Afghanistan.

“He was shell-shocked. The person becomes nervous, twitchy. But not like the others they were talking about. But it was clear from him what he had gone through,” the woman shared.

And then the vodka started.

"Yes. There was vodka. Not with me - I didn’t drink at all. I’ve now been divorced from him for more than 15 years, and it’s all “thanks” to this vodka. He drank a lot. Not much, but he drank. Often. A person changes completely, loses common sense,” the woman said bitterly.

Now she has two adult daughters and grandchildren. None of their family went into medicine.

Elmira is afraid to even think that one day her children will find themselves in a zone of armed conflict.

“It’s scary to think about it, to be honest. When I left, filled out the documents, I didn’t tell my parents anything and presented them with a fait accompli when I already received a call from the military registration and enlistment office. For seven months they didn’t know anything. My dad took me, my mom and my brother voucher to Issyk-Kul. I had to leave with them. And at that moment I received a call. I had to hand over the voucher and tell my mother everything. On July 17, I sent my mother to Issyk-Kul, and I left on the 23rd. I remember how on the first Once I came on vacation and saw my mother completely gray. I don’t wish this on anyone...” the woman said with tears in her voice.

Alexander Vasilyevich Nazarenko was in Afghanistan for almost two years. He rescued wounded soldiers and officers from the clutches of death - he worked as a surgeon in a field hospital. Today Nazarenko continues to operate, but at “ citizen" - at the Kirov interdistrict hospital. And although this war for Soviet soldiers ended 25 years ago, in the minds of Alexander Vasilyevich, like hundreds of thousands of other soldiers who passed through this hot spot in all respects, Afghanistan is still raging. In the form of nightmares, split into two parts of life - before and after.

Afghanistan for the guilty

Colonel of the Medical Service Alexander Vasilievich Nazarenko worked as the head of the surgical department of a military field hospital in Afghanistan from 1984 to 1986. As the surgeon himself says, all of his service took place in the rear, so he does not have a certificate of combat participation. But he still dreams of war.

Before Afghanistan, Nazarenko served in Kuibyshev (now Samara) as a senior resident in the emergency surgery department at the district hospital.

As Alexander Vasilyevich admits, he was sent to Afghanistan because of a conflict with his boss - a widespread practice at that time. The head of the district hospital was one of those who in the army are called “marathoners.” Every morning he called the senior resident to report the situation. Naturally, Nazarenko, as a doctor who is primarily interested in the health of his patients, reported on the condition of the patients. But the boss interrupted the subordinate and demanded something else - a message about whether the territory was cleaned, whether the grass was painted, etc. One day Nazarenko could not restrain himself and said to the tyrant: “I thought that you were interested in the fate of the wounded and sick.” The vain military man did not forgive his subordinate’s insolence: he immediately went to the personnel service and ordered Nazarenko to be included in the list of those sent to Afghanistan.

Later, Alexander Vasilyevich learned that almost everyone who ended up in a hot spot were outcasts, just like him. No volunteers were sent there. The Soviet leadership thought that the volunteers were heading to Afghanistan in order to escape abroad from there.

Hospital at war

After two weeks of training at the district hospital in Tashkent (TurkVO), Nazarenko was sent to Afghanistan. The field hospital was deployed at the base of the medical battalion, where doctors and surgeons worked general practice. But when the wounded were brought in, they had to be dealt with by military specialists. Therefore, when military operations were underway in a field hospital, reinforcement groups were created (units designed to strengthen medical stations when the volume of work of the latter exceeds their regular or professional capabilities - Note edit .). There were five surgical reinforcement groups in the hospital where Nazarenko served: thoracic - wounds in the chest, abdominal - in the stomach, neurosurgical - in the skull, traumatological - in the limbs, and urological.

“I graduated from the Military Medical Academy with the rank of captain and was sent to operate in the abdominal reinforcement group,” recalls a participant in the Afghan events. - We stood in operations for several hours. Turntables (helicopters) land and bring soldiers. I operate on one, and on another table the next one is given anesthesia. I’ll operate, hand it over to an assistant to stitch up the abdominal wall, and then I’ll open up the other one.

Army bureaucracy

Not only the Mujahideen fought against our soldiers, but also the climatic conditions - above all, the unbearable heat.

