War can be compared to an army jacket. On its front side there are military awards, stripes for wounds and concussions; it glitters with gold and stars. But the jacket also has a reverse side that is not visible to the prying eye. This is the life of a soldier. How and what did our soldiers live “beyond the river”, what made them happy and what made them sad, how and what they dressed in, what they ate and drank... Here is an amazingly reliable and confidential description of the daily life of the “shuravi” - fighters of a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan ; the real underbelly of war...