Jubilee Award Badge "15 Years Of The People's Home Guard Of The P.M.R.".

[Greg Collins]

I was watching a t.v. news report from the area of Georgia that touches South Ossetia the other day... they were interviewing a farmer- fairly large scale wheat farmer- who had been the leader of a co-op during the Soviet period. He had lost 2/3 of his crop during the recent "unpleasantness". He made the statement, "Weren't we happier during the Soviet days? Now we are free... with empty pockets". I hear similar stories quite a bit from people from the former Warsaw Pact countries with whom I have contact (primarily because of the collection).