Adaptation of the SMO Participants to Civilian Life in Context of Lessons of the USSR’s Participation in the War in Afghanistan

The participation of hundreds of thousands of servicemen of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation in a Special military operation has raised the question of their return to civilian life as sparing as possible. The problem is complex – medical, social, moral and psychological - in nature and requires significant efforts by the state and society to solve it. Its successful solution is impossible without drawing lessons from the historical experience associated with the participation of our compatriots in one of the most violent military conflicts of the recent past – the war in Afghanistan (1979-1989). Judging by today’s government policy to support the participants of the SVR, such lessons are being learned by helping those returning from the area of the operation to avoid the so-called Afghan syndrome. Thus, the “Time of Heroes” program initiated by the Russian authorities seems to be an important step aimed at radically updating and modernizing the country’s political elite.