America? No more your America..

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

The article is huge and constantly updated. I recommend reading. Remembering the fallen is the duty of the living. I think the author will not be offended that I allow myself to place fragments of his WORK. It was very difficult to choose these passages, because each person from this list is unique, and behind his fate and life are the lives of the saved soldiers and officers. Kudos to them.......

During the period of hostilities in Afghanistan, performing medical debt, 46 medical officers were killed.

"Let's erect a monument to doctors,
How do we put up a monument to soldiers.
We trusted their hands
They entrusted life in medical battalions.
We will erect a monument to doctors
For the fact that they died in battles
And bled out there
Where the soldiers gave blood.
We will erect a monument to doctors
For fidelity to conscience and duty,
Who went to meet all the deaths
Dear fiery and long.
We will erect a monument to doctors
Among the sacred obelisks.
Let the memory keep for centuries
Far away that was close.
Let's erect a monument to doctors!"

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

List of dead 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. medical colonel
Botov V.M. medical lieutenant colonel
Bunak A.E. senior lieutenant of the medical service
Burov Yu.V. medical lieutenant colonel
Valishin I.A. medical lieutenant
Vashchenko V.E. major of the medical service
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. major of the medical service
Dubrovin A.D. medical colonel
Zhibkov Yu.E. medical colonel
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. medical colonel
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. medical lieutenant colonel
Mikhailov F.I. medical colonel
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. major of the medical service
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 service lieutenant
Serikov A.M. medical lieutenant colonel
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 name-patronymic was indicated only by initials, the dates of birth and death of the officers were not shown.
As a result of the prospecting 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, the circumstances of death have been established. The list of dead nurses has been clarified, the circumstances of the death have been supplemented. A list of dead ensigns has been compiled. Compiled a list of privates and non-commissioned officers(more than two hundred and thirty dead are already included), as new dead are discovered, the list will be supplemented.

Begishev Elgizer Fedorovich. Art. lieutenant m / s, doctor 154 OOSpN. Born on 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. Repeatedly took part in combat operations, providing medical care to the wounded and organizing their evacuation from the battlefield. Died in battle (MTLB car was blown up by a landmine) on September 6, 1983. Awarded with the Order"For Service to the Homeland in the USSR Armed Forces", 3rd class and the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). He was buried at home in Tashkent at the Minor cemetery.
The following is the material of Dmitry Reznikov: "Igor Skirta, an officer of the detachment, spoke about the tragic events during the transition in the column of scouts of the 154th Special Forces and the death of doctors Kryshtal, Begishev and orderly Trofimov." - From the memoirs "Do not forget me you, Afgan ..." Skirta: "September 1983 ... Finally, the long-awaited replacement has begun, several officers have already left, and you look forward to every helicopter arrival - suddenly your replacement will arrive - but it still does not fly, infection, but the order "arrived" - 4 2nd company to march to the village of Gardez to conduct 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 helicopters with greater safety to a given area The battalion commander reinforced the company with three BMP-2s of the 1st company, the group commander Nikolai Merkulov and a "tablet" - a medical evacuation vehicle based on MTLB with two surgeons - senior lieutenant Begishev and his replacement, lieutenant, who had just graduated from the Leningrad medical academy. For two days, Salang successfully passed 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 that, although we were special forces, they would not let us in alone - wait for a passing column. The group leader, Captain Posokhov, ZKB, decided to wait. Very soon a convoy of "fillers" arrived - about 30 KAMAZ trucks, and, accompanied by a group of Kabul paratroopers, we set off with God ... I will not describe this horror. I will cite only the figures - halfway through, the spirits burned 12 "nalivniks", the landing force lost 2 armored personnel carriers. After n.p. We decided to move the barracks ourselves, but in vain - having driven 2-3 km, the "tablet" ran into a contact mine - an explosion great strength turns the MTLB over and tears 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 paramedic sergeant with his hand torn off is still alive, we hardly free him from under the car and, with a helicopter that has arrived, we evacuate him to the hospital, where he died of blood loss the next day.
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 is preserved:
“We were driving side by side all the time, the first two BRDM vehicles, the first one was Posokhov, behind him we, communication, on the BMP KSh, and behind us the medical unit on the MTLB. When we passed Kabul, our convoy buried itself in the tail of the column of tankers on KAMAZ trucks. These cars were with fuel and lubricants, barrels and trailers with smaller barrels. They were accompanied by "Vitebsk citizens" with forces of no more than a company and there were also "turntables". and says, they say, put on your "armor", they began to fire at the column of tankers. This column was large and stretched out in front of us for 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 15 o'clock, on the left from the "green" the column was intensively fired from small arms, and there were many ambushes, they were long along the front, up to a kilometer. At about 23-24 hours, the column arrived at the settlement. Barracks. During this time, the tankers lost 11 KAMAZ trucks (1 with a ZUshka). An armored personnel carrier with the entire crew and troops was blown up near the "Vitebsk residents", they were taken out under fire by "turntables".
We spent the night in Baraki, where the battalion of 56th Airborne Battalion was stationed. Early in the morning of 09/06/83 we moved on to Gardez. Before leaving, I remember well how Lieutenant Kryshtal washed his face - one of the young soldiers poured water on him ...
We left. The fillers are ahead again. As soon as they passed these Barracks, the shelling began again, however, already on the right from the "green". They set fire to 2 more fillers. ZIL, apparently, an escort car, began to go around the road on the right along a higher gentle slope of the road and, of course, was blown up on the "Italian". We successfully passed all this "piling up" on the left. They began to catch up with the nalivnikov, but then behind us as if "shied away". We already threw the stern on the KShMke. I turned around, but everything was in smoke. MTLB at that moment was in the air 5-7 meters from the roadbed up with rollers, then crashed across the road. The tower flew off for 50 meters, and the stretcher flew through the air for a long time.
Naturally, we immediately stopped. All died immediately except for one soldier. He was lying on the pavement, and his legs were crushed by armor. Minesweeper, Captain Ilyin (head engineering service Detachment - approx. the author) examined the scene of the tragedy and came to the conclusion that the landmine was put on the closure of the tracks. In the entire column (together with the fillers), the first tracked vehicle that drove along this track was MTLB ... "

