The Door Is Opening

by MAJ Alex J. Vega (September 1997)

As we sat around the dinner table eating, drinking, and discussing the lighter aspects of life common to all, I realized that except for language, this meeting could have taken place at a private home anywhere in the United States. The food was excellent, the wine was superb, and our host and hostess were extremely courteous and gracious to us. As the evening continued I marveled in amazement as my host opened his photo album for me. I glanced at page after page of pictures revealing his past military service while he sat there surprised at the curiosity and interest of his American guest. Then, one particular group of pictures caught my interest. I had to look twice to make sure I comprehended what it was I was looking at. There they were, all laid out in a row, with their weapons piled high into different stacks. They were dead Afghani Mujahedin. Behind the dead bodies stood the victorious hunters, proud and satisfied with their day's success. In the middle of the group stood my host, tanned and quite healthy, Senior Lieutenant Yevgeniy Sulyga, Soviet Spetznatz, Afghanistan, 1985. Perhaps, up until then I had not quite grasped the significance of what was taking place that evening, but after reviewing the photo album it was now absolutely clear. Our discussion, and in fact our entire evening together, was unthinkable just a few short years ago. Yet, there we were at his private home in Minsk, Belarus, as his invited guests. We were discussing in the Russian language the fates of Prisoners of War and Missing in Action servicemen, American and Soviet.

I am Major Alex J. Vega IV, United States Army, and this article is about my experience and training as a Eurasian Foreign Area Officer (FAO) while serving on temporary duty in Moscow, Russia. My basic branch is Corps of Engineers and I have twelve years of active duty with eight years as a Combat Engineer leader in three maneuver divisions. After completing Company Command, I began my functional area training as a FAO in the Summer of 1993. I have since completed Russian language training, graduate school, and the Institute for Eurasian Studies, George C. Marshall Center for European Security Studies. As part of the training and education at the Institute, FAOs have the opportunity to serve in a variety of in-country internships throughout the former Soviet Union. These tours of duty can range from two weeks to nine months. I was honored to serve at the US Embassy in Moscow, Russia from January to April, and October to December 1996, on the US-Russia Joint Commission on Prisoners of War and Missing in Action. The American side of the commission, located in Washington D.C. and in Moscow, is known as the Joint Commission Support Directorate (JCSD), and was formerly known as Task Force Russia.

The mission of the JCSD-Moscow is to achieve the fullest possible accounting for all Americans unaccounted for in the territory of the former Soviet Union: the return of live Americans; the recovery and identification of remains; or convincing information as to why neither is possible. The Moscow office is manned with a semi-permanent staff of three officers and one non-commissioned officer. They are also augmented with two to three interns from the Institute on rotating temporary duty throughout the year. While I was assigned to the office, a portion of my duties and responsibilities included the planning, organization, and execution of trips throughout the territory of the former Soviet Union to research, interview, and investigate reports of missing Americans. Thus, it was on one of these trips that Major Robert Bishop (US Army, permanently assigned) and I, found ourselves in the home of Yevgeniy Petrovich Sulyga, now, assistant editor and journalist for the Minsk newspaper "Sovietskaya Belarus".

While in Minsk, Belarus, from 14-21 February 1996, we conducted over twenty interviews of former Soviet veterans of the wars in Korea and Vietnam, and we in turn gave interviews for radio broadcast and newspaper distribution nationwide. Our interviews appealed to Soviet veterans to come forward and help the commission by providing any information at all concerning possible contact or knowledge of American POW's and MIA's during the tenure of their service. The primary reason for traveling to Minsk is the large number of Soviet military retirees who have settled in and around the city. Minsk was and is still home to one of the largest Air Defense training centers in the former Soviet Union. Therefore, since Air Defense played such a prominent role in the Korean and Vietnam wars against US aircraft, a large portion of the military retirees in this area have experience fighting against US forces.

". . . we were successful in recovering the high school or sweetheart ring of an American pilot killed in World War II."

The interviews of the veterans usually varied in length, location, and in results. Many times they were willing to come directly to us, and other times they were not. Nevertheless, wherever they were located we would find them, interview them, and sometimes even receive a dinner invitation. The results of an interview could not always be measured by the amount of concrete physical evidence gathered, like obtaining an MIA's dog tags or an identification card. Rather, the compilation of eyewitness testimony from various different veteran sources helped to fill in the gaps of information on individual cases. Although, on one previous trip to Minsk, Major Bishop was actually successful in obtaining a photograph of an identification card and witness testimony concerning the fate of a USAF officer missing in action since the war in Vietnam. Some veterans however, flatly denied ever having knowledge of American POW's or MIA's, and at most would simply provide the names of other comrades who also served with them. Nevertheless, other veterans sometimes would provide more important and concrete information. On another visit and interview in St. Petersburg, Russia, we were successful in recovering the high school, or sweetheart ring of an American pilot killed in World War II. This American pilot and the wreckage of his fighter aircraft were found by Red Army soldiers. The pilot's remains were immediately buried, and his belongings were forwarded to higher authorities. Nevertheless, after more than fifty years, one Russian veteran came forward to not only provide us testimony concerning the event, but to also give us the ring. The investigation concerning the pilot's identity and the location of his remains continues.

