The history of the bloody war. | Afghanistan: Soviet Vietnam

From a perspective of a Veteran | Afghanistan: Soviet Vietnam | Vladislav Tamarov

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	• Afghanistan: Soviet Vietnam Vladislav Tamarov Mercury House, 1992 - 192 pages average customer review:based on 52 reviews view larger image
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highly recommended

Tamarov's ' Afghanistan' is simply great!

It is intellectually refreshing to read accounts of war by an author who actually
knows what he's talking about. In "Afghanistan: A Russian Soldier's Story," the
author is Vladislav Tamarov, who, at the age of 19, was sent as a young recruit of
the Russian army to fight in Afghanistan. This book is a reflection and a
commentary on that war, a war which not only changed him but had definite
political effects on his entire nation.
But this book is not meant to be viewed as a scholarly tome on the philosophy of
wars; instead, it is one young man's personal treatise on "what it was like" to be
mounting a military mission on foreign soil, a mission that, for his nation, turned
out to be quite a failure. What the ingredients were of that failure are still being
debated internationally, but the personal musings on this young man are far from
clinical in its citings. Tamarov transcends the clinical and presents a startling and
poignant perspective on the entire project. It's almost as if Audie Murphy had
written (and photographed) his own days in World War II, it is that gripping.
"Afghanistan: A Russian Soldier's Story" personalizes these young soldiers (often
illustrated by the author's own photography). It is, as Faulkner would say, "full of
sound and fury." Alas, it signifies something, however, to extend the Faulknerian
metaphor, and that something is a combination of pathos, incredulity, shock,
amazement--the whole gamut of startling and revealing emotions. Tamarov's story
reveals the fears, the lack of comprehension of such a mission, the relationships among his fellow soldiers, the consternation he
feels toward the whole picture of this Soviet move into Afghanistan. As a young
soldier, Tamarov was not privy to the higher political, social, economic, and
religious aspects of his country's undertaking, of course, as few citizens really are.
However, Tamarov was astute enough to keep a private diary and to have a camera

at the ready and when the time came, his views on the whole affair have been
revealed. He, of course, is not alone in these feelings, and his book seems to speak
for Everyman. War is not good, it's not kind, and its aftermath is oftentimes
beyond redemption. But "That is war," he writes. "We didn't invent it but having
been in a war we understand the meaning of the word." And amongst the pages of
this compelling read, Tamarov presents a definition that is at once disturbing and
yet so to the point. War is hell and he shows us circles that even Dante didn't
consider!
"Afghanistan: A Russian Soldier's Story" is a must read for hawks and doves
alike. And while no new theories are advanced (and the author doesn't pretend to
offer any), this depiction of one of civilization's evils is worth the read. One book
and one reader can't stop war, but in his own way, Tamarov has taken his own
"small step for mankind." And it's a start.

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The history of the bloody war.

The pride of the Soviet Empire and the Communist Party could not let the Afghani people live as they wanted. The whole might of the Soviet Union was dedicated to crashing little Afghanistan, but Afghanistan resisted. The Soviet Union wanted its power back and the Afghani people wanted the Soviets out. And who was in the middle of the clash of two very stuborn apponents but the young boys from Russia. They had to tough it out. They had to kill. And they had to die. Does it sound like Vietnam? Yes, it does. Politics did not work out. The leaders could not divide the pie and the young boys had to die just to prove the point of greed. Vladislav Tamarov happened to be one of these boys, who had to die, only he did not die. He came back with the knowledge of what he saw and what he experienced. He came back full of tragedy and tears for the friends, who would not come back. He came back and he told us the story. That was the story we did not know but had to know. This is a strong and extremely powerful book. It is a documentary of the young Russian boys in the "Soviet Vietnam".

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From a perspective of a Veteran

Well I am an american veteran of the US Army. I thought that Vladislov did an excellent job with his pictures and insight on his service in Afghanistan. I myself served in Bosnia and like him I felt that our political leadership were "old children" and they had no concept of reality on the ground while playing "toy soldiers" with real men. The consequences of war are terrible and I saw that in Bosnia... a country littered with land mines and houses leveled to the ground while the American political leadership lied to the american people about the full nature of what was going on over their just like the Soviet leadership did in Afghanistan. If you want to understand the consquences of a war...Vladislav's book is must read.

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A very highly recommended book

Everyone here knows the saying about a picture being "worth a thousand words"...well, in the case of Afghanistan: A Russian Soldier's Story, pictures and words combined provide a veritable gold mine of information and personal insights on just what happened over there in the mid-80's. From the first page down to the very last, Vladislav Tamarov paints a portrait of life in the Russian military in Afghanistan that only an insider could do, and unlike the rushed-to-the-supermarket efforts that the fringe element of tabloid and serious journalists put out when such an event occurs in our world history, his book is honest, forthright, and extremely candid. I would definitely recommend this book to everyone.

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A gripping story of discovery

Afghanistan A Russian Soldier's story by Vladislav Tamarov is an intensely personal book. The reader learns only a little about the strategy and tactics used by the Soviet forces to fight the war in neighboring Afghanistan. Rather, this is a document that reflects the process of maturation of its author. He starts as a 19-year-old man being drafted into the Russian army. His naiveté in volunteering for the commandos (which will take him in short order into the task of defusing enemy mines) mirrors the bravado and sense of indestructibility that is the main reason that men of his age have been used as soldiers for as long as there have been armies.

The story is told in episodes - not as plot for it's own sake, but rather to communicate the range of emotions and intensity of fear unique to the battlefield soldier. Some of my favorite writing comes from letters sent home by Confederate and Union soldiers from America's civil war. These documents are important not because of the credentials or social standing of the writers, but instead because of the intensity of the experiences these writers were living. Vladislav Tamarov continues this venerable tradition and extends the genre to new depths of insight. Probably the most obvious lesson learned was that after such a prolonged ordeal, one cannot "go home again". The effects of fighting the fghan war changed Mr. Tamarov's values so much that he was unable to fit back into the life that he idolized and longed to survive long enough to resume. We all know many stories of disaffected soldiers who live out their lives on the bitter fringes of society. Mr. Tamarov provides hope not only through his own strength and resiliency, but, later in the book, by his activism and involvement with international veterans groups to improve the lives of men often forgotten by all of us.

A parallel story of maturation is told by the wonderful series of photographs that illustrate the book. These pictures chronicle not only the events in his story, but more importantly, give the reader a glimpse into the development of author's remarkable photographic artistic maturation. The photos give the book a visceral link to that timeless reality captured best by a photographer of Mr. Tamarov's skill. It certainly left me wanting to follow-up more of his later work.

I highly recommend Afghanistan A Russian Soldier's story. Because it is so personal, it resonates deeply with the universal things that unite us as humans. It is set against the backdrop of a futile war in a foreign land, and then home transformed into the unfamiliar. The development of his personal strength to transform his savage experience into something that makes him a stronger man is inspiring. I especially recommend this book to those who appreciate war memoirs, those who like books about personal transformation, and to all who love great photographs.

Jeffrey Lyon

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reviews: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, page 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11

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