Viberg Sergey Uguvich. Senior lieutenant m / s, head of the medical service of the road commandant battalion. Born on 06/04/1959. in the city of Abaza, Tashtypsky 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. Participating in military operations, he showed steadfastness, dedication and high professional excellence. 06/04/1987 the automobile column, which was accompanied by 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).
An eyewitness recollection of this tragic day is given: “They died on June 4, 1987, among the fallen were I.M. Shaidullin and I.M. ensign Alexander Stefan. - At the village of Kalatak, "spirits" squeezed our convoy. Cars were on fire. Commander captain Kurbakov rushed to the flaming KamAZ. Shaydullin jumped out after him - he was wounded in the stomach. A "nurse" drove up. Medic - Senior Lieutenant Wiberg together with the captain and the machine gunner, they began to put the wounded man on a stretcher, carried him to the car. A new burst from the mountains slashed. Everyone died, only the captain remained alive. Then he was treated for a long time in a hospital in the Union. Later on the highway you could often see the "beteer". By car on a red background the inscription: "The crew named after Senior Lieutenant S.U. Wiberg "- a warring monument to a medical officer".
It was installed by Viberg S.U. and an obelisk at Ulang (southern part of the road to Salang). In this place, dushmans often attacked the columns. Before the withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan, all the Obelisks (including the Obelisk to Viberg) were dismantled and taken to the Union.
Sergei Uguvich was buried at 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 on 21.03. 1956 in Tomsk, Russian. In the USSR Armed Forces from 08/19/1977. Graduated from the Military Medical Faculty at the Tomsk Medical Institute in 1979. In Afghanistan since December 1979. Served in 317th PDP 103rd Airborne Division. In combat 2.03. 1980 was in the parachute company. Under enemy fire, risking his life, he provided medical assistance to the wounded on the battlefield and led their evacuation. During the battle he was wounded, but did not leave the battlefield. Being surrounded along with the wounded, he directed the actions of the soldiers in repelling the attack. Covering the withdrawal of the wounded with fire, he was wounded a second time, this time mortally. For courage and bravery, high military prowess and dedication, he was awarded two Orders of the Red Star (the second - posthumously). He was buried at the city cemetery in Tomsk.

Linev Andrey Nikolaevich. Lieutenant m / s, junior doctor of the special forces detachment - 334 OOSpN ( separate detachment special purpose), Asadabad. Born on June 20, 1962 in Voroshilovgrad, Ukrainian SSR. He studied at school N37 of the city of Voroshilovgrad. In the USSR Armed Forces from 4.08.1979. In June 1985 he graduated with honors military medical academy in Leningrad them. CM. Kirov (Naval Faculty). Was assigned to the Pacific Fleet. However, according to a personal report, Andrei is sent to Afghanistan, in early November 1985. arrived in the 15th special brigade. destination. In the military unit where he was sent, military operations were constantly taking place in the mountains, medical workers accompanied transport columns to combat missions. On December 3, 1985, Lieutenant Linev, as part of a special forces group, took part in a serious military operation in the province of Kunar. Their reconnaissance detachment carried out the task of carrying out ambush operations on the slopes of Mount Nasavasar (mark 3287) in the vicinity of the village of Ganjgal in order to destroy launchers of RSs and rebels, as well as to mine the area. When approaching one of the non-residential villages located in a mountain gorge, the group was subjected to intense shelling from the Mujahideen. During the battle with the enemy, when he attempted to encircle with superior forces, the group, in which Andrei was, was pressed against a rock. An unequal battle ensued (special forces doctors more often than others had to take a direct part in hostilities). Linev assisted two seriously wounded, then, covering their evacuation, destroyed four dushmans with the fire of his machine gun, thanks to which the enemy’s plan was thwarted, and the victims were taken to 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, the doctors fought for Andrei's life all week, but turned out to be fatal early, on December 10, Andrei died. For courage and heroism shown in the execution international debt, Andrei Nikolaevich Linev was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of War (posthumously). At the formation of the detachment, when parting with Lieutenant Linev, the battalion commander, Major Grigory Bykov, said: "He served with us for a little while, but managed to prove that he is a real special forces man. May each of us forever keep in our hearts the image of this brave sailor!". Buried in the city of Voroshilovgrad. Secondary school N37 was named after Andrey 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 they are faithfully served and carried in the same way as the young doctor Andrey Linev carried them through his whole life ...

Karasyuk Anatoly Vladimirovich. Ensign, paramedic-head of the medical center. Born on May 1, 1942. in the city of Chasov-Yar, Artyomovsky district Donetsk region, Ukrainian. He studied at secondary school N 19 in the city of Chasov-Yara and after graduating from the 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 the military service. He served in the Semipalatinsk region, in Omsk, in Artyomovsk. From 1976 to 1981 ensign Karasyuk A.V. served in the city of Veder, Potsdam district. Raisa Semyonovna, the wife of Anatoly Vladimirovich, said: “My husband was very kind and sympathetic. When we served in Germany, he almost always treated soldiers and children of military personnel, so he rarely came home on time. He knew his profession well and loved it very much; was proud that he was a military doctor. He had medicine in the foreground, only then - the family. But I did not take offense at him, I saw how people needed him, because he was often called to work even on odd days. Oleg wanted a son see only a doctor ... "
In Afghanistan since July 19, 1983. He served as the head of the medical center of military unit 93992, Jalalabad.
Excerpts from the letters of 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, an orderly. Carried out the" wounded and sick "from the fields teachings, cared for the sick, and remade, and cleaned in the wards, and sat next to the sick when necessary. I was not shy and was not considered that this was "below" my dignity. And here I was even more convinced that my place medicine. At the age of 23, he entered the Semipalatinsk Medical School. In the same city, Raya, your mother, met. And my grandfather was against my studies. They say, I will receive a penny, he offered to leave the medical school and go to study as a driver. After 6 months work in a career and 300 rubles in your pocket.But son, it’s not about money, my good, happiness.But happiness and joy when you get satisfaction from work, when you know that you bring benefit to people, that you didn’t just serve a shift , and you go home tired from work and remember how much good you did in a day, how many people you thank you - in my heart joyfully. 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 the 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. One winter is already left and we will slowly gather. So, mother, I live in hopes and dreams of the future. Time will pass, mother, decades will pass, and about us They'll still say, "Yes! They were internationalists...
In one of his last letters, Anatoly Vladimirovich wrote: “Well, my dears! All the best! fine..."
Performing a combat mission, faithful to the military oath and his professional duty, Anatoly Vladimirovich died on July 6, 1984 in aviation accident aboard MI6. For courage and courage shown in the performance of military duty, Ensign Karasyuk A.V. awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried in Artemovsk. A memorial plaque was installed at the Chasov-Yar school.
“As an integral part of everyday life, they are used to it here, and rarely does anyone hold their eyes on the chased lines. The everyday life of our prosaic time is flowing past and school kids are growing up to the beat of it ... Will they, the current ones, and will they be able to from the "market" arithmetic rise to the heights human soul. Question... I so want the character, the 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 of the Eye":

He seemed to see an angel's eyes
Through a dried red-brown bandage.
A dragonfly was circling in the sky,
And the helicopter propeller beat on the nerves ...

And the angel, leaning over the soldier,
She covered him with her whiteness,
With your sterile chintz outfit
From the dust that smells strongly of war.

And he held on long and hard
For an angelic hand,
And I heard the voice of an angel on the mountain,
Someone softly whispering "Arise! .."

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

And he looked and saw blue,
Non-angelic blue eyes
Drip drops into native streams
They have an angelic light tear.

And he, holding on to an angel's hand,
He prayed: "Sister, sister, do not let go! .."
And an angel in white and pink outfits
He whispered: "Darling, come on! .."

