Mariya asked me about my army life. She might as well asked me ABOUT MY LIFE. Here are some illustrations. Based on my readers’ comments, I might continue with this story…
I joined the Army in November 1966, and after graduating from a Sergeant School this is what I looked like in 1967. I spent my first two years in the famous Anti-Aircraft Defense Army #1 – defending USSR’s capital – the city of Moscow. Which was convenient: we could get out of our ‘secret’ woods and visit the city sometimes.

When I asked one of the officers, how come the missiles used for defending the Kremlin were more than twenty years old and still secret, he said: “The fact that we are still using them, and didn’t come-up with anything better IS THE SECRET!” After that he probably made a note in his log about my curious mind… 🙂

One of my best friends at that time was this guy. Also Vadim.

Best memories of my army life were related to flying all over the world as a linguist crewmember.

In 1971 I was sent to Egypt for a whole year. I served in several places. First in Air Defense units, and then in a TU-16 Air Force Training Center in Asuan.

Training Ethiopians to become… communists. Really, we trained 250 select officers from the Ethi0pian armed forces so that they can form a communist party when they go back to Ethiopia. One of the examples of Soviet expansion.

This was taken near Leningrad, where for several months I was involved in training Ethipians Artillery specialists and officers. ЦАОК – Центральные артиллерийские офицерские курсы. All the training was conducted in the summer camp and it was fun!

This picture was taken near the end of my military service in Frunze (now Bishkek), Kyrghyzstan. I quit the Soviet Air Force in July 1987, reaching by that time the rank of Captain.