Celebrating Paratrooper Day in Moscow... like real men!

Macho men are the same worldwide. Give them booze and a reason and off they go end up getting naked together.

All throughout the former Eastern Bloc, every profession had its own 'day'. So every year there would be a railway workers day, a day for geologists, one for teachers, one for post office workers and so forth. Each division of the armed forces also had their 'day', so there is a paratrooper day, a border guard day etc. The military-specific special days usually end up being excuses for, as what Julia Ioffe wrote on her Moscow Diaries blog:

...drinking, beating up Dagestanis, drinking, storming a cafe and breaking its windows and glassware, driving a tractor onto Red Square (the driver turned out to be a paratrooper poser), drinking, and raiding a watermelon stand. (When bystanders tried to stop them, the paratroopers answered that they were taking “theirs.”)

How charming! However what the paratroopers and border guards love to do most on such a day — other than drink, of course — is frolick. In fountains. In their underwear.

Capturing a glimpse of what fine and esteemed men serve in these important divisions of the military, Russian photo blogger Zyalt took these pictures in Moscow's Gorky Park of the Border Guards having 'fun'




Zyalt has more photos of Paratrooper Day here. These photos are of particular note:

On the band of this man's underwear writes 'Edinnaya Rossiya' (One Russia) i.e. the name of Putin's ruling political party.

That's beer they are drinking here. Beer in many Eastern European countries is sold in plastic bottles just like soft drink. Well, it's only 5% proof, so it's practically soft drink.

However, what was most fitting was that when taking these photos Zyalt was approached by the police and asked, “Are you Russian?” Yes. “Then why are you taking pictures?” What’s the big deal? “Why are you embarrassing Russia?”