Vacation from Peace

1993: The 23-year old Austrian soldier Helmut R. goes to war on Balkans as a volunteer.As a mercenary soldier he joins together with two friends the Croatian Army. Out of love of adventure they take a break from Austria's neutrality and go on a vacation from peace.Searching contacts, receiving weapons, the first mission, the first dead man, reloading the weapon, the second dead man. Friends die. The vacation becomes daily routine.15 years later Helmut R. speaks in the documentary „Vacation from Peace" about his war experience and his reasons for going to war as a mercenary soldier.„To all of us this was a game. We didn't really take this whole thing seriously. To us this was regular training just like the army. None of us really thought about it. The first one or two months no one was really aware of the fact that we're definitely gonna go to war, that we're really gonna shoot with live ammunition and that others will shoot at us." Helmut R.