Life in military

What's going on?

2009-11-27T10:18:00.002+02:00

Well, one high-school student, a keen computer fan, was bored and made a threat in the address of one other high-school to try and "best" the Cho's score (that bastard killed 32 at Virginia Tech), so naturally everybody was quite pumped up and media going ape. The guy was caught in a day and established that it was only a joke. Some joke. In addition to getting the accusation of mass murder threat that fellow has to pay up hundred of thousands (paying for the police work and time etc).

What a loser. So it shall be seen, if there are more fellows to come, wanting their 15 minutes of fame.

Early this week, one sick guy jumped on 2 young women, going to work at Monday morning 8 a.m. and beated them up with aluminum bat. One died, sadly, a meteorologist, few minutes away from the office. Wonder how it could happen, the place was in center town, near the busy streets and railway station, so it wasn't exactly a remote place where no-one could see it. And yes, there was no attempts to get this guy by any possible bystanders, like a guy with bat wouldn't be suspicious.

Well, frankly, this kind of events show the coldness of people and general disregard of the others. This kind of situation is not something that a properly used self-defense firearm would not solve. Adding to this the general budget cuts that also influence the police force, it is very likely that the violence level will rise inevitably. So why not adjust the laws and make effective self-defense a more viable option.

Competition, round 2

2009-11-15T11:00:00.003+02:00

Well, competition/rifles went better than shooting sidearms. Well, the idea was to shoot 10 rounds @100 m, prone unsupported (only sling allowed as one). I could have done better, but I got 84 which is OK. For my defence, the irons were not zeroed in and I'm not a sport shooter, so I had the forward grip as my only support-as-such (makes the holding of the rifle much easier).

Besides, since I haven't bothered to acquire any shooter's ranks before (at least 70 points for lowest for that kind of exercise) I'd have to start from the lowest anyway - shoot it, then the next one and so on, up to highest rank, that takes 98 points to get.

So the 84 points was as-is more than was necessary for the task at hand. But I have to practice anyway.

Shooting everything but the target

2009-11-12T19:50:00.005+02:00

Last night, competitive shooting (and verification of experience level), 25 meters and one handed, with my sidearm didn't go as well as I'd hoped (and trained). Instead of using the usual civilian 9 Luger I had to use Swedish m/39 which is made for SMG, thus hotter and slams the slide more, causing increased spread, not to mention wear and tear to the barrel.

Well, my usual 10 m practice ends in groups of around 4 cm (and yes, I have pics to prove it), so to extrapolate it to 25 m the groups should be 10 cm. Heck, even increasing that by Murphy's constant of 2 times all rounds should be well inside the 40 cm target. But hot ones were spread all over the paper and some were even off that, so I got only 35 points instead of expected 60-70 out of 100 (10 rounds). Damn.

At least last weekend nighttime shooting went better, as filled the norms and got the exercises done, not everyone managed that. Shot some 150 tracer rounds that night (pitch black, only illumination being provided by shotgun flares and Ikaroses - an illumination rocket with parachute, pretty good stuff).

But it proves that to at least maintain the shooting skills, I have to do it at least once a month, especially sidearms, better be to go shooting at least once every 2 weeks.

A nice pic I made couple of weeks ago of one curious bird, also he and his pals ate all my bread.

Germans in Afganistan

2009-07-22T20:56:00.002+03:00

As I understood the Germans mounted an offense in the northern county of Kunduz, for the first time using heavy weapons - tanks, IFVs and rocket artillery (MLRS or MARS by their nomination?). As a response their Green Party have criticized it, saying that this creates more violence in that country. No shit, Sherlock.

It seems to me that the Germans have become soft, from the fearsome war machine, the Teutonic power, and stiff-upper-lip mentality it has become a soft pussy, losing the backbone and letting "liberals who are not men and have no honour" command their will and actions. I can only feel sorry for them. The Germans have still good skills in creating very good weapons, yet are lacking in the ability to put them into good use. Sometimes you do have to break some eggs to make omelet.

About the Cross again

2009-07-13T18:15:00.002+03:00

The Freedom Cross has not been open for even a month and already there are problems - some glass panels getting a pink tint, somehow, and currently quite a few lights have gone out because of the water that has crept inside.

It does make me wonder, considering the multi-million cost of it, that what's going on?

Freedom Cross

2009-06-26T08:08:00.001+03:00

So, the Freedom Cross was opened, and already the onions are rambling over it. Main issues are the proximity of it to the site where the Bronze Soldier was, and the sword-holding hand and big E motive on the cross, saying that it symbolizes Estonian Waffen SS as it had same shoulder patch.

Actually that symbol (E denoting Estonia and being protected by hand with a sword) is older than that, it was used on the Order of the Freedom Cross (author Nikolai Triik, was established 24th February, 1919).

The Order came in three classes (each in 3 levels), first for special military service, second for personal valour and third for civilian service and were mostly given to people who participated in the War of Freedom. The Order was accompanied with a reward, in many cases with a real estate (land) and soldiers were offered a free education (a big deal back then).

So it was pretty special Order and it does make sense actually, that the symbol (E and hand with sword) was chosen to be a chevron for the Estonian Waffen SS, as the mostly believed to be fighting for the Estonia and against the Red Army animals (let's put it this way, what the Red Army had to do in here, when it was here from 17.06.1940 to summer/autumn of 1941, that the 700 years of mostly German occupation and forced slavery, which was very much hated, were put aside and germans pretty much welcomed as liberators?), rather than some crazy nazi ideology.

The cross symbolizes the fight for freedom, where in the war it took winning both, Red Army and Landeswehr, to get our own country the way we liked it. So it is logical that the onions are barking over it, but as can be said - if they bark, it's done right, whatever it is. Or "only that dog howls who has it's tail stepped on".

I included the pictures of the new Freedom Cross statue and the designs of old Order of Freedom Cross (classes are from left to right - military service, personal valour, civilian service).

Visitors again

2009-06-25T18:30:00.004+03:00

British Tornado F.3-s have left our country and it was a pleasure to have them as guests, especially showing the flag and participating in the Victory Day parade.

But they've gone and new visitors came, this time from US - USS Forrest Sherman (DDG 98), an Arleigh Burke Flight IIa class guided missile destroyer. During the visit the sailors will give a helping hand to the Anija estate. So they're most welcome and I'm only a bit sad that I'm not in the capitol to go and see the ship myself.

It may make one wonder, how come so many interesting guests and so often, but many people won't complain. Well, there are people who are annoyed by those, and during each of such visit they talk all kinds of rubbish in commentaries in the web. It's a sure sign of fancying our eastern neighbour, when friendly NATO units create such "problems" and verbal diarrhea of such commies. So, well done and I personally hope to see many more visitors of that kind.

Warrant Officer Tikko

2009-06-20T22:12:00.004+03:00

Fell in combat, in Monday, by RPG fire. Memorial ceremony was today, where the respects were paid by different people, like our top brass and including the CO of the HMS Illustrious (visiting us for a few days).

That kind of happening always brings out those who strongly oppose to the whole Afgan mission and who sometimes use not-too kind of a language of express their feelings. Those can go to hell and die. It's always sad to lose someone, and he left a wife&daughter behind, who will need a lot of support, which I doubt the state can manage. But c'est la vie.

Estonians and Brits have been fighting together not only in Afghanistan, but also in the independence war in 1918-20 and in which some 110 troops from British naval and air forces lost their lives. So as a side-remark, the second visit of Lusty will be an honour and a symbol of continuing co-operation. During the 23th June, the Victory Day, celebrating the victory over German Landeswehr (1919), the Brits will also honour the parade with some fighters doing an overflight, as will the Czech AF (currently providing the NATO umbrella). So we're not alone.

I Think it's appropriate to refer to Dire Strait's Brother in Arms.

Requiescat In Pace

June 14, 1941

2009-06-14T09:40:00.003+03:00

Why remember the events of the past? To learn from them, to ensure not making same mistakes all over again, as the history does tend to repeat itself. Also, people behind the crimes of communist regime have not been in front of the jury yet, so all those issues can't be let go, not yet.

In 14th June, a lot of people were forced into cattle-trains and wheeled off to Soviet Union, it was the first mass-deportations in this country. A few of those deported in June ever returned. There were little more than 10,000 victims, some 36-38% were minors (under 17), around 100 less than year old infants.

In 1942, celebrating the freeing of Tartu from communist occupation, dr. Hjalmar Mäe said that according to Soviet plan there were supposed to be only 358,000 Estonians left in our country by August 1941, working as specialists, and to be later dispersed all over the Soviet Union as literally slaves for agriculture and industry. Work camps, like Gulag, I'd reckon.

Important milestone

2009-06-05T15:55:00.000+03:00

I got to be above myself, and keep making steps in the right direction and finally, and I do mean finally, got the bachelor degree in technical sciences, focusing on space technology. So it is to be continued in master's on the same topic/theme.

With luck and work it will open the whole world to get off this miserable piece of rock that is supposed to be a country.

Something Eurovisionary different

2009-05-16T13:39:00.004+03:00

And preferably watch it in HD and full-screen. As a whole (girls, music, background graphics and other effects) it is pretty much awesome.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LIzYqFewvAs

de-starvation

2009-05-06T22:41:00.005+03:00

The blog has almost died of informational starvation, which would be a shame. I'm not too much of a keen blogger, as there is not always a lot to write about (and I would not like to talk about politics as main topic), or there are things that cannot be put up in the public space.

Anyway, what I can do right now is put up a few pics every now and then. I have quite a few from different events or trips, so I try to post those when the opportunity arises.

This is something that was too much worth to just pass by. It caught the eye during the hunt of "enemy combatants" in the woods and at the first glance looked like a kneeling person. Of course, quick check with binoculars told what it was - a tree root, belonging to the one fallen over to the right, covered with grass and other lifeforms. But still looking very human, being even in the same size.

Just a thought - alternate history

2008-07-26T20:12:00.006+03:00

The veterans gathering on Grenader Hill went well, without any stir-ups. There was a small attempt to rally people and spread communist propaganda, but police put a lid on it. Right thing to do, as this event was just to remember the men in the Legion, and there was not a single vet wearing German uniform.

There was about 200 vets and at least 2000 more - families, friends and plain people caring about history.

Just a small thought about the true meaning of those battles near that hill and in Narva:

The Soviet attack began in 14th January, 1944, near Leningrad and I'm making an assumption that they would have straight up succeeded to force themselves through the frontline near Narva river and whole Estonia. So?

Remembering that by the time of 2th Feb the Soviets had moved from Volhov river to Narva river and had already made a first landing on the western bank of Narva river. The German forces were in a hasty retreat at that time and if the Estonian units would not have been able to stall the enemy advance in Narva with some German units in good fighting condition and battle-hardened Wiking division, then it would have been hardly possible to put up defensive lines in Sinimäed and on the Emajõgi (Mother River, flows through Tartu, connecting lakes of Võrtsjärv and Peipsi). So, within a month not only Estonia, but also Latvia and Lithuania would have been taken and by the end of March the Soviet forces would have been at the northern border of Eastern Prussia.

I'd like to point out that the attack on Finland was prepared in April, but was waiting for the success of the Red Army on the south coast of Gulf of Finland, to get the required operational space for the Soviet airforce and Navy in the whole Baltic Sea region. Because then the trade routes between Finland and Germany would have been cut off.

Following it would have been the strikes on Åland islands and Gotland, staged from here, the south coast of the Gulf of Finland. And the main attack on Finland would not have started in 9th June 1944, but sooner in April (and as a lot of Soviet forces intended to be used in Finland were actually tied up in the Sinimäed, the attack on Finland would have been in greater numbers and in higher morale).

Let's remember here that in April 1944 the Allied advance was halted in Monte-Cassino, Central Italia, yet the Soviet forces had crossed the rivers of Dnestr, Bug and Prut - the last places before Eastern Europe where the Germans could have put up defensive positions. The Normandy, on the 6th June, wasn't happened yet and I don't think it could have been made sooner. As the result, the whole Europe would have been open for the Soviet Army by the time of April, 1944. The Allied forces and Soviets would not have met on the Elbe river, but rather on rivers of Rhein and Po. Taking into account the pro-communist influence in Northern Italy, Greece and France, it would be very unlikely that the Soviets would have stopped on Rhein and Po.

So, in my honest opinion - the whole existence of the Europe today was decided back then, early 1944, in the battles over the Narva River and Sinimäed. I bet they didn't tell you about that in the history class?

26.07.2008

2008-07-25T21:25:00.007+03:00

This Saturday, Vaivara vald, Sinimäed (Blue Hills). Veterans of Estonian Division [20th Waffen Grenadier Division (Estniche Nr. 1)] of the Waffen-SS gather to remember one of the fiercest battles of the whole WWII - Soviets attempted to get a hold of the Grenader Hill, which they obviously failed. This battle happened on the July 29th, 1944

This - keeping the Narva bridgehead and then 3 hills of Sinimäed, was as bad as it got. But when the Soviets had moved hundreds of kilometers elsewhere, there they sat still for 8 months and suffered many casualties (people talk about at least 200 000 to over half a million Soviet KIA-s).

