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The skies over southern Sakhalin, the Sea of Okhotsk, and the border with Japan were covered by two regiments of fighter-interceptors. One regiment was based north of the 49th parallel at the Smirnykh air base and the other at the Sokol airport at the south of the island. After the hot and lively Caucasus, Sakhalin Island felt like going back to the grind after a wild party. The countryside was truly striking – the forested hills, ravines, and streams recalled the Caucasus – but Shilin’s wife suffered. She had grown up in a festive Black Sea resort town, and for her this distant island in the cold Sea of Okhotsk was like exile and hard labor at the end of the world. Their garrison looked like all the other garrisons they were assigned to. As with everywhere else, there was an endless w
