February 9, 2016

Our second week of basic training consisted of two six hour shifts per day, (noon to 6 PM, and then midnight to 6AM) manning checkpoints and guard positions. It was pretty serious business. Two guards at a checkpoint about 1 km from ours were found with their weapons gone and their throats cut just a few weeks earlier. We had a 3 man team – Orion, who spoke Russian and English, and Toro and I who spoke English and Spanish. I got the PKM, and I kept it loaded and I kept it close. The local civilians really appreciated what we were doing, and would bring us tea, pastries, and sometimes a shot of vodka.

During my training, I had earned a reputation as a good soldier, and I was approached by a couple of snipers from Суть Времени (pronounced “Soot Vremeny”, which in Russian means “Essence of Time”). Would I like to join Суть Времени? Of course. But it would be a package deal, with Orion and Toro coming too. When I told Orion that a couple of snipers from an elite unit of Vostok Battalion had invited us to join, he was enthusiastic.