The whole Estonian Legion and the events then are worth a long post, when I have enough time it will come. But in the meanwhile, Wikipedia is an acceptable source. But as said, the Legion was able to keep the enemy standind still, which meant that the Soviets had to pour in additional forces, depleting their ability to fight effectivly in the Finland, thus the Finland was never occupied and enforced their status as a free and independent country. Also, stalling the enemy at our north-eastern border meant that over 80 000 refugees were able to get to safety.

Sad I can't attend to this remembering this time, but I do raise a glass and light a candle for those who are not here.

Sad is that the "Notšnoi pozor" and "nashi" red faschists want to put bad light to the event, but spreading their lies and red propaganda, thus stirring up trouble. One of the organizers is Zarenkov, already under a keen surveillance by The Security Police Board (KaPo).

Especially as the neo-nazi scum also wants to hang out there and boasting off something they don't have - the guts, courage and will of sacrifice the true legionnaires had and have. Friggin wannabes. There weren't only Estonians fighting there, this side was shared with Germans, Danes, Norwegians, Swedes, Dutchmen, Belgians

The documental movie: Sinimäed (in Estonian only, broken into 6 parts). It's a forceful story and a fresh alternative to new Russian attemps to look at the history their way.

This is also a proper place to remember the warcrimes our own, communist led Riflemen Corps commited - church of Avinurme for example.

Thought of the day:
Raivo Kalamäe writes in his mémoires: "They (soviet punishment battalion) had killed a whole family near Sooru and staked an infant on the picket fence, as the head of the family didn't want to give up any animals nor horses."

Oss and Robi, two brothers on opposite sides

2008-07-25T10:37:00.008+03:00

This story revolves around the motorists in the last story.

The passengers in the car were Uberlt. Osvald Vaidlo of Estonian Police Battalion of German army with his wife Vilma. His younger brother Robert, later becoming a well-known kid stories writer, got to Osvald's grave some weeks after the last story events, in the ranks of Estonian Corps.

July 1941, Tiigi street, Tartu. A knock on the door means only one - call to the soviet army.

Brothers (Osvald studied trade and filosophy, Robert only filosophy) were living with their grandma, and had agreed that on the event of such a knock the younger brother, who was born in 1921, goes to answer. So at the same time his 3 y. older brother can slip out of the back door and younger one can freely explain that Osvald is not home.

But this time the call is for Robert and after a few hours he finds himself on the gathering point for new recruits.

As the recruits were not guarded the Robert decides to take matter into his own hands and takes off over the fence. Soon he's back at grandma's place.

But now he's a runaway, and these are punished hard. Under the strong advisement from granny the Robert went back to the gathering place, using same way, unnoticed. A little before Osvald had collected as much food from the town as possible and gives them to Robert. This is also the last time they see eachother alive again.

Soon the the whole Soviet army along with Robert runs back to the east and Soviet occupation is replaced with German one. So now the Osvald becomes a soldier himself. He says goodby to his longtime sweetheart and new-wedded wife Vilma (maiden nime Nöps, learning the trade of stomatologist) and joins 36th Police battalion, raising in ranks and soon becoming the chief of logistics.

The battalion is sent to Belorussia to hunt partisans and also visits the the notorious town of Novogrudok. Autumn 1942 the battalion moves to Stalingrad, being the only German unit, made of Estonians.

In the meanwhile, Robert is not doing well in the Soviet army. Because so many Estonians went from Soviet side to German one during the battles in Pihkvamaa (now just outside our south-eastern border, then it was part of our country) in July 1941, the 35 000 Estonian conscripts are sent away from the frontline to slave camps of labour battalions, where 12 000 will die.

Robert is sent to one of those death battalions. Later he tells horror stories about those times. "officers ate behind a separate table, dropping fishbones under it. One of ours broke and went under the table to pick the bits....."

Working in a copper mine Roberts finds blood in his feces, exactly on his birthday. That means bloody belly-disease and a certain death.

An Estonian working in the medical departement gives him a piece of bread (a standard procedure on this disease) an dsays that he has no chance surviving there, he has to run.

But where? As the mine situated in isolated place there were'nt any villages nearby, but also the security was next to none. So a small bunch of Estonians decide to take off together. Robert weights only 40 kg, others are weak and undernourished too.

Runaways end up near a railway where they are luckily picked up. Robert wakes up in a clean and white hospital. Turned out that the train carried sick personnel with the same disease from Airforce academy, so Robert is accidentally thought to be one of them.

As he is recovering he is also trying to figure out how to get out of this mess. So he confesses to the "fellow cadets". Russian boys answer that it's OK, but never tell it to anyone, they'll take him with them later.

He still talks, to an elderly doctor. She is sympathetic as she had several sons in the war, too. She takes care of the Robert, getting him well. He is released as one of the last patients, doctors and nurses give him some bread for the road, that's all they can do.

After being released from the hospital Robert wanders around in the collective farms in estonian villages in Siberia, where he finds a few mates he ran off with.

When the formation of the units of Estonian Corps starts in 1942, he joins and becomes a forward artillery observer. With the Soviet army he moves towards Estonia.

Autumn, same year. Osvald's 36th Police Battalion reaches Surovikino near Stalingrad, where the unit is outside of the siege, luckily. New Battalion CIC rises, Harald Riipalu, and the unit fights hard. On 31. Dec it is decided to move the Battalion away from the frontline and Osvald has to bring the retreating order to the 2nd Company of the Battalion. But he and the 2nd Company gets to be cut off by Soviet tank force from which they break out in Jan 2, 1943.

This is a war-story, but Osvald and small company is in sauna, when the tip of the Soviet attack bypasses it, so the men find themselves in enemy territory. They leave their german uniforms in the sauna and wear only the long white underwear, so the enemy soldiers see them as fellow comerades in winter camouflage. It works and soon they stop and take over a car with Soviet officers inside. Officers and papers they had were taken to Germans as a valuable catch, but their own papers had been left in that sauna.

So, soon the Red Army knows that there's a Osvald Vaidlo existing and soon they get two and two together and start questioning Robert. He's being questioned hard, fellow comerades as spies, but last time he actually did see his brother was in Tartu, when he got drafted.

Because of that sauna-event near Stalingrad Osvald has no chance to stay in Estonia by the time of Autumn, 1944, and hide his service in German army, so he decides to run with his wife Vilma to the city of Haapsalu, on the west coast of Estonia to catch a German ship evacuating from there.

Vilma is pregnant for the last weeks and they start going on 24th December. They were supposed to go day earlier, but Vilma still wants to look around and get some baby clothes for the unborn. But that delay was to be fatal - tank mows them down with the machinegun. Vilma is killed in instant, but Osvald is alive for hours.

The fellow who was riding the car on the front fender gets to escape and brings the sad news of Osvald's and Vilma's death to Osvald's mother.

Some days or few weeks later, Robert gets to see his brother's and wife-in-law's grave, but he doesn't dare to ask the villagers for their documents or personal belongings.

Robert becomes to be a well-known writer, writing stories for kids. His "Kessu" is made to TV show, which is well liked by kids for generations. But Soviet machine is still going over him - where's Osvald. Now he does know the truth, but doesn't talk about it.

Kaia Pihlak, daugther of Robert and Aita Vaidlo: "I remember when I was a kid and I was walking around in the Audevälja with my grandma. She sat on one stone fence and said: let's rest a bit, this is a nice place. Only later I found out, what this place really was."

Story in Estonian

It's such a sad story, but far too common.

September, 1944

2008-07-18T14:22:00.004+03:00

September, 1944, saw Audevälja village as crowdy as it was on the Keila-Haapsalu road, which was used by refugees to go to the west coast and search a way to boat-hike to Sweden.

23. September, there's a small skirmish in Keila, which doesn't stop the Red Army's momentum. During the evening, Red Army's forward patrols move through Kohila, Riisipere and Risti and enter the town of Haapsalu. This means that the refugee-road is cut.

People in the village of Audevälja get to see the chances when a light tank or armored vehicle starts patrolling in the outskirts in the dawn.

This crew has pretty exciting morning as they are hunting the cars driving on the road. Heino-Helmut Veidenstrauch, 13 at the time, was hiding in the forest with the family and remembers the events then as he saw the vehicle hunting a small car.

"There was a streak of flame in the air, tank shot the car with a machinegun. I just got a glimpse of the car as it drove behind a stone fence and dashed into the Silde forest. That's what saved it, when the tanl got onto the straight part of the road the car was gone. Tank shot couple more bursts and a lot of swearing in russian was heard."

It turns out later that there was a guy from Vasalemma and his companion in that car. In the morning darkness and through the fumes of previously consumed alcohol the almost rammed the tank but were able to react faster and escape. The companion was injured, but survived.

But the tank-crew learned from the mistakes and were more careful. Couple of hours after the first car, around 10-11 am, a 15 years old local boy Erich Hiiemäe saw a car closing in from the direction of town of Keila. Car was small and in grey-blue color. There was 3 big guys, a pregnant woman inside and another guy sitting on the front fender.

Car drives past the boy's farmhouse, named Pärdi Farm, and closes on the village store. The car is stopped there by the shopkeeper Johannes Sildre, who tells that there's a soviet tank up ahead on the road.

Erich wasn't able to see the motorists alive. They closed the car door and drove off, but when they get back to the farmhouse the tank appears from behind the store and this time the machinegun fire is accurate. The men and pregnant woman inside are killed and the fellow on the fender jumps over the stone fence and runs, leaving the coat behind.

Owner of the Pärdi farm finds the coat from the field and from the pocket comes out a picture with a man on it, on it is mentioned the shooting location - either Keila or Viljandi. As the family perishes, so does the picture.

When the day advances Erich goes to see the site. It was horrible - pregnant woman is lying on the road, dead, wearing long and pretty violet dress and shoes, she had dark hair. Other 3 men were wearing uniform and were presumably officers.

Couple of days later the remnants are buried. Schoolteacher Kurikjan says the Lord's words and only one actually daring to bring flowers to the grave is a woman thought to be half-insane.

Soviet soldiers have taken away the weapons and the car, leaving the passengers leather suitcases behind. Soon, these were gone too. Villagers hear that one of them contained baby's clothes - all the earthly possessions the yet unborn 5th victim.

Legend of this happening is remembered all through the occupation times, so this year it is decided to find this place. A few fellows who search war graves and othe historical places search it up. From the grave are found a ring and a the woman who was pregnant for the last weeks had a key - she had hoped to be able to come back home.

The remnants are to be properly buried to a cemetary.

The story in Estonian newspaper

The story is going to be continued, soon. With victim names and they're own personal tragedy - 2 brothers, fighting on opposite sides.

One of the victims:

Another one bites the dust

2008-05-24T19:40:00.003+03:00

We lost another one in Afganistan, not in combat but in an accident while loading some APC spare parts. What a bad way to go.

Requiescat In Pace

Busy weekend

2008-05-21T23:35:00.004+03:00

I took time to take my cousin-in-law out to shoot some weapons. At the end it was a fun and educating day for her.

Update and some pics

2008-05-10T21:34:00.014+03:00

I'm sorry I have kept my readers waiting. I've been pretty busy and it doesn't seem to lax any time soon. But what can I say - shooting guns is still interesting, as I have done it a few times.

Also, I'll make it an entertainment post and put up some pics I have made during some months.

Old and relatively new weapons: Mosin Nagant M28/30 and newer generation AK4 (HK G3 clone)

Whole crate of 7.62 Russian

Jewish Galil Sniper, 7.62x51mm cal and 6x optics

Old classic, MG 34

Another MG, Negev

Again, AK4 getting some tan.

A rifle I truly like, M14

Bigger guns, 155mm Fh70 towed howitzer

Older style of AAA

A bit newer touch on the AAA issue

Even Ma Deuce is still in business, here augmented by reflex sight and recoil dampening cradle

A little rant

2008-05-10T21:23:00.003+03:00

When I ordered the Cold Steel UWK I had the chance and means to also get OSS, when they were still made of Carbon V and had powder coating. Today the UWK is OOP and OSS is only available in stainless Krupp steel. Damn it. I kinda liked the blackened blade, which had excellent qualities and had very tough surface treatment.

Oh well, I just might have to opt to Gurkha Kukri, then.

Otherwise the UWK has been a very good knife and has served well.

Day of Commemoration of the War of Freedom Fighters

2008-01-03T21:16:00.000+02:00

First, happy new year to everyone, may your troubles be small during the new one.

This year our Republic will be 90 years old. Today, 1030 o'clock, 3rd of January, 1920 a cease fire was called out between our armed forces and Soviet Union. A war that was rich in victories and victims ended and eventually the free country was established.

This was celebrated by 3x3 salute of 105mm howitzers, in the capitol Tallinn.
There's a video in it:
http://www.postimees.ee/030108/esileht/siseuudised/304243.php

When the truce was called out the the Soviet Union first accepted our country and rejected any claims over it. Even the Brits didn't want to do that, although they did supplied us with weapons and kept sea supremacy (and got their own casualties there - hail to the glorious dead, mates), hoping that our troops will smash the reds and free Petrograd so that the Soviet Union would become again a Czarist Russia.