While this article in no way attempts to present a public accounting for each and every one of our missing servicemen, I include the above examples to show that positive results are indeed possible. Although they often come at the end of long, tedious, and sometimes fruitless investigative work. The lesson learned of course is to never give up and to never quit! The next door knocked, the next interview conducted, the next telephone call made, could be the very one that provides the information needed to determine the fate of a missing American. And, to even possibly locate him and bring him back home, as was successfully done in September 1994, with the recovery and return of the remains of US Air Force Captain John Dunham from the Russian Far East.

". . . what made the plaque was that it was made out of the metal from a downed US aircraft."

Of course, much credit must be given to the improvement in relations between the people of the United States and the people of the former Soviet Union over the past few years. I use the word "people" distinctively as opposed to the word "governments" for a reason. In addition to formal governmental contact and cooperation, all veteran interviews are voluntary. I was surprised to find elderly, dignified, and professional, retired officers and servicemen that came forth to offer help in any way they knew how without asking for, or expecting anything in return. Most claimed that their information was probably worthless, but just maybe there was something they knew which might help. To a man, each asked us to pass on to American servicemen, veterans, and retirees, that they bear our country no ill-will, and in fact have a tremendous amount of respect for the United States because of the extent taken to resolve the fate of even one soldier, sailor, marine, or airman. In addition, these veterans sympathize with the American families of our POW's and MIA's. Many of these men lost their own fathers during their patriotic war against Nazi Germany in World War II, and thus know exactly what it means to suffer such a loss.

Nevertheless, I must admit that sometimes I did find our encounters somewhat ironic. One evening we conducted an interview at the home of a retired Soviet Army Officer with service in Korea and Vietnam. During the middle of the interview I glanced up at his bookshelf and noticed a plaque. This plaque was in the shape of Vietnam. As I got up and took a closer look I realized that what made this plaque unique was the fact that it was made out of the metal from a downed US aircraft. I could even see a US manufacturer's part serial number still visible on the memento itself. I couldn't help but think of my father at this time. This officer and my father served against one another in Southeast Asia at about the same time, 1967-1968. While my father was posted at an Air Force base on the Laotian border at Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, the Soviet officer served as an Air Defense instructor at various missile sites in North Vietnam. I also couldn't help but remember my father's service photographs. I remember him pointing out to me his buddies who were shot down and killed or who were missing in Laos and North Vietnam. Still, I often find it hard to believe that almost thirty years later, the task has fallen to the next generation to try and close all those open loops of our nation's previous wars that are yet to be resolved. Therefore I would like to return to the Afghan veteran and journalist Yevgeniy Sulyga. In getting to know him a little, I came to realize just how human our former adversaries truly are. When we discussed his experiences living and fighting in Afghanistan, he wanted to make several points absolutely clear. At the time of his service in 1985, he himself understood little of the political situation or reasoning for the involvement of the USSR in Afghanistan. To him, the concept of service there was very simple. Either he did his duty as ordered and served, or he went to prison. Once he arrived to his Spetznatz unit in Afghanistan, the next major task was also very basic. Either he wanted to live or he didn't. In order to live, he had to kill others or he himself would have been killed. To him, this was a very big test which has changed him forever. After witnessing many of his friends and subordinates killed in action, he now has a much greater respect and value for life, and a deeper understanding of his own mortality. Today, after he has lived with the terror, fear, hardship, and suffering of war, he has absolutely no desire to ever go back. He has written an article for a Minsk publication entitled "And So We Were Killing Each Other", published in June 1994. This article describes his experiences and impressions about his service in Afghanistan, and about his first encounter with the Americans on the POW/MIA commission on a previous trip to Minsk. The article is translated from Russian into English and is attached to mine with his permission. It provides a fresh insight into the similarities and contrasts of American and Soviet military and civilian experience, and the benefits of open contact with people of other countries.

In conclusion, this experience taught me that the esteem and respect held by veterans of other countries for the US Military, is not only based on our ability to properly execute a mission. It is also based on the extent that our nation is willing to go to account for the life of even one serviceman or woman, long after the mission is complete. Therefore, a more detailed account of the recovery of US Air Force Captain John Dunham, and the commission's work in general are available via the internet, at:

US-Russia Joint Commission on POW/MIA Moscow home page: http://www/glasnet.ru/powmia

Lastly, the opportunity to have served on such a noble mission was for me a great honor, and one I'll not soon forget.

1997, Foreign Area Officer Association
Springfield, Virginia
Maintained by LTC Steve Gotowicki.
http://www.faoa.org