The realities of service in tank units, about tanks and people. “Why did I become a tanker? ... I saw myself as a man in the future as a warrior

Hello

Memoirs of Viktor "VIM" Murakhovsky. With the permission of the author, reposting from the Armored Forum of the Partisan Base. From a book that never appeared.

Here it is supposed to tell how it really happened.
So that it would be disrespectful to others.

Part 1
I did not want to go into memoirs or open Internet courses to explain the difference between reality and what is written in documents. But I read replicas in our and "neighboring" forum and could not stand it. I will try to state some points, perhaps chaotically, but from the heart.
Let's start with the fact that upon receipt of the T-64A in the 1st Guards. td (PribVO), the retraining of officers was organized very badly, that is, according to the TOIE books, if there were two people in the regiment who knew these machines. The deadline was about three weeks, but no one canceled other tasks, so each officer on average "studyed" the car for four to five days. And then - development in practice, with obvious costs.
A completely different picture was when receiving the T-72. All commanders and ZKV companies, ZKV battalions and one platoon from a company were sent to Nizhny Tagil. We spent three weeks there, visited all the shops, touched all the details with our hands, really drove and shot. "Seminars" on the device and maintenance for us were conducted by the heads of departments of design bureaus and factory engineers.
With conscripts, it always happened differently: the crews were “tied” to the cars. That is, upon receipt of the T-64, we received crews from training. When the T-64 was sent to the GSVG, the crews left with them. On the T-72 again came the crews from training. I note that the PMSM, the creation of training units and formations, is the greatest catastrophe in the SA, which had a number of grave consequences, which are also true in the RA. One of such dire consequences was that the crews came from the training units unprepared for real operation in peacetime and, moreover, for war. When the units began to complete with one call, exactly 33% of the tank troops immediately lost any combat capability.
So, according to the documents (Order of the Ministry of Defense), the motor resource consumption for BG tanks was 250 km per year, UBG - 3000 km, tanks with increased motor resource consumption (PRM) - 1500 km. At the same time (important!) The regiment commander had the right to redistribute the consumption between the UBG vehicles, the division commander - additionally between the PMR vehicles, the commander of the district troops (commander-in-chief of the group of troops) - additionally between the BG tanks. All this is within the general limit of UBG, PFP, BG, respectively, of the regiment, division, district (group). And the Civil Codes of the SV, NHS and MO could, in fact, at their own discretion, allocate a resource for individual events, not including the resource in the general limit.
What did this mean in practice? In practice, in the regiment, some UBG vehicles ran 5,000 km a year, while others were under repair waiting for spare parts. And the regiment commander (actually sorting out the NBTS) by his order transferred the resource from one UBG tank to another. I must say that in the 70s the situation with spare parts on the T-64A was simply awful, and some UBG tanks were "dead" for several months.
Another technique, quite often used in practice, is mileage cheating. There were such unfortunate tanks that were "ruined" due to the fault of exploitation long before the mileage required to be sent for medium or overhaul was expired. Since, in the event of a “confession” of the guilt of exploitation, anyone was punished with money, but in reality - from the commander to the ZKV regiment, a coalition was naturally organized, which included the close mechanic commander of the commander, the commander himself, the battalion commander, the ZKV company, battalion and regiment, the head of the BTS a shelf. At meetings of the “headquarters” of this coalition, it was decided which tank to roll the mileage from and which one to transfer it to, that is, wind it up. Then a command was given to the trained driver, and with the help of a cunning device he dropped and increased the mileage. This fictitious mileage was recorded in the forms. So the “dead” car safely gained the mileage needed to be sent to the SR or the KR, without moving a millimeter in real life.

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

Ch 2
The resource consumption of the PRM and BG tanks was treated much more strictly. If there was planned combat training, then the resource consumption fit into the framework allotted by order of the Ministry of Defense.
Planned firing, driving, technical specifications were carried out on UBG tanks. Shooting with a regular projectile, underwater driving, BSV, RTU - on PRM tanks with the involvement of UBG vehicles.
At the BTU, PTU, DTU, BG tanks were used, and they were almost always transported to the landfill by rail. However, during my service both in the PribVO and in the group of troops AT LEAST once a year, “additional events” were held, such as: major exercises (such as “Neman”, “West”, and others), experimental exercises (for example, on the use of chemical weapons and smoke agents or the mass launch of TUR), ostentatious exercises (for example, for the leadership of the Department of Internal Affairs or personally Comrade Honecker), unscheduled checks (for example, the NGSh Ogarkov once raised five divisions at the GSGV on alarm with access to the training grounds and live firing at the same time!) and other events (for example, the exit of several divisions of the GSVG to the Oder during the events in Poland or the relocation of the 10th Guards TD from Potsdam to Altengrabow).
Thanks to additional activities the annual mileage of BG cars often exceeded 250 km. To be honest, during my service in the GSVG, I remember only one year (1984), when the BG cars covered 250 km (probably because I entered the VA BTV in August and did not find the autumn finish, which was hot). And there was a year (1981, events in Poland) when the range of BG tanks in our regiment exceeded 500 km!
The operating conditions of the T-64 combat group in the line units differed markedly from what the officers who served in the "training" describe. First of all, the fact that BG tanks in line units always operate as part of a unit, at least a battalion. Moreover, 90% of the time of movement is a march in a column. Which is not at all like the movement of single cars in the "training room". For example, they alert a regiment in Potsdam and order them to march to the Elbe, cross the river along the bottom, seize a bridgehead and repel an enemy counterattack. Such a task means the movement of 94 tanks and about 80 more tracked vehicles ON THE SAME ROUTE of about 200 km at the maximum possible speed and at minimum distances. I cannot describe in words what the summer march of an armada of over 150 tracked vehicles along a broken road on loess and sandy soils is like. This must be seen. People outside can only breathe through a respirator or, at worst, gauze bandages.
The air is saturated not only with fine dust, but also with soot, particles of oil and fuel from the exhaust of dozens of cars. This infernal mixture stays in the air for several hours, it quickly clogs the cyclones of the VO. If you do not clear the VO upon arrival in the starting area, all engines are guaranteed a "skip". And the engine does not care what it says in TOIE about TO-1. In the same way, he (the engine) does not care that, according to the documents, ejection cooling should work fine. On this real route, in a real tank, the engine suffocates and heats up, does not develop power. Almost always, the engine in the car with the nine in the tower number (that is, the last one in the company) is the first to pour in. And no matter how the mechanical driver of this unfortunate machine works with gears and blinds, no matter how Xena adjusts the VO according to the chalk mark, nothing will help.
It was I who described a relatively “loyal” case, typical of peacetime. But once I saw a situation when an entire division (over 700 units of tracked vehicles) went out along one route in the summer. This monstrous plume of dust over 100 km long must have been visible from space...
Since this was the first experience of such a massive use of the T-64A, everyone relied on the numbers recorded in the TOIE. The result was dozens of ruined 5TDFs, a shock of command, accusations of sabotage, an urgent business trip to the GSVG of a large group of specialists and the leadership of the KhKBTM, the arrival of a train with spare parts from Kharkov to the division.

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

Ch 4
About torsion bars, caterpillars, and the "occipital" machine gun
So we got to the chassis of the T-64. We analyze two key questions: did the torsion bars break and how many kilometers was the real running mileage?
There are two answers to the first question, and both are true: “yes, they broke down” and “no, very rarely.” The second answer would be given by the commander, who has completely BG tanks under his command. I have already said above that BG tanks move in a column for 90% of their run. Under these conditions, the breakage of the torsion bar is unlikely, and in practice there have been isolated cases when the torsion bar was broken when hitting a boulder, falling from an embankment, etc.
However, in the line battalions and regiments there are also UBG tanks, on which driving skills are trained. Driving, along with other disciplines, is taken twice a year at spring and autumn tests. And the main exercise of the KVBM is the so-called "six": "Overcoming obstacles and limited passages." For all the time of my service, only once the inspectors demanded to pass the exercise "Driving in a column", and all the time - "six". On the route of this exercise there are two obstacles dangerous for the T-64 chassis: a passage in an anti-tank ditch and a log in the area of ​​​​obstacles and limited passages. Lightweight torsion bars (without ammunition, parts of spare parts and fuel) sixty-four are GUARANTEED to break if:
a) when descending into the ditch, do not slow down and drive into it at speed;
b) drive onto a log at speed.
As a result, the consumption of 4-5 torsion bars per year for the UBG "driver" car was considered the norm.
For comparison, I will say that similar problems were on the T-62, but they were not on the T-72 and T-80. On the contrary, if you "do not piss", then the T-80 managed to fly over the anti-tank ditch without touching its bottom.
More serious incidents sometimes happened with torsion bars. So, one of my panzers during the exercises ran into a boulder in such a way that it not only broke the torsion bar, but also tore out the end with slots on the bottom. The car had to be sent to the BTRZ in Kirchmez, the turret was removed and the ending was welded on.
Reading reviews about the operation of the T-64 in various areas, you come across a variety of numbers on the mileage of tracks. Including 7,000 km (in the KVO) and even supposedly 13,000 km (in the BVO). Based on my experience in operating the T-64 in the PribVO, I admit that the tracks would have departed before the average repair (7000 km), it’s just that the tanks were taken from us before they ran such a mileage.
In Germany, where the soils at the landfills are mostly sandy (the statement of Honecker, who got to one of the landfills, is known: “I didn’t know that there is a desert in Germany”), or loamy with an admixture of sand and pebbles, the caterpillars definitely walked less - maximum 5000 km (if the driver is sensible). Usually we tried to replace the tracks in the interval of 4300-4500 km. By the way, for UBG tanks, right behind the BM fleet, there were brand new caterpillars rolled into “rolls”, which were supposed to be changed in case of war.
Let's move on to the coaxial machine gun, which supposedly is always ready to make a control shot in the back of the driver's head. In my opinion, the problem is far-fetched. Yes, there is such a danger. Yes, such tragedies have happened. I personally did not see them, and I do not remember the orders for such cases. I think these were isolated incidents, the significance of which was exaggerated much later. I'm sure not fewer people they killed from a coaxial machine gun on other types of tanks, often killed people with other weapons, for example, from an anti-aircraft machine gun.
Such is tank life - a tank is a source of STRONGLY increased danger. In order to dodge your tank in time, both inside and outside, you need to know a lot, be dexterous and physically developed.
In my opinion, if sclerosis serves me right, on the T-64B they introduced a blocking of the PKT electric trigger with the mechanical drive hatch open and the problem disappeared altogether.
Why on the T-64 they made the lapel of the turret to the left at 28-00 remains a mystery to me. There is an opinion that this was done allegedly so that the barrel of the gun would not be stuck in the back of the commander of the tank ahead. In my opinion, this reason is far-fetched. Tanks are not trams and do not drive on a track strictly at the back of each other's heads. Therefore, during the operation of the T-64, no less (but no more) people were put on the barrel of the gun than on other types of tanks.

