Robertas Krikštaponis

This chapter presents the story of Robertas Krikštaponis, who was called to the Soviet army on October 18, 1985. Despite the fact that the Soviet Union had been at war in Afghanistan for more than five years, little information about the war had been distributed in Soviet countries, and most people were still largely in the dark. Krikštaponis returned home in late September of 1988, after nearly two years in Afghanistan. For ten years after returning from Afghanistan, he had terrible headaches. Transitioning back to civilian life was different for every veteran, and there was no uniform solution to the problems that could arise. Krikštaponis did not discuss his experiences publicly until several decades after his deployment. In 2011, he became involved with the Vilnius Association of Afghan War Veterans.