The Brits did object to the truce, as they hoped that instead of free Estonia there would be a Baltic Ducal State, countering the soviet might on the western border. But we had to be free country. Soviet Union had no other choice than accept it, because our forces, with british weapons, were already deep in their territories.

This war took heavy toll, with thousands dead in the war and more later, during the Soviet occupation, when the "participating in freedom war" was a hefty accusation with punishment of labor camps and executions.

A great thanks and honour to the men and women, who fought and died for their country.

16 years of being free again

2007-08-20T13:00:00.000+03:00

20.08.1991 it was declared out that our country is again a free and independent Republic Of Estonia - that the freedom which was interrupted by occupation for half a century was reestablished. It was interesting times, as the process wasn't exactly painful - Soviet Union had a hard time letting us go, even sent out troops to make us reconsider and there were attacks on our border posts.

Humanly and ethically it was good that there were no casualties. Politically and tactically a small bunch of KIAs would have given larger motivation and greater degree of patriotism today - the feeling that the freedom was fought for and paid for. Currently a lot of people think that we sang ourselves free. I've heard a lot of rumours, that this wasn't the case (also involving some force plays), but I won't repeat them here.

This year our country faced the war and a turn from democracy to tyranny. It was alot more closer to that than the press was admitting. So, with one try failed there will sure be anothers. We'll see what the situation will be, next year.

Creativity of cultural europe

2007-08-01T19:18:00.000+03:00

It sure did suck being the accused one before the medieval court, as they had means and will to use them to get out any confession wanted. Like - I'm a witch and have been in intercourse with the Devil since the age of 8. And so on. Pics are bit low quality, bad lighting.

What's that? It's something for the people who were deemed too short. hands were cuffed to one end and weights were attached to ankles lengtening the body. Helping it was the crank seen on the other end.

Graphical illustration of the process. This process is pretty painful and usually resulted in damaged bones.

This chair was used in court, for the accused person to sit in. If he/she didn't confess fast enough those tightening screws seen were used.

Why are the women always depicted nude? To add more humiliation? Anyway this is typical court of the time.

The Maltese shoe. Leg was put in it and the the screw tightened until something broke and I tell ya, it wasn't the shoe.

The bench of water procedures. The person in it was put in it, legs up, and he/she was forced to drink excessive amounts of water, or poured full of it. And then the stomach was beaten with sticks.

Graphical illustration of this procedure. It's wasn't nearly as pleasant as visiting a spa.

This thingie was used to hang people up by their hands - hands behind back and then lifted up.

This is very interesting device - body in this forced position soon started to have cramps, being very hard on muscles and very painful - people were usually left in it for a very long, and I mean long, time.

Now this is something that has a lot of thoughts put in - clear sign that people had too much free time at hand. The poor fellow was hanged upside down not to make the sawing easier, but keep the brain supplied with blood as long as possible, making it possible to saw the fellow in half up to neck.

The Anchor - used to fix the legs and head, forcing the body into unnatural position, in prison for years, so that the body suffers in cramps and is eventually mutilated.

The precedessor of electronic bracelet - the shoe of shame, so everybody would hear the bearer and point fingers on him/her. It was used on light crimes, like spitting and using foul language.

Another type of seat for the accused person in court of law.

Masks of shame. There were 2 main types of these - the ones with thorns inside, and the ones without.

The grill. Fellow was cuffed on it and the fire made below it. Really gross BBQ.

I really woulnd't like to comment on that, but as seen the weights were used to get faster results, sometimes.

The Spanish Caress. An interesting tool was used to rip chunks out of the hanged up person.

That is the tool.

Precedessors of rubber baton - riot control tools.

The Wheel of Misfortune. Used to break bones and mangle limbs.

Interesting idea, oriental origin.

The cross.

Iron Maiden. It had thorns inside, not a very nice place to be in.

The Pear. It was inserted into body cavity, like mouth or other, and using the turning screw it was widened, causing pain, until something broke. And it wasn't the metal that gave up.

The neck screw. The cuff was around the neck and tightening the screw enough caused suffocation. It was used as a tool of execution, or getting the confession.

Something I don't have the picture as I didn't get it - bad lighting, it was behind the glass. It was a special headware, stuffing a ball in the mouth and had metal frame to keep it fixed. It was used on witches while they were burned, so their screams wouldn't be heard over the churchbells and songs. Giordano Bruno had custom made model with 2 thorns - one sticking trough tongue and out of lower jaw, other straight up through the roof of the mouth and into nose cavity.

Childhood memories

2007-06-24T23:50:00.000+03:00

Nu Pogodi, Episode 12

It does have weapons in it, and they get used.

The longest day of the year, where Dusk meets Dawn

2007-06-24T15:12:00.000+03:00

23th June, also Land Defence day, had a military parade, hosted by Defence League. This year it was air parade (showing off almost everything we have, like An-2s and Mi-8s).

Previously we were visited by Royal Navy flagship, HMS Illustrious (carrier). This day we had visitors from different places - french and americans:

Mirage 2000-5, a pair made an overflight, as the NATO umbrella is currently provided by French Air Force. They did dwarf everything else shown, showing the real power of high tech stuff and jet engine.

USS Mahan, AEGIS destroyer, visiting the Port of Tallinn. Sad I wasn't able to see&visit her myself - she was opened to the public for few hours.

In Tartu our KL HQ hosted a small event in public park, showing off equipment and otherwise boosting morale and patriotism. My kid was so fascinated so he tried few stunts, like trying to hi-jack a police van and using the radio on it (I'm sure he wanted to call all available units to our location). Unfortunately his legs were too short so the police force kept their van.

So when the police van didn't work out he wanted to drive off with the army jeep, catch being that it had a show of Things That Go Bang on the trailer. Mines and grenades. He does know what's fun.

Again, he was too short to reach into it. World is so cruel, denying all things that's fun.

And the great bonfire, a traditional thing. Our chief torched it and the party could begin. Only sad thing is that I couldn't go to sauna.

I have been a bit short of time lately, so when I get time I'll post what I've been up to in few months, like training.

Hail to the glorious dead

2007-06-23T19:15:00.000+03:00

Unfortunately today, on the Victory Day, 2 of our soldiers in Afganistan have fallen, when they were shot at by 107 mm rocket during the lunch break. 4 others are injured, 2 light, 2 more severely, but they are OK.

So we have 4 KIAs, 2 from Iraq. People are mad, calling the soldiers occupants, criminals whatsoever, or call them back. Ignorant narcissists idiots. Our soldiers - keep up the good work, we're proud of ya here.

Rest In Peace.

Afterthoughts

2007-05-15T22:54:00.000+03:00

The goverment will verify (prime minister says this and will give a public letter tomorrow) whhat I've heard from here&there - the whole deal with the bronze soldier was a real threat to the independence of our country. Or straightforward - the bronze soldier was an excuse to push this country into civil war, make a coup and put "loyal" (russian sided) polichchickens onto power, to make this country a puppet for the Moscow.

Happily our national security agencies were up to task and when the riots started the local leaders were snatched and put behind bars. One of most popular politician, mayor of the capitol, E. Savisaar has shown his real face, a traitor of the country, a commie puppet, there are close to 100,000 (8-9% of whole population) signatures on the petiticion that demands his resignation. People do say worse, like kill him or such (parafrasing Stalin - no person, no problem), but doing it civilized would be better.

Support to police is high, people are collecting money into funds to give bonus or help the recovery of those LEOs, handling the situation. Many of those were women, by the way, and often lacking in protective equipment, like helmets, but it didn't stop the criminals throwing rocks at them.

Human Rights organization is concerned about those detained people, thinking those people were treated badly, that their rights were violated. I think it's the idiocy of soft world that has used to watch violence from TV only. These are criminals, my personal thinking is that they have no right to tell us about the human rights, the same ones they so readily violate themselves. A typical prisoner in our city prison has better life than I do, I pay my share of taxes for that.

Seems that this operation was planned for a long time. You know, not too long before, one apartement was raided and there was 20+ kg of high ex, connected to this were people of russian origin. I don't think that is was just a coincidence, I'm pretty sure this HE had it's role. Remember the excuse for second Chetchnya war? Supposedly the terrorists blew up a apartement building, that turned out to be the handiwork of GRU. I'm sure something like that was planned here, so the RF could cry over the massacre of russian speaking people here and send out their forces to prevent the new holocaust. Also, first time for NATO, it was under cyber attacks, with people from Russia (several computers were traced to Russian goverment offices) hacking and damaging out networks and goverment sites.

And the whole hysteria that started was most probably a childish rage, that the plan blew, so the Russia tramped her feet and yelled obscures, threatening us with all kinds of crap.

But indeed, the PM stated that the removal of the soldier was nessesary to the safety of our country, to the independence. To prevent our country from falling under the Russian control, step by step.

Moscow

2007-05-02T13:00:00.000+03:00

This night was also pretty much silent. minor skirmishes here-there. In Moscow on the other hand, our ambassador was attacked as the extremists forced themselves into the official press conference like criminals, attacked embassy personell that were stationed in one room, so the security was forced to use tear gas and other equipment in hand. Ambassador herself didn't get hurt much, luckily, but it was preplanned attack on the ambassador and thus on the country she represents. Also, the ambassador of Sweden was attacked after the meeting with ours.

USA has expressed the support, saying that this is our internal affairs.

Also I add the statement of Foreign Minister:

"The Bronze Soldier and the vandalism in Tallinn was Estonian domestic matter, but Russia’s coordinated actions against Estonia are a European Union problem. Thus, European Union-Russia relations have entered a very complicated situation.

The attacks are virtual, psychological and real.

Before the riots, representatives of the Russian Embassy met with the main organisers of the riots in Tallinn and other Estonian cities. The meetings took place in very strange locations such as the Tallinn Botanical Garden.

It has been established that cyber terrorist attacks against Estonian governmental institution websites and that of the President’s Office’s have been made from IP addresses of concrete computers and by concrete individuals from Russian government organs including the administration of the President of the Russian Federation.

The Russian State Duma delegation, which visited Estonia through the intermediation of the European Union’s Presidency, has demanded the resignation of the government and refuses to cooperate or enter into dialogue with Estonian officials. The visiting delegation only made demands and false allegations. This is interference in Estonian internal matters.

The youth organisation Nashi has surrounded the Estonian Embassy in Moscow, which also is the residence for all the employees. In essence, the employees are being held hostage. Today, Russian parliamentarians indicated that if there was a desire on Russian side, the special police would be able to free the Embassy in three minutes – however, the special police have said that their orders are to ensure only the minimum of security. Today, the Estonian flag was torn from the Embassy building. These actions are all in breach of the Vienna Convention.

The direct links of hostile Russian youth organisations like Nashi and Molodaja Gvardija to the Kremlin are well known. Just as well known is the fact that each person holding Estonian Embassy in Moscow under siege is being paid 550-1000 roubles per day by the Kremlin.

Russian television channels, whose “freedom” is well known throughout the world, do not show clips of rioters in the streets, but rather of “innocent” citizens of Russian decent being “terrorised” by police officers. They also broadcast news of Estonian police killing detainees and that the Estonian Defence Forces have been given the command to shoot Russians. These are gross lies.

I affirm to you that we have sufficient material to prove our accusations.

This all clearly shows that the future of people of Russian decent in the Estonian Republic is only being used as a rhetorical pretext for “active measures” and our compatriots are being used for greater political gains.

On Thursday, I will make a proposal to the Estonian Government as to which measures Estonia believes that the European Union should apply to Russia. These measures have to influence Russia so that it ends the attacks and its interference in internal matters of Estonia as well force Russia to fulfil its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations. The measures should affect EU-Russia relations in its entirety.

We believe it to be essential that the European Union react in full strength against the behaviour of Russia. This might result in the suspension or cancellation of negotiations between the European Union and Russia. The postponement of the European Union-Russia Summit must be seriously considered.

If the situation at the Estonian Embassy in Moscow has not normalised by nine o’clock tomorrow morning, Estonia will end all consular services except for consular assitance to Estonian citizens in its Moscow consulate. The services will be resumed once the situation has returned to normal. We will continue to monitor the security of our other representations in Russia."

Things are calm, for now

2007-05-01T10:51:00.000+03:00

At this moment the things have settled down a bit, only few gatherings, few dozens of people taken down. A lot of extremists have been locked up, including leaders, 60 or so people are waiting criminal charges (50:50 estonian speakers and russian speakers), another 60 or so are waiting for the grey passport (legal aliens) revoked.

Hackers are attacking the websites of state departments, but these have been contained. Mayor of Tallinn, the capitol, is being mistrusted by general public and lot of politicians (accusations are inaction and general favoring of the Russian Federation and it's views) - over 50,000 (4% of whole population) signatures are collected, demanding his resignation, he's being named as the traitor of the country, a collaborant.

General consensus of the world is supporting us, with lot of goverments expressing their support. A lot are understanding the motives, especially those countries that have also faced occupation, or that have troubles with immigrants, like UK or France.

The monument itself (being made of 2 features - bronze soldier and rock wall) is in good shape, after removing it from the old site it was cleaned and worn parts repaired. Soldier itself is already up in new location - armed forces cemetary, the wall will join him shortly, with the remains.

