See that young lady sitting in the cockpit, grinning ear to ear? An observer today might chuckle and think she was a harmless little girl one would come across on a college campus or in a library. But the Nazis, at least the ones who survived her onslaught, would beg to differ. She was a war hero, and a deadly one. This was Natalya Meklin, an excellent combat pilot who flew PO-2 short-range low altitude night bombers into the thick of heavily defended Nazi strongholds. Natalya didn’t fight alone. On the contrary, she was a Night Witch – just one “fighting friend” in a whole unit of brave aviatrixes in the legendary 588th Night Bomber Regiment, the only combat aviation regiment in history that was entirely comprised of women,
War Games
Synopsis: A group of archeologists discovers the rambling diary of a tortured soul slowly going mad. There’s no consistent logic, coherent meaning, or even an apparent chronological order to the bizarre episodes scrawled across the tattered book’s pages. But nonetheless, the adventurers can’t help but digest the entire manifesto cover to cover. In The Man in a White Corolla, our unhinged protagonist was in uniform, sent away to a faraway war zone.
Now he’s back home, but still in uniform. This time around, he managed to cobble together a chapter that was close to lucid from beginning to end, quite an accomplishment for him. It’s a brief reflection on leadership, humility, and staying grounded in what’s in front of you. Is this really a reliable source for “staying grounded”…? Don’t lose the battle before you even leave the drawing board, as the old saying goes.