On Scavs

I have very little communication with anyone. But I notice that in the tiny trickle of chatter on my old USEC comm device that everyone refers to the Tarkov residents as "Scavs".  I've adopted this terminology myself.  "Scavs", short for "scavengers".  Prapor had me kill a bunch of them that were hanging out in the Customs area. "Like flies" is how described them to me on one occasion, and "cockroaches" on another.  

But is that right? Because, if I am completely honest, you know who goes scurrying around out of sight, lifting anything that's not nailed down? This guy.  I scavenge all the time. Even when I'm trying to get a job done, if I see some sugar left out on a table it's in my pocket before you can blink.

And you know who doesn't scavenge and steal everything in sight?  These guys I keep killing for Prapor. Most of them aren't filling their pockets with half eaten crusts of bread - they are patrolling areas - they are guarding buildings and equipment.  These guys aren't scavengers - they are guards.

I'm not sure I'm comfortable with this, with wantonly killing guards.  For my entire career at USEC guarding shit was pretty much my sole job.  For two years I was in Sudan, on a ranch/farm that held a blacksite prison camp.  It was on some property that used to belong to Osama bin Laden. I remember being told that if I left the compound in the morning, and walked straight away in any direction I wanted, that when I put my head down to rest that night I'd still be on property that once belonged to bin Laden. Big place.  The farm compound was like an onion - a bunch of farm buildings and fences on the outside encircling a large patrolled guarded compound, and in the very middle the prison buildings.  I was in the middle layer. For two years I just patrolled, watched the scenery, and watched DVDs.  (Those DVDs came by the boxload and included a bunch of rips of Russian sci-fi and war movies, which were my favorites).

After Sudan, I was brought up to the Norvinsk Special Economic Zone to guard various TerraGroup properties. Until things really fell apart, the only weapon I had in my holster was a magnetic wand. I was a glorified TSA agent, asking people to raise their arms and wanding them into TerraGroup labs and offices.  For a long time, the only Russian phrases I knew were "raise your arms, please." and "legs apart, please".  

Anyway, my point is that I was a guard. And these guys I'm killing, we call them "scavs" but they are not scavengers - they are guards. They're just doing their job, like I used to. It is discomfiting.

I know, I know. If I look at the world through eyes that only see things how they used to be, or how they should be, then in Tarkov I am no better than a blind man.  I have to see things as they are.  And as things are Prapor wants me to kill fifteen of the "local scum" (his words) over in the nature reserve. That's a lot of killing.  I wonder if any of these guys have families they managed to get out of Tarkov? Best not to think about that, or I'll never be done.