It was so hot that the oxygen cylinders were heating up,” Nazarenko recalls. - And then there are complications for patients - pneumonia one after another. We think it’s summer, it’s hot, what kind of pneumonia could it be? The anesthesiologist put his hand under the stream of oxygen - and it was hot. It got so hot in the sun that the wounded suffered burns to their upper arms. respiratory tract. They began to dig dugouts directly under the surgical department and store oxygen there. Because of the heat, ours agreed with the “spirits” not to shoot from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. And so they fight until 11 o’clock, then they collect the wounded and dead. They are brought by helicopters to the hospital. It's lunch break at this time. All departments go to the canteen, and we, surgeons, radiologists, our staff, the emergency department, work. We are finishing, and the dining room is already closed. At 16 o'clock the war begins again... And there are mountains, the sun sets early. At 7 pm the wounded are brought in again. Everyone goes to dinner, and we go back to the operating room. You will only leave there late at night. There is a kettle of boiling water, a can of condensed milk, a can of stew and a brick of bread - that’s your lunch and dinner. The wounded also arrived at night. A soldier comes and shouts: “Nazarenko!” Someone wakes up and says: “He’s sleeping in the corner of the tent.” He pushes me away, and I operate again. That's how they worked. For many hours without a break.

Due to the heat, the epidemic situation was difficult. Therefore, there were sanitary requirements: the toilet had to be located 200 meters from the hospital. This played into the hands of the dushmans, who managed to plant a mine on this two-hundred-meter trail at night. And people were undermined. But the sapper was not kept in the unit. It wasn't supposed to.

The bureaucratic attitude of the top military leadership aggravated the situation of the military on the territory of the Afghan Republic. When the war in Afghanistan began, soldiers were sent there in the usual uniform: officers in ChSh (pure wool), soldiers in PSh (wool blend), chrome or cowhide boots. The clothes, to put it mildly, are unsuitable for hot climates. The officers changed their uniforms to soldiers' uniforms. But with boots it was worse - my feet swelled so much that the shoes didn’t fit...

And the fact that Alexander Vasilyevich today calls himself a “rear rat”, and the fact that, in fact, according to documents, he is not a participant in the fighting in Afghanistan, is, of course, unfair. After all, two years of stay there are not only endless operations. Although the hospital was carefully covered on all sides by Soviet units, shells reached it as well. In Kabul, a nurse's legs were blown off by a shell that flew into the hospital grounds. Many times over two years, Nazarenko had to fly from one point of the country to another, running the risk that the helicopter could be shot down. There were also invisible bullets, which often hit personnel more than real ones.

Just imagine: our infectious diseases hospital consisted of six departments: typhoid fever, malaria, hepatitis, amoebiasis, and just dysentery,” says a military surgeon. “Today a soldier goes on a mission, gets wounded, and tomorrow, lo and behold, he turns yellow.” He is an infectious patient. It cannot be left in the general postoperative ward; everyone will become infected. We have to transfer him to the infectious diseases department, but he is wounded. You also go to the infectious diseases departments and bandage your wounded.

But Nazarenko’s most difficult memories are associated with the fact that he, a military surgeon, had to autopsy corpses in order to prepare them for shipment to their homeland. What have I not seen...

What is behind Afghanistan?

Today, assessments about the entry of Soviet troops into Afghanistan are extremely contradictory. However, the majority of people believe that this was a gross mistake by the Soviet leadership. But there are also opinions that in this way the country of the Soviets tried to protect its borders from the United States and NATO. The war in Afghanistan became a convenient excuse for the creation of American military bases from which US and NATO armed forces could destroy Soviet nuclear facilities at close range with their conventional forces.

Purely from a human perspective, I think that these 9 years of war and 15 thousand dead - young, healthy guys - were in vain. And how many were crippled both physically and psychologically, and how many died from diseases! But you look on TV: every year up to 40 thousand people die on the roads, and they are also young. We had tank regiments and an anti-aircraft missile regiment in our garrison. And when I came to check on the medical service of the regiments, laughing, I asked: “Why are you standing here, ZRP? Doesn’t the enemy have aviation?” They answered: “Our task is to block the Persian Gulf.” But all the oil in the United States came from there, it was transported by tankers. Technology without oil, without gasoline is dead. And the same goes for tank regiments: what can they do there in the mountains, there’s nowhere to even turn around. I think their task was the same. Apparently, there were strategic plans that we don’t even know about. Maybe it was important to keep the international situation in order,” Nazarenko suggests.

