Commentary by former police general, now senior sergeant Kandikov.
[ColonelCassad] Every drop sharpened me like a stone
Thank you very much, Family! Very touched by the attention and kind words! One word cannot explain my intentions to “leave my loved ones, my comfort zone… Go to the front line.” To be honest, at the age of 54, such a decision was not even easy for me! I had to literally “break” myself. In the East they say: Donkey, standing in the shade, will no longer work in the sun. For nine years now I have been on a general's pension. 9 years of a calm and carefree, partly well-to-do life! I, like everyone else, lived in the thick of news and events around them.
My old fighting friends went to war one by one. In the old days they were my subordinates. I led them under the bullets of the enemy, and we all returned time after time to our families. At one moment, the extreme drop overflowed my vessel of patience. Each drop sharpened me like a stone. It was very embarrassing to realize when my guys suffered hardships, and their commander roamed in comfort and coziness. Besides all this, I, born and raised on stories about the Great War, and also on evening conversations with my father about his service on the frontier.
I remember how often I asked him to tell about the same thing again and again, how he detained violators of the USSR State Border in clashes with sabotage and reconnaissance groups. 28 detained violators and, as a result, were awarded the medal "For Distinction in the Protection of the State Border". It was easy for me to receive my state award someday - a sky-high dream. The Afghan wars played an indelible mark on my patriotic upbringing.
By their example, I became a man, a warrior, ready for self-sacrifice for the sake of my Motherland, beloved land, parents, family, friends! Under these conditions, an inner awareness of my destiny was born, and my future life path was also determined! Now - Russia, President Putin, The Russian Orthodox Church and all caring people are in the midst of historical Ecumenical events, when on one side of the scale the future of the World is kindness, generosity, love, Faith in God, and on the other - abomination, greed, spiritual emptiness and, as a result, death.
At some point, I realized that if I stay away from these turbulent processes, then I will not forgive myself for this and will regret and repent for the rest of my life. Today I am just a small cog in a large mechanism of events, but I hope that something also depends on me and at the same time there is some benefit in our common VICTORY! Thanks to everyone who is not indifferent and actively helps us to comprehend IT!
My friends and family are very supportive and helpful. spiritual emptiness and, as a consequence, death.
I serve in military intelligence. For the duration of my military service, I renounced my general's pension, as well as my special rank. The former rank was a lieutenant general of the police, and now they returned to me my military rank with which I left the Soviet Army 35 years ago - a senior sergeant of the guard. As the command promises, in the near future they should be reassigned to the officer rank - lieutenant. In my position, I am the deputy commander of a fire support company.
My colleagues are perplexed. They do not understand my intentions, my motive. They are all younger than me. I don’t know how to explain to them, they were born and raised by a different era, in order to understand me, they had to be born in the environment that gave birth to me, raised me and it is described above. Today I have new fighting friends - these are my subordinates. For them, as in the old days, I also became a father commander.
I don't know what will happen tomorrow! It's not so easy here! And it seems to be for a long time! People are dying from one side and the other, wounded guys go to hospitals every day. Whether they will return here or not is an open question. One thing is clear, the way back, i.e. we just don't have a way back! We will live, endure, believe in God, move forward and with His help we will definitely win!
As such! I hug everyone!
Lord Jesus Christ Son of God, have mercy on us sinners! Amen!