Moshenskaya Lyudmila Mikhailovna, nurse. She died on September 12, 1983. She was born on 07/04/1956. in Mariupol, Donetsk region of the Ukrainian SSR, Ukrainian. After graduating from Mariupol medical school in 1974 worked nurse in the children's department of the city hospital N4. She volunteered to work in the army. On a voluntary basis by the Ordzhonikidze RVC on May 7, 1983. 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). Working as a nurse showed high vocational training. Providing medical care to infectious patients, Lyudmila Moshenskaya herself became seriously ill and died of a severe form of typhoid fever. She was buried at home at the Novotroitsk cemetery in Mariupol.

Gonyshev Alexander Ivanovich. Junior sergeant, sanitary instructor. Born on 08/12/1965. in the village of Chernorechye Orenburg region Orenburg region. He worked on a collective farm. Called to the USSR Armed Forces on November 3, 1983 by the Orenburg RVC. In Afghanistan since May 1984. He served in 668 OOSpN. Died January 30, 1985 For courage and courage he was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home. The service record, written posthumously, says: "A small group of Soviet soldiers, which included junior sergeant Gonyshev, was ambushed by dushmans in one of the gorges. In the ensuing unequal battle two soldiers were badly wounded. Gonyshev gave them first aid, ordered the rest of his comrades to evacuate them to a safe place and report the incident to the command. And he himself remained in place and covered the withdrawal of his own to the rear with automatic fire. When help arrived in time, and the dushmans were knocked out, comrades found Sergeant Gonyshev dead at the battlefield. at the cost own life Guard ml. sergeant A.I. Gonyshev saved his comrades-in-arms, showing unbending stamina 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 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 of the 2nd group of the 1st company 334 OOSpN. Born on 01/10/1967. in the village of Kapustintsy, Lipovodolinsky district Sumy region Ukrainian SSR, Ukrainian. He worked at the state farm "Mikhailovka". Called up by the Lebedinsky RVC on October 8, 1985. to 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 December 27, 1986, the reconnaissance detachment of the 1st company carried out the task of mining 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 PPD (point of permanent deployment) to new year holidays. At night, already on the way to the target, the reconnaissance group, in which Sergey was located, lost its course and itself fell into a minefield. It was then that Private Dreval died in the area of ​​the settlement. Barva-Kolan during a mine explosion of the deputy commander of the group, Lieutenant Rudometov V.P., when he tried to take him to a safe place. Prior to this, he provided medical assistance to two wounded. He was 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 Airborne Red Banner Order of Suvorov, 3rd degree, regiment named after the 70th anniversary of the Lenin Komsomol. Born on December 27, 1965. in the village of Chernozubovka, Kokchetav region. (Kazakhstan), Ukrainian. At the end of rural high school entered vocational school-22 in Omsk. Called on May 7, 1984. Served in the Airborne Forces. In Afghanistan since November 1984. "Leonid wrote from Afghanistan to his younger brothers Nikolai and Yuri: "Go in for sports, train yourself as much as possible, accustom yourself to all adversities. Like here in Afghanistan. It is difficult for those who have not prepared themselves for anything. It is much easier for me, I can mountains, and even with a load on their shoulders. I feel sorry for the weak guys, they can not stand the difficulties and become limp ... "Leonid participated in 17 military operations. He fought on Afghan soil for more than a year. He fought skillfully, bravely, not without reason for the difference in battles he was awarded the medal "For Military Merit". AT last letter home reported that soon demobilization. However, on December 14, 1985. he went on another military operation ... The lines of the award list of the guard junior sergeant Zhuravel Leonid Vasilyevich: "12/14/1985, the paratrooper unit fought the enemy in the Khazar gorge. L. Zhuravel acted boldly and decisively, under the fire of the rebels provided medical assistance comrades. During the evacuation of the wounded, he himself was mortally wounded. For the courage and bravery of the guard Lance Sergeant Zhuravel Leonid Vasilievich is awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home. Much reminds me of him. An obelisk with a portrait of Leonid is installed in the cemetery, where students of the school go there twice a year on memorial days. And the school itself now bears his name - the name of Leonid Zhuravel. The street he lived on is also named after him. In the Urals, in the city of Satka ( Chelyabinsk region), fellow soldiers created a military-patriotic club named after Leonid Zhuravel. Many good words were said about Leonid by his relatives, friends, classmates, fellow soldiers. And, perhaps, everyone will join them, although they have never heard of a guy from Chernozubovka near Ishim. All these words are not needed by Leonid, they are needed by us - the living!" (from the essay by Pavel Andreev "I feel sorry for the weak guys"). Currently, the Zhuravel family has left Kazakhstan and lives in Germany - on historical homeland Leonid's mother - Irma Robertovna.

Kolaev Andrey Vladimirovich. Junior sergeant, sanitary instructor of reconnaissance company 191 omsp. Born on September 10, 1966. in Novokuibyshevsk, Russian. Called on 10/20/1984. In Afghanistan since March 1985. He died on April 6, 1985 from wounds received during a mine explosion. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home.
Colleague Levin Alexey (letter provided by Nekrasov I.P.) 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 near the location of the regiment.
“From the side, it was clear how an invisible force grabbed them all from below and lifted them up. When the car was thrown to the right, it was thrown again. The car was blown up twice. "what happened. We quickly jumped off the BMP-2 and ran to the blown up car. An artillery officer, already experienced and having served half his term, who jumped with me, shouted that we carefully approached the blown up car. The fact is that "Spirits", laying a land mine or an anti-tank mine, nearby, within a radius of 6-8 meters, also laid anti-personnel mines, knowing that the victims would be assisted.
This was the first emergency trip for my 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. Opening the landing hatches, they saw a terrible picture. Andrei Kolaev's leg was torn off, and the other one was kept only on the skin; when he was taken out of the landing, it had an unusual shape. The old-timer Salmin did not lose his head and immediately pulled over with a tourniquet what was left, near the groin. Andrey seemed to even come to his senses. He periodically tried to get up, but the guys held him back and told him not to get up, he was afraid of losing blood.
Someone said it was agony. I don't know if he heard us at that time or not. But his groans and individual unintelligible words became quieter and quieter. There was a feeling that Andrei was trying to tell us something. He then lost consciousness, then returned, and he, as if awakened from a terrible dream, tried to jump up and run.
Later, the doctors told us that the injuries internal organs were incompatible with life (the kidneys came off, the bladder burst, etc.). Andrei ended up in the DRA and in our company 2-3 weeks before this event as a nurse. Shortly before that, there was just a release of medical instructors in the Union. After this explosion, we did not have a doctor for a long time ... "

