Summon-2010: Autumn Aggravation

October 8 2010 2

A week ago, the traditional autumn draft campaign began in Russia. And although its beginning was marked by a small incident - the call was officially announced before the text of the relevant decree of Dmitry Medvedev was published on the website of the President of Russia and in the Rossiyskaya Gazeta, nevertheless it is known that under the gun from October October 1 to December 31 this year, 278 800 youths who have no deferment due to them and are able to perform military service for health should be delivered at the age from 18 to 27 years. And sending them to the troops will begin after November 16.

“The Ministry of Defense is not going to make legislative proposals on increasing the draft age,” said NVO, who commanded Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the Russian Armed Forces, about the start of the autumn draft campaign. The general dispelled the public’s fears that the military wanted to abolish conscription into the army on subpoenas from the military enlistment office, suggesting that the future recruit, when his term arrives, to put on a soldier's shoulder straps, without unnecessary reminders from the relevant body, personally appear at the draft board and, having passed it, stand up for the soldiers build

JOGLERA IN POGONAH

True, the reason for the occurrence of such suspicions was given, oddly enough, by the head of the Main Organizational-Mobilization Directorate (GOMU). In the summer at a meeting of the Committee on Defense and Security of the Federation Council, it was General Smirnov who expressed such ideas, including an increase in the draft age to 30 years. After that, a wave of indignation arose in society and in the press. The generals were once again accused of failing to transfer the army to the contract principle of recruitment, that they had no fresh thoughts on how to make military service attractive for young people, so that it would really become a school of social adulthood of young men, their courage lessons and military education. And, apparently, the leadership of the State Defense Committee General Staff, as incapable of open dialogue with civil society and receiving, to put it mildly, a remark from the authorities for a premature injection into the masses until the end of uncalculated ideas, had no choice but to disown its radical proposals. With a hint that the military will not make such amendments to the legislation on military service.

We must understand that they will make others. Is it not enough in the same deputies corps of people who are ready to “give a shoulder” to the injured military department.

And high-ranking military officials are not the first to give up their words. Many colleagues remember how, at the beginning of this summer, after the end of the spring draft of the company, the staff of GOMU proudly reported to the public that the number of draft dodgers in the country dropped sharply - from 12 521 people in 2007 to 5210 in spring 2009 (“NVO "Today publishes the official material GOMU, which demonstrates such dynamics. - V.L.). But then, at a meeting with senators, the head of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Army General Nikolai Makarov, suddenly declared that there were about 200 thousand such draft dodgers. Then military officials slightly corrected this figure and specified - 199 draft dodgers.

This fall, Colonel Alexei Knyazev, head of the draft call, GOMU, has already mentioned other data - 133 thousand. Only in the Central Federal District, according to him, 48 thousand dodgers. We note from ourselves, almost eight full-fledged brigades of constant combat readiness.

There was also an explanation in GOMU why the deviationists in the numbers are so disagreeable. It turns out that those 5210 people mentioned in the spring were the guys who received the summons, but did not appear at the draft board and, naturally, did not go to the service. And the "spring" 199 thousand are those who have contrived to not receive any call summaries at all. He hid at some other addresses, traveled abroad, including his relatives in the CIS countries, in a word, "lay down on the ground like a submarine so that they could not be tracked down." 133 thousand remaining from the spring - these are the same draft dodgers, who were not caught up with the summons from the recruiting office. About the difference in 66 thousand people, which was formed from spring to autumn, GOMU does not give any explanation. Either they were removed from the register at all, or they were nevertheless managed to be caught and called upon. In a word, consider what you want.

And the suspicion that the military is manipulating its data with certain opportunistic goals - to solve the problems of conscription due to some changes in the legislation, is only being strengthened. Including about the abolition of subpoenas. The generals are trying to convince the public that otherwise it will not work. And if you do not do as suggested in the General Staff, then the country's defense capability and the combat readiness of the army will collapse below the plinth.

True, the head of GOMU has so far stated that they will still be drafted into the army, as is required by law, only on subpoenas, although modern methods of alerting new recruits via sms, the Internet, and social networks of the virtual web are not excluded. But only as a reminder of the need for timely arrival at the draft board. The problem is that there is a “demographic hole” in which Russia is now located. “If from 1980 to 1985 a year was born annually to 1,5 a million boys, then in 1988 a year - only 800 thousands,” complains General Smirnov. Although the same commanders are pleased that the quality of the recruiting contingent is gradually improving. For example, the number of children who had experience in using drugs and toxic substances before military service decreased by 2,9% (in the spring it was 3,4%) and fell for hooligan sins to the police 5,6% (in the spring 2009 of the year they were 8,7%). They are also pleased that more graduates of higher educational institutions are joining the ranks of the army - in the spring of 2010, almost 17%. More precisely 45327 people.

Nevertheless, the traditional complaints of generals and the health of draftees continue. The main diseases, according to which thousands of guys are released from conscription, are reduced to such categories as mental disorders, diseases of the digestive system, circulatory system, musculoskeletal system (see diagram). And although Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Russia, Army General Nikolai Makarov, once noted that 40% of those who received a “white ticket” due to illness simply bought these certificates, there is evidence that 94,6 thousands of young men, almost 10% of those who appeared in the spring to the draft board, doctors were forced to send for a new outpatient or inpatient examination to medical organizations.

As for the remaining deviations of 133 thousand, they are considered in the General Staff as “a reserve of future appeals.” Moreover, now military service, as warlords say, has become much more comfortable and more humane than it was before.

