An Excerpt from On the Job Training - Berlin to Vladivostok (Volume One of The Rare Earth Series) There are silly memories from childhood that come to mind when I tell this story. I remember scenes from WWII movies of soldiers crawling through mine fields or gingerly snaking their way across enemy lines through mine infested areas. The images of carefully raked sand in the no-man's land of Berlin's Check-Point Charlie or in the forests somewhere in Nazi occupied Europe come to mind as this story plays out in the forests of Western Poland north of Poznan...somewhere near Pila.
July 22nd, 1983 was the official end of martial law in Poland. Imposed by the regime of General Wojciech Jaruzelski, historians mostly agree that martial law may have been the better of evils when compared with a possible invasion by the Soviet Union in response to the wave of protests and open defiance of authority by the Solidarity trade union in Poland. My first trip to Poland came during this event. I was with a group of Economists and other academics being hauled around the country for lectures, meetings, and debates on Economic Reforms in the country.
...As I got closer, I realized that there were some rather large dark bulky shapes at the edge of the tree line and some smoke coming up from one of them. I thought it might be a small farm house or shack. As I focused on these bulky shapes, I suddenly realized in a panic that they were tanks. There were also soldiers standing around them and I was close enough to begin hearing their voices. Russian was being spoken. I slowed to a jog and stopped behind a tree but made a loud cracking noise as I stepped on and broke a larger dried branch during my abrupt stop.
A group of about five of the soldiers stood up and looked in my direction. I decided it was best not to hide. I exposed myself and raised my hands to them. Their surprise was evident. Some were standing with their mouth open looking at me. One of the guys started asking me questions quickly in Russian. Obviously upset that I was there, he seemed to be trying to figure out what the hell I was doing. He noticed my colorful Nike running shoes, shorts and tank top and the whole group laughed as he said to them something related to me being an athlete or related to sport. He gestured at my shoes and clothing. I had not said a word yet and waited for instructions from them.
They waved me to come closer to them. At that point I said, “Do you speak English? I don’t speak Russian.” That caught them a bit off guard and one fellow radioed something to another location…obviously telling someone that they had found me. The one Russian that seemed in charge told me to stay put. He spoke in a mix of Russian and Polish using words that I understood like, “Stay”, “Stay here”, “Don’t move”, “Wait”.
...A Russian jeep came across the field bouncing across fallow rows of former corn, rye or wheat, and pulled up alongside of us. I was now standing with the soldiers, surrounded on all sides. They were talking about my clothing and asking if I had any documents with me. I had taken no ID with me and did not feel good at all about my situation. The arriving group stepped out of the “jeep” and asked “where is this foreigner you have found”. He walked up to me within a few feet and started laughing under his breath then asked if I spoke German or English. I said only a little German and English better. He seemed relieved. After taking a few drags off of a short cigarette, he coughs "What the bloody hell are you doing running through a mine field?!" almost in a yell at me.
My legs started to shake.
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