Klyutsuk Vasily Borisovich. Junior sergeant, sanitary instructor. Born on 01/06/1965. in the Khmelnitsky region, Ukrainian. He worked as an outpatient paramedic in the village. Called on 04/13/1984. In Afghanistan since October 1984. He died in battle on December 16, 1985 in the area of ​​​​the Panjshir gorge, before that he assisted and evacuated three wounded soldiers from a lined armored personnel carrier. He was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Buried at home.
From the memoirs of Andrey Yuryevich Luchkov (the story "While the sky is crying"): "... a dim light bulb. A multi-bed tent for 40 people, I do kettlebell press with one hand, "well-wishers" think. Vaska the doctor just won me on right hand. Now there is a chance to recoup on the left, because I thought that I was stronger! I resist to the last, and I manage to outplay Vasily! Draw! We smile, we tease each other, we agree on new meeting, we make plans for joint training, brag about. But it is easier for me to prepare for a new meeting, after all, "sports equipment" - two 16-kilogram weights filled with lead up to 24 kg - are mine. One "stole" in the construction battalion Tyoply Stan, I exchanged another 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! Whoo! I won't beat him on the right hand - NEVER! He's gone forever. And forever remained young. Like the song says. Good-natured, slightly broad-cheeked, tall guy...
Vaska is a medic, who was killed by an aimed sniper shot in the forehead. With a neat inlet hole. Blood on a dusty face. veiny neck..."
From the afterword to A.Yu. Luchkov's story: "Information. Volodymyr Dragan wrote:" Hello, Andrey! Yes, Vasya Klotsyuk is a medical instructor from our regimental first-aid post of the 181st motorized rifle regiment (my countryman and big friend originally from Kamenetz-Podolsky, Khmelnitsky region, Ukraine) died in December 1985 at the entrance to the gorge of the river. Panjshir. Our sappers made a little mistake and turned onto the wrong road. The column was ambushed. The armored personnel carrier in which Vasya was riding 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 quite sure about the spelling, but in the Museum of the Afghan War in Kyiv, where there is a monument to the "Afghan" soldiers, the names of all the dead, called up from Ukraine, are engraved on granite stones, it is listed that way."

Kravchenko Mikhail Alexandrovich. Sergeant, medical instructor of the paratrooper battalion of the 345th OPDP (military unit 53701, Bagram, Parvan province). Born on 07/15/1967. in Penza, Russian. Called on 10/25/1985. In Afghanistan since April 1986. Mortally wounded in action April 15, 1987. Awarded with 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 misfortune, rushing headlong to help the victim, regardless of the situation and the danger to himself - this was Mishin's whole character. However, Mikhail was like that in the" civilian "from childhood: impulsive, stubborn, He had his own strong company of eleven teenagers in the Arbekovsky microdistrict, ready friend for a friend to go through fire and water. For such adhesion and intransigence, local guys called them "elephants". It is known that teenagers like to give each other nicknames, sometimes not always pleasant ones. But friends of Misha Kravchenko respected, and therefore the nickname sounded somehow respectful - Kravchenya ...
The Afghan war began to snatch the guys from the close-knit company with the pincers of the military registration and enlistment office. And sometimes forever. When Igor Dergach, who died in Afghanistan, was buried, only five out of eleven friends stood at his grave. The rest were already doing their military duty in different parts.
Misha Kravchenko stood for a long time at the grave of Dergach, then quietly but firmly said to the guys: "I will definitely get to Afghanistan, I will avenge Igor. And if something happens to me, then bury me next to him."
It cannot be said that his decision was met with joy in the family, but they reacted to him quite calmly: it is not Mikhail who will decide who and where to go to serve. The family continued to live in its measured rhythm. Father, Alexander Ivanovich, worked as a design engineer at the Central Design Bureau of Valve Building, and his mother, Tamara Alexandrovna, worked as a conductor on the Sura train. They knew about Mikhail's illness (at the medical examination upon admission to the sambo wrestling section, the doctors discovered color blindness) and in the depths of their souls hoped that because of this their son would not pass the draft board of the military registration and enlistment office.
But Mikhail, not accustomed to throwing words in vain, already had his own plan of action. He managed to get through the acquaintances of medical students "atlas" with multi-colored circles, triangles, squares, according to which doctors determine color blindness. And he learned their location so that wake up at night - even when awake, he could accurately reproduce any page from memory. And the "Kravchenko method" worked on the medical board without a misfire. Mikhail was declared fit for military service. But what? Mikhail did not want to risk: he should only get into the airborne troops, because there, in his opinion, there are the most chances to end up in Afghanistan. And he came up with another extraordinary move: he wrote a letter to the Minister of Defense with a request to call him to the Airborne Forces. And he got lucky again! The letter eventually landed on the minister's desk. The same did not remain indifferent to the request of the conscript. But in the end, Mikhail received a letter from the minister himself, in which it was reported that the request for conscription into the Airborne Forces would be granted.
The minister's letter was perceived differently in the Kravchenko family: the son was in seventh heaven, and his parents, of course, were worried about his fate. They had already seen enough television reports, read newspaper articles about Afghanistan and understood what was going on there. real war. Of course, you could go to the draft board and tell about your son's illness. But this would be a direct betrayal of Mikhail, which he would hardly be able to forgive. But didn’t they themselves bring up 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 Training airborne division. The military specialty of a recruit, as a rule, is not determined at his will. So Kravchenko became a medical instructor.
From the first days of his service in Afghanistan, Mikhail showed himself to be an independent guy of an intimidating dozen. This was especially evident in the very first exits of the young medical instructor for combat operations. And how many wounded he bandaged and carried on himself for a 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 Aliheil's surname Kravchenko also appeared on the list of those awarded for the operation. And the reward matched his military affairs- Medal of Honor".
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 descending the hill when we met the scouts of the 3rd platoon,” recalled the reconnaissance fighter Safomidin Gadoev. “There was a woman with a small child with them. She tried to explain something. Misha Kravchenko approached me: “You are a translator, talk with her. Maybe she knows where the "spirits" are?" From the conversation with the woman, I realized that she wants to show us the "spiritual" cave with weapons. To find an ammunition depot - great luck. After all, this is the main task of most combat exits, and we went after it. The woman approached the cave first and, together with the child, disappeared inside. Misha followed her. Aimed shots from the cave hit him in the head and neck. The bear 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 already went to combat, and with soldiers who had not yet sniffed gunpowder. After the fight, we lowered 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. So they say about a Man with a capital letter and with a big heart. This is exactly what Misha Kravchenko was like. Misha is a medical instructor. Like everyone dead 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 dead doctors - 328 people.

Finally this material Vladislav Ismagilov's poem "To military doctors" is given. This author himself served military service in 1986-88. in Afghanistan, since 1987 - as part of the OOSpN 22 special forces brigade in Kandahar ...

