In his book “The Fate of a Soldier,” Alexander Avvakumov, in the words of his hero, conveys an assessment of the military actions of individual units of the Soviet Army in Afghanistan, their commanders, clearly shows both the heroes and those who prevented them from becoming heroes. The book describes the attitude towards the “Afghans” , who returned from the war, the heads of individual enterprises, correctly notes the facts of silence about this war, which later prevented them from correctly filing a pension and being recognized as a participant in hostilities. But no one should consider this view to be the only possible and correct one.