Only old men will go into battle
What should be the age requirement for military service in the army? Opinions of medical and military on this account radically diverged
The proposal to raise the bar of military age from 27 to 30 years, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasily Smirnov, motivated by the fact that in "most countries of the world" thirty-year draftees are quite normal practice. The topic provoked a sharp reaction in society, fueled by the comments of experts who say that it’s unreasonably early to recruit into the army in 18 years, and to serve at thirty is not too late.
The “results” tried to find out whether the established conscription age is optimal and what new surprises on this path await potential defenders of the Motherland.
Rip up to footcloths
Soldier service is hard work. It is not surprising that in all the armies of the world, the strongest, healthiest young people are attracted to it, as a rule, not burdened with family problems. The combination of all these qualities is characteristic of youth: the person is already physically and mentally ripe, but the destructive changes in the body have not yet begun. Theoretically, these criteria correspond to the age of 18-27 years. In the 60-s, it was this age interval that was introduced into the law on military service as a draft. So it was.
Another thing is that the theory today no longer corresponds to the real state of affairs: the modern Russian young man differs significantly from his predecessor. And his eighteen years are not the same as those of previous generations. "The 20 years have already ended the process of accelerating growth and development, which allowed the young men to mature for army service by 18 years," said Valentin Sonkin, the chief researcher at the Institute of Age Physiology of Radioactive Waste. comes in 19-21 year and lasts up to 30-35 years. In general, such a framework - 19-35 years - would be more appropriate for recruiting. "
True, the generals have never stated that the Russians will be called upon, say, from 19 or 20 years. But there is nothing surprising that experts consider such an increase in age as something logical and even taken for granted. Vladimir Lukin, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, has long been proposing to establish a draft age in 20 years, noting that the notorious eighteen is a legacy of the Soviet past, and it is not clearly justified.
Increasing the draft age is easy to justify with a whole list of arguments. From this: people should be given the opportunity to finish secondary education without nerves and to have at least two attempts to enter a university. Before this: the boys just do not have time today to grow to the service. For example, by the age of 18 a young man only leaves the walls of the 11-year school (if he goes to study with 7 years), he does not have time to look around in adult life, to form as an independent person. In the army, he immediately falls into the conditions of breaking this very person. As a rule, nothing good comes out of it. Moreover, according to Mariana Bezrukikh, director of the Institute of Age Physiology of the Russian Academy of Education, the ripening period is not yet complete in adolescents by 18, the state of the organism is unstable, stability occurs at best in 19-20 years. Simply put, the milk on the lips of most of the current 18-year-olds has not dried yet.
Young-green
Research in this regard recently held a lot. “It's not a secret: the current draftees are poorly developed physically,” says the head pediatrician of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, director of the Scientific Center for Children's Health, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Alexander Baranov. “The 60 percent of today's young men of military age have many indicators — for example, muscle strength — much lower 60's. "
In one of the special studies, authored by Irina Zvezdina, a researcher at the Institute of Hygiene and Health Protection of Children and Adolescents, it is noted that low level of physical health is characteristic of older adolescents. It is explained by the influence of biological factors. The 18-year-olds almost through one have a weight deficit, high or low blood pressure. But the determining factor, as experts note, is delayed puberty, which leads to a significant reduction in the body’s capabilities. According to Zvezdina, doctors note the connection of delayed puberty with the presence of functional and chronic disorders of the musculoskeletal system, ENT diseases, as well as deviations of the cardiovascular system.
Chronicles, in a word. Can guys with such data protect the country? Hardly. But will the situation change fundamentally in 19 years?
Alexander Baranov believes that will change, although, by definition, the WHO, children's age generally ends in 22 year. "In older adolescence, there is a very intensive growth of various organs and systems, - said the main pediatrician. - And this is associated with a phenomenon called growth disintegration." Failures of the cardiovascular system, digestive organs, and other systems of the body can happen. 19 over the years, growth is slowing and systemic dysfunctions are less common. " And Valentine Sonkin adds that it was during this year that under the influence of hormones, the boys actively grow muscles, and in 19 years they would join the army no longer defenseless suckers, but fully developed men capable of self-defense, to perform heavy military service, - full fighters. Then, according to doctors, there would be far less hazing, deaths and disabilities.