Drink. So I want to drink
But even thinking about it I have to forget.
That's what my sister said.
Live. How I want to live.
I scream with my soul, but I am silent with my body.
Oh, a sip of some water.
Pain. The pain spreads.
Numbness in the abdomen, and the rest of the arm will be tied with a tourniquet above the elbow.
Salt. Salt on lips.
I must be in hell and see my bones.
Here, in the medical battalion, I lie,
I look at Varlam; they say he is with death on YOU. He is a divine surgeon.
I'm waiting. I'm waiting for deliverance.
And in the eyes - sometimes circles, then colorlessness, then this damned "Simurgh" with a surprise.
Everything, I go into oblivion.
From above I see my body,
And Varlam, who with his sister conjures over him.
Oh, he will drink today,
Even if he mends the holes and I happen to stay alive.
Down. I'm falling down from above
As if I took a step behind the ledge. Darkness.
Either this or that.
Takeoff. The board hung over the base.
The wind blew me, which means I'm alive and - to Kabul.
Well, Varlamych, with victory!
There, under the back of the Afghan.
This board is not a "tulip", the pilots turned to us along the way. Alive. Well, thanks, Varlam!
You traded me, and again you're sick of this job.
To you,
To you,
The entire native medical service, who, as designers, assembled us piece by piece day after day.
To you,
Who, in the midst of groaning and screaming, bloody bandages, does his duty.
God bless you for your hard work!
God bless you for the saved lives and your care!
God bless you for insomnia scary nights!
God bless you! And He will definitely give.
To you,
Dear sisters, nurses, doctors, paramedics, sanitary instructors.
To you, the entire native medical service, who are us, as designers ...
To you from sisters, mothers, daughters, sons,
Wives, brothers and friends, and, of course, us - bow to you.
All that a soldier can do is a soldier, despite his epaulettes.
God bless you! God bless you! God bless you!

Do you know how much Soviet women participated in the Afghan campaign? Lenta.ru military observer Ilya Kramnik recalls women whose service society prefers not to notice.

Basically, the image of a woman in a warring army in our minds is associated with the memory of the Great Patriotic War. A nurse on the battlefield near Moscow and Stalingrad, a nurse in a hospital, a sniper in no man's land, a female bomber regiment pilot, a traffic controller on the streets of defeated Berlin. However, with the end of the war, the history of women in the ranks of the Armed Forces was by no means over - after 1945, women constituted a significant part of personnel USSR Armed Forces, especially on non-combat positions- all the same medicine, communications, some administrative and staff positions.

Female military personnel and representatives of civilian personnel of the Soviet and Russian army participated in many post-war conflicts, including Afghanistan and both Chechen wars, but detailed history the participation of women in these and other wars has not yet appeared.

Not even official figure- how many women served in Afghanistan, Chechnya and other hot spots.

In any case, for the Afghan war of 1979-1989, this number is thousands of people, the main estimates fluctuate around 20-21 thousand. It is known that more than 1,300 women received awards for their service "across the river", and about 60 died in this war.

The overwhelming majority of them are civil servants: nurses, paramedics, employees of political departments, employees of the military department, secretaries. But a war without a front line made no difference.

Dorosh Svetlana Nikolaevna, serving in the Soviet army, sent to war by the Ministry of Defense

Nurse.

was born 07/12/1963 in the village of Slavyanka, Mezhevsky district, Dnepropetrovsk region, Ukrainian SSR, Ukrainian.

She lived in Dnepropetrovsk and worked as a nurse at the ambulance station.

On a voluntary basis February 19, 1986 through Amur-Nizhnedneprovsky RVC of Dnepropetrovsk was sent to work in Afghanistan.

Lykova Tatyana Vasilievna, serving in the Soviet army, sent to war by the Ministry of Defense

was born 04/01/1963 in Voronezh, Russian.

On November 13, she was enrolled in the military registration and enlistment office for service in Afghanistan, in Kabul she received a referral to the position of secretary of secret office work at the headquarters 15th obrSpN Jalalabad and on November 29 died in a blown up plane during the flight from Kabul to Jalalabad (that is, only 16 days have passed since the day the referral was received at the military registration and enlistment office).

She was awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously), the medal "Internationalist from the grateful Afghan people."

Strelchenok Galina Gennadievna, ensign, paramedic

was born May 18, 1962 in the village of Begoml, Dokshitsy district Vitebsk region BSSR, Belarusian.

Lived in the Minsk region and worked as a head feldsher-midwife point in the village Balashi, Vileika district, Minsk region.

She was drafted into the Armed Forces of the USSR through the Minsk RVC October 18, 1984
In Afghanistan since December 1985.

She died in battle on December 29, 1986 near the city of Herat while repelling an attack on a convoy.

Awarded the Order of the Red Star (posthumously). Awarded posthumously by Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus A. Lukashenko dated December 24, 2003 No. 575 for the Minsk region “On awarding internationalist warriors medal "In memory of 10th anniversary output Soviet troops from Afghanistan."

These are just three paragraphs from a long list of women who died in Afghanistan, compiled by Alla Smolina, one of the participants in this war, who served in Jalalabad for three years as the head of the office of the military prosecutor's office of the Jalalabad garrison.

In addition to the shelling of convoys and mines along the roads, Afghan women, along with men, were exposed to all other dangers of being in a warring country - from car and plane accidents, to crimes and serious illnesses. At the same time, in 2006, civil servants of the Ministry of Defense, who went through the Afghan war, were deprived of veteran benefits due to the law on the monetization of benefits (No.

New law took "civilians" of both sexes out of the equation, despite the fact that the civilian personnel of the Ministry of Defense who went through Afghanistan were exposed to dangers no less than the military personnel who served there in non-combat positions.

Unfortunately, there is practically no systematized data on the service of women in the Russian army and air force in Chechnya. At the same time, the network is full of “horror stories” about the “Baltic snipers”, which obviously excite the imagination.

Today, about 60,000 women serve in the Russian army, of which about half are civilians, and the rest are about 30,000 contract soldiers and sergeants and about 2,000 female officers.

The set of positions has not fundamentally changed - communications, medicine, administrative and managerial posts still remain the main ones. There are those who serve in combat positions, although compared to the Armed Forces of the United States and Western Europe, their number is still small. In some places there are no women yet in principle - for example, service on warships and submarines remains a male prerogative. Only as an exception, they appear in the cockpits of combat aircraft. The question of whether it is necessary to achieve the same wide representation of women in combat positions, as has already been done in the United States, is still open, and there is no unequivocal answer to it.

But one thing is clear - women who have already chosen this path deserve respect at least for their willpower: not every man can withstand the service, which often turns into a daily test for “weak”.

Photo: Konstantin Kochetkov/Defend Russia

The weaker sex, the fair sex - this is what they usually say about women. Our story is also about a beautiful woman, but by no means weak, but courageous and strong, about a woman whom men give beautiful flowers on March 8, as if they know that there, in Afghanistan, on scorched earth, there were no flowers ...

... And God was wounded under Shindand

In one of the valleys formed in the southern ridge of the Hindu Kush (this is in the west of Afghanistan), the Shindand Valley is located - the "Dead Valley", because it is waterless. Our guys fought here, and one of the largest hospitals of the Afghan war was located here. And although the war always remains a male affair, women fought next to the shuravi (as all Soviets were called). Their courage, steadfastness and great patience amaze even today.

