About the book: 1972 / Lieutenant Colonel Vladimir Nikolaevich Petrov is forty-four years old. Twenty-eight of them he was closely connected with the army, with service in the air defense forces. He himself was a pilot, signalman, political worker, and finally became a teacher at the military academy, where he serves to this day. The six stories that make up his new book tell about the current life of the Soviet Army. Undoubtedly, they will play a significant role in the education of our youth, and will attract good attention to the difficult military service. Vladimir Petrov writes mainly about those who serve at radar screens, in the cockpits of military aircraft, on missile launchers, about people, the most important thing in their lives - combat readiness to defend our borders. In these stories, the service of a soldier in the Soviet Army is shown as a kind of university for the formation of PERSONALITY from ORDINARY guys. Vladimir Petrov is not a newcomer to literature. Over the course of fifteen years, he published twelve books. One of his stories, “The Point from Which the World is Visible,” was awarded a prize at the competition of the magazine “Soviet Warrior,” held in honor of the fiftieth anniversary of the Soviet Armed Forces; another story - “Good People - Rocket Scientists” - was awarded a prize at the All-Russian competition for the best work for children and youth; and, finally, the third story - “Tablet and Palette” - was awarded a prize at the All-Union Competition named after Alexander Fadeev.