Psychologically, modern youths are also much younger than their yesterday’s peers, and most importantly, they are less adequate in reactions. The incidence of mental and behavioral disorders in adolescents increased in some regions of the country by 84,5 percent compared to 90. “By the end of secondary education, many do not have a sufficient level of formation of important skills of constructive behavior,” said Dmitry Nadezhdin, head of the laboratory of psychophysiology and mental hygiene at the Research Institute of Hygiene and Child and Adolescent Health, at the time of choosing a profession and starting work. to Army".
If it is simpler, then in 17-18 for years, teenagers are freaking out for no reason, then they get depressed. Specialists from Izhevsk State Medical Academy specifically checked the psychological status of recruits in Udmurtia. Curious things turned out. Teenager 15 is sociable for years, able to compromise, inclined to self-incrimination, sensitive. In 16 for years, he remains sociable, controls emotions, but is overly excited, sometimes experiencing emotional discomfort. In 17 years - the last year before the call - the adolescent’s psychological state is more even, the young men are sociable enough, but sometimes they become isolated, they are afraid to show feelings, and under stress they may not cope with emotions. By 18, the formation of a stable psychological personality is unlikely to occur, and the army is on the threshold.
As a result, as doctors say, in 19-20 years after the conscription service, a very large number of people are demobilized with mental disorders. However, the military are familiar with all the above conclusions, do not agree and stubbornly bend their line.
Old Guard
According to a representative of the General Staff, "18 years is the same age at which a young man can fulfill his military duties for medical reasons, and we do not intend to increase it." In other words, the main principle here is to have time to “kill” the boys, while they are still helpless, they have not looked around in life. Actually, the joke that the only doctor in the world who will tell you that you are completely healthy is the doctor from the military registration and enlistment office, and it was from this position that the army leadership was born.
Although, according to the "Results", even in the 80-s, by order of the General Staff, a large medical study was conducted on the framework of the draft age. And the doctors recommended raising the lower bar to 19 years, keeping the upper one on 27. But even then the military did not go for drastic changes, because they did not see the point in them. The proposal to move the draft for another three years, as the military themselves admit, did not come from a good life. “In principle, an increase in military age can be called statistically justified,” said Sergei Zakharov, deputy director of the Institute of Demography at the State University - Higher School of Economics. “The demographic hole lies ahead. .
Indeed, if we now call upon those who have not served and haven’t had a reason to postpone the 27 years, the problem of this year’s call can be solved - only old people will go into battle. Just further on, how good will such soldiers be?
Purely physiologically, a man and at thirty years old can be an excellent soldier - there are almost no contraindications on this side. Well, except that psychologists foresee negative consequences. “At a conscious level, the 30-year-olds more easily accept the new rules of the game,” comments the psychotherapist Sergei Mikhailov. “However, an internal conflict in the event of a problem situation, which is more than enough in the army, will be stronger.” To begin with the fact that already an adult, an accomplished person, for example, used to go to bed and get up in accordance with his personal needs, he used to manage his time himself, in the end - to fulfill requests, not orders. And what sometimes in depth and reasonableness there are orders - that everyone who served will tell you. No wonder go crazy.
Gennady Antokhin, a psychiatrist at one of the metropolitan clinics, believes that for a person in 28-30 for years, stress, which is always military service, will not go away without a trace. "Among my patients there are a lot of former military personnel, and the highest percentage is made up of" older "draftees, that is, those who have been called up in 25-27 years," he notes.