Our compatriot Lydia Baranik, who was awarded three soldier's medals, served as a nurse in the Shindand hospital for two years. She agreed to talk about Afghanistan, her friends and comrades, and about her soul, which still hurts today, like an unhealed wound.

This war, - says an Afghan nurse, - we accepted at the call of the Motherland, remembering the heroism of our fathers and grandfathers in the Great Patriotic war. Only our war was very different from the war of liberation, in which all the people of a vast country took part. Soviet Afghan soldiers participated in a foreign war and in a foreign country, supporting the little-known Saur Revolution, which was opposed by many residents of Afghanistan. But our guys fulfilled their duty to their Motherland honestly. What they experienced there, many today prefer not to remember aloud. Hurt….

I served in the hospital, saw dozens of deaths. Memories of Afghanistan crowd the soul, but still, on the Odnoklassniki website, a lot of space is given to Afghan friends.

I was called to Afghanistan in 1986. I worked then, imagine, as a nurse in the Zaporozhye children's hospital. It was possible, probably, to refuse, but I decided that I would be needed there. I remember how my mother cried, how she wanted to go to Moscow to Red Square, kneel down and beg everyone on whom it depended not to send girls to a distant war. The father was laconic: "Once you decide - go." And we went, together with our friend Valentina, with whom we studied, worked, together and returned from that war.

... To be honest, we did not expect the war to be the way we saw it. When we arrived in Kabul - planes, helicopters, other military equipment. Then, what to hide - for the first time it became scary. Wanted to go home... We spent three days in Kabul on transit, and then went to the Shindand hospital. She first worked as a nurse in the infectious disease department, then as a head nurse in a special department where head injuries were treated. It seemed to be easier to work there, because in the infectious department I had to serve up to 400 patients. Medical practice was excellent there, although sometimes I wanted to bury myself in a pillow and cry. Now I wonder: was it with me, how strong was it? When I was given the task for the first time, I thought that they were playing like new. And at first, in order to be in time, she woke up the soldiers for procedures at 3.00 in the morning. We also treated local residents, but not for hepatitis, of course, for them this disease is like a runny nose for us. When, after the “cleansing”, the wounded were brought in tanks, armored vehicles and turntables, all the nurses and doctors went out to the wounded, sorted them into departments, even nurses helped in the operating rooms. We provided first aid to the wounded and treated them at the Tashkent hospital.
The most difficult thing was to see the seriously wounded guys, without arms and legs. Once they brought a guy with 98% burn damage to the body. And he tried to say something else...

It was hard to get used to a foreign country, its climate, intense heat. We have been ill with many local infectious diseases. The conditions were terrible, they could only be sustained with special relations. There was no fake friendship. A day or two - and the person is visible at a glance. We lived there like a family. If someone had grief, everyone grieved, the joy was also the same for everyone. I remember the surgeon Mikhail, very a good specialist. They called him home for the funeral of his dead brother. Returning to Afghanistan, he flew to Shindand on the same flight as his sister-hostess from our hospital, Olya Kutnitskaya. Then acted strict rule- as many people boarded the plane as there were parachutes. Olga was put on the list of passengers, but the surgeon was not. He invited her to stay on the next flight, explaining that the surgeon was more needed in the hospital. Olya gave up her parachute, and when the plane took off, it was shot down by a stinger…. Today Olya lives in Ternopil, got married, gave birth to a son and, of course, remembers everything.

That special friendship still unites us today. Oddly enough, but if the meeting was organized in Shindand, many would go to see each other, remember, talk. By and large, I do not regret that I went through that war. Of course, health is lost, but I know what real friendship is, real human relations- and without them just longing.

The practice of war, its everyday life... Surgeons did not leave the operating table for days. Sometimes the hospital was bombed, but there was a generator in every operating room, and operations never stopped. There was no rear in Afghanistan, the war was going on around us.
For the wounded in the hospital, especially for young soldiers, each of the women was a mother, sister and friend - we understood that each wounded man was someone's son. They baked pies in buckets, fed them, warmed them with conversations, calmed them down. It is a pity that psychologists in the hospital were not provided. The wounds were different, those who, after the operation, could not find their arms and legs, were helped to realize that it was possible and necessary to live even as a cripple. We even have three families in the hospital. Soldiers with nurses got married, signed in Kabul. They turned out to be good, strong families.

I remember once, when I was driving to my parents' home in Berdyansk, a guy ran out of a departing bus at the Zaporozhye station. How happy we were to meet! It was Sergei, in the hospital he was very worried about how he would come to his mother without a leg? He asked if there are such prostheses that would not be noticeable while walking? Everything in his life worked out - the bride waited, got married, children grow up.

And here are some more memories. In the room of the barracks where we lived, there were three lemons on a plate in the closet so as not to be captured by spooks. Of course, the psyche will be disturbed, because for almost two years they did not sleep normally, being afraid to oversleep the attack on the hospital.

In my two years of service, no bombs hit the hospital, but we knew when to be wary of bombing. If the window panes rattle, it means that they are bombing far away, and when they fly out, it means that they are nearby. The silence of the night was worse. Spirits quietly cut out sleepy guards, once two nurses disappeared from the hospital. The module where I worked was located next to the sentry post, but I was still on the alert. All night I counted his steps in one direction and the other. If they calmed down, she went out and woke up a tired sentry, leaning against the wall. We, thank God, were calm. But other security points, especially on the roads along which the “fillers” moved, were cut out by the spirits .... Then they blew up the first, middle and last vehicles carrying fuel for military equipment. Then the whole column caught fire, and the soldiers died either in fire or under bullets ....

I returned home in August 1988. It was very difficult to get used to the life that now seemed alien, where there was little sincerity, where everyone lived, firstly, for himself. At least go back to the hospital, where conscience and honor were above all else.

Where death was nearby, the values ​​left in ordinary life, that is, money, fame and power, meant nothing. The people in the "furnace" of Afghan were so cleansed that, returning from the war, they reacted to all the flaws of the human soul with bare nerves. And then perestroika happened - it aggravated everything even more. But gradually the sharpness smoothed out, because a person adapts to everything.

And in my Odnoklassniki, apart from what is dedicated to the guys from Afghanistan, there is nothing else. Rollers, poems, songs - only about him. And I constantly look through the withdrawal of our troops from Afghanistan over the bridge across the Amu Darya. They were taken out by the commander of the fortieth army, General Boris Gromov. He walked at the end of the column, covering the last soldier with his back ....

25 years have already passed, and the years that have passed in Afghanistan are still remembered with tears, and Afghan friendship will also remain with us for life. We used to meet more often, but now the Internet helps us communicate. Found each other not only on the territory of the former Soviet Union but also abroad. And on May 5, we hope to see each other at Poklonnaya Hill in Moscow, where meetings of Afghans are held annually.

in Nikopol from medical workers, who served in Afghanistan, there were me and Valery Samoylenko, who is now acting head of the city health department, before that he worked in our department. There was also Irina Demchenko, who worked in an ambulance and now lives in Italy.

