There needs to be reform...reform. The experience of the Northern Military District requires accelerating changes in the army
It's hard to live without making mistakes. It’s difficult because many decisions have to be made for the first and, often, only, last time. Of course, one can recall many clever proverbs and sayings, like “Only fools do not learn from other people’s mistakes,” but in fact in life it turns out that there are much more “fools” than “smart ones.”
Remember minibuses from the recent past? Those low cars with rattling doors that saved us 20-30 years ago from a transport collapse? And you probably remember the inscriptions that comedian drivers placed in the cabin. The “place for hitting your head” is above the door... I doubt that at that time there was at least one passenger who did not try this “place” with that very head...
We didn’t make any mistakes back then. Including in the army. Today many people talk and write about the “Serdyukov reform”. They write with little idea of what it is all about. Today I decided to touch upon only some aspects of these changes. Just to make it clear why and why something needs to be changed.
We have been conducting SVO in Ukraine for two years now. The period is quite sufficient to understand what urgently needs to be changed. What we did to our army in the early 2000s.
Yes, something has already been done or is being done, but much has not yet been achieved. This is understandable, a person’s legs “walk”.
I recently spoke with a very intelligent officer, and this conversation prompted me to write this material. When you communicate with a person who is fanatically devoted to service, you involuntarily become infected with his ideas, accept or reject his point of view. In any case, you will not remain indifferent.
Amateurs in management and the magic of Western packaging
Alas, we all, no matter what they say now, bought into Western packages and boxes. Old people remember how at the flea market they bought the now usual packages for a bunch of “soviet rubles.” How they sealed them if they accidentally broke somewhere. This magic of worshiping everything Western took possession of the majority at that time.
And so those who worship everything with foreign words on their ass come to the leadership of the Russian Ministry of Defense. And questions immediately arise. For example, why do we need so many officers? Why do we spend money on training lieutenants who, in principle, as Western experience shows, we do not need? And there are many other “parasites” in the army...
Would you like to name official figures that perfectly show how our army was destroyed to please “Western models”? 22% of generals, 80% of colonels, more than 60% of lieutenant colonels, up to 70% of majors, about 60% of captains were dismissed... At the same time, lieutenants and senior officers grew up. In general, the officer corps was halved... From 300 thousand to 150 thousand people.
Do you remember what the fate of the warrant officers was? Those same “fathers” and soldiers and young officers? They were not in the Western armies and... they were no longer with us. They cut it out at the root. Instead of warrant officers, career sergeants of various types and titles were to appear. But they didn't show up. Commanders have been looking for a good warrant officer for years. And the sergeant... He served and went home... Conscript...
And what did we get then? And then we got a complete mess. So much so that even then-President Dmitry Medvedev howled. It turned out that there was simply no one to explain to the soldier and even the lieutenant why “if you press this little button, it will go crazy over there, and then the engine will crack.” There was no such ensign who climbed on equipment from morning to night and knew everything about each machine...
President Medvedev then acted very correctly. He ordered it to be returned, restored, etc. But not all the promising ones returned. And it’s not so easy to return looted schools. Capitalism... Everything has already been sold... There is still no talk of restoration. There are not enough junior officers. Especially in connection with the SVO. The lieutenant does not sit at headquarters. He compares his belly with privates and sergeants.
Now let me remind you about the most terrible reform for our army. Many people will really “like” this. So, optimizing army management... Simply put, reducing army costs and speeding up the passage of commands from top to bottom. To do this, it is enough to switch from a four-link control system to a three-link one. To put it even simpler, abolish divisions and form brigades instead of regiments. Instead of district-army-division-regiment, now district-army-brigade.
Naturally, in such a situation, dividing the country into many military districts became unnecessary. Instead of the existing six districts at that time, four were formed. Western, Southern, Central and Eastern. But what especially struck everyone then was the formation of OSK Sever. Even the disappearance of the Moscow and Leningrad districts and the transfer of the headquarters of the Western Military District to St. Petersburg made less of an impression than the United Strategic Command North...
And so it turned out that now one commander is in charge of everything. Both ground forces and fleetand aviation, and air defense. And they put it beautifully then: “To reduce reaction time in emergency situations”... By the way, there is another brainchild of the same time. Combining those parts and formations that are designed to destroy objects with those whose task is to protect objects.
Remember the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 4th Air Force and Air Defense Commands? When the command of the Air Force and Air Defense armies was united. And all according to the same principle - “so that it is like civilized people.” Why all these squadrons, regiments, divisions, armies? It will be like the Americans. Command-air base-air group-squadron!
It was then, in 2009-2010, that we got air bases. And not just a base, but three categories at once. There was a separate squadron, which became a third category airbase. There was an air regiment, it became a second category base. There was an air division, it became a first category base... Our army was being killed. According to the reform plans, the reductions planned were simply unthinkable.
Ground forces must be reduced... by 90%! Air Force - half! The Navy is also half! Even the Strategic Missile Forces were reduced by a third! Even the space forces and airborne forces were reduced by 15-17%. This is what an effective manager at the head of a department means. From the point of view of reducing spending on the army, everything is fine. And from the point of view of defense capability? How quickly the lessons of the Chechen wars and the war of 08.08.08 were forgotten then.
It's time to act, not talk.
Much of what I wrote above has already been canceled or reformed once again. But much of it still exists today. We have been fighting in the Northern Military District zone for almost two years. I think this time is quite enough to determine all the positive and negative effects of the reform. It is clear that it will not be possible to quickly undo what has been done before.
But there is experience in transferring fleets back under the command of the Commander-in-Chief of the Navy. There is experience in transferring aviation and air defense armies to the commander-in-chief of the Aerospace Forces. Even the decision to create a Joint Strategic Command in St. Petersburg was canceled and the Moscow and Leningrad military districts were revived.
Why are we delaying the deployment on the basis of division brigades? After all, the experience of the Northern Military District has already proven that the brigade does not reach the capabilities of the division in its power and combat capabilities. And, therefore, this formation can be called the main tactical one only with great reserve. Missile division or anti-aircraft missile regiment. Artillery division or artillery regiment. Even such a unit as sappers. Company or battalion. There is a difference? Will this difference be noticeable in battle?
I fully understand that reorganization will cost money. And big ones. Which is a pretty serious problem at the moment. We have a large enough army that it would be difficult to do everything at once. But maybe it’s worth thinking about gradual reform? Not all at once, but part by part, connection by connection.
Well, one last thing. The partial mobilization revealed so many problems with military registration that even thoughts arose about whether it even existed. The same is true with the retraining of reserve personnel. For a year now, military registration and enlistment offices have been dragging out those liable for military service for re-registration by hook or by crook. I understand that the amount of work being done is enormous.
Maybe, along with registration, we should immediately conduct training to update the knowledge acquired in the army? Modern technology and weapons are no longer the Mosin rifle. And in two or three months it is simply impossible to train a good driver, sniper, UAV operator and many other specialists.
Whatever one may say, life dictates its own conditions, its own demands, and we cannot ignore them. Otherwise, the former “partners” will devour them and not choke. Or they will “exchange it for pennies,” as was done with Ukraine.
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