I present to the attention of the dear reader notes on the first Chechen war of 1994 - 1996. Events and people are authentic. For well-known reasons, I do not name the names of the characters. I deliberately did not build any outline of the narrative, as this would deprive the notes of their authenticity. I tried to describe the war, as I saw it myself, as a contract soldier, in a chaotic and stupid way. Hence the confusion, stupidity and lack of plot. Not finding anything better, I simply decided to talk about the vivid, memorable episodes of those days, about personal impressions.