***
Lyudmila Baranik remained cheerful today and an open person by attracting people to it. For 23 years she has been working as a nurse in the intensive care unit of the cardiology department of hospital No. 4. She married a doctor who worked in an ambulance for 30 years and understands his wife well.

Meetings with brothers and sisters in Afghanistan raise emotions to unprecedented heights, adding a lot of sadness and hidden pain. The past seems to be testing the strength of the Afghans. After all, they know where the line that God once drew between life and immortality, like the spurs of the Hindu Kush, stretching across the whole of Afghanistan. And today it seems to nurse Lyudmila Baranik that the Lord was wounded under Shindand, but survived along with those who live today.
And another of the meetings gave Lyudmila such poems, the author of which is our countryman Hero of the Soviet Union Alexander Stovba:

... But life will pass, dispelled like smoke.
Leaving the dying moment to me as a gift
For courage - an example to the young.
And the memory of the remaining cinder
Illuminate a second of being -
The border between life and death.
And then only I will be right
To talk on equal terms with immortality...

The monologue of an Afghan nurse was recorded by Elena Safonova

Elmira Aksariyeva returned from Kabul in December 1988.

February 15 - official withdrawal date Soviet contingent from Afghanistan. Several hundred Kazakhs disappeared or died from 1979 to 1989 in this country. Them - simple boys, forever remaining in the mountains of Afghanistan - are called "heroes of someone else's war."

This is rarely remembered, but besides the military men there were also women. Little Russians (then all immigrants from the Soviet Union were called Russians - Approx. Author) girls with frightened eyes, who had to pull the fighters literally from the next world.

About how to exchange peaceful Tashkent for war-torn Kabul, return back and not forget yourself on Afghan war, nurse Elmira Aksariyeva told the correspondent.

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

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

"I got on the shipment with everyone. We flew out 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. women and men different professions, civil. They were brought to the hospital and distributed into modules, now they call it barracks. They lived there," the woman says.

Work in Afghan therapy was clearly different from Tashkent. People were brought here in the very different state. Sometimes and occasionally...

"There are a lot of patients - very different. They were brought in a serious condition ... A lot 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: a protected zone," he says Elmira.

Everyone was on edge.

The hospital was located not far from the houses where the 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 at the department: I sat up with a fellow countrywoman. I went outside after duty. Something exploded. Strongly. The car near the walls of the hospital was filled with explosives from our laboratory. people. We calmed the sick. Everyone started to run ... It was scary! This is the central hospital, spooks didn’t come close to it, but in such ways they scared Soviet citizens", says the woman.

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 look.

“We left with the permission of the authorities. Usually accompanied. It was so scary to walk. Such cases told that they could kill and do something even worse. When I first went to 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. You can’t compare it with our cities: I compared it with Tashkent - heaven and earth. But there were foreign goods, and you can I had to find everything," recalls Elmira.

Residents of Kabul looked at visitors with apprehension, but gradually they began to get used to 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. Small children already knew the Russian language, because our military were not there first year. They approached, they could talk. But I local language didn’t learn,” the woman says.

Summer in Kabul is hot, 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 we have gathered whole team because we had to compete with the Afghan team. I was the team captain. They came to us on the territory of the hospital, we had a playground, and there we played together. I was surprised that they even have volleyball players. In the city, women go mostly closed. Rarely do you see an uncovered girl. Even young girls are covered with a black scarf, and there is a net in front of their eyes. The face is almost invisible. And they came to volleyball like ordinary girls: in sportswear and shorts, with uncovered hair," recalls Elmira with a smile.

By the way, in the same place, at work in a military hospital, she met her future husband - a military man who got on the operating table in surgery.

They merried.

“After recovery, he returned to the unit. When we left 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 something began to happen to her husband that is now commonly called a buzzword " post-traumatic syndrome", or "PTSD".

He did not fully "return" from Afghanistan.

“He was shell-shocked. The person becomes nervous, twitchy. But not the same as the others, whom they told about. But it was clear from him that 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 have now been divorced from him for more than 15 years, and all “thanks” to this vodka. He drank a lot. Not much, but he drank. Often. A person changes absolutely, loses sound mind," the woman said bitterly.

She now has two adult daughters and grandchildren. None of their family went into medicine.

Elmira is afraid even to 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, I filled out the documents, I didn’t say anything to my parents and put them before the fact when I already received a call from the military registration and enlistment office. For seven months they didn’t know anything. Dad took me, my mother and brother trip to Issyk-Kul. I had to leave with them. And at that moment I received a call. I had to turn in the ticket and tell my mother everything. On July 17, I sent my mother to Issyk-Kul, and I myself left on the 23rd. I remember how the first once I came on vacation and saw my mother completely gray-haired. I don’t wish this on anyone ... ", the woman said with tears in her voice.

This is no ordinary Ambulance“. This is MERT - medical team rapid response. It is extremely difficult to distinguish military paramedics from soldiers - they wear the same uniform and weapons. Their only job is to save lives. They meet with those who take it away already on board the helicopter.

It is impossible to speak inside the helicopter because of the roar of the engines and the noise of the air accelerated by the blades. They have their own signs - if they show on the patch british flag means injured. british soldier if they put their hands on the thigh, it means the child is injured, if they bring their hand to the head (as if saluting) - this means american soldier. They do not have patients with colds, runny nose or hypertension, their patients are on the verge of life and death.

Returning from the mission, MERT (medical emergency response team) transfers its patients into the hands of the doctors of the mobile hospital MASH (Mobile Army Surgical Hospital) with a multinational contingent.

According to the US and UK Departments of Defense, as well as the independent website iCasualties.org, as of April 27, 2012, the losses of the international coalition during Operation Enduring Freedom (mainly in Afghanistan) amounted to 2,958 military personnel dead. The USA (1943), Great Britain (410), Canada (158), France (82) suffered the greatest losses.

Most NATO troops die from Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs). According to the iCasualties.org website, in Afghanistan, losses from the use of mines and explosives by the enemy in 2010 amounted to 58% (368 out of 630 military personnel) of the total losses from enemy hostile actions, in 2011 - 51% (252 out of 492 military personnel).

The exact number of killed and wounded militants remains unknown, although, according to Western military experts, up to 5,000-6,000 militants were killed during the fighting of the Northern Alliance and the armed forces of the United States and Great Britain against the Taliban in the fall of 2001. In March 2002, the Foreign Military Review magazine claimed, according to Western military experts, that out of 35-40 thousand Taliban, from 5 to 10 thousand were destroyed, wounded or captured by the Northern Alliance and the Anglo-American coalition forces during fighting in autumn 2001.

Official data on losses civilian population not in Afghanistan, and assessments by independent organizations differ greatly.

During the nine years of the war in Iraq from 2003 to 2012, the coalition forces lost 4,804 soldiers killed, including 18 Ukrainians.

