Not Just for Cows
Siberia, USSR 1989
Here’s our plane. CCCP is written on the fuselage. You don’t see that anymore! We’d just landed in a cow pasture in Bratsk and were milling about waiting to be taken to Irkutsk, about 50 miles away.
Tough Guys
There were some young Russians on board who had recently been inducted into the Red Army. They had no idea of what the coming days and months would be like and they smoked incessantly, perhaps a way of tamping down nervousness.
High Anxiety
Here they are. Their anxiety shows in their clenched fists and worried looks. Being a mother, I can’t help but feel a bit sorry for them. I believe they would scoff at such soft feelings. They are men and are capable of doing a man’s job.
Our own young men, the ones who volunteer to serve in our military, are just like these. Our country needs men like these. Always has and always will.
These are scanned slides. I took them before going to photography class and had no clue about exposure and shutter speed or anything else. Just point and shoot was the extent of it. Technically, these are lacking, but emotionally the conscript photos speak volumes. It’s all about youth and what lies ahead for them.
(The man wearing the white jacket is one of our group, a tourist from Santa Maria, California.)
To read another blog about this day, search for Power in the search box. I’d give you the link, but WordPress software has lots of bugs and today I can’t make it easy for you.