Zinky Boys Reflection

This class has opened my eyes not only to Russian history, its culture and society, but to the way that most countries, culture, and people are treated, fooled and even accepting to things they should be questioning, discussing and fighting. While reading Svetlana Alexievich’s book Zinky Boys, I could feel the pain of the Russian soldiers, civilian workers and families who all had been a part or touch by doing their “international duty” in Afghanistan. I was drawn to the way that they all dealt with something that most of the country had no understanding. I was amazed at how like Larry Heinemann said in the introduction their “building of socialism” was like our “military conflict” in Vietnam. Looking at these things allows me to see

Reading Heinemann’s introduction, I was a little skeptic of this fact. I thought they were just using this as a hook to get people to read the book. I admit that I was totally wrong. Page after page, I could take the stories and compare them to ones I have heard, read or seen about soldiers during the Vietnam War. I could see the Afgatsis in the desert fighting dukh on one side of mind while seeing the United States Soldiers in the jungle fighting Charlie. The way both groups were treated when they came home from their “wars” were so similar it was like looking in a mirror. One Private said “We didn’t betray our Motherland. I did my duty as a soldier as honestly as I could. Nowadays its’ called a ‘dirty war’, but how does that fit in with ideals like Patriotism, the People and Duty? Is the word ‘Motherland’ just a meaningless term to you? We did what the Motherland asked of us.” (160) This comment alone expresses the feelings of the Russian soldiers and their families, but also points to the feeling that the American soldiers and families had after the Vietnam War. They all did what they were asked by their government and their country, but they were blamed for following the orders. All of the similarities and even some of the difference allowed my mind to