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

Ch 5
About T-80 tanks
It is much more difficult for me to write with technical details about the T-80 than about the T-64. The fact is that I already met the T-80 in those positions that do not imply close “communication” with the problems of MRO (academy student, battalion commander, officer of the Civil Code of the SV).
The key figure in ensuring combat readiness, in the training and education of soldiers is undoubtedly the company commander. If a soldier does not know something or does not know how, the commander must either teach or do it himself. In theory, soldiers are taught by sergeants and platoon leaders, and the company commander teaches sergeants. In practice, the company commander is responsible for everything and the load on him is catastrophically high. I was lucky that I had a graduate of the Kiev VTIU Vladimir Antonyuk, who not only knew the T-64 perfectly, but was also a wonderful person in terms of his moral qualities, turned out to be my deputy for weapons. The operation of the T-64 required serious training of soldiers and constant monitoring. On other types of tanks, the "tolerance" for sloppiness was much wider. In general, as a company commander, you thoroughly study all the tricks of maintaining the combat readiness of equipment.
The battalion commander is a qualitatively different level. The battalion commander is a key figure in the tank forces in wartime and during the period of combat coordination (exercises, maneuvers). In peacetime, the battalion commander teaches officers. As a battalion commander, when operating tanks, I was more concerned not with technical issues, as a company commander, but with tactical issues: driving a column (there are many tricks of my own), command and control, organization of comprehensive support, and interaction.
Therefore, I evaluated the T-80 primarily from the point of view of its operational and tactical capabilities. Although ZKV, of course, reported on technical problems, among which there were no fundamentally unsolvable ones. When the T-80U modification appeared, in general there was an impression of visiting a starship that accidentally fell into tank troops. Great car!
In general, the T-80 delivered much less trouble than the T-64. In general, it would be almost an ideal tank, if not for two of its features: monstrous REAL fuel consumption and unimaginable cost. I read somewhere that the T-80s were called "Channel tanks" on the grounds that they supposedly could quickly reach the Atlantic coast of France. It’s funny to read these journalistic “stray”: “He will eat what he will eat, so who will give him!”
V TTX of the tank T-80 power reserve looks pretty decent. However, in real life, multiplied by the coefficient of the average qualification of the driver and the conditions of movement in the column, the power reserve turned into a meager value. I know of cases when fully fueled T-80 battalions got up “dry” after 160-180 km.
The second problem is cost. I am sure that if, God forbid, a big war broke out (for example, with NATO or China), the next day all factories would switch to the production of T-72. And the T-80, at best, would be enough for one operation of the initial period of the war. By the way, before the advent of the T-72, the situation looked generally terrible - they would have to put the T-62 into production!
I'll sum it up. Commanders of all levels in the tank troops are required to confirm their qualifications twice a year by firing and driving a tank. As a tank crew member, I was delighted with the capabilities of the T-80U and still consider it the best tank for passing the final checks.
But as a tank commander, I understand that the T-80 is not a "military" tank. Did it make sense to keep the production of the T-80 earlier or to restore it now? It seems to me that there is no point in this.

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

PSS, volume 2.
TANKS GO TO WAR
In the Soviet Union, it was believed that the Western layman in the years cold war there was an unjustified bzik about the "red tank hordes" ready to suddenly pour into Europe. At the same time, the "hordes" actually existed near the borders of NATO countries. Only in the first strategic echelon, directly in the tank and motorized rifle divisions of the SA, there were approximately 8500 tanks deployed on the territory of eastern Germany (Group of Soviet Forces in Germany, about 5700 tanks), Czechoslovakia (Central Group of Forces, about 1500 tanks), Hungary (Southern Group troops, about 1300 tanks).
On our side of the border, too, there were their own "quirks". One of them was the myth of the threat of a surprise attack. Its history stems from the thesis of Soviet agitprop that the reason for the defeat of the Red Army in the initial period of the Great Patriotic War was the sudden "treacherous" attack of the German army. I don't know if the highest military and political leadership itself believed in this thesis. But in practice, the foundation of the life and activity of groups of troops, the basis of training and education was the complete readiness to immediately enter the war under any circumstances.
In order to exclude the surprise of an attack, to outstrip the enemy in deployment, a system was created in the USSR Armed Forces to mobilize and bring troops to various degrees of combat readiness. It relied on the technical base and organizational measures.
The technical base within the framework of all the Armed Forces was the centralized automated system notification, the terminal devices of which were mounted in each unit (battalion, company, separate platoon). Exceptions were not recognized, so these characteristic boxes could be seen in the district song and dance ensemble, and in the intensive care unit of the hospital.
The warning system allowed the commanders of the corresponding levels to raise the alarm of the entire army as a whole or selectively any structural units by pressing a single button. Roughly speaking, in the event of a threat of a sudden war, the general on duty at the General Staff ZKP pressed the BIG RED BUTTON and thereby raised 5 million people “into the gun”.
The system of bringing units and subunits to combat readiness served as the organizational basis for readiness for war. Here and below I will tell you how this system worked at the level of no higher than a tank battalion and regiment, because the issues of mobilization readiness remain one of the most closed ones and it is not recommended to talk about many things.
Twice a year, at the beginning of each training period, all units and subunits worked out the issues of bringing to combat readiness. How it was done, while we keep silent. And then planned combat training began, the daily activities of the troops. But then one night, a red display suddenly flashes on the terminal device and an alarm sounds. If this is not a planned check, then no one in the regiment yet knows what this signal means: a war that has already begun, the threat of a war starting in the near future, or a whim of a big boss (a regiment on alarm could be raised by a chief no lower than the commander-in-chief of the group or the Main Command). But in any case, the algorithm of actions is the same: it is necessary to withdraw people, weapons and equipment, supplies as soon as possible. material resources from points of permanent deployment and hide them in the areas of concentration.
There are certain standards for the withdrawal of troops from the PAP. They are installed separately for each unit, depending on its combat mission, organizational structure, availability of weapons and equipment. Usually, separate standards apply for the summer and winter periods of equipment operation. In general, three main criteria are used to evaluate a unit: the time the military equipment left the park, the time the unit concentrated in a given area, the presence of personnel who arrived in a given area, weapons and military equipment, and the completeness of stocks of materiel.
In groups of troops, the command asked very harshly for breaking the standards. The regimental commander in the "best" case received a penalty of "incomplete official compliance", which blocked his career for at least a couple of years, and in most cases the regimental commanders were simply removed from their posts. Proportionately went to all lower commanders. In general, a regiment that did not meet the standards for a long time became an outcast in a number of other units and this came back to haunt him in the most unexpected places, for example, when distributing furniture sets in Voentorg. Therefore, the wives of officers fought to reduce the time for the release of the unit on alarm, sometimes more actively than their husbands.
To be continued…

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

TANKS GO TO WAR
part 2
Let's go back to the tank battalion, where the alarm was received. This is a "full-blooded" unit in the "A" State Tank Regiment:
151 people (officers, warrant officers, sergeants and soldiers);
31 tanks;
1 BREM (or BTS);
1 infantry fighting vehicle (1KSh or 2K);
1 armored personnel carrier (70 or 80);
25 units of wheeled vehicles.
Tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers are constantly loaded with: one ammunition load, including hand grenades, ammunition for personal weapons, signal cartridges; full refueling of fuel and lubricants; 3 daily food allowances; means of protection (OZK). The wheels are constantly loaded with: 15 tons of ammunition, 40 tons of fuel and lubricants, 5 daily rations of food, 15 tons of other cargo (military equipment).
Let's take a position for observation from the outside at the door of the barracks. Shortly after the alarm (some claim to have seen fighters jumping out of the doors after 45 seconds), the first to fall out of the doors of the barracks is a crowd of soldiers in their most disheveled form: the ends of footcloths stick out from their tops, jackets are not fastened, hats on the back of their heads (some say they saw "insolent" soldiers who jump out in just shorts and boots). Among this crowd of unarmed slobs, the only fighter armed with a machine gun stands out sharply with his brave appearance and sleek uniforms. However, it turns out that he is not in charge here at all. One of the "ragamuffins" begins to shout out phrases: "First! Second! Third! Headquarters! Wheels! In response to his cries, responses fly from the crowd: “Everything!”. "Forward!" - shouts an unknown commander, and the whole crowd rushes at a gallop towards the park of combat vehicles.
This is how the exit from the barracks and the departure of the drivers and drivers of the battalion to the park. They gather in a crowd so that no one is left behind, and on the route they can all be covered (so that insidious saboteurs do not shoot down) an armed fighter, who becomes one of the orderlies of the daily outfit.
The person who commands the crowd is the senior tank driver of the battalion commander. It is he who is responsible for ensuring that everyone who is supposed to bring the equipment to the park gathers and arrives at the park. (Who did the senior mechanic driver of the battalion shout out to? First! Second! Third! - These are the mechanics of tank companies, in our example - the first tank battalion. Headquarters! - This is the headquarters, communications platoon and maintenance platoon. Wheels! - This is the support platoon and the medical center of the battalion Each mechanic driver and driver knows by heart who is assigned where.
There is no official standard for the arrival of mechanical drivers in the park. Of course, there are certain time frames that are set in the regiment in the same way that production standards were determined in Soviet times, that is, by marking time for one unit. But between the battalions there is an unspoken competition - who will be able to wipe the nose of others (the time of arrival is recorded by the duty officer in the park). Therefore, the fighters themselves rigidly educate the lagging behind, and the mechanical drivers are champions among other military specialties in terms of the accuracy of jumping into boots while awake, as well as the speed of winter running in shorts.
In groups of troops, it was customary to do everything seriously, based on the principle that “the war will write off everything, and if this is not a war, then it was not good to give a command ...” Therefore, orderlies and messengers (of which below) received real weapons and real ammunition. Local inspectors were strictly forbidden to provoke the personnel in any way. But according to rumors, there were several cases when some not too smart inspectors from the central apparatus of the Ministry of Defense, unfamiliar with the specifics of the group, tried to "bring the situation closer to combat." So, allegedly in one of the units, the inspector began to throw explosives and smoke bombs at the entrance to the barracks of the tank battalion. In response, devastating automatic fire was opened from the windows without any warning and any hitch. The inspector miraculously did not receive a scratch, but the head of the guard was wounded in the leg, who was in a hurry with a reinforcement group to help the "besieged" battalion.
To be continued…

