“I was a Russian soldier in the early 70’s. After I left and went to Bulgaria, then Greece, Britain and then the United States.

As young Soviets, we were trained to despise Americans and to dream of the day where we set our boots on the White House lawn. Even in school we were given classes on machine guns and the Kalashnikov.

My grandson is a US Marine now. He often would call me during his first year of training and complain, ‘They have us up at 1 in the morning saying your enemy is training just has hard if not harder than you right at this moment. I just don’t believe them.’

I say to my grandson, ‘I promise you, somewhere they are.’

I will admit, at times I do miss parts of the army. Not so much the brainwashing to destroy Capitalism…but have you ever witnessed a full military parade? Marching instep with thousands of other men can make you feel very powerful.

I went to see my grandsons graduation parade and could only smile as I heard the old Soviet anthem words in my head. Some things you can never turn off.”
– Anonymous former Russian Soldier. 1970-1975
————-
This story was documented by Battles and Beers (TM) Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.