Davehal9000

This may not be the proper place to discuss this, but what the heck... When I enlisted in the USAF 22 years ago is was to defend our nation against the Soviets. I lived my entire life knowing any minute some idiot, American, Soviet, or who knows, might push the button and end life on this planet. I lived the early days of my career as I did much of my life before the military, studying our enemy. I watched on TV as the Soviets roll into Afghanistan. I watched the news every night, read every article or book I could read about the subject. When I went to Afghanistan for the first time in 2006 I thought I had a pretty good understanding of the Soviet War in Afghanistan. I was wrong. I went to Afghanistan expecting to hear horrible stories about the Soviets, but in reality I didn't hear those stories. Granted I didn't speak to the entire nation, but I did speak with people from various parts of Afghanistan, rich and poor, younger and old, etc. One good friend of mine's parents were executed by Soviet troops. That was the worst I heard. Another friend of mine served in the DRA. He fought along side Soviet troops in helping rid Afghanistan of the rebellion that was threatening their nation. He's a very well educated gentleman, and he looks upon the Soviets, now the Russians, as friends. He takes offense to any discussion otherwise. Another gentleman was a DRA tanker. Again, he held the Soviet troops he served with in the highest regards. Another friend, who actively hunts Taliban for sport, was a teenager during the war. He said you stay away from the Soviet troops, their convoys and their check points and you had no problems. Do something stupid and they're going to react accordingly. I know if you polled every Afghani who lived in those times you'd get a variety of stories ranging from high regard for the Soviets to labeling them as war criminals, but this was my experience. For those former Soviet soldiers and officers who served there, who showed compassion, treated people with respect, etc, while keeping your eye out for trouble, you left a positive image on a good portion of Afghan society, and some of these people are the ones doing the real, honest work to rebuild their nation.

Just found this site today and wondered if I'd find mention of the memorial here... My name is David Keeley, one of the three that were fighting to save the memorial. I'm the one sown on the NTV report, in Newsweek Russia and in the Wall Street Journal article. Unfortunately, yes, the memorial was destroyed. I had been told it had already been destroyed prior to my return to Bagram in '08. When i got there, however, it was still intact, but damaged. They'd attempted to move it but stopped when it began to crumble. A couple of weeks later the civilian deminning team tried again, destroying it. At this point there was nothing we could have done. The area that housed the memorial was to be built up as part of a military construction project I cannot discuss here. Every inch of the ground surrounding it had been dug up, leaving this small island with the memorial on it. It looked to me like no one was able to make a decision about what to do. The US military couldn't bulldoze it. The Russians wanted to move it to the embassy at Kabul, but I believe there were issues with allowing them access to the base by the Afghanis. There was also talk of the cost of moving it but I think that's all speculation. The deminers took matters into their own hands, and the memorial is unfortunately destroyed. It saddened me to see it destroyed. I feel regardless how you feel about an enemy in time of war, after the war has ended we're all human beings once again, men who fought to protect what was dear to us. It should have been preserved to honor these men who died in such a bloody war as a reminder of what happens when diplomacy fails and we send our sons off to fight.