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

TANKS GO TO WAR
part 3
Approximately by the time the drivers arrive at the fleet of combat vehicles, the "second echelon" - messengers to the officers and ensigns - is running out of the battalion barracks. These people are equipped more seriously than mechanical drivers: full uniform, gas mask, machine gun with two equipped magazines. The messenger is obliged to arrive at the location of the officer (ensign), announce to him about the degree of combat readiness introduced and escort him to the unit. The messenger is armed so that the imperialist enemies or the local "fifth column" cannot harm the health of the officer while he gets to his unit.
Since it is believed that the cunning of the enemy knows no bounds, great bosses have bad habit announce the alarm in the dead of night, on weekends and holidays. Therefore, one of the tasks of the messenger is to assist, if necessary, in waking up an inadvertently “tired” officer and delivering him to the unit.

From fables
One day our battalion was alerted (I was NSh at that time). I arrive at the park, run along the battalion column - all the cars and people are in place, jump into my BMP-1KSh, enter the network of the battalion and the regiment headquarters, but the battalion commander still does not appear, although he gets twice as close. Finally, in the night fog, I make out a configuration of three people approaching my BMP: a messenger soldier, the wife of a battalion commander, and between them, almost lifeless, the battalion commander himself, dressed in a worn cotton sweatshirt, is hanging on their shoulders - a very large man. "Tired" in F with a capital letter, unable to utter a word or even open his eyes. The wife, whose size is two times smaller than her husband's, wiping the rolling sweat from her forehead in a hail, joyfully states: "Thank God, they finished it!", And begins to stuff her husband's body into the BMP. I persuade her to wait, a couple of mattresses are brought from the household platoon and thrown into the troop compartment. We install the battalion commander on mattresses. The wife takes out a hygienic bag from somewhere and ties it around her husband's neck, so that, therefore, he does not fall off on the road. Then he gently strokes her husband on the cheek and says goodbye: “Well, Nikola, go to war, and don’t choke in vomit!”
It turned out that in the evening they were stormily celebrating the birthday of this very wife right up to two in the morning. And at three thirty they announced the alarm ... Both the battalion commander and his better half were not fools to drink. But when a messenger came running, the battalion commander's wife instantly sobered up (!) And trampled her husband onto herself in the regiment, so that he would not be included in the list of those who did not arrive on alarm. And indeed, the battalion commander was not included in this list, because his body turned out to be at a combat post!

The worst failure in the warning system is if the officer is not notified at all. This could happen for two main reasons: the messenger did not find the officer, or the messenger did not arrive. The first indicates the personal irresponsibility of the officer, but the second option is potentially more dangerous, because it speaks of serious problems with combat readiness in the company.
It was the responsibility of the officer himself to ensure that the messenger always knew where the attached officer was. Those who neglected this rule were brought up in simple and intelligible methods. For example, the platoon commander, whom the messenger could not find, almost certainly became the “full-time” head of the guard from the battalion and the eternal “supervisor” of the unit’s fighters going to bed, which guaranteed his almost round-the-clock presence in the regiment - “so you don’t have to look for it.” In general, officers and warrant officers tried to observe the rule of familiarizing the messenger with their whereabouts.
Therefore, fighters were selected as messengers who were morally stable, personally devoted, capable of keeping a “military secret” about the most unexpected places where an assigned officer spends the night. The reliable keeping of "military secrets" by messengers was informally encouraged by certain privileges on the part of the officers.
In the times described, there were no global networks in the world, nor mobile phones, not even pagers. A dense, by modern standards, world ... However, the solution to the problem of alerting officers and ensigns in groups of troops was facilitated by the fact that the vast majority of them lived in compact military towns near military units. The apartments were service apartments and a specific apartment was not intended for Captain Murakhovsky for his special services to the Motherland, but for the chief of staff of the 2nd tank battalion of the 79th Guards. tp, regardless of his rank, length of service and last name. It often happened that all the officers of the battalion lived in the same house.
In military camps, vicious howlers were set up, connected to the regimental warning system. But the wires to them were usually cut off. After all, some irresponsible children and wives “in some places with us sometimes” did not want to jump up on alarm together with their father and husband in the morning, exactly after the New Year's Eve .... Therefore, child saboteurs mercilessly cut the wires.
Some people who are superficially familiar with the army are surprised: why in a tank company, where there are only 26 soldiers and sergeants (and on some types of tanks - only 20, and on some - 19), a foreman of the company is also needed - a whole ensign. And they demand to lower the status of this position, they say, any civilian woman can count footcloths ... These people are unaware that footcloths and overalls, bowlers and dry rations, and even getting ammunition for shooting are far from the most important thing in the foreman service. And most importantly, you can hear at the evening verification in the company, when, after a formal check of the "presence of absence" of people, the foreman says: "Listen to the combat crew!" And he announces who, in return for the driver Sidorov, who went on vacation, should alert tank No. 815, who, in return for the gunner Petrov, who had gone to the hospital, will be the messenger to the company commander, and so on. Without daily clarification of the combat crew, no combat readiness can be seen. Therefore, the foreman is one of the pillars of the combat readiness of the army.
To be continued…

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

TANKS GO TO WAR
part 4
All Combat vehicles the regiment, including tanks, is kept in the fleet of combat vehicles. Tanks are placed in unheated boxes, most often in a battalion style. Inside the box is divided into mouth compartments. Usually the tanks in the box stand in two rows, coupled in pairs with cables. In the tanks of the first row, the lugs of both cables are put on the front tow hooks, so that in case of a fire it is possible to quickly pull the vehicles out (for the same reason, putting the tank on the mountain brake or gear is prohibited). As a rule, the tank of the battalion commander and the BMP of the chief of staff are assigned to the first company in the battalion, the tank of the regiment commander is assigned to the first company of the regiment.
Tanks of the combat group and with increased consumption of motor resources are in short-term storage. That is, they carried out a set of works that increase resistance to corrosion and other unpleasant phenomena. These works include engine conservation, pumping out oil from the gearbox, sealing some equipment - and more. whole complex mandatory activities. In storage, all tank hatches are closed, and silica gel bags are placed inside the vehicles to reduce air humidity. Batteries are installed on machines and, as a rule, are constantly connected to a special microcurrent recharging network. Two air cylinders with a volume of 5 liters each are filled with compressed air at a pressure of 150 atmospheres. In groups of troops, all regulatory requirements for the maintenance of tanks in short-term storage were strictly observed.

fables
When I arrived at the first officer's duty station (98 Guards TP 1 TD 11 Guards OA PribVO, Mamonovo (formerly Heiligenbeil) of the Kaliningrad Region; now the district, army, division and regiment have been disbanded, the city and region - not yet) and came to take their tanks to the fleet of military vehicles, then my amazement knew no bounds. Neither before nor after have I seen anything comparable in terms of ease of storage and maintenance of tanks. To the parking lot of each tank there was a centralized supply of electricity, compressed air, cold and hot water, roller conveyor for supplying batteries to the battery! The emergency equipment was kept in heated boxes. And there were many other miracles in that park. It turned out that the Germans built it during the war near the airfield, for the German Goering Panzer Division. Hence the "aviation" approach to the convenience of maintenance and service.

