afgantsy
아프간치
A Russian colloquial term for Soviet veterans of the Soviet–Afghan War (1979–1989), as distinct from the official designation 'warrior-internationalist' (воин-интернационалист). The roughly 620,000 soldiers who served faced widespread social indifference on return, captured by the phrase 'I didn't send you to Afghanistan,' and high rates of PTSD known as 'Afghan Syndrome' (афганский синдром). The afgantsy and their veterans' organizations became a lasting political and cultural presence across the post-Soviet states after the USSR's dissolution.
Sources
- Wikipedia (RU) Russian Wikipedia: definition, etymology of the terms воины-интернационалисты vs афганцы, the emblematic phrase 'Я вас в Афганистан не посылал!', and the social rejection veterans faced
- Wikipedia (EN) English Wikipedia: 'Veterans of the war are often referred to as афганцы, Afgantsy in Russian'; 620,000 total soldiers served; 14,453 killed; legacy of the war in the former Soviet Union
- thenation.com The Nation review of Rodric Braithwaite's Afgantsy: 'takes its title from the Russian nickname for Afghan war vets'; describes the book as 'a sober and balanced antidote' covering the Soviet experience
- utoronto.scholaris.ca University of Toronto PhD dissertation by Ben McVicker: 'private narratives and popular myths about those at war — known as the afgantsy — circulated for years'; covers grassroots veterans' organizing and the Committee of Soldiers' Mothers
- npr.org NPR: 'Afghanskii syndrome — the PTSD-like term that Soviets gave to unexplained emotional trauma'; interviews with afgantsy veterans Sergei Opalev and Rustam Khodzhayev
- meduza.io Meduza: PTSD 'also referred to as the Afghan Syndrome or the Chechen Syndrome in Russian'; photo series on veterans