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encore Rough Night


A U.S. Air Force offi cer stationed in Bosnia in the 1990s sympathizes with a beat-up Russian special forces member after learning the cause of that servicemember’s injuries.


W 120 MILITARY OFFICER MARCH 2014


While in Sarajevo, Bosnia, in the 1990s during Joint Guard Operations, I was stationed at Ilidza, the NATO head- quarters for that region. Our camp saw servicemembers from both NATO and non-NATO nations. We were billeted in a bombed-out hotel on the camp. One morning, I grabbed my breakfast


tray, loaded it with food, and found a seat next to a friend from the office, sur- rounded by strangers in a dozen different uniforms. I was trying to gain weight, so I was on a strict diet of “eat everything in sight.” As we ate and ate, a soldier took a seat across from us at the table. He was a big guy, a Russian special forces member. He looked like something the cat had dragged in after playing with it in the mud for a while. His arm was in a sling, and a fresh patch covered one eye. His good eye was black, swollen, and blood- red, and he was missing some teeth in his swollen mouth. He was eyeing his plate of food like a test of will. As he sat down, I asked him whether he needed help; at the same time, my friend asked him what happened to him. He threw us a look of disgust and, in rough English, hissed out, “Leave me alone.” My friend and I decided it was best to ignore him, so we continued our breakfast and conversation between ourselves. As breakfast went on, people finished eating and left the large table one at a time until it was just me and the Russian spe- cial forces soldier left to grapple with our


tests of will. I was eating my fifth egg on toast, and he was wrestling with his third bite of oatmeal. Suddenly, without looking up, he whis-


pered under his breath to me, “I no sleep bunk-bed before.” I looked up, confused, until it dawned on me what had happened. When we moved into the hotel, they had to cram as many grunts into the rooms as possible. The large, comfy king beds were piled up outside, as the new oc- cupants took to work with hammers and wood to create crude bunk beds. The bunk beds were small and had no safety rails — basically just two mattresses on two slats of wood with a sturdy crossbar be- tween them. This battle-hard- ened beast had rolled off his skinny, second-story cot in the middle of the night, smashing his face and arm into the bedside table a floor below.


Despite the pain, he smiled a half-


toothy smile at me with a groan, and I laughed a little under my breath. We both got the joke. Embrace the suck.


MO


— Robert “Trim” Blair is a retired Air Force lieutenant colonel. He lives in Tampa, Fla. For submission information, see page 6.


Tell Your Story Submit your service- related adventures (or mishaps) of ap- proximately 450 words by email to encore@moaa .org or by mail to Encore Editor, 201 N. Washington St., Alexandria, VA 22314. All submissions will be considered for publication.


ILLUSTRATION: DAVID CLEGG


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