"Valery Gorban. The taste of war " - читать интересную книгу автора

It really is a good one, soft and aromatic. The sweet juice runs down
my arms, washing pink stripes in the bloody crust. Damn it, we bounce over a
pothole, and the piece of melon in my hand knocks against my other,
bloodstained arm. The edge of the fruit turns watermelon red. But you can't
let it go to waste, can you - I just hope my Chechen "blood brother" doesn't
have AIDS.
The melon has a salty aftertaste...
***
Hey, Serpent, do you remember that incident?
Yes, way back then, in the yard. How old were you - thirteen or
fourteen?
Do you remember how, for no reason at all, that tall, lanky moron
nicknamed Fascist whacked a passing cat with a stone, then grabbed her by
the rear paws and smashed her head against a tree? Do you remember how
repulsive it was that a sticky drop of cat's blood hit your cheek and spread
out in a caustic swath! And how, after scrubbing all the skin off your cheek
in a vain attempt to wash away that nauseating blot, you retched for days on
end, just recalling what had happened...
Oh, war, war!

I just wonder what's happening out there at Blockpost 9.



OMON - elite special purpose forces within the Russian police
Ural-4320 - a five-ton truck widely used by Russian military and
paramilitary forces
GUOSh - the Main Directorate of the Operational Staff
A round titanium helmet worn by Russian special purpose forces
UAZ-469 - a Russian jeep
Russian codename for a KIA (killed in action)
The GP-25 "Kostyor" (Campfire) 40-mm underbarrel grenade launcher
attaches to the underside of Kalashnikov automatic rifles and can fire
fragmentation rounds (grenades) out to a range of 400 meters.
A narcotic antishock medication that Russian forces carry in their
individual first-aid pouches
"Spirits" - one of various Russian nicknames for the Chechen fighters.
A holdover from the Soviet intervention in Afghanistan, the term initially
referred to the mujahideen guerrillas in that conflict.
RPG-7 rocket-propelled grenades, multipurpose weapons extensively used
in Chechnya (and earlier, in Afghanistan) against a variety of targets,
including vehicles, structures, personnel, and even helicopters.
In 1995-1996, during the first Chechen campaign, no state of emergency
was declared in Chechnya. Thus, personnel in the group of federal forces
were formally required to operate as if they were performing routine patrols
in Moscow, Ryazan' or other's peaceful city's. Author's note.
¹⁵ Dushman - Russian military slang for a mujahideen.
The Russian term actually used here, razborki, is criminal slang for a
showdown between gangs, indicating the animosity that exists between the
prosecutor's office and the federal forces in Chechnya.