Good reasons are required to remove a tank from short-term storage. These include: war; planned exercises (from the battalion and above); inspection, endowed with the necessary powers; scheduled transfer to seasonal operation and scheduled maintenance; design improvements; disaster management, transfer of equipment to other parts. Everything. The list has been exhausted. Except for the first and last items in the list, in all other cases it is supposed to put the tanks in storage within 10-15 days after the end of the event.
Due to the strict restrictions on the removal of tanks from storage, any officer is almost always able to determine the degree of "seriousness" of the alarm. If the messenger reported that combat readiness was declared "full", but the tanks were ordered not to start, then you can relax and even brazenly sip hot coffee before leaving the apartment. If this is not said, but on the way to the regiment there is heavenly silence and the first morning birds chirp pleasantly, at least on the way you can calmly smoke a cigarette and think about the meaning of life. In addition, before leaving, it is not harmful to ask your spouse what is heard there in the women's team. For example, I learned about the redeployment of our division from my wife about a week before the order was read out.
But if nothing was said, there were no rumors, and when leaving the house, the infrasound of hundreds of working powerful diesel engines, still seemingly inaudible in the audio range, presses on the heart, then everyone starts running: the one hundred and twenty kilogram ensign - the head of the dining room, and the beardless a lieutenant from the financial unit, and a bald lieutenant colonel from the political department. Here "the case smells of kerosene", that is, diesel fuel, and it may turn out that the jokes are over and some idiots still started IT.
This is probably the only exception to the army rule: “a fleeing lieutenant causes bewilderment, and a major causes panic.” Even how comrade majors run, faster than some lieutenants. True, colonels no longer run, in the army a colonel is a very serious rank (this is not a Moscow “colonel”), an official car has already been put in such positions in the troops.
When the tanks crawl out of the park boxes, a heavy, low rumble becomes audible, which fills the entire surrounding space so densely that you cannot hide from it. This sound, better than any howlers, wakes up a military camp and German settlements: windows are lit in houses, people are anxiously trying to find out at least something definite.
Only twice during my service in the GSVG, no one in the unit really knew anything. Once such a "joke" was arranged by the chief of the General Staff, Marshal Ogarkov, who raised the troops on alarm and sent them to training battles at different training grounds. The second time this happened was when the regiment suddenly withdrew to the border with West Berlin in response to the transfer of troops to the British sector.
In fact, on alarm, a group of strengthening posts from the guardroom is the first to run into the BM park. Usually there were two guard posts in the BM park. Four more people came to reinforce them. Outside the boundaries of the park along the perimeter, single full-profile shooting trenches were equipped in advance, which were occupied by six guards armed with machine guns, covering the territory of the park.
I’ll tell you in secret that the regiment and the BM fleet were constantly covered not only by fighters with machine guns. The points of permanent deployment year-round and around the clock were covered from air strikes by the anti-aircraft division on duty, in the role of which the divisions of the combined arms regiments and the anti-aircraft missile regiment of the division alternately acted.
Arriving at the park of combat vehicles, drivers are met by the park duty officer. He issues the keys to the boxes to the senior mechanics-drivers of battalions, companies, batteries and announces the air temperature at the moment. Drivers need this information to determine how to start engines.
While the drivers are running to the pits, the company's senior driver, based on the air temperature and his experience, determines how each tank will be launched. Here and below we will talk about the most difficult option - the T-64 tank, which "lives" in boxing on foreign German soil.
Because there is nothing to write about the T-80 at all: there are charged batteries or an external source - there will be a launch. No current - no start. On T-72 tanks, starting the engine in winter is as simple as lighting up a Russian stove: you have to wait, but it will work for sure. On the T-64 tank, everything is a little special, everything is a little oblique, which we will talk about a little later.
In general terms, in the "German" tank units on the T-64, a multi-stage system of duplicating launch vehicles was used in order to ensure that the tanks went to war with a guarantee. The first stage is the standard means of the tank itself (electric starter and air intake). The second stage is the means of external launch in each box (that is, a set for a battalion): cylinders with HP compressed air on a trolley; battery pack on trolley. The third stage is the duty tractor (BREM or BTS), which is around the clock in readiness for an immediate start.
Unsuccessful attempts to launch by native means and the help of external means, even if inside the battalion box, is considered a rather unpleasant fact for the tank of the battle group ("spoons were found, but the sediment remained"). As a rule, this is evidence of the low qualification of the tank driver or the mistake of the company's senior driver who chose the wrong launch method. The subsequent disassembly within the company (with the platoon commander and ZKV company) cannot be avoided by these mechanized drivers.
Tankers have their own joke terms for each external launch method: by air - “fart steam”; Battery - "on the snot""; from the tug - "on a tie." The most shameful way is to start "on a tie" by a tractor on duty. For a battle group vehicle, this was generally considered an emergency, which would be investigated, as my Xena put it: "To the last puck and to the last star, of which I only have two."
To be continued…

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

TANKS GO TO WAR
part 5
We open an important chapter in the essay about tanks and people - the chapter on START the T-64 engine. I am writing this topic with a capital letter because, in terms of complexity, it is inferior, of course, to the launch of the first satellite, but it is definitely more difficult than launching four-stroke engines.
So, the start of the 5TDF engine installed on the T-64 tank is carried out by a starter-generator (the main method), an air starting device, or a combined method. It is also possible to start the engine from external source current and, as an exception, from a tugboat. At low air temperatures, a heater is used, which is included in the cooling system, autonomous flare heating of the intake air and metered oil injection into the cylinders (oil injection).
According to the instructions, at an air temperature above +5 - +8 ° С, there should be no problems with starting the engine - we start the starter-generator. If the temperature is lower, then we turn on the autonomous torch heating system, if it is below zero, we call for oil injection to help. Together, these systems, again, according to the documents, should provide a cold start at temperatures down to -20 ° C, and since 1984 even down to -25 ° C.
In practice, an experienced T-64 driver must have the ability of a meteorologist and a fortune teller at the same time, and therefore begins to think about the problems of launching at air temperatures below about +10 ° C. If high humidity is observed at this temperature, the engine from the “naked” starter may not start. The tank, which is in storage, and in previous days the temperature was noticeably lower - almost certainly will not start. But if the weather is dry, it will almost certainly start.
High humidity, along with low temperature and lack of air, is one of the main enemies of the 5TDF and, accordingly, the T-64 drivers. He really dislikes a two-stroke engine of high humidity and in every possible way refuses to start if it is damp and cold outside. The meanness of life lies in the fact that such a combination is characteristic of the dull German weather. And here there is one hitch.
If disgusting dampness and low temperature fell on the official winter period of operation, then there are no special problems. In this case, the standards allow time for the system to warm up with a heater. Even a two-stroke engine with hot coolant and warm oil starts up almost cheerfully.
The trouble is if the alarm is played on a damp and cold night during the summer period of operation. It is required to start the engines immediately, without preheating with the built-in heater, because the standard does not provide for this. Naturally, under these conditions, the senior driver always gives the command to turn on the electric torch heating and always use oil injection, as it is written in TOIE.
The compilers of TOIE T-64 apparently thought that after reading their work, the driver would limit himself to these recommendations. But the company's senior mechanic is a grated kalach (and others are not put in this position). He knows that if at least one tank does not start up on its own, then the ZKV company will drip on his brains for a very long time, remembering the oversight in place and out of place. If this tank is not later brought into operation by external means, then the senior driver will definitely have a vacation, and he will go to the demobilization by the last plane.
From these arguments, the senior mechanic makes a simple and unambiguous conclusion: better pere than NEDO. And he shows all the mechanical drivers three fingers like a fan. This means: flare heating, double oil injection, air intake.
Drivers, with an unwavering hand, press the starter button, press the oil injection switch twice, and then the air release lever. Compressed air under enormous pressure rushes into the cylinders, where it meets with atomized oil. Any schoolboy will say that such an infernal mixture inevitably gives an explosion. Right! If you stand next to the tank at this moment, it seems that a rather sickly landmine exploded inside the car: a booming pop is heard, the hull shudders, it breaks out of the ejector long tongue flame. If something (or someone) is behind the ejector, then this object (or person) is littered with a continuous layer of oil, heavily seasoned with soot.
Needless to say, the way to start is barbaric and does not contribute to the health of the engine. However, the task is completed, all the tanks are roaring engines, mechanical drivers are on horseback. Someday, this barbarity will end up in someone else. But the current mechanical drivers will have long been leafing through the demobilization album with a smile in civilian life. Unfortunately, neither the designers of the T-64 nor the compilers of the TOIE even thought about such realities of the Soviet Army.
But now all the engines are started, and boxing is immediately filled with thick clubs exhaust gases dozen diesels. Through the open gates they slowly crawl out. Inside the box, you can’t see anything, you can’t hear a damn thing, and besides, there’s nothing to breathe: the concentration of harmful impurities is a thousand times higher than the most liberal norms. In such an environment, various incidents occasionally happened, mostly people were accidentally crushed. Therefore, a strict rule was established in our regiment: after launching, the driver of the tank of the second row helps the driver of the tank of the first row, when the tank of the first row leaves the box, both drivers take care of the tank of the second row and take it out of the box. That is, the drivers of two tanks must continuously see each other.
Mechanical drivers, after starting the manual fuel supply handle, set the average speed so that the engine warms up faster and does not accidentally stall. And the exhaust on a cold engine is saturated with particles of unburned fuel, oil and soot. Initially, when the T-64s had just arrived to replace the T-62s, this known fact nobody cared. However, it quickly became clear that even 5-10 minutes of work in a gassed box leads to the formation of a sticky film in the VO 5TDF cyclones (we called this effect “coking”), which collected dust remarkably.
As a measure to counteract this effect, they began to make home-made gas outlets ("chimneys") - from the exhaust system of the tank to the outside of the box. I will emphasize two points. First: such a decision was by no means due to concern for the health and safety of tankers, but solely in the interests of the “health” of the 5TDF engine. Second: all the "chimneys" were self-made, there was no talk of any centralized production at least at the BTRZ. Let's not talk about industry at all ...
While the tank was warming up, its driver had enough worries: open the hatches, lay the cables in a stowed position, check the fastening of the boxes of spare parts, OPVT, self-pulling logs, lay the fire extinguisher and a dozen other small things. When the oil temperature exceeded 10 °C, the tank was driven out of the box in first gear and at minimum speed. At the same time, the driver of the tank of the second row stood in front of the gate and made sure that no one fell under the tracks. The tank went out in front of the box at 8-10 meters and turned 90 ° in the direction of the park gate. The tank of the second row also left the box.
By this time, "porters" (they were also called "combat mules") arrived in the fleet of military vehicles. "War Mules" are company personnel who do not drive out tanks and are not messengers. In the barracks, they load all the duffel bags and other equipment, all the remaining weapons and some useful things that are not included in the official equipment and supply list. For example, a tactical box and "Serpent Gorynych" (homemade garbage for cooking in an open field).
During training, a group of "combat mules" leaves losses on the way to the park: there is a gas mask lying around, here - signal flags, etc. Repeated repetition of the “passed” makes rationalizing the styling, sharply increases the grip and tenacity of the hands. After about the fifth time, losses are no longer observed. I would not dare to give these people the encouragement adopted in fairy tales: "Take as much as you can take." They'll take it all clean.
Arriving at the park, the "combat mules" are waiting at the end of the box when all the tanks are driven out. As soon as the last tank came out and the mechanics went to close the gates of the box, the "combat mules" rush to the tanks. From that moment on, power passes to tank commanders. The crews load the junk, occupy regular places, enter into communication at the TPU and between tanks. The company is gradually turning into a fighting organism. So far, there are not enough officers and a few soldiers (messengers), but the regular command structure has already come into effect. Now the sergeant appointed by the company commander is in command (usually the tank commander is the deputy commander of the first platoon).
To be continued….