However, such psychological breakdown is only one of the problems that will inevitably arise. Judge for yourself. By 30, people usually have families, children, jobs. Leaving it all for a year is a problem. Demographers believe that until this age men simply will not start families and children. Set aside. This means that for some time the birth rate will fall again. For a country today, it is disastrous, in 18 years it will be necessary to increase the draft age to 40 years ... An adult uncle and other misfortunes will arise. “What is the point of taking a thirty-year-old man from work and sending him to wash dishes and peeling potatoes in the Siberian military district?” Alexey, an 24-year programmer, resents. “Will he come back and who needs it here? He lost his qualifications, connections, understanding of the situation, and you need to start your career almost from scratch. "
The deputy chairman of the Military Bar Association, Vladimir Trignin, told Itogi that quite a few young men, 27-28, had already appealed to them over the past month, concerned that they could be taken to the army: "They have a business, children, and a well-established gap life in military service does not deceive them in any way. " However, many are not particularly worried: the grounds for the "slope" they have strong.
An employee of one of the Moscow military registration and enlistment offices, Sergey N., is not at all sure that any advances in age can play any role in increasing the volume of conscription - only the people will be angry. "At the moment, more than 40 percent of young people at the age of 18 years,” he says, “are considered unfit for military service for health reasons. Can one really hope that by 19 or, for example, by 30 years they will recover health and go to serve? Clear the case, the percentage of health evaders will only increase with age. " 26-year-old oil trader Igor, all this hype with age also seems superfluous. The only reason, he admits, for which he still does not serve, is money. He doesn’t care at all, to pay off another two years or five years. And he does not understand at all: does anyone really think that those who successfully avoided military service for up to twenty-seven years will not be able to continue to do this until the age of thirty.
But whatever the doctors say, how ready or not ready to serve are potential soldiers, someone must protect their homeland. Therefore, they are postponing the postponements: the soloists of the theaters and the first violins of the orchestras, the latter-day dads and students are already waiting in the army. Warlords, no doubt, the proposal to increase the call to 30 years will not stop. Build a contractual, civilized army failed. And someone has to answer for it. Apparently, the people - because it is his homeland needs protection.
The proposal to raise the bar of military age from 27 to 30 years, Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasily Smirnov, motivated by the fact that in "most countries of the world" thirty-year draftees are quite normal practice. The topic provoked a sharp reaction in society, fueled by the comments of experts who say that it’s unreasonably early to recruit into the army in 18 years, and to serve at thirty is not too late.
The “results” tried to find out whether the established conscription age is optimal and what new surprises on this path await potential defenders of the Motherland.
Rip up to footcloths
Soldier service is hard work. It is not surprising that in all the armies of the world, the strongest, healthiest young people are attracted to it, as a rule, not burdened with family problems. The combination of all these qualities is characteristic of youth: the person is already physically and mentally ripe, but the destructive changes in the body have not yet begun. Theoretically, these criteria correspond to the age of 18-27 years. In the 60-s, it was this age interval that was introduced into the law on military service as a draft. So it was.
Another thing is that the theory today no longer corresponds to the real state of affairs: the modern Russian young man differs significantly from his predecessor. And his eighteen years are not the same as those of previous generations. "The 20 years have already ended the process of accelerating growth and development, which allowed the young men to mature for army service by 18 years," said Valentin Sonkin, the chief researcher at the Institute of Age Physiology of Radioactive Waste. comes in 19-21 year and lasts up to 30-35 years. In general, such a framework - 19-35 years - would be more appropriate for recruiting. "
True, the generals have never stated that the Russians will be called upon, say, from 19 or 20 years. But there is nothing surprising that experts consider such an increase in age as something logical and even taken for granted. Vladimir Lukin, the Commissioner for Human Rights in the Russian Federation, has long been proposing to establish a draft age in 20 years, noting that the notorious eighteen is a legacy of the Soviet past, and it is not clearly justified.
