Глеб Бобров - The Torn Souls - An Anthology of Prose About the Soviet War in Afghanistan

Karakurt — a black widow spider.

Karez — a traditional underground hydraulic system in the ancient cities of Afghanistan.

Kishlak — a traditional Afghani settlement.

Krasnuha — rubella, a highly contaminating disease.

L

Landsmen — army personnel from the division of army supply.

“Leader” — the leading helicopter.

Lenin Hills aka Sparrow’s Hills — is one of the highest points — 720 ft. — on the right bank of the Moscow River.

M

Madras — a religious school.

Messers (army slang) — a type of military aircrafts.

Mujahedeens, or mujahidin — (an Arabic word) refers to the guerrilla-type military groups led by the Islamist Afghan fighters in the Soviet-Afghan War.

Mualems — academics, scholars.

N

Namaz — time of praying for Allah.

NURSov, or nursy — The unguided ground-to-ground missile is the simplest missile equipped with an engine, a warhead with a fuse and an aerodynamic stabilizer (feathering)…. Such shells are used in systems of multiple fire, for example, “Katyusha”, “Grad” and others.

P

Pantophagy — eating of all kinds or a great variety of food.

Pashtuns — historically known as ethnic Afghans and Pathans, are an Iranic ethnic group who mainly live in Pakistan and Afghanistan.

PO — (Communist) Party Organisation.

Promedole — Promedol is a synthetic drug with the structure that can be considered as analogous of morphine molecules. Widely used as a strong painkiller on the battlefields.

Pugacheva Alla (b. 1948) — a very popular Russian singer who occasionally performed for the Soviet troops in Afghanistan.

R

Rassypuha — a soldier slang for reusable bits that were left in an army backpack after a military operatio.

RPG — A rocket-propelled grenade (often abbreviated RPG) is a shoulder-fired anti-tank weapon system that fires rockets equipped with an explosive warhead.

S

Salabons (army slang) — young, inexperienced soldiers, rookie in the army.

Samogon — an alcoholic drinks made in primitive conditions.

“Samovar” — (army slang) a gun.

Sarbose — is a strong swearing word in Afghani culture meaning a bastard.

“Screamers” — (army slang) fire support helicopters MI-24

Shaitan — the devil.

Sharia — Islamic canonical law based on the teachings of the Koran and the traditions of the Prophet (Hadith and Sunna), prescribing both religious and secular duties and sometimes retributive penalties for lawbreaking.

Shuravis — an Afghani slang identifying people from the Soviet Union

Stechkin — a Soviet selective fire machine pistol called after its designer Igor Stechkin.

Suras — chapters or sections of the Koran.

SVDashki — a military optical object.

T

Thanatos — is a personification of death in Greek mythology.

Tankachi (army slang) — tank unit personnel.

Tashakur — (from Dari) Thank you.

U

Union — see USSR.

USSR, or Soviet Union, or the Union — the abbreviation and forms for Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, a former northern Eurasian empire (1917/22–1991), stretching from the Baltic and Black seas to the Pacific Ocean and, in its final years, consisting of 15 Soviet Socialist Republics.

V

“Vertical” (army slang) for “helicopter”.

Vodyara — a slang for vodka.

Vladimir Vysotsky (1938–1980) was a talented actor and “bard” (folk singer) whose songs, many about the war even though he himself had never been in battle, spoke to the mood of the Soviet people in the 1960s and 1970s and have had a lasting influence. He was regarded as faintly subversive by the establishment, but they never moved seriously against him. Tens of thousands of people lined the streets of Moscow as his funeral procession passed.

W

“Whistles”, or “screamers” — model MI24, an attacking military helicopter.

Y

Yat — an ancient letter of Russian alphabet that was abolished after the Great October Revolution.

Z

Zarathushtra is an ancient Iranian-speaking prophet famous for teachings and innovations on the religious traditions of ancient Iranian philosophy.

“Zelenye” (army slang) — just conscripted soldiers.

УДК 82.3(470)

БКК 84(4 Рос) 6-44

Т44

Vasilenko, Irina (ed.). 2018. The Torn Souls: An Anthology of Prose About the Soviet War in Afghanistan (1979-1989) . Lugansk: Express Press. – 200 p.

Подписано в печать 19.11.2018.

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The Soviet Army was drafted from the conscripts which came from different parts of the vast Soviet Union and had various ethnic backgrounds and religions. Some soldiers in this story are Russians, like Aleksei (Alyosha), Viktor (Vitka), Oleg and Nikolai (Kolya). Some solders are Muslims from Central Asia, like Dzhuma, Sultan, Yakub (Babay). When the Soviet Union broke up into different independent states, soldiers who had fought together became citizens of different and sometimes hostile states.

In the winter of 1979–1980 the 860th Independent Motor Rifle Regiment completed an arduous march from its base in Central Asia to the province of Badakhshan in North East Afghanistan. Most of the regiment was stationed in Faisabad. But one battalion was left in Bakharak, where this story is set.