[edambauskas]

Volunteers? In Soviet Russia? You are kidding me. I lived there (not in Russia, but it does not matter).

I was a small kid at the time, but I have heard a family story a few times how my father stayed out of work and home not to be included into the list of "volunteers".

There were people asking for him at work. The reasons for choosing him? He was an engineer and young enough.

He got notified by a coworker and got himself a certificate from a doctor to stay out of work.

A lot of other young guys didn't get a warning in advance and now suffer the illnesses they got from "volunteering".

[guelo]

Yes, I know there are a lot of "Liquidators" that were forced to work at Chernobyl. But the original crew that was going up to the roof and disposing material by hand, those guys were military volunteers. Here I found the story of one guy that volunteered http://www.chernobylee.com/articles/chernobyl/interview-with...

Apparently those guys were treated as heroes, got benefits like higher pensions and being able to go to the front of any line (cool!).