Before the start of excavation there was a ceremony, attended by representatives of both churches. The momument will be reopened on 8th May (international day celebrating the victory over nazi Germany), with representatives summoned from all allied countries.

And still, Estonian embassy in Moscow is under siege by demonstrants, with walls graffited, the police force there cannot/ are not willing to protect it. Because of this our embassy is currently not working, with the ambassador evacuated.

Russian delegation was invited here so they could supervise the legal justifications of the bronze soldier removal, to discuss the questions of the war graves and other questions they deem to be interesting. Instead the delegation presented absurd claims and unjustified demands. So the Departement of Foreign Affairs was forced to apologize in front of all gathered journalists and representatives of Diplomatic corps for the inconveniences the Russian delegation had created.

Third night

2007-04-29T23:00:00.000+03:00

Things were far more calm than the night before. Sure thre were vandals around, but nothing close to the first night. Only few isolated cases and less people sent to the state-sponsored bunk.

It could be the sign of ceasing rebellion, but also could be the sign that the biggest troublemakers are locked up, or sleeping the alcohol off, or are healing the damage from batons, rubber bullets and tear gas.

It could spin up again in few days, but hopefully not, as the whole world has been promptly shown what the so called keeping the memory and peaceful protest are really about - pillaging and robbing. It's sad that the criminal acts are done in the name on soldier valor and honor. As I said, this is a mockery of all dead soldiers, whatever the banner they fought for.

Second night

2007-04-28T23:25:00.000+03:00

News Service video

From 3:00 for a minute and again from approx 9:00 it shows the whole deal (with occasional breaks).

Main deal - the riots are thought to be organized, fueled by some characters. One leader of extremist group (Notsnoi pozor, as it's called, originally it's dozor) is arrested for organizing provocations and anti-country actions. Violence has spreaded outside the capitol, as you can see from pillaged military cemetary, or cities in the east part of the country (in one town a fellow was caught having a hand grenade with him), where Defence League has been very handy (by suppressing the riots).

Prime minister speech is mostly about the sadness of criminal acts, how these are justified by keeping the memory of the dead. PM specifically says that these shopliftings and criminal acts are a mockery of the memory of the fallen soldiers. The number of detained people has raised to 800, all having their DNA (already several criminals have been connected with previous crimes with this action) and other data recorded, a lot of people are waiting for their "green cards" to be revoked and them thrown out.

Later one fellow is spreading lies about police violence in detainment establishment - this is proved to be wrong. There are lot of lies floating around, origin in Russian media, which is clearly biased and pretty vague.

Defence League is out for the second night, manning patrols (as deputies, not as a military force, since that requires a martial law), even in my hometown. I'm tied up with training this weekend, but next week I'll surely lend a hand or two.

A lot of people have offered their assistance to the police, so the police has come up with deputy crash courses (after registration and fast record check one gets fast instructions) so people could protect their belongings with the protection of the law. This clearly shows that the whole circus is criminals with hurt egos against the law enforcement agencies, which has nothing to do with the fallen soldiers, international troubles or god knows what else lies the commies have come up with.

9th May is still ahead. I say again, estonians have nothing against the russians, but have everything against red nazis - communists who think that there's their way and wrong way, and the believers of the last one should be executed or deported. As long as the Bronze Soldier was a site for war veterans as a place to go and remember their fallen it didn't bother no-one, but the clashes started when the site was used as a symbol of liberation - justification of occupation, ie it was used as a tool of perverse propaganda (like "we liberated you, gave you culture, you should be happy that we killed and deported only 1/4 of the whole population, it could have been worse" And all those raped, molested and killed women and children simply deserved it - faschists and all). These commies brought this deal that far by themselves, and now their crying.

Few pics of those mistreated youth:
"Unknown liberator"

or another happy camper:

First wave

2007-04-27T23:07:00.000+03:00

First night was pretty bad - riots, several clashes, total mayhem. Just like in Paris. Results - one dead (stabbed, police is investigating), many wounded (including 13 police officers), a lot of objects damaged.

because of the scale of the riots, the goverment decided to act swiftly and remove the offending statue immediately, so during the riots in the capitol the statue has been moved off. It was planned to take time, identify the remains and then remove the statue, but the criminals made this happen. It will surely show out in this night, when people will protest against that.

A lot of property damage has been made (99 different buildings alone, and counting), at least 5 million USD, by guestimations, like damaged cars (parts smahsed in, or the car flipped upside down), few tramcars and trolleybuses, many houses damaged (from simple broken windows to true destruction - one pub was looted and torched, along with the knitting shop - my wife's pretty mad about this because it was torched only because there weren't nothing to take), stores looted and robbed empty. Damaged are National Library, a cinema, Art College and many more.

Goverment has put out the message (even sending it by SMS to all contracted cell phone users) pleading people not to give into provocations and president himself has said that the rioters are petty criminals and keeping the memory of the fallen has nothing to do with it. Only one thing unites these criminals - will to destroy and rob.

Same time, there's ban on selling all kinds of alcohol, being effective for a week, or when the riots will cease.

Meanwhile we're not up in standby (to move out in 5) but are still asked to keep all the communication gear up and running.

Commies are making all kinds of threats - ending all diplomatic relationships, economical sanctions. One group made public threat that the prime minister will be assasinated and pogroms against "nazi-organizations" will be had. Some even talk about war.

War is a serious matter, I don't think it would be wise and reasonable to have one over an issue like this, but these commies have been unpredictable before, especially when the hurt ego is a major part of the equation. What I think will be more imminent and more serious is the spreading of the riots, from police vs criminals to the nationality level - estonians vs russians (that's what the provocators are trying to spark, to show to the outside world how cruel nazis beat up those poor minorities), which will definitely spread outside the capitol. There are provocators inside estonian ranks too, spreading out calls to gather and get even. The best thing the citizen of this country can do is let it be the issue between criminals and law enforcement.

Our goverment, on the other hand, has decided to make a move too, and have given out the statement that those fellows who are acting directly against the current state of goverment, national security, against the country will have their citizenship or legal alien status reviewed, if needed those legal alien rights are banned and people sent back to their homeland - this being a pretty serious punishment as we are joining the Schengen system, meaning those banned fellows cannot enter other EU countries too. I think this is good move, showing spine, that the criminals will get their punishment, that the independent country has the right of choosing who will be let in and who will be thrown out if nessesary.

New night is coming, new actions. Thus far there have been new gatherings, new standoff against the police. Last time it took pretty good effort from riot police - flashbangs, tear gas, rubber bullets, dogs, water cannon. Wonder what it takes this time. Commando force has been mobilized, police SF unit K (Kommando) has been used extensivly. Defence League in capitol is also being used (about 100 men in deputy role thus far, with another 100 in reserve).

Already the maraudering has started again, as people have smashed in flower stands and pillaged alcohol store. People have been detained in hundreds. Our brothers in arms will surely have good time, so to speak, this night. Depressing. And this is the "deep russian soul", showing out in violence and criminality this time. Again. And a lot of sheeple will just go with the crowd, to live out their troubled youth, and to be violent yet somewhat anonymous.

Yeah, things are bad.

Video from news sevice, covering the first night
Photo coverage

Flashpoint

2007-04-26T21:24:00.000+03:00

The identification of the remains of the red army troops and reburying them has started, along with the relocation of the Bronze Soldier. Before it the border control was tightened to prevent the infiltration of extremists (a few have already been rejected), but we have plenty inside, already. Police has recalled the personell from vacations to reinforce the peace in the capitol, since the extremists, provocators and other red nazis are running havoc, rioting, attacking police officers securing the site (there have been few clashes), spreading hostile propaganda.

It's too obvious that the uprest is actually financed from outside, using paid provocators, trying to spark the conflict - which is strictly a hostile act, trying to regulate OUR country's internal affairs which are covered with laws - everything that's happening on the site is strictly legal and done in polite manner.

Police has given out the note - not to react to hostile provocations. Commies want to get respect, honor, yet they give out none. So they try to force their rotten views onto us. But certain political forces are working their asses off to provoke and spread hostile propaganda, trying to glue a nazi-sign on us (that we are trying to rewrite history, restate nazi order and other bullshit), yet keeping silent on their own actions (the lies they call history, hundred thousands of dead people, tortures, rapes, murders, pillagings, warcrimes).

These same politcal forces have brought the whole deal that far, that the statue has to be removed - it has become the symbol of soviet occupation and their warcrimes of massive scale and inhumanity. Often people gather there, wear communist symbolics, drink and violate public order. This is not the remembering of the dead read army troops anymore, but the showoff against the current democratic goverment, our culture, country, language, people, our views.

Worst case scenario: we're waiting for the escalation - harder riots, possible clashes involving firearms and/or explosives (which are plenty in the hands of the criminals), making it nessesary to use military force to restore and reinforce the order. Hopefully it doesn't go that far. But as they say - hope the best, prepare for worst. I wonder if/when we'll go to condition orange.

These commies must understand, this is independent republic, not some soviet satellite anymore, this is our business what we are doing with the occupation (and this was an occupation, not liberation, since the german army had left the capitol few days before the "victorious red army liberated" it, without a single casualty by the way) symbols, especially considering the fact that the remains will be reburied in the cemetary where all the other dead soldiers rest, along with the statue that will be relocated there.

We're acting in civilized manner, statues like that have been relocated in similar manner before in other countries, yet they cry wolf here.

The time ahead will be interesting, that's for sure.

Sighting in, vol 2

2007-04-10T20:04:00.000+03:00

Thats what I thought, the set of 2 separate rings, splitted vertically, wasn't suitable. It didn't keep the scope LOS parallel with the barrel and the rings didn't sit parallel either, thus bending the scope. When I put on the one piece mount with rings the rifle shot full 4 moas right and way off in height. Had to shoot it at 10 m to get the windage centered and height into normal place for rezeroing it at 50 m (since the range isn't longer).

When I have time I have to go out and zero the rifle to 100m. benefit of this is that I can shoot within 25 - 200 m purely by mildot reticle, as the drop at 200 m is approx 5 mils.

Wonderful is that the RO has the opinion - shooting over 25 rounds is a waste of ammo. Heck, I just got the feeling in 50 rounds. And while preaching safety and how you must not cover anyone with the muzzle he did sweep the whole room, several times. Happily it didn't turn to Glock Fotay. Professionals my ass.

Deportings

2007-03-24T07:00:00.000+02:00

The night of March 24, 1949 was something like "The Night Of Horrors" - where the communists, communist youth and local collaborants forced themselves into many homes and emptied those by sending the families to Siberia. And it wasn't the only event of this type.

7471 families: 4566 men, 9866 women, 6048 children, by official accounts. A lot of them didn't return. Ever

The valuables that were left behind were mostly given to collective farms (furniture, animals, tools, tractors etc), or sold in stores, or stolen by the deporters.

There are many depressing memories from these times, from the survivals. Like

"The father was away, but the family was deported anyway. Mother, teenage brother/sister, 6yo girl and 2 yo boy (named Mati - Matthew). One soldier turned the sleeping baby boy over with all the sheets, so the boy was faced into matress and all the sheets/blankets over him. Mother was so upset that she wasn't able to pack the things. Later Mati got ill because of the rough handling that day and died a few days after the mother, december of same year."

"We were still sleeping when soldiers stormed in. In kid's room the blankets were thrown away with bayonets, with matresses and cupboards sticked through in case somebody was hiding below/in them. The brother, 13 yo, was ill and had a fever, other brother was 7. When the family was taken away we didn't even have our things packed."

"The deporters were 4-5 soldiers and the communist from next village. /-/ The mother was weak since she just came from a hospital. She started to cry and tried to beat the communist collaborant. /-/ We got an hour to pack our things, my little sister took the pee-pot and a doll."

Dept of Honour

2007-03-24T06:33:00.000+02:00

In the beginning of 1919 our new-born republic was in a serious trouble - though the Soviet invasion was halted and mainland mostly cleared of Soviet troops, the country as a whole and military were near the collapse.

Military lacked everything nessesary - guns, ammo, uniforms, boots, fuel. You name it. Civilians had a lack of food and homewarmth.

What saved the day was the aid from mostly Great Britain, USA and Finland - food, weapons, fuel, medical equipment. What is mostly forgotten is the fact that it was supposed to be paid for. In 1931 values it was 1.2 million pounds to GB and 13.8 million USD to US. In today's value it's in total something like 500 million USD. Not something our country couldn't do

This thing has brought up mainly 2 opinions, with strong support to either:

1. It's a dept of honour, we should pay it to show we are the same country and we keep our responsibilities, duties. It would give us a stronger self-belief and respect of the other countries

2. We shouldn't pay it, since the western countries betrayed us and blah-blah. Or the atrocities the russians made nullified this dept.

I personally say we should pay. A dept is a dept, besides it's a thing of honour. Without paying we reduce us into petty thieves. The betrayal of the republic and the soviet occupation had helping hand within - the 5th eschelon - which did everything possible to justify the bolshevist ideology and repress those who wanted independent freedom.

