With everything that's been happening over the past couple of days, I found myself reading about the Yugoslav Wars again. I came across this fascinating story from 1991.

Early autumn. Heavy fighting is raging over Vukovar in Croatia (about 150 kilometers from Belgrade). The city is putting up a heroic resistance, the Yugoslav army is suffering massive losses, and honestly has no idea what it's even fighting for. Serbian soldier Vladimir Živković found himself right in the thick of it, but he really didn't want to fight against the Croats. So this tank commander decided to make a stand: he got in his tank, drove all 150 kilometers to Belgrade without any resistance, and parked it right in front of the Parliament steps.

He was arrested, but the story quickly went public. The authorities didn't want to charge a soldier with desertion in front of the whole country, so instead they declared him mentally unfit and sent him for involuntary treatment. This decision infuriated his fellow soldiers so much that they seized a local radio station and broadcast a message saying "we are not traitors, but we don't want to be aggressors." It didn't free their comrade, but they definitely made their mark on history.