Author Archives: David Isenberg

Sergei had learned that Wagner was easiest to understand from the bottom. You knew your section commander, then the platoon, then the assault unit above it, which the men called the Fifth Storm; above that came reconnaissance, tank crews, gun crews, signals specialists, medics, and an operations department run by men who were never seen in boots. Tonight the contractors shared the road with Syrian regulars of the 4th Division, tribal militiamen of the Baqir Brigade, the ISIS Hunters, and Shia volunteers of the Fatemiyoun and Zainebiyoun brigades, each with its own radios and its own version of the plan. From a distance it looked like an army. Up close it was several organizations trying to share one road. A rumor ran down the column that the plan had been cleared in Moscow; another said it had been cleared in St. Petersburg, in the office of a man who had made his fortune in catering. Both were delivered with equal confidence, and neither could be checked. Continue reading →