Dear Dad,

Well it's been a couple of months, but I'm finally starting to feel at home in ---------.

The first few weeks after deployment were easy to the point of boring. I flew a couple of familiarisation flights with Ioakim, the commanding officer of the ---------, and although the flights were pretty routine, they did give me the opportunity to appreciate just how beautiful the countryside around ---------- really is.



It's not just the countryside, either. You should see some of the girls around here! The pay might be ----, but there are definitely some fringe benefits to wearing the uniform of a flying officer!

Today was a little different, though. Grigori and I were tasked with escorting a supply convoy from the ----th division from ---------- to ----------. There'd been a couple of half-hearted sniper attacks on supply vehicles passing through through the --------- valley, but HQ decided on a show of strength to try to put the insurgent scum in their place. With a couple of BRDM fighting vehicles top-and-tailing the convoy and me and Grigori flying in support, we figured that no one would be stupid enough to take potshots at this convoy.

We took off at around ----------, local time.



It was the first time I'd ever flow as flight lead so I was really nervous, but I was happy to have Grigori flying as my wingman. It makes me sick to think of what might have happened if he hadn't been watching out for me...

Shortly after take off we passed ---------- and began our turn to meet up with the convoy.



Our timing was perfect and it was only a couple of minutes before we sighted the convoy a little further down the valley.

We formed up with the convoy and began to fly over-watch.



It was really quiet as we wound our way through the valley. It's so quiet and remote out here that you can go for hours without seeing another soul on the roads. I didn't mind, though, because it gave me a great opportunity to take in the sights and practice low speed, low altitude formation flying in the ---------.



As we approached ---------, though, we suddenly came under attack. Poor Sergey in the leading BRDM didn't even see the RPG that took him out.

I'd never seen live fire before. I'd never seen my friends die before. I felt sick and frightened and I froze. I feel so embarrassed telling you this, but it's the truth. Everything I'd learned just vanished and all I could think to do was scream at Grigori to engage.

Instinct quickly took over, though, and I poured a stream of rockets into the area from which the RPG had come...



Meanwhile, Grigori repositioned in an attempt to come at the --------- from another angle.

You've got no idea how hard it is to spot enemies that are hiding in the trees, dad. I couldn't see a thing and was just blind-firing in the hopes of getting the --------- before they got me. All of a sudden, though, I saw a flash...



I was way too close to evade the missile and all I could do was brace and hope for the best...



I blacked out after the impact and, as I came to, I didn't really know where I was or what I was doing. If I'm honest, I thought I was dead. I was lucky to avoid becoming a burning crater on the hillside.



Meanwhile, Grigori had seen where the RPG had come from and was maneuvering for a better shot.



He saved my life and I can't begin to put into words how much I owe him. Unless you lived that moment, you can't understand what it means to think that you're dead and then have a friend give you your life back.



It's a horrible cliche, but I will never be able to repay him for what he did for me.

I swung my ---------- around and fired another volley into the general area from which the RPG had come. I don't know whether it hit anyone or not, but no one fired back...



Having cleared the ambush, Grigori and I formed up again...



...and then led the surviving members of the convoy to safety.



Having successfully completed our mission, we then turned for home.

The flight back was quiet and uneventful, but it gave me a lot of time to think.



Without Grigori's experience I would have been dead. Just thinking about it about it makes me sick. PLEASE don't mention it to mother. I feel incredibly bad for even mentioning it to you. but I just can't help but keep thinking about how close I came to death.

I'm a terrible son for even mentioning this, but I'm frightened. If today has taught me anything, it's that I'm simply not experienced enough to survive a war. All that I can hope is that I can learn fast enough from Ioakim and that Grigori continues to look after me as he did today.



Pray for me.

Your loving son,

Matysh

Nice one!

Very nice sequence!

Well presented.

Good one...was wondering when we would start seeing BS AAR's.

Yup, very nice.

Nice! Love the redactions.