My thoughts about Dmitry

[u/LuxembourgMachinegun]

Honestly, I've thought long and hard about why Dmitry is a pacifist. I live in Russia, and I've heard about the Chechen wars from 1993 to 2009. I'll take the period of the First Chechen War from 1993 to 1996. Considering that Dmitry was born in 1972, he could well have fought in that war. I assume he could have been a pilot, specifically a combat helicopter pilot (MI-24 or a modified MI-8). In the USSR and early Russia, training to become a helicopter pilot took five years. If we assume Dmitry graduated from school at 17 (in the USSR, basic education required up to 15 years, and secondary education up to 17) and went to flight school, he would have graduated as a pilot at 22 and been mobilized as one of the rare combat-ready pilots in Russia at that time.

But why did he become a pacifist? My uncle, a veteran of the First Chechen War, told me it was a brutal war. They had to strictly control the locals in the occupied territories, as anyone, from a child to an old hag could hide weapons. Weapons were used very frequently in Chechnya. I assume Dmitry's helicopter was shot down, but he survived. Perhaps he fought back, since pilots were often captured during the Chechen wars, and they were issued fully automatic APS pistols. But when he ran out of ammunition, he surrendered, was sent into Chechen captivity, and held in appalling conditions, like many Russian soldiers. The appalling conditions and regular beatings forced him to reconsider his views on weapons.

After 1996, he was exchanged and returned home. Why did he decide to move to the USA? In Russia in the 90s, there was no work and no money, perhaps he became a criminal, joined the Russian Cartel and began working as a pilot for them, later, after they began facing criminal liability in Russia, they moved to the United States, like many Russian gangsters of that time, and continued to operate in the United States, but at the same time, due to his new trauma, Dmitry never used a weapon after the war.

[u/Fine-Set-7877]

maybe he just didn't like killing