A Message From A Former Soviet Officer to A Future Expat

Disclaimer: I debated a lot on if I wanted to even post this story in the first place, as there is zero possibility that I can do this experience justice without placing you in the room for the situation. However, I think it’s important for me to at least attempt to pass this along, as it is the most striking lesson I have learned, and a valuable lesson for anyone in my opinion.

Let me introduce for you a man named Viktor. Viktor is one of the Peace Corps medical officers who have been here in Rabat during training, putting on various sessions and giving us all of our vaccinations. He has worked for Peace Corps for many years now, and fairly unanimously is one of our groups’ favorite people to have train us. A thick Russian accent and a brash sense of humor make him impossible to hate. The other day, at the end of a gruelingly boring session which covered medical paperwork and the details of our Peace Corps medical insurance, Viktor stepped up to address our training group.

He began by showing us a picture of his family, with two grown children in their twenties, one son, one daughter. He asked anyone in the room who was under the age of 34 to stand up, and proceeded to tell us he would be addressing us as if we were his children, because he views himself as a father figure to all of us. Immediately, the tone in the room became more serious, as we all sensed something very important was about to be said.

The next picture that he showed was a much younger version of him, many years ago, dressed in military fatigues. He began to tell us about his time that he served in Algeria as a medical officer in the Soviet Army. He showed us other pictures of him with Algerian soldiers that had amputated legs or other extensive injuries. He described this time in his life as one of the most meaningful experiences he ever had. He was given the opportunity to serve a country in which he was so very proud of, and the chance to work with and assist the natives of a country that his own was at war with. Viktor explained to us how we as a human race have evolved to a point where we have created incredible technology. Technology that can take us to great places in life. Technology that we have chosen to use to create the most brutal weapons we can imagine. We have created weapons designed to cause incapacitation, death, and years’ worth of complications for another human being to brutally face.

But Viktor did what he felt in his heart was right. He served his country as dutifully as he could, supplying medical assistance to both his own soldiers and to the injured Algerians that needed aid. Atrocities or no, the Soviet Union was his country, and he was so very proud of it. By this point in his presentation, I couldn’t help but be proud of his Soviet Union as well, if even just for Viktor. He also reminded us at this point, while the vibe of the room seemed to be a general sense of Soviet support, that his was the mid-1970’s. He was our enemy at the time.

Now, I’m sure you’re wondering where I’m going with this, or where Viktor was going with this. Before I finish telling Viktor’s story, I need to explain something else. You may be wondering why, in the midst of his explanation on the atrocities of war, I suddenly felt pride for Viktor’s Soviet Russia. How many times in our lives have we been asked if, or stated that, we are proud to be American? I don’t have enough fingers and toes to count the occasions, I’ll say that much. America has committed some of the worst atrocities the world has ever seen. Let’s just take the atomic bomb for one example. Undoubtedly a turning point in military technological history, and also undoubtedly a cause of much pride in country for many Americans, officially providing Japanese defeat in WWII. We all have found moments in our lives where we have extreme pride in our country, even in the face of great human destruction on the part of our own government. So why is this? Let’s go back to Viktor.

As he reached the moral of his story, the entire room barely dared to breathe, we were so engaged. Viktor explained to us why our jobs here in Morocco, and for Peace Corps volunteers around the world, are so important. We have the opportunity to represent our country to the world in the most human way possible. His service in Algeria was so meaningful to him, as he had the opportunity to interact with the people of a country he did not belong to, and provide extremely needed medical services. He was able to show himself in a human light to people who otherwise would not have known the Soviet’s beyond a stereotype of “terrible.” American’s around the world are stereotyped, whether loved or hated, and assumed to be many things by many different people. As a Peace Corps Trainee, and soon to be Volunteer, I have the opportunity to represent America in human form. Not as a Hollywood image or a stereotype, I am a living, breathing representation of America.

As Viktor stood in front of me in this specific moment, I tried to imagine him as my enemy. I couldn’t do it. From day 1, he was one of my favorite people at training. I could see in his heart as he told this story how deep his love for his Soviet Russia ran. We have been raised in America to hate the Soviet Union, and, in a lesser way, Russia as well. Undoubtedly though, during his time as an officer in the Soviet Army, he was the enemy of America. Let me try to get to my point though.

People travel for many reasons. One of my reasons, which I really don’t hide, is my distaste for America. I have spent years doing my best to distance myself from America, or wishing I could claim a different nationality. I accept that at some point I will be an expat. I may be working for the federal government currently, but I use it as a way to get outside of the country that, like it or not, is my home.

Viktor’s parting words to us was this: “Do not lose your country. I lost my country, and I cannot get it back. Do not lose your country from your heart.”As he put the microphone down, I’ve never heard 100 people applaud louder in my life, and somewhere from the back of the room came a: “WE LOVE YOU VIKTOR!!” which only made us cheer louder. At this specific moment, I had never been more proud in my life to be American. My country has provided me so many opportunities, and I have been given the gift of the very unique opportunity to represent my country as I feel it deserves to be shown to the people of the world. This is a bold undertaking, but the most important job anyone could possibly have. I learned from Viktor, a former Soviet military officer, enemy of America, to be proud of my America.