When the people were "selected" for deportation to Siberia the "selection" was made mostly by our own people, fueled by greed: this family has a lot of valuables, let's deport them and take their valuables to ourselves. Or hate: a man in this family told us to take a hike when we wanted to get free lunch, or him to give us some money since he had some, so let's deport him.

All those atrocities the Soviet Union made here should be paid for, but it's no excuse to not keeping our promises.

Draft

2007-03-24T06:26:00.000+02:00

One day we had visitors, drafting for the new Northern Battle Group (NBG), which is made up form troops of several Nordic countries. This is interesting development - EU showing spine, taking agressive posture - as this NBG is supposed to be able to force in beachheads and be like an expeditionary force. Sweds are giving the armored fist and most of the troops, Finns are giving long-range guns, Norwegians are giving pioneers and transportation (also some ships), we are giving the HQ defence force

This time is not right for me - can't leave the family right now, as we have our second child coming. Maybe later.

Galil rifle

2007-03-14T14:51:00.000+02:00

One sunday I had the chance to get aquainted with Galil AR assault rifle. It was actually a part of some other event, but the shooting itself went well. After first 10 round string it came out the rifle shot 50 cm high and 15 cm left, comparing to point of aim at 100 m range. This promised to become interesting - it was a sort of an exam.

Nonetheless, the 3x10 exercise (3 positions - prone, kneeling, standing - 10 rounds each) went well, resulting in 243 points. For the first encounter it was very good, though I could have made better, since I flinched too much in the standing position, and too must careless shooting. I made the grade of "first grade shooter", but could have done the top "Jäger" grade if I'd be more careful. But as they say: if my aunt had balls...

The shooter's grades are as such, names being rough guestimations:

Jäger being the highest (260 of 300);

First grade (240 of 300), this being also the minimum level for marksmen and snipers;

first class;

second class, being the lowest nominated one.

Galil was surprisingly pleasant to shoot and handle. And of course, to clean.

This exam had a positive outcome, too. I'm getting a US milsurp M14 rifle as a primary tool, I might scope it (I have already chosen out the scope, though) in near future if the rifle seem to be accurate enough (I'll try it out in few weeks).

Happy birthday, Republic of Estonia

2007-02-24T09:09:00.000+02:00

24. February, 1918, the Committee of Elders of the underground Maapäev proclaimed the Republic of Estonia, right before the invasion of Germany. The following United Baltic Dutchy was shortlived and soon the germans left, in November 1918. Provivional goverment took the power and the Republic lived for a few days, just to have another invasion, by Soviet Union.

Following times were violent, but people volunteered to fight for the newborn free country (teachers, schoolboys, all kinds, it was pictured in the motion picture - Names In Marble). This was troubled times.

But by February 1919 the mainland of Estonia was cleared of the Red Army and Soviet Union was forced to renounce all rights to the territory of Estonia and signed the Treaty of Tartu (of which the Russian federation wants to know nothing about), 2. February, 1920.

After that the Republic of Estonia obtained international recognition and became a member of the UN in 1921. Foreign policy took the path of neutrality, taking no sides, like Swiss. What was unique at that time in the whole Europe (after the law was passed in 1925) was a guarantee of cultural autonomy to minority groups comprising at least 3,000 persons, including Jews. Historians see the lack of any bloodshed after a nearly "700-year German rule" as indication that it must have been mild by comparison.

The birth of Estonia was violent and the life was short. In 23. August 1939 the Molotov- Ribbentrop pact was signed, giving Estonia under the Soviet "sphere of influence", the 5th echelon was strong at that time and the country was simply given away, covered by the lies about people's will. And soviet Union accusations of not being neutral (a whole incident with a Polish submarine Orzel) which was followed by an ultimation - either allow the Soviet bases in our territory (as a "friendly aid") or face the war. So the the more expensive peace was chosen, instead of giving the war the Soviets so much lusted. Allegedly the President Päts was about to flee to the United States, but was caught by Soviets right before departure, with presidential accessories being still in Russia as they don't want to return those, claiming these to be the property of RF.

It was sad and today hard to understand why the country was given away without a shot fired. The finns fought for freedom and they got it, with a prize of course, but still they got the freedom, so all those lives lost were not in vain. Not like here, the country was given away to commies to be raped, molested and pillaged. The commies were very fierce and very violent, well remembering the defeats they got in independence war and in 1941-44 with the Red Army being chased out of the country by Nazi Germany. During the german occupation many volunteered to fight the dreaded commies for all those atrocities they made in 1939-41. The Estonian Waffen-SS legion, 20th Waffen Grenadier Division of the SS (1st Estonian), was fully formed by the 1944 and fought hard, defending the Narva line, causing massive casualties to the commies.

The forming of Estonian Waffen-SS legion is not a sign of sympathies to nazi policy, au contraire - the commies actions were so hated that the Estonian soldiers would have joined devil's own grandmother, just to fight them. Allied Court in Nuremberg freed the Estonians from any nazi accusations, ruling that we fought for our freedom, not for the nazi ideology. And the Estonian army had it's first international mission, securing the prisoners that were facing the court in Nuremberg, with blue-black-white flags on uniforms.

Still the Estonia as seen by Nazi state by Russian Federation, with them using every opportunity to remind it, at the same time being quiet about their own actions that should be declared warcrimes of enormous scale - deportings, killings, rapes and executions.

Sighting in

2007-02-04T18:46:00.000+02:00

Yesterday was a shooting day. Weather was nice, mild cold (a few degrees below 0 C), slight snow (knee-deep, lightly snowing), during my own personal activities we had a small blizzard. It had 3 useful objectives.

Getting reaquainted with AK4 assault rifle, since I last shot it 4 months ago. The results were exactly what I'd be happy with, but it wasn't that bad, over mediocre at least. I got to spend whole 25 rounds. Yippie.

Useful connections, related to next obj. Got to meet 2 snipers in our area, got some useful tips, and more important - contacts, to learn from them. The society of snipers in this place is very small, so we should be as unite as possible.

Sighted in a training rifle, .22LR cal, with the help of those 2 beforementioned snipers - I shot, they spotted for me. Since I shot in the same line with the other riflemen, I first sighted it in at 150 m (170 yards). The bullet has enourmous drop at that distance, so I had to crank the optics up a lot. Weather had worsened up a bit, a bit gusty crosswinds, snowing a lot more, so my gun was mostly covered with it, optic's objective was also snowy. Nonetheless the rifle performed wonderful, first 5 round group was below the target, but in center and in 10cm group.

So the sighting was pretty much easy, with rifle soon hitting the center target, with avg 15 cm groups. I actually had wanted to zero it to 100 m, but we shot next at 50 m lane, so 50 m that was. .22LR HP HV, running at 390 m/s needed a whole turn up, 15 moa-s, to get it centered again. At this distance the rifle put bullets into 1 cm groups. Those 2 snipers were pretty much impressed, that a semi-auto rifle of that calibre shoots cheap ammo that good.

So the day was a success.

Promising new year

2007-01-29T22:28:00.000+02:00

New year offers much more than last one. Lot's of shootings, several field trainings, new promises and prospects. Training is picking up speed, I got an offer to do the course and get a small-arms (up to 20 mm cal) instructor certificate, chief personally requested me to take the unit armorer's duty and told "you'd like to get the unit leader training, alongside with rank, like sgt or lt?"

Yeah, things look nice and pink. First shooting is this saturday, we'll see how it goes.

Tragic events

2007-01-13T09:06:00.000+02:00

Holy crap. Mother (29) and 2 daughters (ages 7 and 7 months) murdered, in Tallinn. The Article.

Police is searching for the husband, a 33 yo ex Lt. of Scout Battalion. The press has already dubbed the man as the murderer. But police says it is not known, whether the guy is quilty, or is snatched too to cover the tracks (ie - kill the family and take the man, everybody looks for him first, since he's missing he would be thought as the murderer) and killed&buried in the woods.

They were killed in their home, uppon discovery the place was neat and tidy, 3 bodies lying in the bed, side by side, neatly dressed up, without extra holes in body, so most probably strangled.

A tragedy, end of 3 innocent lives, 2 children. The guy responsible (whoever that is) should be hanged. I can only offer my worthless sympathies to the family of victims (their grandparents found them) and lit the candle for their soul. Hail to the glorious dead. Aww damn.

Updated: man was found dead, in the woods, near Paldiski. Press have thought up a rumor that the guy hanged himself. Police doesn't want to comment this topic right now.

Co-operation between police force and KL

2006-12-18T22:27:00.000+02:00

Plans are for the next year to start using armed KL members as deputies, patrolling the cities. The article in local newspaper. Lawyers from both parties work together to work out the nessesary changes in laws to give the KL a relatively free hands, yet stay within the limits of the law.

Some people have already freaked a bit, saying that things must be very bad if military force takes over the police duties. But since the police force is very seriously, I'd say even critically, undermanned this would be a good idea. Besides, it would make the KL more popular and maybe keep people safer.

I do wonder, whether the goverment will start to use it to repress the citizens, or is it really for the good?

Nice clip about Estonian Defence Forces and NATO membership

2006-11-27T20:22:00.000+02:00

The video
8 minute long, in english. I think it's pretty good.

New gear for our troops

2006-11-25T15:19:00.000+02:00

Usually the new equipment goes to the units, that participate in NATO or foreign missions (currently our men are in Afghanistan and Iraq). But the Departement of Defence has decided to bring all troops to modern level. Time schedule is pretty vague - in following years or by the end of this decade. The main reason of this topic to come up is the experience in the Iraq, where the modern equipment has been in good use and have shown to be nessesary: sights and torches on guns, personal protection gear etc.

First of all, standard uniform is deemed to be replaced with the digital camo uniforms, made from thinner but more sturdier fabrics. Some officers to say that troops would prefer Gore-tex.

And the ordinary troops idea of comfortable and good uniform differs from the ideas of the office personnell and they prefer the current one over the new digi uniform.

Let's cover the new uniform (pictured):

German helmet, offering the protection against flak (shell fragments, flying debris) and pistol rounds. And as seen, can mount a camera or NVG.
Safety glasses, to protect the eyes from the debris.
Bodyarmor Burgmann, Level III-A, to offer protection against commonly used 7.62x39 mm rounds (and other ammo up to that energy /sectional density level).
Elbow and kneeguards, to make crawling and and diving more comfortable.
Estonian made webgear.

Interesting point is that the Swedish AK-4 is named in the news article as "standard issue rifle". My impression has up now been that the standard issue rifle is 5.56x45 cal Galil AR, with the AK-4 being in reserve and for the KL. The high command thinks the 7.62 is better than 5.56, since it's more powerful and offering better penetration, and so there's no rush in replacing the AK-4s anytime soon. So what that the guns are mostly several decades old and the troops using them doesn't fancy them much (they're used and not as reliable and accurate anymore than one would expect from real German G3, or any good combat rifle anywhere).

People want smaller calibre, since most of the combat is under 300 m anyway (in which the 5.56 FMJ is reasonably effective) and smaller cal offers better handling, especially in CQB situations. Also, smaller cal means lighter ammo, meaning more can be carried for the same weight. If I recall correctly, one HK G3A3 with 100 rounds weights as much as M16A2 with 240 rounds. If you ask me, which one I'd take for general combat, the answer is obvious - M16A2.

Anyway the idea is to spice the venerable AK-4s up:

Replacing the fixed stock with collapsible one (I have heard bad comments regarding the HK collapsible stock, wonder how this turns out). This should make the gun more handy in close encounters.
Rail over the receiver, for attaching optical devices, like Eotechs (which should be standard issue after this decade) or night optics.
Plans are to buy underbarrel grenade launchers, bipods, lights, to cover wide range of applications.

I have to admit, the gun on the picture looks nice, but I think it's about time to come to modern thinking, where general combat calibre is 5.56 (or similar), with 7.62 (or similar) for designated marksman rifles, sniper rifles and machineguns.

New winter uniform arrived

2006-11-25T15:14:00.000+02:00

Well, it's almost new, since it is second-hand but unused. No holes, nametags etc. Only flag on sleeve. And it's previous model. But it's warm and fit's me. So everything's good and I'm ready to rock&roll any time.

Murphy's thoughts on combat

2006-11-09T22:43:00.000+02:00

Remember that Murphy was an optimist..

