I have no idea how the Day of the Airborne Forces was celebrated in Ukraine in general, even about Crimea, which is close to me now, I can say little. I am writing an article only because I learned about the day of the paratrooper this year, not from a news release (fights on the day of the Airborne Forces are a favorite plot of TV people).This time I was lucky enough to personally meet the landing force. We met not in a banal dark lane, and not even in Gorky Park, but in an ordinary Crimean supermarket, where people are increasingly going not only to make purchases, but and to hide from the heat.Fascinated by the solution of life’s problem number 1 (which kefir to choose), I did not immediately understand why my eyes were dazzling. People in vests scurried around the store. There were only five or six of them, but there was an impression of the presence of an entire airborne battalion. Yes, by those very vests and blue berets, I quickly realized that the paratroopers were in front of me. They were well over 40, which means the paratroopers are on vacation (I think to say “retired paratrooper” would be blasphemy). What are the “reserve” units of the Airborne Forces doing in the supermarket? That’s right – they are preparing for the celebration of the “Day of the Airborne Forces”.
Having solved this simple puzzle, I breathed a sigh of relief (everything is going according to plan) and, filled with curiosity, looked more closely at what they were buying. Contrary to expectations, the soldiers did not load crates of vodka and barrels of beer into “consumer carts”. Alcohol, of course, was present, but in reasonable quantities, covered with a thick layer of any food.I am not going to describe what exactly the defenders of the Motherland were going to eat. I’d rather say a few words about them. Elderly, in general, uncles seethed with energy and really glowed with joy. It’s amazing, they served 20-30 years ago, but until now this distant episode of their biography makes them proud and serves as a kind of source of strength.And I didn’t go to the fountain that day, I don’t know if anyone swam there.