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

TANKS GO TO WAR
part 6
The territory of the park is surrounded by a fence above human height. There are gates in the fence for the exit of equipment. In everyday life, two gates are used in the park. Some are designed for wheeled vehicles and usually lead into the territory of the unit. At these gates there is a checkpoint with a room on duty in the park. The second gate is located at the opposite end of the park and leads away from the territory of the unit. They are used for tracked vehicles. In addition, gated passages are provided in the fence for equipment to exit on alarm. As a rule, these are three more gates "out" from the territory of the unit. All gates are locked, the keys to which are kept by the park attendant. On alarm, he is obliged to send an orderly with keys to open all the gates.
Each battalion, separate company and platoon is assigned an exit route on alarm through certain gates and a muster point outside the park near the exit route to the staging area.

fables
Occasionally, various incidents happen with orderlies, keys, locks and gates. For example, the orderly on the way to the gate loses the key from the bunch. If there is a planned exit of the regiment to the exercises, there is nothing to worry about.
It is quite another thing - "plugging" with the gate during an alarm. Then the battalion commander's tank breaks the gate and the battalion rushes on without stopping. Knowing this feature very well, the ZKV of our regiment once announced at a meeting: “In which case, the gates should not be broken, because it is difficult to restore them. It’s better to bring down the section of the fence next to the gate, we will restore it in five minutes.” Everyone laughed and forgot.
And it had to happen that just a couple of weeks later the regiment was alerted and sent to a reserve area. With one gate, according to the law of meanness, there was a "plug". According to the instructions received, the tanks filled up the section of the fence next to the gate and left for the area. The trick is that the fence, made of concrete slabs, stood for another five minutes after the tanks left and collapsed entirely, like a house of cards, moreover, in a section of almost fifty meters. You should have seen the face of Xena, who was looking after the departed tanks, standing at the intact, not even scratched gate!

The tank commander appointed by the senior checks the presence of people and weapons, orders to start advancing to the assembly point. The tanks are slowly creeping in 1-2 gears, lining up in a company column according to the tower numbers. At the collection point, tanks line up in company columns.
Next to the battalion assembly point, a navigation equipment launch point was pre-equipped, marked with a 0.3-meter high column. The coordinates of this point are verified with the highest possible accuracy. On the tank of the battalion commander and the BMP-K (KSh) of the chief of staff, immediately after the engine was started, the gyroscopes of tank navigation equipment were turned on for promotion. Now the tank stands up so that the column is between the tracks, the tank commander turns on the TNA completely and enters the coordinates of this point, written on the nameplate. Then the BMP commander of the chief of staff does the same.
In the summer, by the time the officers arrive, the battalion is at the assembly point in full readiness. Officers once again check the presence of people and weapons. An officer's "combat" equipment and personal belongings necessary for life in the field should be stored in his tank. If the personal belongings and equipment of officers are hidden under lock and key in the office of the company or the supply room, this indicates that the situation in the unit is not good. With almost 100% certainty, I can name the reason for such a rotten situation - the company is not engaged in military affairs.
A normal tank company is a closely knit human team. After all, almost the entire company (with the exception of ZKV, assistant to educational work and foremen) are tank crews. And the tank crew, even in peacetime, often walks the line between life and death. The position “I’m cool, I can always do it, and let the rest do it themselves ...” does not work in a tank crew. Because the tank is the coolest and more than once rolled into a thin pancake the most physically powerful and morally granite guys. Therefore, mutual assistance and trust in the crews are vital in the most direct sense - in order to survive. And when people work together as part of a platoon and company on night marches, forcing under water, live firing, they quickly realize that mutual assistance and trust are vital between crews, too, if you want to survive and win at all. In general, I know cases when officers in a group of troops used their own tank to store stash, not to mention equipment. And they didn't see anything out of the ordinary.
So, the battalion gathered in its entirety, the battalion commander and company commanders hoisted flashing beacons on the towers (bought, by the way, at their own expense). The command is given: “Get ready to move!”. At this command, only the commanders of companies and platoons remain in the hatches. The starting point and the exit route to the concentration area itself have been reconnoitred many times, and all commanders and drivers are well aware of it. The battalion commander gives a signal and the colossus of the tank battalion, roaring with engines, winking in the night with dimensions, scattering red reflections of beacons, passes the starting point.
Everything. On this, the story of how tanks go to war has come to an end (some moments were deliberately left behind the scenes). Then a completely different story begins - how tanks fight.
THE END

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

I apologize that I didn’t think of it right away, I had to attach the decoding of some abbreviations to the texts. At present, people know what PMSM is, but the rest needs to be explained

Battery - rechargeable batteries
BVO - Belarusian Military District
BG - battle group(operation)
BKP - onboard gearboxes
BM - combat vehicles
BMP - infantry fighting vehicle, K - commander, KSH - command and staff
BREM - armored recovery vehicle
BSV - live firing platoons
BTR - armored personnel carrier
BTRZ - armored repair plant
BTS - medium armored tractor
BTU - battalion tactical exercises
VA BTV - military academy of armored forces
VVT - weapons and military equipment
HP - high pressure
VO - air cleaner
VTIU - Higher Tank Engineering School
guards - guards (guards)
GK SV - High Command of the Ground Forces
GSVG - Group of Soviet Forces in Germany
POL - fuels and lubricants
DTU - divisional tactical exercises
ZIP - spare parts, tools and accessories
ZKV - Deputy Commander for Armaments
ZKP GSh - spare command post General Staff
KB - design bureau
KVO - Kiev Military District
checkpoint - checkpoint
KR - overhaul
mechanic - driver
MZ - loading mechanism
MoD - Department of Defense or Minister of Defense
NATO - NATO, North Atlantic Treaty Organization
NBTS - head of the armored service
NGSH - Chief of the General Staff
NS - chief of staff
OA - Combined Arms Army
ATS - Warsaw Pact organization
OZK - combined arms protective kit
OPVT - equipment for underwater tank driving
PKT - tank Kalashnikov machine gun
PPD - point of permanent deployment
PribVO - Baltic Military District
PRM - tanks of the combat group of operation with an increased consumption of motor resources
PT - anti-tank
PTU - regimental tactical exercises
RA - Russian army
RTU - company tactical exercises
SA - Soviet Army (that's how it was written)
SR - medium repair
FCS - fire control system
tb - tank battalion
td - tank division
TK - tactical exercises
TNA - tank navigation equipment
HPFP - high pressure fuel pump
TO - maintenance
MRO - maintenance and repair
TOIE - technical description and operating instructions
tp - tank regiment
TTX - performance characteristics
UBG - training and combat operation group

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

And more little things

Question>VIM, thanks for the very interesting information. I would like to ask you one detail: since 1976 they went into the T-64B series, and from the 85th T-72B, with missile weapons, on the T-80, it seems to have been from the very beginning. How were things with its use, did you fire ATGMs often? Or only officers, and the best crews on checks and "ballets"?

Even among officers, only a few made real launches. So I made 6 real launches for the entire service. That's an awful lot. The regiment was given 2-3 launches per year by the "ostentatious" method. I know about the only vocational school that had mass launches. By the way, there were no simulators either ...

___________________
Is always YOUR Genocide

> Therefore, I evaluated the T-80 in the first place in terms of its operational and tactical capabilities. Although ZKV, of course, reported on technical problems, among which there were no fundamentally unsolvable ones. When the T-80U modification appeared, in general there was an impression of visiting a starship that accidentally fell into tank troops. Great car!
> In general, the T-80 delivered much less trouble than the T-64. In general, it would be almost an ideal tank, if not for two of its features: monstrous REAL fuel consumption and unimaginable cost. I read somewhere that the T-80s were called "Channel tanks" on the grounds that they supposedly could quickly reach the Atlantic coast of France. It’s funny to read these journalistic “stray”: “He will eat what he will eat, so who will give him!”
> In the performance characteristics of the T-80 tank, the power reserve looks pretty decent. However, in real life, multiplied by the coefficient of the average qualification of the driver and the conditions of movement in the column, the power reserve turned into a meager value. I know of cases when fully fueled T-80 battalions got up “dry” after 160-180 km.
> The second problem is the cost. I am sure that if, God forbid, a big war broke out (for example, with NATO or China), the next day all factories would switch to the production of T-72. And the T-80, at best, would be enough for one operation of the initial period of the war. By the way, before the advent of the T-72, the situation looked generally terrible - they would have to put the T-62 into production!
> I sum up. Commanders of all levels in the tank troops are required to confirm their qualifications twice a year by firing and driving a tank. As a tank crew member, I was delighted with the capabilities of the T-80U and still consider it the best tank for passing the final checks.

What was required to be proved: a tank with a gas turbine engine is a tank for a professional army, which is controlled and serviced by experienced specialists, and not monkeys caught by the military registration and enlistment office. According to the operating experience of an experienced mechanical driver on the T-80, fuel consumption was one and a half times less than that of a dunce who made three laps around the training ground in training and, on this basis, was recorded in the mechanical driver.
The author also did not say (apparently because he himself did not encounter this) that the T-80 is the first soviet tank, the designers of which thought about the fact that in real life it would be convenient to maintain and repair, and not just die heroically in it.

2Genocide - respect for posting the topic.

Everything has a reason

About BPM-97 and a little about taking care of subordinates

SOLDIER OF FORTUNE No. 11-2007.

"KESHA-2" CONTINUES SERVICE...

