THE TIME MACHINE's MIKE MANTEL met a former Soviet Spetznaz / Hind Pilot tonight and more...

This story is a once in a lifetime event. My brother opened a nightclub last month and I help him out whenever I can.

Tonight I was hanging out and a couple came in and sat at the bar.

They seemed very nice and we started talking. Come to find out, they are from the former Soviet Union, now living in SanFran.

Our conversation led to the cold war and the husband and I told each other we were in the military.

I told him I was Special Forces, and he told me he was Spetznaz and he flew Hind D gunships.

This almost made me leap for joy since I am a HUGE Hind D afficianado.

I told of my face to face meeting with a Hind D on the Honduras / Nicaraguan border back in 1986 and how the pilot (Soviet) inched his way just feet above the ground towards our patrol moving his nose gun towards us at the same time, and just about when we all expected to be blown away, the pilot gave us a thumbs up and took off......

He then said he heard of that story and knew the pilot who did it!!!!!!!! He too was stationed in Nicaragua training the Sandinistas and readying the entire region for a Soviet invasion. He said he and the pilot talked about the incident over beers that evening, wondering what would have happened if he would have fired his nose gun at us. He said they laughed that it would have probably caused WWIII!

Talk about a coincidence. What are the chances of something like this happening?

We then talked for hours and shared several drinks together. We talked about what we thought of each other and how we were lied to. In fact, he used to believe that Americans were blood thirsty cowboys that carried guns everywhere and killed at will. He also thought everyone was poor and stood in food lines. He said it wasn't until he migrated to the US and saw footage of the depression that made him realize that his government used depression era footage to psyop the Soviet population!! Amazing.

He said he used to have to listen to American pilot radio communication and he had to record everything they said. One night he said two US Pilots were talking about eating McDonald french fries before they flew and for some reason, he said he keyed his mic and said "F**K!" because he was cold, hungry and wanted to try something from McDonalds!!

He said he was pulled from duty, then humiliated in front of his company, then put in solitary confinement for 10 days just for saying "F**K" to the Americans and breaking radio silence!

He said when he uttered the word, one of the pilots said "Who the hell was that"?!!!

What blew me away was his comments about the late President Reagan. He said that if it weren't for President Reagan, the Soviet Union would have taken over the entire region of Central and South America. He and his wife thought that President Reagan was one of the greatest human beings of all time. President Reagan helped them realize the evils of Communism and embrace freedom American style.

He also said some other things and the comments were quite amazing, considering who they were coming from.

Anyway. It was a most amazing night. Two former enemies, coming together in friendship.

Amazing how a few individuals can tell entire countries who to hate.


The Time Machine's Mike Mantel posted this on August 25th, 2004.