Increasing the draft age is easy to justify with a whole list of arguments. From this: people should be given the opportunity to finish secondary education without nerves and to have at least two attempts to enter a university. Before this: the boys just do not have time today to grow to the service. For example, by the age of 18 a young man only leaves the walls of the 11-year school (if he goes to study with 7 years), he does not have time to look around in adult life, to form as an independent person. In the army, he immediately falls into the conditions of breaking this very person. As a rule, nothing good comes out of it. Moreover, according to Mariana Bezrukikh, director of the Institute of Age Physiology of the Russian Academy of Education, the ripening period is not yet complete in adolescents by 18, the state of the organism is unstable, stability occurs at best in 19-20 years. Simply put, the milk on the lips of most of the current 18-year-olds has not dried yet.
Young-green
Research in this regard recently held a lot. “It's not a secret: the current draftees are poorly developed physically,” says the head pediatrician of the Ministry of Healthcare and Social Development, director of the Scientific Center for Children's Health, Russian Academy of Medical Sciences, Alexander Baranov. “The 60 percent of today's young men of military age have many indicators — for example, muscle strength — much lower 60's. "
In one of the special studies, authored by Irina Zvezdina, a researcher at the Institute of Hygiene and Health Protection of Children and Adolescents, it is noted that low level of physical health is characteristic of older adolescents. It is explained by the influence of biological factors. The 18-year-olds almost through one have a weight deficit, high or low blood pressure. But the determining factor, as experts note, is delayed puberty, which leads to a significant reduction in the body’s capabilities. According to Zvezdina, doctors note the connection of delayed puberty with the presence of functional and chronic disorders of the musculoskeletal system, ENT diseases, as well as deviations of the cardiovascular system.
Chronicles, in a word. Can guys with such data protect the country? Hardly. But will the situation change fundamentally in 19 years?
Alexander Baranov believes that will change, although, by definition, the WHO, children's age generally ends in 22 year. "In older adolescence, there is a very intensive growth of various organs and systems, - said the main pediatrician. - And this is associated with a phenomenon called growth disintegration." Failures of the cardiovascular system, digestive organs, and other systems of the body can happen. 19 over the years, growth is slowing and systemic dysfunctions are less common. " And Valentine Sonkin adds that it was during this year that under the influence of hormones, the boys actively grow muscles, and in 19 years they would join the army no longer defenseless suckers, but fully developed men capable of self-defense, to perform heavy military service, - full fighters. Then, according to doctors, there would be far less hazing, deaths and disabilities.
Psychologically, modern youths are also much younger than their yesterday’s peers, and most importantly, they are less adequate in reactions. The incidence of mental and behavioral disorders in adolescents increased in some regions of the country by 84,5 percent compared to 90. “By the end of secondary education, many do not have a sufficient level of formation of important skills of constructive behavior,” said Dmitry Nadezhdin, head of the laboratory of psychophysiology and mental hygiene at the Research Institute of Hygiene and Child and Adolescent Health, at the time of choosing a profession and starting work. to Army".
If it is simpler, then in 17-18 for years, teenagers are freaking out for no reason, then they get depressed. Specialists from Izhevsk State Medical Academy specifically checked the psychological status of recruits in Udmurtia. Curious things turned out. Teenager 15 is sociable for years, able to compromise, inclined to self-incrimination, sensitive. In 16 for years, he remains sociable, controls emotions, but is overly excited, sometimes experiencing emotional discomfort. In 17 years - the last year before the call - the adolescent’s psychological state is more even, the young men are sociable enough, but sometimes they become isolated, they are afraid to show feelings, and under stress they may not cope with emotions. By 18, the formation of a stable psychological personality is unlikely to occur, and the army is on the threshold.
As a result, as doctors say, in 19-20 years after the conscription service, a very large number of people are demobilized with mental disorders. However, the military are familiar with all the above conclusions, do not agree and stubbornly bend their line.
Old Guard
According to a representative of the General Staff, "18 years is the same age at which a young man can fulfill his military duties for medical reasons, and we do not intend to increase it." In other words, the main principle here is to have time to “kill” the boys, while they are still helpless, they have not looked around in life. Actually, the joke that the only doctor in the world who will tell you that you are completely healthy is the doctor from the military registration and enlistment office, and it was from this position that the army leadership was born.