Hello, dear editors of the magazine "Soldier of Fortune"!
I decided to write this letter after I read an article in No. 2, 2007, The Zest of The Shot. And I would like to give a subjective assessment of the tactical and technical characteristics of this armored car.
As a small preface to the description of the impressions from the operation of the BPM-97 "Shot" I can report that from March to September 2006 I was on a business trip as part of the operational group of the temporary operational group of bodies and units of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia in the Gudermes district of the Chechen Republic in HR specialist positions. After a rather long break caused by ensuring public order during the preparation and holding of events dedicated to the celebration of the 1000th anniversary of the city of Kazan, a combined police detachment from the Republic of Tatarstan was again sent to Chechnya.
By gender official duties I regularly had to travel to Khankala, other settlements in the Gudermes region, and quite often to BPM-97. During these trips and as a result of conversations with the driver and personnel, I got the impression of this car.
The specified armored car is produced by KamAZ OJSC in the city of Naberezhnye Chelny of the Republic of Tatarstan, and by decision of the management of the joint-stock company, the government and the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the republic, it was decided to send one car to the disposal of the operational group for "testing in combat conditions."
BPM-97 arrived in Gudermes at the beginning of May 2006 as part of a convoy organized by the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Tatarstan, independently covering more than 2,000 kilometers without breakdowns, which is a positive indicator for a new machine. The unusual appearance of the car, the "predatory" profile aroused genuine interest first of the personnel, and then local residents, especially kids. The official name - "Shot" - was unknown to us, and therefore proposals for the name of the car rained down from the employees: "Mustang", "Frog" and even "Godzilla", but in the end the prosaic call sign "Kesha-2" won.
The first external examination revealed that all the armor plates from which the body was welded had traces of hits from 7.62 mm caliber bullets, and the body was painted after the bullet resistance tests. We did not find any traces of hits from large-caliber bullets, so we will leave the statement about protection against large-caliber bullets on the conscience of the armor manufacturer.
The landing and disembarkation of troops and crew was carried out mainly through the side doors, to which many had complaints because of their small size and low location in the troop compartment. With a height of 180 cm and a non-fragile physique, and even in a “sphere”, body armor and unloading with ammunition and a machine gun, it was hard for me to get into the doorway. The indicated shortcoming during the shelling and damage to the vehicle can lead to the fact that the crew and troops will not be able to quickly leave the armored car and suffer unjustified losses. In my opinion, the doors should be changed and made in the likeness of the BTR-80 in two sections, so that the lower section leans down and the upper one to the side.
The aft doors, on the contrary, are made unreasonably large, since due to the ill-conceived arrangement of the seats for the landing, no more than 4-5 paratroopers can use these doors. In practice, these doors were almost never used.
Now about hatches. The landing hatches are quite convenient, in contrast to the hatches of the driver and commander, which are again made too small, and the lever of their opening mechanism is located dangerously close to the head, and a tall man invariably beats his forehead against this "iron". In practice, these hatches have never been opened. The same can be said about the mechanisms for locking the landing hatches - the handles of the locking mechanisms are of considerable length and, when moving, they loom somewhere in the temple area, so that during sudden maneuvers or an attempt to quickly leave the troop compartment, they create a risk of injury to personnel. The loopholes are quite convenient to use, which cannot be said about the landing observation devices. Above each loophole there is an individual observation device, which, in my opinion, should move to the sides and vertically, but for some reason it is tightly fixed in the body and has a limited viewing angle. In practice, they were never used, but were observed directly through the loophole. And again, the handle from the observation device hung menacingly over his head, and it is impossible to force a single fighter to sit inside the car in a helmet.
The refusal of armored covers on the glazing of the car, in my opinion, is not justified, since when attacking a car, the driver and commander are the first targets, and the presence of folding armored covers or blinds can save them from defeat.
The driving characteristics of the BPM-97 are assessed positively - it is a dynamic and high-speed car, which on a good road accelerated much more than the declared 90 km / h, and when driving on rough terrain it overcomes bumps quite gently. The driver expressed complaints about the electric gearshift switch: firstly, the gearshift handle is located inconveniently for the driver - it is too far back relative to the driver's seat. From the side it was possible to observe how the driver switches gears, putting his hand almost behind his back. Secondly, on the crossed and highlands the electrical relay did not always have time to turn on the upshift on the rise, the heavy car lost speed, and the driver was forced to downshift again. According to the latter, a proven manual transmission would be more convenient, with which an experienced driver could more effectively drive an armored car in extreme conditions, and the BPM-97, slowly crawling along a mountain road in low gear, is a convenient target for "spirits".
An armored car in an unarmed patrol version arrived in our detachment, which caused some bewilderment, since we practically did not have a heavy small arms and there was hope that the armored car would be equipped with at least a machine gun. During the use of an armored car, a machine gunner with a PKK and in a helmet was placed on the roof of the troop compartment, who surveyed the surroundings with a menacing look. As you should understand, the combat effectiveness of such a solution is almost zero, since the federal with the PKK is unlikely to be able to even scare the “peaceful Chechen shepherds”, and when attacked, it will become one of the first targets for a sniper. Also, when equipped, smoke grenade launchers would not interfere. Already on the spot, by the forces of our signalmen and sappers, the armored car was equipped with the Pelena radio-controlled explosive suppression system, and this system was repeatedly used not only when leaving, but also when serving to protect mass events in Gudermes, when it was necessary to ensure the passage of a column of demonstrators or check the suspicious car.
One of the positive qualities of the car was the presence of two air conditioners in the cabin, which, at a temperature of 40-45 degrees in the shade, which was kept in July-August 2006 in the Caucasus, helped a lot when traveling. But the designers were smart with the placement of one of the air conditioners, installing it right in front of the crew commander. Perhaps they acted out of good intentions and wanted to create comfortable conditions for the senior, but in practice the cold air hit the commander in the face and this air conditioner was rarely used.
As one of the shortcomings, the ill-conceived placement of landing sites should be indicated: individual seats are provided for the paratroopers, some of which are located facing in the direction of travel, and some with their backs, and the rear seats are located so that they do not allow leaving the armored car through the rear doors. It would be more convenient to install common seats "back to back" facing the sides of the car. Thus, it was possible to slightly increase the number of paratroopers, and it would be more convenient for the landing force to fire from small arms through loopholes in the sides. The seats of the driver and commander are also inconveniently located - they are rigidly fixed, and in order to get into place, you need to recline the seatback, and to leave your seat, you have to practically roll over your head. It would be nice to make the chairs swivel combat use it should be said that "Kesha-2" took part in almost all trips of personnel on operational missions, escorting convoys, etc. However, it was not without the "wise" decision of the fathers-commanders - around the second half of July 2006, "Kesha" was forbidden to leave the location of the task force "due to the aggravation of the situation." During this period, the militants intensified their activity, in the territory of Chechnya and adjacent regions there were several attacks on columns of federal forces. So, in order not to endanger the attack of the only BPM, which, apparently, was very much appreciated by the authorities, it was ordered not to let her out of the location. And so it went on for about 10 days. But you can’t stop life, and therefore unarmored “loaves” were allocated for trips - again in our country the principle “there are a lot of people, if anything - women give birth”, but BPM - SHE IS ONE SUCH. By the way, it should be said that during the period of my business trip, the BPM-97 was never subjected to shelling. Currently, "Kesha-2" continues to serve as part of the operational group for the Gudermes region of the Chechen Republic.
Concluding the story, I can draw the following conclusion - taking into account minor improvements, the BPM-97 Shot can be successfully used by various law enforcement agencies to solve a wide range of tasks.

Sincerely, police captain Alexander Zinoviev, Naberezhnye Chelny police officer.

One of the powerful forces that can radically change the situation on the battlefield are tank forces. This is one of the branches of the ground forces, distinguished by its survivability and powerful strike force. The tank itself appeared relatively recently. Even during the First World War, there was a need for powerful armored vehicles capable of passing through any obstacles and on any impassability in order to deliver a mortal blow to the enemy. Approximate time of appearance of the first tank: 1914-1918. The British were the first to use tanks on the battlefield. They showed very impressive results.

The tank has become a new revolutionary weapon. Although the first tanks had armor, it could only protect against rifles and machine-gun fire. The first prototypes were slow and clumsy. This is not surprising, because then there were no powerful propulsion systems. However, from the very first day of their existence, tanks created a huge psychological impact during offensives.

Not every soldier is able to calmly react to the "iron fortress" moving towards him. Over time, the tank became more maneuverable, and its powerful armor and guns became a strong argument on the battlefield. Modern tank troops include a whole range of armored vehicles. They include armored personnel carriers, tanks, infantry fighting vehicles, self-propelled artillery, anti-aircraft and missile weapons, and much more. Initially, the leaders in this type of weapons were England, Germany, and the USA. It was in these countries that tank history. The heyday of Russian combat vehicles fell on the period of the Great Patriotic War, when the legendary T-34 was created. Subsequently, he was called the tank of victory. In the post-war period, tanks began to improve rapidly. Science began to develop "by leaps and bounds." The tank began to use new technological solutions, weight decreased, armor improved, the gun was improved. They began to use electronic systems. Now the possibilities have increased dramatically, an electronic stabilization system has appeared, and thanks to technological innovations, the tank crew has decreased, and efficiency has increased.

I want to become a tanker!

At the same time, as the tank has improved, its importance and prestige have increased. Nowadays service in the armored forces This is something to be truly proud of. Tank troops stand alongside aviation and navy. This is the elite in any army in the world. On the battlefield, it is impossible to do without ground or air support. Service in such troops requires additional efforts from the soldier, both physical and moral. A sense of responsibility and understanding of all their actions are mandatory requirements for the crew of any, especially heavily armed vehicle. You have a huge responsibility, because managing the iron "monster" is not so easy.

Under conditions of a sharp reduction in tank troops, the number of specialists needed to complete them has significantly decreased. At the same time, the problems of improving the quality of training of tankers have not been resolved and have even worsened due to the reduction in the period of conscription military service. The system is still focused on the mass training of specialists with insufficient qualifications. Are there real ways to resolve the contradictions between the level of tank complexity and the quality of specialist training today?

Among the main reasons for the decline in the level of training of tankers, compared with the Soviet army, is the duration of military service on conscription. Within one year, the training period for tankers in training centers has been reduced to three months. This program was developed for the training of specialists in wartime. The calculation was to give the trainees only the most general knowledge and the minimum necessary practical skills in the use of tank weapons and its operation. There was no need to talk about any deep development of the specialty due to the extremely limited time for preparation. Only takeoff and landing.

Poor experience

Practice shows that it is rather problematic to train a high-class tank specialist in three months. Yesterday's schoolchildren master the combat vehicle only in the most general form. Not every tank commander manages to understand the purpose of all the controls (buttons, levers, switches, toggle switches), and there are about 220 of them in the tank, not to mention knowledge of the vehicle's structure.

During their stay at the training center, the cadet-gunner and cadet-tank commander each fire a regular shell - six shells in total, the cadet-mechanic-driver acquires a practical experience of 250 km.

After training, the newly minted tank specialists become part of the permanent readiness military units. Under these conditions, the officers of combat units have an additional burden: they are forced to perform combat training tasks with insufficiently trained personnel, while coordinating crews and units, to teach subordinates elementary practical skills, to improve their individual training. Everyone has already accepted that many operations that should be carried out by tank commanders are carried out by officers.

For the remaining time (8 months), the gunner performs four more firings with a regular projectile (three projectiles each) and goes into reserve with a total of 20 projectiles. The driver gets 330 km driving practice, the total driving experience by the end of the service is 580 km. This is ideal, with the highest degree of implementation of combat training plans.

Existing norms are only approaching those that were in Soviet army with a two-year term of service for conscripts. At the same time, the number of tactical exercises (including those with live firing), as well as tank-rifle drills and practical exercises on vehicles, is halved. Therefore, and practical experience they buy less.

