Malinovsky was their regimental commander. The colonel came from a career military family with a history of service going back over a century. Most of his ancestors had served in the old Soviet army and its immediate successors. Like many fleeing the turmoil in end-of-century chaos, the Malinovsky family had been buffeted in the Euro Wars of the early thirties. They had finally found a home in the West, where they built new careers, proving themselves intensely loyal to their new country. Some, like the Colonel, were sensitive about their past.