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Soviet Afghanistan Conflict


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I still want a Soviet Panama hat. Maybe I'll buy one in a snap buy one day.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Well fair comment. I cant help but think if the Pentagon has specced it, everyone would have been sitting on a 200 dollar toilet seat in the back. :)

Yep...all those programs and offices to save money and ensure value...:P

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  • 4 weeks later...

Any idea if that's something he's been issued with or just something he cobbled together?

 

IIRC issued in trial amounts.

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Note Adidas shoes wore by guy in front in prisoner...

Alejandro what does that indicate? Spook?

 

 

 

Has served in montainous area/has generally had to walk long distances - in Afghan summer; and had the opportunity to go to a dukan (afghani village general store) to trade some condensed milk or sugar for a pair of sneakers.

Sport sneakers were highly popular with many of the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan because they were that much easier to climb mountains and/or walk long distances in in Afghan heat than the issue laced or "kirzachi" slip-on boots.

(When was the desert combat boot first introduced, by the way? Surely not before the Nineties?)

 

Also, according to some accounts, stepping on a small landmine in a boot usually meant being riddled full of holes by the nails in the boot's sole and/or suffering a backbone break and ending up dead, whereas in the lighter, sewn sneakers it could, with some luck, mean just losing the foot or the leg. May or may not be sailor desantnik tales, though. I know almost nothing about landmines, let alone if in Afghanistan there were any in use that left the man stepping on them alive, so feel free to remark on this.

Edited by Blunt Eversmoke
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Note Adidas shoes wore by guy in front in prisoner...

Alejandro what does that indicate? Spook?

 

 

 

Has served in montainous area/has generally had to walk long distances - in Afghan summer; and had the opportunity to go to a dukan (afghani village general store) to trade some condensed milk or sugar for a pair of sneakers.

Sport sneakers were highly popular with many of the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan because they were that much easier to climb mountains and/or walk long distances in in Afghan heat than the issue laced or "kirzachi" slip-on boots.

(When was the desert combat boot first introduced, by the way? Surely not before the Nineties?)

 

Also, according to some accounts, stepping on a small landmine in a boot usually meant being riddled full of holes by the nails in the boot's sole and/or suffering a backbone break and ending up dead, whereas in the lighter, sewn sneakers it could, with some luck, mean just losing the foot or the leg. May or may not be sailor desantnik tales, though. I know almost nothing about landmines, let alone if in Afghanistan there were any in use that left the man stepping on them alive, so feel free to remark on this.

 

Not only nails – it was believed the heavier are one’s boot the more part of leg will be lost if stepped on landmine (slip-on boots.=full leg, boots – up to knee etc.). It was the main reason for wide spread of Adidas-style cross-country running shoes among troops in Afganistan (most popular where ones produced by Kimry factory not far from Moscow)

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Soviets interrogating a mujaheddin

 

 

 

 

I don't think the Soviets knew the effective "Lion King" interrogation method

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m1fOCAQ7KI

 

 

 

 

Note Adidas shoes wore by guy in front in prisoner...

Alejandro what does that indicate? Spook?

 

 

 

Has served in montainous area/has generally had to walk long distances - in Afghan summer; and had the opportunity to go to a dukan (afghani village general store) to trade some condensed milk or sugar for a pair of sneakers.

Sport sneakers were highly popular with many of the Soviet contingent in Afghanistan because they were that much easier to climb mountains and/or walk long distances in in Afghan heat than the issue laced or "kirzachi" slip-on boots.

(When was the desert combat boot first introduced, by the way? Surely not before the Nineties?)

 

Also, according to some accounts, stepping on a small landmine in a boot usually meant being riddled full of holes by the nails in the boot's sole and/or suffering a backbone break and ending up dead, whereas in the lighter, sewn sneakers it could, with some luck, mean just losing the foot or the leg. May or may not be sailor desantnik tales, though. I know almost nothing about landmines, let alone if in Afghanistan there were any in use that left the man stepping on them alive, so feel free to remark on this.

 

 

Thanks Blunt.

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Soviets interrogating a mujaheddin

 

 

 

 

I don't think the Soviets knew the effective "Lion King" interrogation method

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8m1fOCAQ7KI

Thanks Blunt.

 

No sweat, you're welcome.

Also, text in the pic posted above by Roman indicates that Adidas (or counterfeits thereof) sold in the Afghani villages were not the only sneakers worn by Soviet contingent in Afghanistan: Soviet-produced "Kimry" sneakers were reported to be of durability on par with army boots and could be sourced directly from Voentorg army shops - if you were lucky enough to get there in time when the next load came in :D

 

Re Lion King interrogation method: Poor mujaheddin, his face is saying "where's that goddamn Mountain of Doom when you need it to throw that fuckin' Simba wannabe into!!." :D

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If the Soviets could not civilize this place, and drag it out of the 7th century, why did we have the hubris to think we could do better?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543902/Photos-just-free-women-Afghanistan-Taliban-rule.html

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/astonishing-photos-of-prewar-afghanistan-show-everyday-life-in-peaceful-kabul-2013-2?op=1

 

Hope you realize that all the progressive folks with Western ideas pretty much left when the civil war took place..

Edited by crazyinsane105
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If the Soviets could not civilize this place, and drag it out of the 7th century, why did we have the hubris to think we could do better?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543902/Photos-just-free-women-Afghanistan-Taliban-rule.html

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/astonishing-photos-of-prewar-afghanistan-show-everyday-life-in-peaceful-kabul-2013-2?op=1

 

Hope you realize that all the progressive folks with Western ideas pretty much left when the civil war took place..

 

 

In other words the urban educated middle class. It was the dirt poor, uneducated "country folk" whom the Taliban grew their ranks from. So in other words....class and culture played as much a role as religion.

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If the Soviets could not civilize this place, and drag it out of the 7th century, why did we have the hubris to think we could do better?

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2543902/Photos-just-free-women-Afghanistan-Taliban-rule.html

 

http://www.businessinsider.com/astonishing-photos-of-prewar-afghanistan-show-everyday-life-in-peaceful-kabul-2013-2?op=1

 

Hope you realize that all the progressive folks with Western ideas pretty much left when the civil war took place..

 

 

In other words the urban educated middle class. It was the dirt poor, uneducated "country folk" whom the Taliban grew their ranks from. So in other words....class and culture played as much a role as religion.

 

 

Mullah Omar, the head of the Taliban, was semi-literate and from a dirt poor village. After the war, the only individuals who bothered to remain were people like him or anybody else who would benefit from staying in a lawless, war torn country. That's what nearly three decades of war and grinding poverty will do to a country..

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