Anatoly Lebed

Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed (Russian: Анатолий Вячеславович Лебедь; 10 May 1963 – 27 April 2012), was a Hero of the Russian Federation, Guards Lieutenant Colonel in Special Airborne Forces, an officer of the 45th Guards Spetsnaz Regiment.
Biography
Soviet Military Service
Lebed was born in the city of Valga, Estonia. He joined the Soviet Armed Forces in 1981 starting his military service in Soviet Airborne Troops (Russian: Воздушно-десантные войска). He first trained in the 44th Airborne Division in Gaižiūnai in the Lithuanian SSR and later served in the 57th Independent Air Assault Brigade in Taldykorgan in the Kazakh SSR.
Opting for a career change, he entered the Lomonosov Military Aviation Technical School graduating as a flight engineer in 1986. He served on combat operations in Afghanistan in 1986–87 as an aircrew member in a helicopter regiment.
After his return from Afghanistan, he served successively in the Group of Soviet...