go ahead
okay do i still can't still can feel that the Soviet Union as such is still a threat to the civilized western world absolutely
and my reasons are based upon not only from what i read in the newspapers what i see on the newspapers but up against some of the
fun and exciting things i ran into during my six years as a soldier in the Fifth Special Forces Group
um
okay
i guess i don't see them as much of a threat as they used to be but i think just the instability of the country right now uh-huh
well that's what makes it a powder keg
so scary
the um
i'll go back in time a little bit to about eighty one
uh-huh
when my first real involvement with the military started
um
naturally we were at the time the Soviet Union was considered to be the big military power and the big threat so we got lots quite a bit of
information as well as indoctrination on Soviet tactics and weapons
uh-huh
i went to Lebanon in eighty three before the marines ever got there with the UN Peace Keeping Force
and with the training i received prior to going there with captured weapons we kept running up against
these weren't these weren't Chinese made copies these were Soviet made top of the line fresh out of the box AK-47s
um uh-huh
as well as a lot of the explosives we were running into
in Granada in October twenty fifth eighty three we invaded the place
sure there were Cuban soldiers there but there was also a bunch of Russian advisors that were damn good shots
the team i was with we jumped in on the western tip of of the island down on Point Salinas
and for every Cuban there was at least five Russian advisors
huh
and they were all shooting state of the art Soviet weapons
in eighty four
i was down in Central America as an advisor to the Honduran army
again we were running up against Cubans quite a bit plus Soviet advisors
and the equipment we were capturing and taking from the Nicaraguans was brand new out of the crate Soviet made material
do i consider them a threat absolutely
they have a university in Moscow called the Patrice de Lamumba University
about like A and M or UT where they're teachings subjects like that they're teaching terrorism
some of the people we went up against in Lebanon were graduates from that place and let me tell you they are nothing nice to go up against
huh
i'm surprised during this Iraqi crisis we didn't have more
incidents than they did
these guys are top of the line
when they when they graduate from there
they can pull terrorist actions anywhere in the free world
and they are very very good at what they do
so until i see the entire
quote old guard
of the Soviet military of the Soviet government
completely roll over and disappear preferably buried
i still consider them a threat
uh-huh
their military is different from ours to where there are extremist generals generals that actually control tens and thousands
of troops
that irregardless of what Soviet policy is they're going to do what the general tells them
yeah i guess that's what concerns me the most is they're they're so unstable that somebody like that could make uh decisions that would
jeopardize a lot of people
well it's interesting interesting watching the different Soviet states Albania Lithuania
doing their little revolts down there
uh-huh
each one of those sectors has got a Soviet general over the troops that are there
so far they hadn't run into the real psychos yet
there's probably five or six which would be an equivalent of our joint chiefs of staffs that are in positions over some of these Soviet states
if uprisings happen happen in their sectors
it is it's going to be a total blood bath
yeah it looks like it's come close to that as it is
actually they're showing remarkable restraint
they get real nasty the Hyundee helicopters come out and they
would level entire areas
okay you're from the Dallas area right
uh-huh
okay you know basically the size of uh the area around Richardson
yeah
you put five Soviet Hyundee helicopters in the air they can level the entire area and there won't be anything left alive
and they can do that in about four minutes
huh
and they've got entire squadrons of those just standing by
they used them in Afghanistan did remarkably remarkably well considering the terrain they were flying in
but on a highly populated area like some of the Soviet cities would be
with the weaponry that's attached on those things there is no place to hide
if the bombs don't get you if the bullets don't get you then the then the nerve gas definitely will get you
the only drawback on that little piece of machinery is they only got five minutes of air time
they drink that much fuel
uh-huh
were you have you i take it you haven't spent any time in the military
no i haven't
as a civilian that's never been attached to any form of the military
i know a lot of this stuff that i was involved in never did make the newspapers but
uh-huh
during that same time frame didn't you get some feeling that i mean they're getting all these weapons and stuff
didn't it
it bug you a little bit why they kept coming up with all this stuff
you mean in the in the most recent conflict
in any of them since eighty one
oh yeah definitely i i'm i'm a little bit shocked to what the US has done in terms of selling to Iraq
in the past ten to fifteen years
yeah i think we we kind of shoot ourselves in the foot that way too it's bad enough that the Soviets do it
it all boils down to whether it's our side their side it's a matter of money to a certain extent
um uh-huh
the deal the Iraqi's have with the Russians was for oil
yeah it's scary to know that they're supplying that many people with weapons
especially when it's to the south of us
uh the ones to the south are more regional conflict
they're not really that worried about
invading north
they're more interested in they've got a screwed up situation i'll give them that
from Mexico all the way down into Central Central and South America the situation down there is weird and it's very screwed up
uh-huh
inflation is out of this world and the governments which
our government has technically supported for years are corrupt as all get out
and generally the people are getting screwed and they're tired of it and they're willing to try anything to get out from under it even if that means going to communism
yeah
well i think Russia is getting to the point where they're they're about to do something to get out of communism i guess i'd would like to see somebody like Yeltsin
to get more power i think Gorbachev has about had his day
unfortunately Yeltsin's got too many connections with the old guard
that's the only drawback that i see with the entire thing Gorbachev has m ade his attempt and he's had his problems with some of the old guard himself
yeah
uh-huh
Yeltsin's in tight wi th the old guard
so it may be trying to choose between the lesser of two evils at this point
uh-huh true
i don't know i sure wouldn't turn my back on them
you mean i understand when they pulled the troops out of uh
or they reduced the number of troops in Europe after the Berlin Wall went down i thought that was great
but by no means do i
endorse or approve pulling everybody out
uh-huh
it may be
a much reduced force than what we used to have over there
but you still better have the key players in place if something does go down even if it's a regional conflict
if
United States is going to flex its muscle and be the super power that it is
not only does it it can talk the talk but it's got to be able to walk the walk it's got to have the stuff to back it back up what it's saying
if you've only got a token force there you can't hold your ground
at least they're learning a little bit from history i mean uh