Although, according to the "Results", even in the 80-s, by order of the General Staff, a large medical study was conducted on the framework of the draft age. And the doctors recommended raising the lower bar to 19 years, keeping the upper one on 27. But even then the military did not go for drastic changes, because they did not see the point in them. The proposal to move the draft for another three years, as the military themselves admit, did not come from a good life. “In principle, an increase in military age can be called statistically justified,” said Sergei Zakharov, deputy director of the Institute of Demography at the State University - Higher School of Economics. “The demographic hole lies ahead. .
Indeed, if we now call upon those who have not served and haven’t had a reason to postpone the 27 years, the problem of this year’s call can be solved - only old people will go into battle. Just further on, how good will such soldiers be?
Purely physiologically, a man and at thirty years old can be an excellent soldier - there are almost no contraindications on this side. Well, except that psychologists foresee negative consequences. “At a conscious level, the 30-year-olds more easily accept the new rules of the game,” comments the psychotherapist Sergei Mikhailov. “However, an internal conflict in the event of a problem situation, which is more than enough in the army, will be stronger.” To begin with the fact that already an adult, an accomplished person, for example, used to go to bed and get up in accordance with his personal needs, he used to manage his time himself, in the end - to fulfill requests, not orders. And what sometimes in depth and reasonableness there are orders - that everyone who served will tell you. No wonder go crazy.
Gennady Antokhin, a psychiatrist at one of the metropolitan clinics, believes that for a person in 28-30 for years, stress, which is always military service, will not go away without a trace. "Among my patients there are a lot of former military personnel, and the highest percentage is made up of" older "draftees, that is, those who have been called up in 25-27 years," he notes.
However, such psychological breakdown is only one of the problems that will inevitably arise. Judge for yourself. By 30, people usually have families, children, jobs. Leaving it all for a year is a problem. Demographers believe that until this age men simply will not start families and children. Set aside. This means that for some time the birth rate will fall again. For a country today, it is disastrous, in 18 years it will be necessary to increase the draft age to 40 years ... An adult uncle and other misfortunes will arise. “What is the point of taking a thirty-year-old man from work and sending him to wash dishes and peeling potatoes in the Siberian military district?” Alexey, an 24-year programmer, resents. “Will he come back and who needs it here? He lost his qualifications, connections, understanding of the situation, and you need to start your career almost from scratch. "
The deputy chairman of the Military Bar Association, Vladimir Trignin, told Itogi that quite a few young men, 27-28, had already appealed to them over the past month, concerned that they could be taken to the army: "They have a business, children, and a well-established gap life in military service does not deceive them in any way. " However, many are not particularly worried: the grounds for the "slope" they have strong.
An employee of one of the Moscow military registration and enlistment offices, Sergey N., is not at all sure that any advances in age can play any role in increasing the volume of conscription - only the people will be angry. "At the moment, more than 40 percent of young people at the age of 18 years,” he says, “are considered unfit for military service for health reasons. Can one really hope that by 19 or, for example, by 30 years they will recover health and go to serve? Clear the case, the percentage of health evaders will only increase with age. " 26-year-old oil trader Igor, all this hype with age also seems superfluous. The only reason, he admits, for which he still does not serve, is money. He doesn’t care at all, to pay off another two years or five years. And he does not understand at all: does anyone really think that those who successfully avoided military service for up to twenty-seven years will not be able to continue to do this until the age of thirty.
But whatever the doctors say, how ready or not ready to serve are potential soldiers, someone must protect their homeland. Therefore, they are postponing the postponements: the soloists of the theaters and the first violins of the orchestras, the latter-day dads and students are already waiting in the army. Warlords, no doubt, the proposal to increase the call to 30 years will not stop. Build a contractual, civilized army failed. And someone has to answer for it. Apparently, the people - because it is his homeland needs protection.
Information