Under these conditions, there are two ways to resolve the contradiction between the level of tank complexity and the quality of specialist training.

Contract or "soap box"

The first way is to simplify the tank. Develop a simple and reliable push-button combat vehicle. So that it can be operated by a specialist who has the most general idea of ​​\u200b\u200bthe device and principles of operation of weapons and tank mechanisms. Not all photographers work with professional cameras. Some and "soap trays" use. Another thing is that you can’t take a high-quality picture with a “soap box”, and a third-generation tank will not overcome a fourth-generation tank. This means that we will have to take the enemy in quantity, increase the tank fleet. Again vicious circle. The path of regression of tank troops is unacceptable.

The second way is to improve the quality of training tankers. But with conscripted military personnel, this problem cannot be solved. Neither the intensification of combat training, nor the improvement of training methods, nor the massive introduction of simulators into combat training will help. This can only be achieved through full translation tank troops, or rather, specialists who sit "behind the armor", for a contract method of recruitment.

On the whole, a serviceman who does military service under a contract in tank troops is more beneficial to the state than a conscript, for a number of reasons. A trained specialist-contractor provides a high combat capability of the crew, which makes it possible to more fully realize the combat capabilities of the tank as a weapon.

In terms of combat effectiveness, a tank company staffed by trained specialists is approximately comparable in terms of combat capabilities to two tank companies staffed by conscripts. In combat operations, the first will consume half as much ammunition, fuel and lubricants, and suffer less losses while performing the same combat missions.

It is also important that during the annual service of conscripted military personnel, only 70% of tankers do military service in combat units, 30% of specialists leave training centers. In fact, out of three servicemen, two provide combat readiness, and one is in training and is only preparing for this task. Such organization of military service is costly and inefficient.

With the transition to the recruitment of tank troops by contract soldiers and their military service for an average of three to five years, the proportion of tankers undergoing training will decrease to 10–15%, which is more rational and acceptable.

Prevented Damage

It is necessary to take into account such a criterion as the prevented damage. Experience shows that more than a third of all breakdowns and malfunctions are due to improper (essentially illiterate) operation of combat vehicles. The main reason is the lack of technical training and lack of operational experience among conscripted military personnel. With the cost of a modern tank of 1-1.5 million dollars, each breakdown and incapacitation of the engine, gun barrel, aiming and guidance devices cost the state a pretty penny.

The contractor is able to operate the combat vehicle more competently. The following example can be given. In the training tank division, the positions of mechanic instructors were staffed with ensigns and conscripts. The first ones very often brought the car (T-64) to a major overhaul without replacing the engine; when sending the tank to the overhaul plant, they drove on their own to the railway platform.

The conscripts, who changed every year and a half, did not always bring the cars to an average repair. That is, the same engine, when operated by an ensign, passed twice as much as that of a conscript soldier. Given that the price of the engine is 10% of the cost of the tank, the benefit is very significant. And, of course, the life of the crew in combat largely depends on the ability of its members to quickly eliminate technical malfunctions and failures.

In terms of the reliability of individual units and mechanisms (engine, gearbox, running gear, control systems), modern tanks are certainly better than the T-34. But they have a huge number of systems, mechanisms, instruments, sensors that were simply not on the T-34, and each of them carries an additional probability of failure, which reduces the overall durability of the combat vehicle.

In case of any failure (cannon, machine gun, loading mechanism, fire control system, engine, etc.), the crew, being in the reserved space, can only rely on themselves. Required knowledge, skills and abilities to find a malfunction, eliminate the cause of a failure can only be acquired during the operation of the tank, the combat work of the crew, or, as they say, “through hands”. They cannot be obtained from the educational literature.

A contractor manages to acquire these skills in three to five years, a serviceman who does military service by conscription for one year does not. Thus, today we have no alternative to manning tank troops with contracted military personnel.

Blood Interest

What can be the procedure for serving in tank troops by the crew of a combat vehicle, staffed by military personnel undergoing military service under a contract?

Candidates for the positions of a driver or gunner sign a contract and undergo training in a training unit for 6-9 months. Such a training period corresponds to the level of complexity of modern tanks and will allow training qualified specialists.

Moreover, this time is allotted only for mastering a specialty, it does not include the passage of initial military training or the course of a young soldier. Then, after successfully passing the exam, tank specialists serve in combat units for at least three years.

The duration of training for candidates for the positions of tank commanders must be at least 6 months. In the course of training, much attention should be paid to instilling in them leadership qualities, the skills of a leader and educator. After successfully passing the exams and signing a new contract, graduates serve as tank commanders for at least three years.

It is advisable to select candidates for the position of tank commanders from among the mechanics-drivers or gunners-operators with at least one and a half years of service experience. Not everyone, due to certain personality traits, is suitable for leading a tank crew, has leadership qualities, can rally the crew and lead them in the course of hostilities. Not everyone can command, while being excellent performers.

The selection should be carried out by the commanders of the tank brigades, tank battalions in which they serve. After mastering the training program and passing the exams, the newly minted tank commanders return to their units. Only with this approach, unit commanders will be vitally interested in selecting and sending worthy candidates for training, and not fulfilling another order from above.

And here again I would like to emphasize the importance of personnel selection. It can be organized if the army is able to win competition in the labor market, to attract and retain an intelligent, healthy, disciplined and promising citizen in the army.

Primarily, it is necessary to interest people, create appropriate conditions for service and life:
— worthy and stable monetary content, and, in addition, solid payments at the end of the contract;
- intensive and rhythmic combat training, a normalized working day, and not " scientific system squeezing sweat";
- high-quality medical care;
- certain state guarantees for higher education.

And, of course, normal living conditions. Not to drive a contract soldier into the cockpit of a hastily rebuilt barracks, but to give a young guy the opportunity, at least after two years of service, to start a family, bring a wife, raise children. Questions of the social attractiveness of military service are a special topic, and they will have to be solved sooner or later in connection with a possible transition to manning tank troops with contract soldiers.

It's a little silly to divide the types of troops into prestigious and non-prestigious. After all, each of them plays an irreplaceable role on the battlefield. For example, without a landing force it is very difficult to effectively "work" behind enemy lines, and without heavy armored vehicles it is difficult to imagine an effective breakthrough of positional defense.

However, some types of troops are considered more "elite". As for the tank ones, they are located somewhere in the middle of this conditional hierarchy. Although service in is a very difficult and responsible occupation.

Features of service in the Tank Forces

To understand how difficult it is, let's first take a look at what a modern tank is. This is not just an armored vehicle on tracks, armed with a powerful gun. A modern tank is a complex system that includes a large number of interconnected equipment and weapons.

So, for example, for the correct operation of the ATGM, 2 people are needed, for firing from 122-mm - 6 people. A few more people are required in order to control machine guns of different calibers. However, the crew of the tank is only 3 people. And all these weapons have to be controlled only by them. Do not forget that the tank has a lot of other equipment that requires an operator.

Now let's talk about preparing the tank for battle. The crew does the same. Checking and preparing guns, loading ammunition, even refueling the vehicle with fuel falls entirely on the shoulders of tankers. So when asking the question “how to get into the Tank Forces”, you must understand what hard work it is. Here you are at World of Tanks.

Separately, I would like to talk about driving a tank. A tank driver is not just a person who sits at the levers and watches the "road". He also needs to know the tank’s structure perfectly so that, if necessary, fix the breakdown on the spot (perhaps even in combat conditions).

Of course, only a small malfunction can be eliminated, but for this you need to know and be able to do a lot. Also, do not forget that the tank is not a brand new Lexus. The driver has to cope with a large multi-ton machine. And to do this not on the autobahn, but often in areas where, in principle, nothing will pass except for the tank.

This must be done in a coordinated manner. order of battle. Plus, you need to drive the car so that you can accurately shoot from the main gun. That is, just "the trigger to the floor and drove" - ​​this is not about tankers.

Another very important factor is the interchangeability of crew members. That is, if necessary, the driver must be able to accurately fire from the gun, and the gunner must take control. The commander must be able to do both. As you understand, to get all this knowledge, you need to spend a lot of time and effort. Do not think that service in the Tank Forces is one continuous ride on a tank and shooting in all directions until you get bored.

Problems of the Russian Tank Forces

We will not consider all the troubles that we face, but we will only talk about the most “sore” place - personnel. Unfortunately, this problem cannot be completely solved since the times of the Great Patriotic War. Then, during Battle of Kursk, a number of mistakes were made, due to which the losses were clearly overestimated.

After careful investigation, it turned out that many of the drivers spent the entire battle in low gears. That is, they simply did not dare to switch to higher gears, because they were simply afraid not to cope with the control of their car. It was then that the question of more thorough training of personnel became before the military leadership.

After all, the professionalism of the crew can increase the efficiency of the tank by 2 times. So, for example, during the same Great Patriotic War, Russian tankers managed to knock out Tigers and Panthers that were superior in firepower and armor to the T-34. As they say: "sleight of hand and no fraud."

But, as often happens, the management approached the increase in professionalism a bit strangely tank crew. In this, service in the Tank Forces differed little from service in other troops. So, for example, Soviet driver-mechanics were trained according to a 5-month program for which 250 km rolled back.

Despite the fact that the “green” guys came to the service (often even without really knowing the Russian language) and they were entrusted with the most complicated equipment at that time. Needless to say, it is difficult to learn how to drive such a colossus professionally, and even in combat conditions, to put it mildly?

So when they entered the combat units, the guys had to finish their education on the spot in the literal sense of the word. Here, by the way, they didn’t give enough “ride” either - only 300 km a year. For comparison, potential opponents of the USSR of that time (NATO countries) allowed their tankers to "rewind" 600-800 km per year.

It was also important that the foreign service under the contract in the Tank Forces was very different from the domestic fixed-term service. As you know, conscripts served for 2 years, while the same American tankers signed a contract for 3-5 years.

As a result, the same driver-mechanics ended their service with at least 1800 km. These are the features of a professional army. Recently, a number of measures have been taken in Russia to transfer the Armed Forces to a professional basis. But this is a long process.

In justification for domestic tankers, we can say that at that time the number of tanks alone in the USSR exceeded 50,000 vehicles. And for the maintenance and training of crews for this whole armada, a lot of money is needed.