You are not a superman.
If it's stupid but work, it isn't stupid.
Don't look conspicuous-it draws fire.(This is why aircraft carriers are called, "Bomb Magnets".)
When in doubt, empty your magazine.
Never share a foxhole with anyone braver than you are.
Never forget that your weapon was made by the lowest bidder.
If your attack is going really well, it's an ambush.
No plan survives the first contact intact.
All five-second grenade fuses will burn down in three seconds.
Try to look unimportant because the bad guys may be low on ammo.
If you are forward of your position, the artillery will fall short.
The enemy diversion you are ignoring is the main attack.
The important things are always simple.
The simple things are always hard.
The easy way is always mined.
If you are short of everything except enemy, you are in combat.
When you have secured an area, don't forget to tell the enemy.
Incoming fire has the right of way.
Friendly fire-isn't.
If the enemy is in range, "SO ARE YOU!!!"
No combat ready unit has ever passed inspection.
Beer math is: two beers times 37 men = 49 cases.
Body count math is: two guerillas plus one portable plus two pigs = 37 enemy killed in action.
Things that must be together to work, usually can't be shipped together.
Radio's will fail as soon as you need fire support desperately.
Anything you do can get you shot-including doing nothing.
Tracers work both ways.
The only thing more accurate than incoming enemy fire is incoming friendly fire.
Make it tough for the enemy to get in and you can't get out.
If you take more than your fair share of objectives, you will have more than your fair share of objectives to take.
When both sides are convinced that they are about to lose, they are both right.
Professional soldiers are predictable, but the world is full of amateurs.
Murphy was a grunt.
Things that must work together, can't be carried to the field that way.
Radar tends to fail at night and in bad weather (and especially during both.)
Military Intelligence is a contradiction.
Fortify your front; you'll get your rear shot up.
Weather ain't neutral.
If you can't remember, the Claymore is pointed towards you.
Air defense motto: shoot 'em down; sort 'em out on the ground.
The Cavalry doesn't always come to the rescue.
Napalm is an area support weapon.
Mines are equal opportunity weapons.
B-52s are the ultimate close support weapon.
Sniper's motto: reach out and touch someone.
The one item you need is always in short supply.
Interchangeable parts aren't.
Combat will occur on the ground between two adjoining maps.
If the Platoon Sergeant can see you, so can the enemy.
Never stand when you can sit, never sit when you can lie down, never stay awake when you can sleep.
The most dangerous thing in the world is a Second Lieutenant with a map and a compass.
Exceptions prove the rule, and destroy the battle plan.
Everything always works in your HQ, everything always fails in the Colonel's HQ.
The enemy never watches until you make a mistake.
One enemy soldier is never enough, but two is entirely too many.
The worse the weather, the more you are required to be out in it.
Whenever you have plenty of ammo, you never miss. Whenever you are low on ammo, you can't hit the broad side of a barn.
The more a weapon costs, the farther you will have to send it away to be repaired.
Field experience is something you don't get until just after you need it.
No matter which way you have to march, its always uphill.
If enough data is collected, a board of inquiry can prove anything.
For every action, there is an equal and opposite criticism.
Airstrikes always overshoot the target, artillery always falls short.
When reviewing the radio frequencies that you just wrote down, the most important ones are always illegible.
The tough part about being an officer is that the troops don't know what they want, but they know for certain what they don't want.
To steal information from a person is called plagiarism. To steal information from the enemy is called gathering intelligence.
The perfect officer for the job will transfer in the day after that billet is filled by someone else.
When you have sufficient supplies & ammo, the enemy takes 2 weeks to attack. When you are low on supplies & ammo the enemy decides to attack that night.
The newest and least experienced soldier will usually win the Medal of Honor.
A Purple Heart just proves that were you smart enough to think of a plan, stupid enough to try it, and lucky enough to survive.
The bursting radius of a hand grenade is always one foot greater than your jumping range.
All-weather close air support doesn't work in bad weather.
The combat worth of a unit is inversely proportional to the smartness of its outfit and appearance.
The crucial round is a dud.
Every command which can be misunderstood will be.
There is no such place as a convenient foxhole.
Don't ever be the first, don't ever be the last and don't ever volunteer to do anything.
If your positions are firmly set and you are prepared to take the enemy assault on, he will bypass you.
If your ambush is properly set, the enemy won't walk into it.
If your flank march is going well, the enemy expects you to outflank him.
Density of fire increases proportionally to the curiousness of the target.
Odd objects attract fire - never lurk behind one.
The more stupid the leader is, the more important missions he is ordered to carry out.
There is always a way, and it usually doesn't work.
Success occurs when no one is looking, failure occurs when the General is watching.
The enemy never monitors your radio frequency until you broadcast on an unsecured channel.
Whenever you drop your equipment in a fire-fight, your ammo and grenades always fall the farthest away, and your canteen always lands at your feet.
As soon as you are served hot chow in the field, it rains.
Never tell the Platoon Sergeant you have nothing to do.
The seriousness of a wound (in a fire-fight) is inversely proportional to the distance to any form of cover.
Walking point = sniper bait.
Your bivouac for the night is the spot where you got tired of marching that day.
If only one solution can be found for a field problem, then it is usually a stupid solution.

Updated goals

2006-10-07T18:49:00.000+03:00

Planning to egress the country in nearer future. We're talking some years here. Thus far I collect knowledge and skills. So far - teaching SATIS, metalworks (semi-automatic CNC bending machine) , upholstering and moulding polyurethane pillows. Maybe something else.

Closer plans - when school is over (material sciences) go back to army, to professional level. It has been a long time since I've done anything like it, sad that I didn't follow it up right then, but decided to "see the world". Hah. Only thing I can be proud of is my wife and kid, maybe getting experience in light industry, so to do what I really want, I must go back in. Too much interest and knowledge in the matter to let it pass. Also, it would give me bonne chance to do ops overseas.

Illusional security

2006-10-07T10:34:00.000+03:00

Advertising in radio - get the home security system from Falck (security firm) and "live like in the movies". This kind of security is illusional, remote, not effective. My wife's parents have similar home security installed, but closest piloce departement is at least 15 minutes away, if immediately available. By this time the residents could be killed or house emptied and criminals far away.

Can't stand the attitude, that the police or some security company is the only security relied on. They won't be there in time, as constantly proved. For example, some time ago a man had to kill an intruder, who at first ravaged at the car, then broke in, in Muraste IIRC. For police it took close to an hour to get there. If the man hadn't do anything they're all would have been dead. Police is only to enforce the law, not to protect individuals. Personal protection is up to everybody themselves.

Or the plan to give some law enforcement job to private security companies, like beforementioned Falck. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot? My honest opinion - it is utmostly dangerous and careless to give state security to private firms. It has the danger of ending up bad - selectivity in security, like if you pay you get the protection, if not, then the law is not on your side.

New president elected

2006-09-24T15:19:00.000+03:00

So the presidential rally got over at last, or better wording it - depressing circus. Mr. Ilves got elected, but it's not over, the old commies still wave their fists, how the guy is a foreigner and how the bad press stomped their candidate, mr. Rüütel (previous president), into mud.

I think it's good the way things turned out, the last president (Rüütel) suffered a very marginal support while the other candidate was undisputably a people's favorite. And since the whole election circus has been the worst in history by straightforward lying and sneaky backstabbing, the election of Rüütel could and would have torn the country in 2 and resulted in uprisings at least and civil war at worst...

Date with AK4

2006-09-24T14:38:00.000+03:00

Last saturday was a nice day. It was clear and somewhat warm. On the way to HQ some older ladies eyeballed me pretty annoyingly. Haven't they seen a person in BDU before?

Due policy every shooting event must be preceded by safety lecture. You know, don't shoot yourself, don't do this and that. Yes it's annoying but nessesary. The one who disregards the safety rules is the one who shoots him/herself.

The one on the left is personal me, sans some gear, like hat, leather gloves (the hot brass does hurt, actually, as one scar on the back of my hand proves) and rucksack with sidearm.

Weapon is indeed a AK-4, standard issue weapon for KL. Heavy MF, but pretty reliable, hard hitting and precise, cal 7.62x51 mm. Main objective for the day was to requalify with it - shooting 3 rounds from 3 into standard rifle target's circle, prone and in 100 m distance.

Prettier picture of my date. Magazine is in my pocket. Loaded. The wooden thing under the rifle is the "shooting mat". It was hard on the elbows, so next time we'll take roll-mats with us.

I qualified with no problem, though since I haven't shot it for a long time. Also, since I had the "pleasure" of being a gate security in the range I was a bit frozen (it was a windy place) and stiff. So my group was like 10 moa, but gun and ammo should be around 5-6 moa.

And since we had a package of ammo the commanding lt didn't want to haul back home we had the pleasure of spending it rock&roll style, ie full-auto mode.

I got 5 mags to spend, totalling 100 rounds of full auto fun. I propelled 4 mags worth of ammo into the commie. But as predicted - when shooting at 100 m, full-auto and in different positions - it was a hard exercise to actually hit something. Some of the rounds went way overhead, hitting the backstop at least 10 m over target. I managed OK though, and Lt admitted it too, that I did better than most shooters. Boy was I lifted, by the ears. I counted close to 50 hits in the target to the left, so it was a pretty good hit-rate.

Shooting was in short bursts, like 3-4 rounders. Gun still kicked pretty hard. I did try the trick of using the sling to keep the barrel down, but nonetheless, it was hard. I can understand why the main combat calibre is 5.56x45 nowadays, instead of 7.62 of older times.

Some bullets were keyholing (mine and other targets had them), either due the low quality ammo or worn bore&crown, or both. I would count ricochet out, since the ground was soft and sandy, as seen for the pics, with occasional grass.

I also had the chance to give my sidearms some workout - 50 rounds. Not much, but to keep the habit of shooting on reasonable level.

Anyway cordite smells nice - scent of freedom -and peppering the targets gave a lot of moral boost. Nice experience, every month should have one such day.

15 years of Second Republic

2006-08-20T10:04:00.000+03:00

Today, 20.08, our republic got 15 years old. First republic was borned violently - with the October Revolution the independent Estonian Republic was declared, dated February 24, 1918. But the commies didn't like it at all, so they waged war, starting in November of same year. At first our forces were pushed back, but with the help of British we were able to regroup and make a counter-offensive (with the support of Royal Navy, Finnish, Swedish and Danish volunteers - thanks to those all, who fought for the cause), so the commie forces were pushed out of Estonia by the time of February 1919.

We also did invade Northern Latvia, beated the German Army there, but later ended the occupation, and also pushed the Red Army behind the Soviet border, invading the Soviet mainland, our forces were strong then (74, 500 people in air, land and naval forces) and we were successful, making soviets beg for a peace treaty, so on February 2, 1920, the Peace Treaty of Tartu was announced, where they renounced in perpetuity all rights to the territory of Estonia. So we won our freedom, costing us a lot of dead people.

Later it all turned up to be in vain, as the country was given off to the commies without a single shot, in June 16-17, 1940. Communist occupation lasted long, only with the soon-to-be collapse of the Soviet Union regaining the freedom was possible again. This time the fight was more political, but the commies didn't like it also this time, making some rumbles and a coup in August 1991. But it failed and on 20 August 1991 the independence was redeclared.

Many think the freedom came with singing and dancing, but it came only because of, again, brute force. The commander of Baltic Fleet was on our side, also the commanders of strategic air forces, situated in Estonia. I have heard from first-hand account, that the commander of air forces in Tartu threatened to kill every single soviet tank which enter the city Tartu. And we had Tu-22M3s here too, armed with nuclear-tipped cruise missiles. So the soviets feared the consequenses. Some rumors do note, that some of these nuke-missiles have gone awol.

I hope that the actions haven't been in vain this time, so that the Second Republic would be the last one, lasting for a thousand years. So I train to give my small part to it stayal.

Bad news

2006-08-13T20:39:00.000+03:00

All shootings have been cancelled for this month, since it has been hot and dry for over a month and because of that forests are extremely flammable. In several counties it has been officially forbidden to go to forest without a written permission. Things have been pretty bad, a lot of fires everywhere, and some arsonists who got the kick out of torching the forest. It has been so bad that there was not enough firemen to put the fires out (thing are pretty catastrophic in this field anyway - lot of vacancies in the fire departments), so the people were literally requested to take the number and wait in the line.

It has been raining a little in past few days, so hopefully this month is the only one without shooting.

In the end of this month there was supposed to be another small unit training event, the happening of this is under question though, but hopefully it rains and it's safe to train in forest, without actually torching the place - it would suck, big time.

Important goals

2006-08-13T20:21:00.000+03:00

Things have developed so that my shape is getting a little lax, or more precisely pear-shaped. So it's back to gym to get it back to normal. Important goal here is to get into such a shape that I can apply to ESTSOF (Estonian Special Operations Force), it's about to get rolling (officially of course) in 2009, so there's plenty of time to exercise.

Also, important is to get the sniper training rolling, or tactical sense and thinking in general, to gain as much knowledge and skills as possible. Because I didn't join to sit in the barracks, so to speak, but to get&take as much as possible, to maximize my chances of survival if S ever HTF.

Smaller goals is to try and bargain out a Steyr AUG A1, with 9 mm conversion kit. Steyr AUG in original 5.56 NATO calibre is a very good piece of military hardware, effective, accurate, hard hitting and reliable, 9 mm kit is for trigger practice, general plinking and SMG work.

Also, a good idea would be to get a good .45ACP cal handgun, polymer framed. HK USP 45 Tactical would be good, but is extremely expensive, near twice the prize of Glock 21, yet offering same functionality and reliability.

Ahh, dreams, whenever I can get my finances together, after other important things have been handled (family&home first, other activities later).

In search fo equipment

2006-07-19T01:03:00.000+03:00

You know, most members buy their own clothing and accessories. It is pretty phenomenal, that people pay to serve&protect, instead of getting paid. People put their money and time into the organization. What do they get in return? Pride, honour, unity and fellowship with close partners, public badmouthing - boys with toys, playing kindergarten games in sandbox. Usual critics are people who haven't got a slightest idea what they're talking about.

