This is Mariya Oktyabrskaya. And if past lives are real, then this is me. Or else we're just kindred spirits. She's a pretty badass female military hero. Let's discuss. During WWII, her husband died on the Eastern Front and she sold everything she had, had a T-34 tank built for her and went through training in order to drive it into war. If that isn't awesome enough, she earned the respect of her men by walking the walk when they thought merely she was a propoganda stunt; a pretty girl "fighting" in war. She was also a very adept mechanic and when her tank, The Fighting Girlfriend, was hit, she'd jump out, have her men cover her and she'd fix the problem, jump back in and keep on rolling. She died two months in hospital after being hit in the head on one of her quick mechanical fixes during battle. She was honoured and made a national hero in the Soviet Union at the time. I say she's me in a former life because of, well... several things. I'd probably avenge my dead husband, if I had one. I really dig tanks and would totally be the girl to sell all of her possessions to have one built in order to roll out into battle; dead love or not honestly.
I'd also want to be an awesome mechanic of said tank. I wouldn't want to be the girl (or just person) whose tank was hit and had to sit there or seek cover elsewhere. I'd like to know that I could do for myself, fix it, and keep on going; especially in the line of fire... multiple times! And I've always had this pull with Russia since I can remember. Knowing the language when I'd hear it, as in being to identify it as Russian, but not knowing what was said (which could be because mom hired a Scottish exchange student from the local uni to be my baby sitter when I was an infant. A Scottish girl who was learning Russian so she could be an interpreter at the UN, who would tell me stories and sing me songs in Russian.) But whatever the reasoning, I've always been drawn to the country and language like it's familiar to me and I honestly can't say if it's always been familiar, or just because of that Scottish girl when I was like 6 months old or something. I'm re-reading the book series Hallowmere right now. There's this Hungarian girl named Ilona and that's totally who I would be. I don't fit her physical description of tall, manly, husky, and rough handed. I'm short, supple, round, and soft. (Seriously, it's like someone rolled up balls of soft, squishy dough and fashioned me from them.) But when Father Joe is recounting military battles during history lessons, she's listening with rapt attention and following the movement of the players on the board, unlike any of the other girls who are all bored practically to tears. She wants to be in battle and fight with swords. And it's a faerie story, literally, and when she enters a Fey Rath, she ends up in medieval Hungary and joins up with Elizabeth Bathory's guards who are really, really big men who are also shape shifting wolves. Ilona fits right in and though doesn't enjoy stealing the girls so that Bathory can take her daily blood dip, she does enjoy the guard life and the fighting drills. Obviously for loads of reasons, I identify with her most in the book. Partly because she's Eastern European, which apparently I also am (<1%, but STILL! it's there & I didn't know that during all the other readings of these books), but also that she defends other girls from bullies (and punches the bully girls in the face), is highly interested in military battles and military history, and wants to learn how to fight with a sword (which I also wouldn't mind, I wouldn't mind fight training, but also I want to learn the bow or crossbow). And to me, she's the teenage 1865 version of Mariya Oktyabrskaya; and really both of them are of myself in a way.
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AuthorA girl from South Mississippi who finds herself in exploration. Archives
November 2019
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