THE SOLDIER: War in a time of warlords and extremists

[Jacaylbaro]

I was recruited as a soldier in 1967. I never thought Somalis would ruin their own country and destroy people's property.

 

Back then my salary was only 120 Somali shillings and with this I could feed my family well and save some cash in the central bank. Only 25 cents was enough to dine at a restaurant. Now we don't have coins or notes of less than 1,000 shillings. See how illiterate Somalis have spoilt our life?

 

The worst moment in my life was the Somali-Ethiopian war in 1977, which lasted eight months. At that time, Somalia was called the lion of Africa. We had jets and T-55 tanks. Somalis had courage and dignity. We captured many towns from the mighty Ethiopians. Thousands of soldiers from both sides died, although Ethiopians died the most.

 

As we neared Ethiopia's capital, Addis Ababa, after capturing its highlands, Russian planes began unloading tanks to fight us. Fighting escalated and we were in hell. Our commanders were ordered to shoot any Somali soldier who turned back. We had to fight to the death.

 

Anwar Sadat, Libya’s president, called our president, Mohamed Siad Barre, to warn him that we would be overrun by troops from Russia, Yemen and Cuba. Barre ordered us to back to Somalia and we finally had a chance to run for our lives.

 

I appeared like a ghost to my family. When they hadn't heard from me for eight months, they carried out my funeral ceremony. They never thought I was alive. My wife, kids and I hugged and shared tears of happiness in 1978. I was by then a captain.

 

 

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[Jacaylbaro]

[Abwaan]

Jacaylbaro;734465 wrote:

I'm still a captain but now we are given $130 per month.

And Indhacadde, Cali Madoobe, Qaybdiid, Dhegobadan, Bashir Goobbe, Axmed Taajir and others are generals!