Now many researchers of the events of 1979-1989 in Afghanistan are trying to discredit our soldiers, presenting them as invaders. However, our troops entered this country after repeated requests (21 requests) from the Afghan government to do so.

At first, the local population greeted the Soviet troops with flowers and loved us,” says Nazarenko. “We built them roads, airfields, found water in their mountains, and did all this for free. And other countries, especially capitalist ones, did not help in any way, because they did not want people to live normally and the country to develop. And then the enemy began to harm us - they began to slip drugs to our soldiers. There were also mistakes by the Soviet leadership: they tried to send people there from the orphanage, some of whom would either end up in prison or in the army. Our troops began to misbehave and made mistakes in shooting. For example, on a tip from the Afghans (random or not?), instead of militants, a village with a civilian population was destroyed, and the population became embittered because of this.

Mercenaries and traitors

Perhaps other facts provide indirect evidence that the war in Afghanistan was not entirely civil. Alexander Vasilyevich recalls how an entire regiment of dushmans during the truce went over to the side of the government troops only because they stopped paying them. Then, when money appeared, these same people were bought back. There were quite a few mercenaries who were not of eastern origin.

There were caves in the mountains, karizs (used by the Mujahideen as bomb shelters) - says Nazarenko. - There were snipers in them - women, world champions in bullet shooting, one was French, the other was Italian. And so they aim a sniper rifle. They look through the sight: a soldier has entered the store, but the price for him is low, so he is not worth a shot, they let him through. They looked - the colonel came there too. Killed. Because of this, at the end of 1984 we were given khaki uniforms without identification marks. But the age of a person is visible through optics, so the mercenaries still identified and killed the officers.

There were many mercenaries on the enemy side,” the military surgeon continues his story. - One day I was returning from vacation. The plane was flying from Kabul to Shindand. I made a stop in Kandahar, where the fighting was going on. I did surgeries there for a while. I saw mercenaries there. They were in great shape - all young and healthy. They wore black camouflage, absolutely black. And how wonderfully they ran! From stone to stone in flight it shoots three times, one bullet always hits the target.

According to the interlocutor, there were traitors among the Soviet soldiers. The division's intelligence chief thought that he would be promoted, but this did not happen, and he defected to the enemy. And since he had maximum information about the actions and plans of our troops, for another two years after his defection to the enemy, the military unit suffered defeats.

There was one sergeant,” says Nazarenko. - A very good grenade launcher. What didn't he like? He went to the enemy's side. And he started hitting our tanks and cars with a grenade launcher. They are not visible from the mountains, he sits and destroys his own. So the spirits gave him as many as a hundred people to accompany him, and he received a lot of money for each downed object. Did a lot of damage.

The sergeant was caught and court-martialed. But there were more of those who could be called heroes. The helicopter brought young guys, and the demobilized guys were supposed to be taken back to their homeland on the same flight. And if the reconnaissance group reported at that time that a gang had been discovered, the “old men” stayed and went instead of the young ones to neutralize it. Some died. Experienced soldiers carried the wounded young from the battlefield.

The statistics were approximately as follows: for two killed, five were wounded. Those. If throughout the entire Afghan Soviet army the Soviet army lost a little more than 15 thousand soldiers, then there were about 75 thousand wounded.

Alexander Vasilyevich Nazarenko operated on about a thousand people during his two years of service in Afghanistan. Among them were not only soldiers and officers Soviet army, but also the injured civilian population of Afghanistan, and the wounded from government troops, and even prisoners of war.

They wanted to nominate Alexander Vasilyevich for the Order of the Red Star, but the chief of medicine said: “Do you see my Red Star? Until I get it and you won’t have it either.” But Nazarenko still has military awards: the Star “For Service to the Motherland, 3rd degree” and the Afghan Order “For Bravery” (something like our Red Star). He does not have any benefits other than payment for travel, since on his military ID he only has the note: “served in Afghanistan.”

He received the rank of colonel and the position of leading surgeon several years after returning from Afghanistan, when he worked in a hospital in Kazan. In 1994, when he turned 50 years old, Alexander Vasilyevich left the Armed Forces. In 1995, together with his wife and son, he moved from Kazan to the village of Sinyavino. He has been working as a civilian surgeon for almost 20 years now.

The consequences of any war are terrible because its wounds do not heal after years and even decades. And not only among those people who returned from combat points wounded and maimed. For soldiers who have been to war, its trace remains forever in their souls and memories.