Russian Veterans vs. American Veterans

Amazing ….. how others see us ….

Russian Veterans vs. American Veterans

by Steve Mungie

For more than four years I have been corresponding with a disabled Afghani (combat) veteran, who fought against the Afghanis in the 1980’s …. he was doing then, what are guys are doing now.  I guess that goes to show ya …. the dumbass Amerikannskis didn’t learn any lessons, from the failures of others!
 
He is a Ukrainian (former Soviet soldier) lieutenant colonel, medically retired.
 
"Vladimir" (not his real name) was a field commander in a group which is comparable to America’s Rangers..  He was a paratrooper, who had an accident on his last "jump" (into Afghanistan), shattering his back, and being  totally disabled. 
 
A few important things I learned from him: 
 
His country’s version of the "VA" (Veteran’s Administration) is just as bad (and maybe worse) than ours;  fighting tooth and nail for whatever it is that one gets when disabled is more than mountain of paperwork ….sometimes it takes "physical violence" against bureaucrats to accomplish the impossible!   Of course, he never said WHAT he did, or how, or why …. but after some ten years of fighting with them, he won.

What he "won" is scary:  first, he got a small government house (a two bedroom apartment) in some small military compound, located in a village in the mountains of southern Ukraine.  Granted, that may not sound too bad … after all it includes all utilities, telephone, computer, free train tickets (whenever he needs to travel) … and he is required to travel to his VA "sanitarium" once every quarter for "the works".  His average stay is a week.
 
He also gets free college (oh boy!) for him, his two kids and wife.  What he lacks is hard old fashioned cash money …. his monthly stipend amounts to the equivalent to about EIGHTEEN DOLLARS (US) per month!   Now granted, his cost of living is near zero (compared to us!) … practically everything is included, including a free garden (which he must maintain) and boxed groceries, delivered weekly, and free beer (hmmmm!) and tobacco.
 
For a "Light Bird" with ten years service, that sucks!
 
What I learned is that we don’t have bad at all, especially when you add it all up.  
 
I am at 100% disabled, and have been since 1991, and although I lack the ability to do a lot of things I’d love to do, I can’t complain, after he told me about his lot in life.  And he was a colonel …. shit, the best I ever made it to was WO1, and that was temporary.
 
Another thing learned ….. our governments both suck bad …. he complains about how Putin and his pigs constantly harass the government of Ukraine (even though Ukraine is a sovereign nation), and that their president  Shaskavilii (sp?) is a skirt-chasing, habitual liar and a psychopath …. damn, sound familiar? 
 
Of course, they see on their TV, the English language news from BBC London, and other outlets, how  OUR nation is going through the same problems the former USSR went through BEFORE IT COLLAPSED!   Internal strife, monetary corruption, and collapse of its economy, followed by …. war. IS that what we can expect?
 
It surprised me when he said the government allows them satellite TV … including American and European stations.   Wow …. they actually have MORE FREEDOMS that we do!
 
He is seeing what we are not …… as the "outside" world sees us … the corruption, the mass killings on the battlefields, the internal upheaval.   Gee, I wonder if we will ever take a good look around us and discover what’s really going on …..
 
In a sense, we "compared notes", and I discovered more than I ever wanted to know … and he’s right! Bush is a psychopath …. they fear McCain … and Obama is a Muslim (their fear of Muslims is far beyond our comprehension!)  …. but then the world already knows that!