Soviet tank troops were quite well trained and more numerous when compared with the same America. If the land battles of a potential war were held in the spirit of classic tank battles, then the advantage would be on the side of the USSR.

How to get into the Tank troops

To get into the Tank Forces, you must, first of all, be prepared for enormous difficulties. Keep in mind that tanks in computer games and tanks in reality are two completely different things. require a lot of physical fitness. You need to mentally tune in to the constant carrying of heavy weights. Also, a combat vehicle is not a massage chair at a spa. If you are under 2 meters tall, you can immediately forget about TV. You just won't fit in a tank. The height restrictions are as follows: 150-175 cm. Of course, in practice, many tankers were above the established threshold.

Instruction

Currently, Russian citizens have the right to military service under contract. Contract service reflects the need of the state to create a strong professional army and fundamentally affects the entire military organization of the state. What is required to become a contractor?

Instruction

Entering the military service undergoes a medical examination, which determines the suitability for the health service. For a positive decision, a medical examination must recognize a citizen fit for military service or fit for service with minor limitations.

Mandatory for the conclusion of the contract will be the fulfillment of the requirements for the educational level, for the level vocational training, by psychological and moral qualities, as well as by physical fitness. The compliance of citizens with the established requirements is checked by the attestation commission of the military unit.

There are the following types of contracts: on service in the personnel of the Armed Forces and federal bodies, on service in the personnel of a specific unit, on service in a specific position of the corresponding military unit.

Refusal to conclude a contract may follow in the absence of a specific vacant position in the military unit, if the citizen does not meet the requirements for applicants to the military service on contract, as well as with an unexpunged or outstanding conviction. Another ground for refusal is the presence of a child under the age of eight years.

The law provides for the possibility of early termination of the contract with the consent of the parties that signed it. The reasons for such termination may be the state of health, changes in the staff structure, respectful personal ones.

Sources:

• The entry of citizens into military service under the contract

You can become a soldier by calling, or by profession. The main thing is to have a great desire and know in advance what documents you need to have with you and what tests await on the way to this difficult and responsible business - admission to service on contract .

You will need

• - the passport;
• - Questionnaire entering the military service under the contract;
• - a free-form handwritten autobiography;
• - certified copies of education documents;
• - Certified copies of marriage and birth certificates;
• - a certified copy of the work book;
• - photograph 9x12cm;
• - a copy of the birth certificate;
• - performance characteristics from the last place of work or study;
• - extract from the house book.

Instruction

Apply and submit all relevant military service documents contract to the military commissariat in which you are registered.

If you pass the first stage of selection, you will be sent for a medical examination, in accordance with paragraph 2 of Art. 30 of the Federal Law "On military duty and military service", "for military service on contract a citizen deemed fit for military service or fit for military service with minor restrictions may be accepted.

After that, pass a professional psychological examination, as a result of which you will be assigned to one of four categories. The first and second categories give an almost one hundred percent probability of entering the military service on contract if you were assigned to the third category, then the probability is small, the fourth category is assigned only to those who under no circumstances can be accepted into the military service.

Then pass an educational, physical, and vocational qualification test.

Wait for an answer on your question from the commission of military commissariats for the selection of candidates entering the military service on contract.

If you are denied admission to service on contract, you have the right to appeal this decision to a higher authority, prosecutor's office or court.

If you are accepted, you will be required to serve three months on probation, after which you will be deemed to have passed the probation and be able to continue military service. service.

note

In order to enter the military under the contract, you must be between 18 and 40 years old.
The first contract for military service under the contract is for a period of three years.
The decision to extend or terminate your military service contract is made by the commander of the military unit no later than three months before the expiration of the current contract.

Useful advice

At your request, you must be given a copy of the decision of the selection committee within three days from the date of the decision.

Sources:

• how to apply for a contract

The folk wisdom “houses and walls help” is especially relevant for conscripts. Of course, it is more convenient to serve in units that are closer to your home. But the principle of extraterritoriality of the Russian Army does not always leave young men in their native lands. Although there are some exceptions to the rule.

Instruction

Prepare a package of documents for submission to the military commandant's office. According to the current legislation, the commissariat may decide to call up a serviceman to the nearest military units in exceptional cases. For example, if a conscript is married and has a young child, then he can be left to serve in his native city. In this case, you must independently present the original and a copy of the certificate of marriage and the birth of a child to the commandant's office or documents replacing them (certificates from the registry office). To date, it is this argument that is the most convincing for the staff of the commandant's office in the matter of sending recruits to local military units.

Inform the draft board that you have elderly parents, pensioners or other family members who are dependent on you. In this case, you will need to document that you are the main breadwinner in the family, and that your parents regularly need your care for health reasons and do not work. Take a certificate from the place of work, a certificate of receipt of a subsidy (in the event that the family uses state benefits), copies of the parents' pension certificates. In some cases, you will also be asked to verbally prove or explain what care is and how you provided it prior to being called.

Apply to the employer for a petition to the military commissariat if at the time of the call you are employed in local governments: the municipality, regional administration, local parliaments, etc. At the request of local authorities, the commissariat can make concessions, but the army leadership will have the final say.

State your preferences to members of the commission during its passage. Ask to record that you would like to serve in a particular unit or in certain troops. As a rule, members of the commission take into account the wishes of the conscript, and if, for health reasons and other criteria, the young man is fit to serve in this unit, then the commission has nothing against meeting the recruit halfway.

When young people reach a certain age, they receive a summons to the military registration and enlistment office and go through a special medical commission. If the guy is fit for military service, he becomes a conscript and goes to serve in the army.

Russia is very large and extremely unevenly populated, which means that serving on a territorial basis is impossible. Although in recent years it has become clear that military registration and enlistment offices do not send conscripts far from their homeland for no apparent reason and without extreme necessity. Looking from an economic point of view, for the state territorial principle service is much more profitable than monetary compensation to a soldier for moving and keeping on the road. And psychologists have long proved that for the soldiers themselves, service in their hometown or in the surrounding area is the most comfortable and calm.

Today, contract service gives the younger generation guaranteed stability in modern life. After all, in addition to a good income, military service also means many different benefits and privileges, such as free medical care, free travel in transport and the possibility of obtaining housing.

Instruction

To start young man who decided to connect his life with the army, you need to decide - where to?
Now a huge number of options are offered potential. As for the place of military service, you can serve in the Kaliningrad, Moscow, Murmansk, Leningrad regions. These are the most options. That is, having come, a potential contractor himself chooses a place for service. If we talk about the type of troops, the future will also have to make a choice, however, the final decision on this issue remains with the military registration and enlistment office, which is made on the basis of a personal file and a medical commission. If a person wishing to serve is in poor health, has a criminal record, or has a bad reference from a previous job, he is denied the opportunity to start the service. Even girls are not denied military service, because such specialists as telegraph operators and nurses are always required.

In addition to the above places of military service, some young people prefer to choose Siberia. Quite popular is the contract service in Seversk. Young people serving there have a stable income, living allowances and many other benefits.

In addition to the territorial issue, young people who are going to serve under the contract will have to choose the type of troops. This decision is made depending on personal qualities, preferences and health status.

The first contract is for three years. Then the serviceman himself can choose the term and conditions for further service. The salary of contractors is much higher than the average wage in our country. Thus, contract service is not only interesting, but also sufficient, and everyone decides for himself whether to work in the civilian field or choose the path of contract service with all its pluses and minuses. In recent years, the salaries of contractors have grown one and a half times, and this is far from the limit. After all, for great country a motivated army is needed. And the government is doing everything possible efforts to make life worth living.

Service in the army is important point in the lives of many conscripts. One day it's time to pay back to the motherland. For many young people, this means stepping into a frightening unknown. Many soldiers want to serve close to home, they feel more comfortable and calmer in such conditions.

Instruction

The Russian army cannot completely switch to the territorial principle of service, because the country is very large. In addition, the number of young soldiers of military age is not evenly distributed. The place of passage also depends on the type of troops.

In recent years, military registration and enlistment offices have been trying, unnecessarily, not to tear recruits away from their small homeland. And the army itself is beneficial. You don’t have to spend money on sending a soldier, for example, from the Moscow region to Far East.

Most likely, the place where the fighter will serve will be determined by the military registration and enlistment office. However, it is important to remember that the opinion of the recruit about where he would like to serve is of great importance. In addition to army officers and doctors, psychologists also work with the future defender of the Fatherland. Therefore, all wishes regarding the place of service will undoubtedly be heard and taken into account.

In addition, when choosing troops in the military registration and enlistment office, they will definitely take into account the physical training of the young soldier and, of course, the specialty, if any. After all, it is the physical strength of military personnel that plays important role in improving the combat capability of military units. This approach contributes to the humanization of the army.

There is no need to be afraid that a conscript will be sent directly from the regional collection point to some “hot spot”. No officer will ever send an untrained fighter into real combat conditions. Doing so is strictly prohibited. And anti-terrorist operations, as a rule, are carried out by special army units, which include contract soldiers (contract service).

Young fighters are usually sent to serve all over Russia. But still, most of the recruits are sent to serve in the Central Military District. Thus, they can be sent anywhere: near Khabarovsk, Arzamas or even Siberia. Who cares.

There is a whole list of types of troops. They call for them, based on the totality of the desires of the conscript, his state of health and the needs of certain types of troops in new soldiers.

Instruction

Tank types of troops. They are the main force in the conduct of hostilities. It is they who play a decisive role in attacking, resisting and defending against the enemy side.

Air Force. These include aviation, anti-aircraft missile and radio engineering troops. Aviation provides territories from the air. There are 4 types of it: long-range - hits all the important objects of the enemy; military - is engaged in the transfer of troops with equipment; front and army. When called here, young men have a vestibular apparatus and cardiovascular system.

Radio technical types are designed to detect enemy mines and various devices. All who have a strong nervous system.

Navy. This includes the kind: underwater, surface, coastal services. Underwater is designed to attack submarine forces and enemy devices. Swimmers with excellent physical and mental characteristics are called here.

Surface army. Carries out the destruction of ships and ground structures. Conscripts must have the flexibility and dexterity to quickly climb onto the enemy side.

Coastal. Provides protection of the population, as well as the defense of ground facilities from enemy attacks from the water. Young men with excellent hearing and vision are called. Conscripts with mild degrees of illness that are not an obstacle to service in can also serve in this kind of troops.