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Ahmed is from one of the republics in Middle Asia. He joined the army just four months ago, and can't stand the humiliation and cruel hazing every new soldier suffers in the Soviet Army. He wants to go home. Army life is not what he thought it would be. It is not the belt buckle Soviet star prints on his butt that hurt the most. Nor is it the painful gong of a wash basin clanging against Ahmed’s head morning, noon, and night. What hurts the most is his diet. In his homeland, eating pork is unheard of, a filthy sin against Allah. Now he lives in the largest pork producing republic in the U.S.S.R., and bits of the forbidden meat are everywhere; in his soup, in his gruel, and sometimes even in his tea.
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