I was also supposed to buy my own uniform, pieces of gear, small accessories (like compass, knife and such). Our military issue gear isn't too easily obtained, mostly second-hand only. Brand new clothes ase mostly US origin (surprise surprise). So I planned on getting some US camo pattern BDUs (Battle Dress Uniform), like Woodland (which is pretty OK for our surroundings) and Tigerstripe (for more wet seasons). Winter coveralls can be made easily from white linen cloth, to pull over ordinary BDUs.

None of these are too cheap, money flows straight out of the pocket, making us joke - have your salary sent straight to the shop on payday.

I had to divide the shopping to several parts. One month I buy boots, next month I buy the BDU, next month after that a rucksack and webgear. After that smaller things, like canteens, knife, compass, flashlight, camo set, rifle cleaning set.

All this makes to wonder a little - is this worth it? "During difficult times one do not rise to occasion, but lower to the level of training". Yes it is worth it. I even plan to buy my own precision rifle and new sidearm (best candidate is Walther P99 AS with suppressor).

Still, I can only honour the people in my unit and in the KL as whole, for their will to sacrifice a lot, just to serve and "do the right thing".

Medieval weapons

2006-07-19T00:42:00.000+03:00

Last weekend we had hanseatic days, one interesting "device" was a waterthrower, similar to a trebuchet (rockthrower), but instead throwing rocks and leveling all buildings at the other side of the river it threw water back to the river. Pretty interesting attraction, hosted by Ahhaa center.

Society of role-players showed the medieval weapons. Swords, axes, polearms and such. Some people would think the medieval weapons as romantic. But guns make only holes, these things were made to dismember and maul. One two-handed axe was supposed to be pretty dangerous, but when showing the sharpness of it on hapless shield the handle broke. Go figure.

ME and my wife got the chance to participate in parrot shooting, with crossbow. She hasn't even hold a longarm before, but did she shoot tight groups or what. She's almost better in this than me. Maybe I should send her to sniper school? I haven't shot a crossbow before either, it's trigger was too light and recoil negligent, thus making it a little uncomfy for me.

First round - figuring out who gets to shoot the parrot first. My wife shot 24 points out of 30. Damn I was proud of her. I shot 28 out of 30 (2 nines and one ten), this was the best result during the whole hanseatic event. But on my parrot-shot I missed by hair's width, but this was enough and some other guy won.

Dangit, I felt a little frustrated, but what the heck. Even snipers miss sometimes, it's a normal course of life. I missed because I was not used to the crossbow, it's trigger was too light, slightest touch discharged it, I'm used to heavier triggers, like 5 pounds or so. So it was my downfall, as I by reflex I pulled a little hard and threw the shot off.

Still, I'm proud of my girl, she had her first encounter with these things and she performed well.

Me and weapons

2006-07-02T13:23:00.001+03:00

AK-4. It's a Swedish copy of legendary HK G3 assault rifle. Weights approx 4.4 kilos, is effective out to 600 m. Balance? Bad, muzzle heavy, hard to keep the thing level. And for carrying it's too heavy, ammo's heavy too. I'd personally prefer HK G36 assault rifle, which is much handier and at least a full kilo lighter. Besides, since our engagements are mostly under 200 m the bigger stopping power of 7.62x51 is marginal advantage over 5.56x45, thus in my eyes making the smaller caliber more justifiable, since - well - weapon is lighter, ammo is lighter. Also, as a personal laziness, the G36 is easier to clean and more reliable under difficult conditions.

Our's are pretty old (I had the gun that was as old as I am) and beaten. But what to expect from second hand weapons. Otherwise the AK-4 by design is pretty durable and accurate, also reliable, if taken care of. I think that the reasons my AK-4 let me down on last training was due the lack of cleaning by previous user. And also by lack of on-field cleaning by me. Next time I'd be wiser. I've already looked out the good cleaning kit, which is small and handy, but useful. And no bore snake for me, thank you. Rod is still the best, allowing to push out any obstructions in barrel.

Since I went in to become a sniper, my future weapon would be a bolt action. In sniper role in my opinion the bolt action still performs the best, as it's more solid and consistent, than semi-automatic rifle. In semis there are a lot of moving parts, due gas system the barrel isn't free floating, thus having bigger vibrations. True, there are some true semi-auto sniper rifles, like HK PSG-1, or Springfield M-21, but these are much more expensive than most bolt action rifles of same accuracy.

I already have negotiated it over, and I have something in sight, a Tikka T3 Tactical (pictured), which is meant to be a sniper platform for police and Special Forces. It would do for me too, as it isn't overly expensive, and off the shelf it offers good accuracy. Factory guarantees the accuracy to be sub-MOA. It translates to smaller than 8 inches circle at 800 yards, or in other words, is accurate enough to hit human-torso-size target in 7.62x51 effective range, which is up to a kilometre.

Why am I searching for my own? If I have my personal weapon, then I am accustomed to every little thing on it, to how it performs, to how it handles etc. Also, if I'm the only one handling it I can be always sure of it's state, like when it was cleaned, for which ammo it is zeroed, that the zero hasn't been changed and another variables.

Also, current issue Galil Sniper (cal 7.62 NATO) isn't something I would describe as "sniper rifle", it's accuracy is around couple of MOAs and has low-magnification optics, thus making it rather a designated marksman rifle (capability is close to SVD), than true sniper rifle. Another issued sniper rifle is customized M14-s, restocked and fitted with optics. But this is also rather a DMR.

If I absolutely must get a semi-automatic precision rifle it would be HK MSG90A1 (and this is obtainable), though I would still prefer a bolt-action for this job.

Besides, active sniper should practice a lot, like at least once a week. The session doesn't take a lot of ammo, maybe 5 or 10 rounds, but every single shot must be analyzed - why did the bullet hit where it did and when nessesary why didn't it hit there where it was supposed to. Only with constant training a true edge could be honed and kept. That's what sniping's all about - maintaining top notch accuray with rifle. Of course, there are a lot of other very important qualities of good sniper, like fieldcraft, camouflaging, moving unseen etc, but since this section is about weapons, I focus on shooting.

Victory Day

2006-06-28T09:57:00.000+03:00

Last friday, 23.06, was a Victory Day, celebrating the defeat of German forces in 1919, near the city of Cesis, Latvia. Our HQ hosted the celebrations in Tartu and of course I went there too. A band was playing, remembering the dead. Also, as a public event the military equipment was also shown to the interested townfolks, like weapons and personal gear (flak jackets, camo suits and such).

With surprise I noticed that one of the AK-4s on display was the same one I was on training with some weeks earlier (see my previous post on these events). Out of curiosity I took it apart and dangit, it was dirty as hell, I saw it has been shot with, but sloppily cleaned, since barrel was full of ash and other crap, action was like a chimney and roller lock bolt was overoiled, since it dripped. It wasn't definitely like I left it in the HQ. If anyone noticed my gripes in previous post on not checking the weapon pronto, this is the reason. It showed that some people have no respect for the organization and their equipment.

We might train on weekends and seem to some people as kids playing war, but nonetheless, we're training for the occasion of real war against real soldiers with real guns. So I'd personally like my equipment to be as reliable as possible. It may seem like a action camp, or active vacation, but I take it seriously and expect others to do it so as well. Nobody wants war at our own hometurf, but we must train for that possibility. Besides, the harder we train, the lesser is the chance of this event and our probability of survival is greater.

Inside our HQ had put up a small exhibition of different firearms, ranging from muzzleloading pistols and revolvers to modern weapons, like new issue-pistol HK USP, cal 9mm, or fully-automatic version of legendary CZ 75 pistol. Most smallarms at our disposal were shown, some tables had also notes - do not touch - in different languages and in pictorial to those who can't read. But still, a lot of people were not paying attention to these, since the curiosity was SO great. It was sad to see the ignorant people handling guns without the slightest idea of elementary safety rules. One kid was dry firing a 80 years old ladies revolver, clicking and clicking, while parents were acting similarily (and of course, the note - do not touched - was left unseen). So I intervened, told the little guy that this is not nice what he's doing and stop it before someone dies. To parents I showed the sign and explained the meaning of it to them. Hehe, talk about being an enemy of the public. Me, that is.

Those, who want all guns banned, say that guns are dangerous and guns kill people. Yes the guns are dangerous, in the hands of ignorant people who ignore all safety rules and don't have a slightest idea what they're doing, besides putting the well-being of them and other people in jeopardy due their foolish actions. Like we say, the problem is between the wheel and the carseat.

Small unit training

2006-06-27T14:10:00.000+03:00

All things started in Friday with gathering in the local headquarters (HQ), where we got the tactical situation, background info and our orders. And then the weapons. Oh yeah, we got MG, which are Swedish clones of legendary FN MAG, I got an AK-4 with two 20-round magazines (Swedish clone of HK G3 assault rifle). I foolishly forgot to check the weapon pronto, whether it’s clean and operable, or not. At this moment I didn’t pay any attention to it, but this issue came up later and now I made a checklist entry – get a decent basic 7.62 cleaning set, for field use.

I got the nessesary duty to fill up all water tanks in our Unimog, as the water would be in short supply, and it was so too a day later, we boarded the truck and off we went to the basecamp, there we were camouflaged, faces coloured green/brown. Damn this stuff was bad, it made skin itch, haven’t have this problem before (maybe I have spoiled my skin a little with this thing?). Entry to the checklist – get a decent camo set for hunters (saw one in one hunting shop – 3 colours and a mirror in a women-powder-box like small and handy box) and good facial cream, to put under the camo. To protect the skin.

Another my-bad: didn’t check the weapon there too. Our unit was eventually formed, it was small, Officer, me + medic (first pair), MG pair. MG guy had constant nose bleed. Training started – couple of hours of KVM (kaitseväeline molutamine = hanging around military style, doing nothing and shooting wind). Oh yes, ammo came in, everybody loaded two magazines and took another two mags worth in pockets – so I had initial load of 80 blank 7.62x51 rounds (Swedish origin, low in quality – they smoke a lot and leave a lot of debris everywhere. Sometimes we have cartridges with wooden bullets, these are much better) – 40 loaded in mags, 40 rounds clattering in pocket (there goes sneaking around). Heh, every time somebody made a quicker move – clatter-clatter. Where are the stripper clips I’ve heard of?

If to come back to KVM, we had to make a lot of this, by the lack of orders and immediate priorities, some highers officers have a lot of gripes over it now. But my opinion – we went to train for armed combat, not to picnic, so it was a little worrisome for me to see time going waste.

First night we stayed in woods, with light load, and it was cold outside. Foodtruck came in around midnight, bringing soup and tea. Pretty soon the dipper was in the soup and we had to replace it with a cup. Later, some joker spilled the sugar can into teapot, sadly he forgot to take the lid off the can first. What an irony, sugar is in the tea, but tea isn't a bit sweet. Someone had booze and poured it into tea. Even I took a little sip, but a little as not to degrade my fighting ability, since we had to move out at 3 am. We had a “guest” too, blue (I refer the “enemy” as blues, as they had blue marks on helmets) Unimog, which simulated BTR-80, was on a recon, scouting our area and keeping us somewhat alert.

Wakeup from my 1hr long sleep, which was sporadic and horrific. Did I mention moving out at 3 am? Most people woke up at 3 am, drank the last tea and eventually we got to move at 3.30 am. WTH? I was ready to go at the right time, but the whole deal seems to be more like a picnic, instead of military action. Why don’t people stick to deadlines?

First thing in the morning for our unit was to move to the positions and mine a crossroad some km-s away. We were planning an ambush&retreat as the intelligence reported a planned large enemy convoy on it. We set up the MG position, I took the job of covering their retreat, my partner, medic, covered a crossroad close to the ambush point. So we were ready for every course of action – enemy moving right into MG or enemy trying to flank us by moving to the crossroad the medic was covering. Communication? We had no radios, but had our cell-phones. Talk about modern technology. Meanwhile our CO went to check out the retreat routes. Also, in the meanwhile another friendly unit showed up, lending us a hand and taking other positions.

Gnats. Millions of them, swarming around every single footsoldier. Hate the things. What do they eat when there's not trainings in the neighbourhood? Later we were almost able to tell the location of any enemy troop by just looking where the gnats swarmed. Entry to the checklist - get scentless Off.

Some hours later the convoy did show out. I was pumped up and ready for actions. BANG BANG, our simulated mines went off (we placed them at the sides of the road, and these had small charges on them), a little shouting when the “enemy” dismounted and then our mortar attack. This mowed them down pretty good, but some still survived, since our MG opened up on short bursts. No retreat, it went to suppressing the enemy and I moved into the MG position with my partner, we covered the relocation of MG. Our first shots of “engagement”. I shot half a mag and “killed” some blues, including their MG guy. Did I mention that the area was hilly and covered with trees? I got plenty of running uphill and downhill (actually so much during these 2 days that for a couple of days I wasn’t too eager to use stairs, rather sticked to elevators). So we kept the hill by leapfrogging around, my pair and MG pair relocating quite often. I emptied my mags and took time to reload them. Last two mags, 40 rounds left.