FEATURES WITHOUT SPECIAL FEATURES

Much has been said by them about the humanity of military service. For example, that starting this fall, parents of conscripts, as well as human rights activists, are allowed to attend a meeting of the draft board, which will determine the army’s fate for their son. There they will be able to find out which troops and where he will go to serve. Moreover, if they themselves are not able to attend, then during the week the military enlistment office is obliged to inform them of which part the son went to. Especially since the extraterritorial principle of recruiting troops is now abolished, and the young men will perform military service not far from home, within the limits of the military district from which they are called.

True, the districts are now too large - the West is practically the entire European part of Russia, from the Volga to the Baltic and from the Rostov region to the Arctic Ocean and to the Matochkin Strait. East - from Baikal to the Pacific Ocean, Sakhalin and the Kuriles. A distance of a thousand kilometers, and the concept of "near the house becomes unnecessarily stretchable." But Colonel-General Smirnov promised that those guys who have a wife, a small child, retired parents or they are seriously ill, still, if possible, will provide a place of service in or near his hometown. But you cannot make promises to the business, and in the military registration and enlistment office it is useless to refer to the words of the head of GOMU. There are different approaches: there is a directive - one approach, no directive - another. And the question is how to understand this directive and the words “if possible”. Not every city has a military unit nearby. And not every military unit can send every conscript.

From the Kaliningrad region it is reported that draft commissions will put about 3 thousand people into operation there. Most of them will be serving in the Baltic navy. Only 20 young men will be sent to the Presidential Regiment of the Federal Security Service. And from the cities and regions of the Russian Federation, 4 more guys and 1,5 young men are expected to study at junior specialist schools. On the basis of the naval crew in Kaliningrad and the naval half-crew of the Leningrad naval base in the city of Lomonosov near St. Petersburg. So count how many of those who arrive on the fleet will be near the house. To get there, some will need to fly or move across the Lithuanian and Belarusian borders. And only during the vacation, which is promised to those who will not be able to go on dismissal to their parents. True, again, to promise does not mean to marry.

Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov, for example, promised the recruits' parents that they would be able to accompany their sons in the echelon to the final point where the children were to serve. But Valentina Melnikova, executive secretary of the Union of Soldiers' Mothers of Russia Committees, rightly doubts that every family will have the means to go on such a trip. And if the military department takes one father or mother for free in one direction, you will probably still have to go back for your own back. It was promised that the units will be able to resume the work of the parent committees. Also from among the relatives of the soldiers who serve here. They will meet three times a year, solve the questions that the initiative group or commander will pose to them. It is not excluded that everything will be reduced, as in some schools, to raising funds for the needs of an educational institution (in this case, a military unit) - everyone is always short of money. And, which is also very important, what is now called the humanization of military service, now all soldiers are allowed to have mobile phones.

But they can use them only during their free time. The head of the supervision department of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office, Major General of Justice Alexander Nikitin, who also took part in the press conference, even named the number of the directive of the minister establishing the right to use a mobile phone. It is not secret, it was signed on December 20 2009 of the year No. 205 / 02 / 862. Supported by the order of the Chief Military Prosecutor's Office of 14 on April 2010 of the year No. 212 / 286 / 10.

The procedure is this: if a soldier is not on duty, not in the field, not in the classroom, he can take his phone from the commander and call his mom and dad. Even beloved girlfriend. A mobile phone should help relieve stress, which is almost inevitable when a person changes clothes from "free" civilian clothes to uniform army camouflage.

Five-day work week, vacation for parents on Saturday and Sunday, cancellation of kitchen and cleaning services, what third-party organizations will be doing on the principle of outsourcing, afternoon nap, as it happens in the 5-th separate Taman motorized rifle brigade carrying journalists and bloggers and representatives of the Public Council under the Minister of Defense - the head of GOMU called it an "experiment." If this experiment is recognized as successful (let us add on our own, and there is enough money, including the transformation of the barracks into well-equipped dormitories for soldiers. - V.L.), it will be accepted everywhere in all armed forces.

GAMES IN NUMBERS

At the same time, Colonel General Vasily Smirnov said that the army and navy would not refuse to recruit contractors. Only they will be recruited after the end of military service and for positions that determine the combat readiness of the military unit, as platoon commanders, their deputies, and squad leaders. In the Navy - on the positions of naval personnel, in the marines and in coastal units. As well as divers, hydroacoustics, commandos, minders, radiometers, torpedoes, helmsmen - that is, where deep knowledge and strong skills are required. To the Ground Forces - to all military units deployed on the territory of Chechnya, as well as drivers of categories "D" and "E". In the Air Force - aviation mechanics, radio operators, air gunners, aircraft technicians, operators of charging machines. In the Strategic Missile Forces - locomotive drivers, technicians and calculation numbers of launchers, calculation numbers of measuring points, heads of radio direction finders, telemetry stations. In the Airborne Forces - grenade launchers, snipers, sappers, miners, scouts, parachute stackers, anti-aircraft gunners. But not more than 105 thousand for all armed forces. There is no money for a larger number of contractors.

And a few more figures to think about. Summon 2010's fall - 278 800 people. In the spring, 270 600 guys were put into operation. In sum, on 1 in January of 2011, it turns out that the Russian army will count 449 400 soldiers and sergeants in military service. Add to this the 150 of thousands of officers who should remain in the ranks, and about 80 – 130 of thousands of contract soldiers (together with female military personnel). What is the result? That the army of our country will not amount to a million, as claimed on all levels of the ministerial hierarchy, but only a maximum of 729 400 military personnel.

Colonel-General Vasily Smirnov did not mention the real number of those who are in the ranks today. I just made a reservation that today there are even more officers than 150 thousand, and a little more contract soldiers than there should be. “But we have enough,” he said.

We believe these words. In the end, the million-strong army, as military experts have always said, is not a panacea for Russia. According to its economic and demographic possibilities, it can and should be less.