Jaroslav Španko

"Today I would look at it differently too, of course, but there was such a desire for adventure, you don't realise the danger that could arise. I was glad I got there, we didn't understand a bit the feelings of the British soldiers at the time, for example. The British were in Bosnia, but they had it as part of their career order, where they just had to serve some months abroad, and they took it as a necessary evil. As far as I know, our soldiers today look at it the same way, because they have to cross it out, being there. We looked at it a little differently back then. I also came from a rapid deployment brigade, so I took it as some kind of professional growth, that it was just part of the brigade. And of course we were well financially committed, again, I can't lie, money did play a part in it, because I had young children at the time."

"The first week after 17 November, we somehow didn't know anything properly. Then the following week, there were measures, the soldiers of the basic service were instructed that if it happened that some students came and started agitating, they should be sent away from the barracks, they should definitely not be allowed into the barracks. And also, if I remember correctly, I think we had some kind of heightened combat alert at that time, that there was a possibility of deployment of the army. And so that's when we sort of started to suspect that something was probably going on, and then of course there were the big rallies on Letná and then it ran its course."