MERT Sister Fiona McGlyn of Selly Oak Hospital, Birmingham aboard a Chinook CH-47 helicopter. Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

The MERT team carries a stretcher with a wounded British soldier from a helicopter to Camp Bastion Hospital. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

An Afghan child covers his ears from the noise of a helicopter. Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

A group of surgeons preparing for surgery, an American soldier with multiple wounds and a severed arm. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

Transportation of the wounded from the ambulance to the hospital. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

Fiona McGlynn checks her gun.Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

A conversation aboard the CH-47 Chinook between members of the MERT team. Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Transportation of the wounded from the ambulance to the hospital. Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Doctors treat a nine-year-old wounded Afghan boy. Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

MERT saves the life of a Taliban militant. Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Medical staff carries a stretcher with a wounded British soldier from a helicopter. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

Behind a screen, surgeons are picking up a wounded Danish soldier. The photographer did not shoot him out of respect. The soldier lost both legs and left arm.Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Wounded British soldier. Before serving in the army, he actively participated in the Forex forum and was a good trader. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

Bloody stretcher. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

New call received.Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Cardiac arrest…Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Nurse Photo (C) Getty Images/Marco Di Lauro

Soldier british army clamps the bleeding wounds of a Danish soldier who lost his genitals in the explosion. Photo (C) Getty Images / Marco Di Lauro

A US Marine comforts fellow Lance Corporal W.H. Salgado by carrying him into a medical helicopter after he was shot in the leg in Sangin, Helmand province. (AP Photo/Anja Niedringhaus)

Afghan National Police officers and US Marines with a badly wounded Afghan police officer flee to a Dust Off squad medical helicopter after a firefight on the outskirts of Sangin. The medical helicopter was fired upon as it landed to pick up the wounded, and the windshield and blades were damaged as a result.

Lance Corporal Blas Trevino of the 1st Battalion yells from a helicopter. Blas was wounded in the stomach by Sangin. It took the helicopter's medics two attempts to pull it out from under the militants' bullets.

Persia, a seven-year-old Afghan girl, aboard a medical helicopter en route to a field hospital near Sangin in Helmand province. Persia suffered a head injury in a fall from a truck and her father took her to the nearest US military base in search of medical care.

Parachute supplies for Marines fall from an aircraft near Edie's Base of Operations in Helmand Province.

Lance Corporal Blas Trevino (left) holds his stomach on his way to a medical helicopter. Trevino was shot in the abdomen.

Marines carry wounded comrade Lance Corporal W.H. Salgado to a waiting medical helicopter after being shot in the leg at Sangin.

Lance Corporal David Richwaslky aboard a helicopter after being wounded in the head by a grenade shrapnel at Sangin.

Medic Sergeant José Rivera helps two badly wounded Afghan policemen aboard a helicopter after a shelling on the outskirts of Sangin. The medical helicopter was fired upon as it landed to pick up the wounded.

Injured Marine Joshua Barron aboard a medical helicopter near Sangin.

Medic Sergeant José Rivera waves to an ambulance at Camp Bastion after rescuing Lance Corporal David Richwaslka from the Sangin battlefield.

Lance Corporal Blas Trevino (center) boards a medical helicopter after being shot in the stomach during a firefight in Sangin.

Wounded Lance Corporal V.Kh.Salgado shows the sign of Victory aboard a medical helicopter after being wounded in the leg in Sangin.

Marines evacuate an injured comrade to a helicopter near Sangin after he stepped on an improvised explosive device.

Chief Military Specialist Jenny Martinez (left) talks to wounded Lance Corporal David Richwaslky aboard a helicopter en route to the hospital. David was shot in the head.

Lance Corporal Blas Trevino does not let go of the rosary during the flight to the field hospital after being wounded in the stomach in Sangin. Trevino received a gunshot wound to the stomach, and it took the medic's crew two passes to get him out of the battlefield under fire.

Medical Specialist Jenny Martinez (center) and Medical Sergeant Jose Rivera treat two wounded Marines aboard a helicopter near Sangin. On the right is Marine Washington Bradley, also slightly wounded.

Black Hawk helicopter pilot Robert A. Campbell successfully landed at his post near Sangin, under fire from militants.

A dog handler with a wounded sniffer dog rescued by helicopter near Sangin.

A helicopter with US Marines tries to land during a sandstorm near the medical helicopter at Sangin.

Bullet hole next to the fuel tank in the tail of the Black Hawk helicopter. after the helicopter was fired upon during an operation to rescue Lance Corporal Blas Trevino.

Military doctor Captain John Woods, sitting in a helicopter, squeezes an IV. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

One of the soldiers hides from the sand that has risen during the takeoff of a medical helicopter with the wounded on board. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

American soldiers on a stretcher carry a wounded Afghan to a helicopter that is already waiting. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sgt. Jonathan Duralde (right) and Sgt. Luis Gamarra hold each other's hands as they try to fight the pain of their injuries from the explosion. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sergeant Cole Rees wipes sweat from his forehead after first aiding Sergeant Jonathan Duralda, who was injured in the explosion. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Sergeant Chad Orozco had a free moment to rest after they took a wounded man to the hospital by helicopter. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

One of the orderlies cleans the floor from blood and medicines in the operating room. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

After one of the seriously wounded soldiers was operated on at the hospital, Canadian Army Capt. Mikila Klepach (left) and US Army Physician Officer Roger Nottingham clean up the operating room. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Canadian Forces Captain David Cocker examines a heavily wounded soldier in an explosion. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

US Navy Commander Joseph Strauss (left) and Major Anton Lecap perform surgery on the leg of an Afghan who was injured in the car accident. The Red Cross calls on the armed opposition, the Afghan national army, police and international military forces to take all measures to ensure that military operations do not interfere with the access of civilians to medical care. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

US Navy Captain Ann Lear (left) helps Sergeant James Shields, who, after taking the wounded man to the hospital, showed signs of heat stroke. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Hospital doctor David Cobery sleeps at his workplace between surgeries. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Dutch army corporal Anita Van Grestein oversees the operation. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Canadian Army Captain Mikila Klepach stands next to a plaque showing the names of two soldiers who were injured and taken to hospital after the explosion. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Officer Patrick Gilard (left) and Officer Sharni Anderson (center) look out the door of the emergency room, waiting for new patients. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Canadian Army Captain Mikila Klepach awaiting the arrival of new patients. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

One of the military doctors is standing in a pool of blood formed during the operation. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

U.S. Navy Commander Kevin Beasley rushes to the operating room with the necessary medical supplies, where his brigade is performing the operation. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

US Navy Lieutenant Rodolfo Madrid rushes to see a patient who was maimed in an explosion. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Officer Coriann Manwaring watches over a wounded soldier who has just been brought into the operating room. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

An orderly uses surgical scissors to cut laces and remove boots from a wounded soldier who has been admitted to the operating room. (Photo by Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Captain Ann Lear (center), the hospital's chief nurse, supports one of the wounded soldiers who has just been taken to the hospital. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)