Living under constant threat of invasion is very difficult for Americans to imagine. Standing near the Administrative Border between Georgia and the South Ossetia territory occupied by Russia makes it very real.
Driving up to the Georgian check-point, the situation on the ground seemed calmer than I would have expected. A few men in civilian attire stood smoking near the post, and an EU monitoring mission jeep was parked nearby. The buffer zone puts about 1 kilometer of separation between the Georgian side and the south Ossetian side.
Gradually, however, I realized that there was a lot more going on just below the surface. The men who appeared to be taking a smoke break were really our security detail. Another man was using binoculars to watch for activity on the other side, and one more had a long-range camera. I started to notice other dugouts and higher observation posts.
While staring across the buffer zone, our guide explained that we were looking at a Russian military camp inside South Ossetia. Their barracks were clearly visible from our vantage point. Less visible were Russian surveillance and weapons systems at the base. At an earlier briefing, we learned that the range of Russia’s air radar system and one of their most capable missiles covers all of Georgian territory.
Just as we were about to leave, we noticed several guards across the buffer watching us watching them.
We then proceeded to a nearby restaurant that just happened to be in Stalin's hometown. Like all of our meals thus far with our generous Georgian hosts, food started to arrive without anyone having to pick up a menu. There was more food than all of us could eat in a week. At the supra, or feast, we shared the food family style, talked about what we had seen, joked and laughed about funny moments along the way, and shared toasts to the future of friendship between us as individuals and between our countries.
This is life in Georgia. One hour you can be standing on land that was a war zone just 10 years ago and still remains tense and contested, and the next hour you can be sharing a meal with great friends and lots of laughter. Living in a place struggling with a protracted conflict means learning how to carry on with life while never losing sight of what is happening on your border.
-- MAGP student, cohort 4