At last the enemy retreated and my pair got the watch duty an our hill. Breakfast time. All units went to eat, while we kept watch. Then it was our time. We were relieved and out of water, so happy we were and went to the foodtruck. Dangit, unknown vehicle approaching. MG pair went to the front of truck to cover it. All this food and water looked so nice in truck. “Enemy APC approaching!”. We all ran to the front, engaging the APC and got it by surprise. Enemy dismounted while our foodtruck escaped and we kept the enemy in bay and later put them down. I used all my rounds and 2 grenades (like a downgraded flashbang, a wooden stick with some explosive in it, pull the ring, throw and it makes bang and a little smoke – as real as possible without actually fragging someone). So when we retreated I had empty weapon. Dangit. I traded one of my empty mags for the CO-s loaded one. So I’m ready to rock&roll again, but with only 20 rounds at hand. Not good.

Mental note – get as much ammo as possible, when possible.

We retreated trough plains and swamp and got back to the ammo truck. I got my load back up again, 80 rounds and 2 grenades (plus those 40 rounds they didn’t see me taking, see my previous mental note). Anyway what followed was a lot of patrolling around, trying to locate the escaped food truck. Yes we saw it, yes we tried to eat and yes, enemy showed up. Déjà vu. Small firefight, I “killed” my share of enemies.

As a rare event my weapon failed to eject the spent cartridge. It happened couple of times. So I had to pull the charging handle and manually reload the gun.

Mental note – this is a worrisome course of action, this particular ammo was prone to create failures anyway, I was lucky to have so few of these, but still.

While scouting around, our MG got nosebleed again, so we left him behind with, to keep one crossroad covered and join up with another friendly unit that was to move through there soon. So it was down to 4 of us, temporarily. We scouted for enemy and damnit. Our medic had major nosebleed (is this contagious or what?). So we had to left him on one crossroad, so he could patch himself up, while we scouted around him, seeing what’s on the roads close by.

I moved slowly and Contact, unknown forces ahead, a car and some footsoldiers. As the blue patches on our “enemies” were small and we had no optics, there was no way to tell were they the enemy or not. Checklist entry – next time take decent optics with me, I have just perfect pair of binoculars – compact and powerful enough – at home. Our CO made quick plan – we flank them, if they’re enemy we “blow” the car with brick of explosives and kill the rest. They were friendlies, and our MG was with them. So I fetched my partner the medic, and regrouped.

In the meanwhile the whole deal developed into position war. We kept some positions and kept the enemy in bay. My pair got the leftmost part of line (we covered our main forces left flank), I covered the road and killed several enemies. Constant action, a lot of shooting. I made me several positions, made makeshift camo/covers from branches and other debris on ground. For several hours it was “to positions and later retreat 50/100 m”. This constant jumping around was tiresome. Foodtruck came up again. So eventually we were able to have a hasty breakfast, at 3 pm, everybody was dehydrated pretty much, I felt quite exhausted.

Mental note – get another canteen, or Camelback, to relieve the water supply problems.

While eating, the enemy APC crashed our party (again, is this a bad karma or what?). This time we had AT troops present, in another unit, so they “blew up” the APC. We suppressed the soldiers.

Remember, we had our cells for communication? Somebody called me, by habit I took it and it was some lady who called a wrong number. “Hello. What? Wait for a sec.” Bang-Bang. “Who do you want?” Grenade! Fire in the hole! (as I threw one to kill some stubborn enemies). “Sorry no-one here with that name, you must have a wrong number.” Bangbangbangbangbang. Covering left! “Yes I’m sure it wrong number, don’t worry, it happens” bang bang. She did sound a little frightened at the end. Wonder why?

Ohhh, we got some time off, so I called my wife, to check how’s she doing and what our little son is doing. I was already tired as hell, but all the engagement had just started. I was “killed” a couple of times, mostly due being outnumbered (I couldn’t kill the enemies fast enough), and my partner was taken prisoner. He was quite happy over it, he had some bloodloss, was weak and tired and got some hours of sleep in captivity. I had to walk back to the “field hospital” where I was made alive. So I was all by myself for the most of Saturday’s afternoon.

Meanwhile I filled the mental note and filled my pockets with ammo, I got at least 500 7.62 blanks with me. I thought – at last I have plenty of ammo. And malfunctioning gun, as the jams came more and more often. Had first feeding jam, while manually reloading. Gun’s dirty and oil is somewhere away. Am I supposed to shout Bang-Bang, or Burst-Burst? Underline the checklist entry – cleaning set!

Saturday was long, constant action, we had bare 30 minutes of rest, constant lack of water, which was much more worse than sporadic meals.

Our mission for the day was to ambush enemy recon forces, that we did and we destroyed them, so this job was done, Unimog picked us up and we moved into new place.

Moved to new phase of training – delaying war. Our main objective is to delay enemy forces and deny them free roads, and in the night put up a stronghold in trenches nearby.

We mined the crossroad, prepared defensive positions, put trip-wires and trip-mines in front of our foxholes, and me&medic went to check out the neighbourhood, to plan our escape route, we were supposed to put up a brief resistance and then retreat into forest and circle us back to the main road to rendez-vous with main forces (they were to retreat couple of km-s along the main road, to trenches). We were not happy, my pair was only 2 men, and we were supposed to halt the enemy forces, size unknown? But thought – what the heck, we’ll do it.

We were ready. But then came order of gathering and we went to the trenches. It was time-off, where senior officers made a debrief of how we did earlier this day. There were a lot of thing to be critizised, like AT ammo bearer’s running, screaming like a girl and shooting over shoulder. But nonetheless, we had performed well. It was a hard task – stopping enemy motorized infantry without radio communications and heavy weaponry, but we made it and were praised highly, which made us feel good. We got 30 minutes of rest and water. And then news – ditch the prepared defence positions and make the stronghold in trenches instead. My pair moved back and collected some valuables which would be used in trench warfare.

Trenches. Situated close to main road. Main road was gravel, smaller one turning left from it and circling around some hills and moving back to the main road. Our trenches were made of several connected defensive boxes, situated alongside of the sideroad and at different heights.

Our unit got 2 soldiers, so eventually we had officer, MG and his aide, and 2 combat pairs. I got the leftmost (again) hole, that was the lowest and closest to the primary mainroad/sideroad crossing. My hole was covered by the MG pair, my usual companion medic went to higher place, so I got me a new partner. A 21 year old girl with Galil. With half mag worth of ammo.

Remember I had a lot of ammo with me? Like 500 rounds? These were mostly expended by now.

Mental note – get ammo, pronto! 7.62 and 5.56 blanks, plus lots of grenades.

Our MG aide was a pioneer, so he helped us to put up some boobytraps with grenades. With luck I was able to scour ammo, I got 2 mags worth to my new partner and to myself. But no grenades. We got the duty of covering left flank, and our responsibilty arc was 180 degrees. For 2 people. This is not good. At least our position was covered with MG. Since the crossroad (mainroad/sideroad) was barely seeable from trenches I got the duty of keeping an eye on it and shout alert if an enemy turns in. My new partner looked tired as hell. So while I was scouring ammo I got her canteen filled up too and sent her to sack. It was closing to midnight and things were calm. But since my partner was asleep I had to stay up.

Things are heating up again. Enemy APC at crossroad, turning into our laps. Everybody’s quiet and keeping heads down. Idea is to let the APC move into the coverage of our MG-s and mortars before we open up. They acted predictably, AT team crashed the party and MGs mowed down the survivors, we were just keeping the flank. For several hours we had occasional contacts, mostly they were over quickly.

Foodtruck. Since we kept the left flank, we had last turn. My partner went first. Then I got to go with last hungry fellows. When I got my plate full, enemy attacked trenches. Damnit, again. So I had to run back, we beat the enemy and I got to finish the meal and fill up all empty canteens.

Then things calmed down, as the enemy tucked in too. But no sleeping time, since our enemy shot some sporadic flares and tossed some sporadic grenades, keeping us up and alert. Meanwhile I had to get ammo, again. This time I got plenty of grenades, 20 or so. And they came in handy, since enemy attacks happened more often and they started to dismount and attack straight to my pair’s hole. Remember that my gun jammed pretty often? It was reverted to bolt-action by now – every shot must be loaded manually by pulling the charging handle. Every time I asked oil, it was “somewhere”.

Things were usual, enemy APC unloaded in front of my pair, I tossed some grenades and then had to fight for our lives. And we got killed since there were too many enemies. My partner “got” a headwound (judge said that she has a bullet scratch in head), since I was closest, and her partner, I “looked” her over and “cured” her.

From times to times some judge appointed a wounded person who was to be treated, treating was by describing the diagnose and actions to the judge. For me – she had a scratch, no edge of bone or foreign object was seen, she felt OK, had no headache or nausea, thus not having a brain concussion, I told it is supposed to be patched up with clean linen cloth/bandage and she’s back in fight. Judge said – very good.

So the arc was too wide for us 2 to cover. Later, we were killed again – I tossed the grenade and ducked since I tossed it close (and enemies were close, too). One blue looked into trench, I shot the guy and next one showed up after him and mowed me down while I was “working the bolt”. Damnit, back to the field hospital. Our CO was upset that we weren’t able to keep the trench intact, I told him we were overwhelmed and had too wide arc to cover. So we got 2 more men to my hole. Meanwhile my partner’s Galil had failed and she went away (next time I saw her was when training was over). So it was pretty hot action which ceased up in the morning, around 8 am. I tossed my grenades, shot most of my ammo. But I managed to stay alive. We had some mortar attacks, making us take cover. Our MG guy got a simulated head wound, cried for medic and it turned up that medic was killed. So I was closest, I ran up to the MG hole and “healed” him.

The action was pretty tense, it might not show in the text, but a lot of times I wished for rubber bayonet, or something like that, because things often came down to up, close&personal. It was fun though, in perverse way. Like shooting the first guy who showed his face over the trench side, and smack the next guy with the riflestock straight into face (simulated and gently, of course).

Then the “victory” was declared and training was over. What a relief – I had been up since Friday morning, as this sleep in woods was nothing worth mentioning. And it was Sunday’s morning now. Most of our unit was tired as hell, some were hallucinating. It was hardest by 4 am, where we had to keep watch. One guy saw a mummy flapping around, one saw red devils, I saw a bear (like the one from Angry Beavers cartoon) once. Woods play tricks with weary eyes Later we joked over these, but at this time it was hard to keep eyes open and stay sharp. Our medic slept while standing, for example.

Our enemies joined us and we had preliminary after-action debrief, saying that while things were rough at start we loosened up and performed quite well, despite our problems and shortcomings. This time the enemy got mangled and put down. But before we got to eat anything we formed teams and moved back to the action arena, collecting grenade pieces, MG cases (since these were more piled up, than occasional rifle cases, thus easier to clean) and other debris we left, plus some beer cans and other rubbish other people had left behind. Why? Because since we do not have a special range for the activities, we have to use the land of locals, so cleaning up after us is nessesary.

Then eating, collecting and packing all gear and moving back to town. In town we put all the gear we got from Defence Forces back to their warehouse, cleaned our weapons. There I met my partner, the girl, again. She said an interesting thing to her Galil – “We’ll make you clean, and then to sleep”. Hmm.

Since I got mine clean quite fast (I clean my pistol once a week if I carry it a lot, from dust and clothbits mostly, thus I’m more accustomed to cleaning weapons) I got another rifle to clean (some fellows left before the official end of training, thus leaving their weapons behind to others), this one was bad, it had a screw in the barrel end to supplement the compensator (it had damaged the crown), upon taking it apart the bolt came out with a cartridge attached to it. The damn thing was loaded!

Mental note – next time check the chamber first, especially with other weapons. I had constant awareness of the state of my gun. It could be explained that I was tired and assumed the gun was unloaded. Since I followed other rules, like no finger on trigger etc no accident happened, this time.

Senior officer in place was enraged and marked up the gun’s number (when these were handed over, each gun’s number and soldier’s name were marked up) to have “a little chat” with the soldier this gun was given to.

Ok, last leg of trip, back to HQ, in the middle of the city. We stopped in gas station to top the truck up. Local workers made some funny faces, but then it was HQ, we gave up our weapons.

Shower. It sounded good. Me and my partner (the girl) had the shower together, we agreed that there was nothing that wasn’t seen before (naked man and woman). Hah, there’s a lot to be thought about it, but since we were a combat pair and professionals, we never made a move towards each other. We were just a combat pair taking a shower and being thankful to get the water. Yes she was slim, fit, pretty and so on, but nonetheless. I later promised to buy her a drink, since she loaned some tools she had when I needed them.

From psychological point of view it was interesting - me, married and a father, under shower with a girl, who was married too.I’m glad I am professional enough that I even didn’t think of shagging her. Yes she was pretty, but most men look at other women anyway. But yes, just a shower it was, we were commenting of recent events, enjoying the water and soap. And I put the free drink up in the air, so whenever we meet again (she’s in the same section in Kaitseliit with me anyway) she can ask for it. And I told my wife all about it, she took it easy and understandingly. What a wonderful woman, my wife.

Tired, but clean, fed and happy, walked into the sunlight and civilian life. Didn’t want to see any hill for several days.