Another opus performed by Vladimir Vaschenko was published by Gazeta.ru, thus provoking a rather strong reaction in the media and the Internet community. Quite heartbreaking material about the state of affairs in military unit 54046, telling about how terrible the life of all servicemen in Boguchar is.
Since we were in this military unit literally a month and a half ago, watched it with our own eyes and communicated quite closely without a camera with personnel from privates to senior officers, somehow conscience does not allow us to stay away.
The fact is that not everyone in our army today is as beautiful as we would like. With such and such investments in it … But writing outright nonsense and fiction just for the sake of presenting everything in the spirit of the 90s is too much.
I said, I say and I will say that the meanest lie is when 20-25 percent of the truth is added to it. Here is exactly the case, that's just not even 20% to scrape together, kill yourself.
So, what do we have according to Boguchar.
I will issue a few in the wrong order as in that article, so it will come out more consistently and logically. There, the author simply took all the dirt that could be thought of and dumped it out, absolutely not bothering. And we will go in order. Based on what I saw with my own eyes and heard with my own ears.
Go.
1. In part, a complete mess in terms of security and safety
The revelations of this Nikiforov, who was a "clerk of one of the platoons," are doubtful, which did not prevent him from being aware of the details of life at the battalion level. And to have "reliable" information that "one of the battalions has an article for abuse of power." It's just a question of "was there a boy."
From myself, I can say that in terms of the level of paranoia, frank and unreasonable, in terms of maintaining secrecy, this part surpassed all those I visited. And leads by such a margin that the hair stands on end. Even the soldiers in Kursk, who work with really new and secret equipment, nervously smoke on the sidelines.
You can enter the territory of this military unit and take a walk there. In a dream or on drugs. We were allowed in after a half-hour agreement and under the watchful eye of an HRT officer. Protection of state secrets.
The way these GT defenders got it, they didn't get me anywhere else. Polite, cultured, with a hint of my intelligence.
"Well, you understand that not everything can be filmed?"
“After the shooting, you’ll show us what you filmed?”
"Would you mind deleting what we ask for if necessary?"
At the end, I already openly howled. Yes, mother of God, intercessor queen (approximate translation), what the hell are your secrets? T-72, taken out of the GSVG? BMP-3? "Acacia"? Where are the secrets ???
In response, such a polite smile. Understanding. We, like, have our own work, you have yours.
By the way, we were calmly released to shoot the educational process at the training ground without an accompanying person. But as soon as I, together with one of the platoons, returned to the territory of the unit, the guardian demon of HRT immediately appeared. Apparently, the soldiers who were sitting on the tower at the entrance to the training ground reported on the radio. Three persons. With a walkie-talkie and a machine gun. Also so … unobtrusive.
I had plans to shoot on the territory of the unit, but this lieutenant again politely asked me to return to the car, and not to leave it unnecessarily. And regarding the shooting of the unit, he also politely said that permission was not requested for this, which means … I wrote a polite bolt from the armored personnel carrier.
You can, of course, say that it was for us that everyone was so tense. However, already on the road, we witnessed how the outfit at the checkpoint enthusiastically snooped the car, which had brought bucks with water for the coolers. I had to wait, there are two cars just not part. I got out of my transport and asked the driver of the GAZelle, who was so calmly smoking near his car, how long it would take. No, he says, they'll finish now. "Are they always like this?" I asked. Yes, the driver replied serenely, I'm used to it. I pay per hour, everyone in the office knows that it will be here for a long time, so let them have fun …
In general, I simply do not believe that a civilian person can so calmly rummage around the territory of a unit without attracting attention. With the checkpoint service, everything is there … in short, there is too much, but it's better this way.
2. About inhuman living conditions
Also 5% of the truth. “All year round” is from June to September. It was in June that the transfer of a motorized rifle brigade to Boguchar ended. And preparations began for work on the spot.
Yes, I agree that the living conditions in Mulino were magical. Both contract soldiers and officers spoke about this. Of course, when to Nizhny Novgorod, where most of the servicemen lived for half an hour by minibus, it's great. And here on you - Boguchar. Which, though a regional center, but … And to Voronezh 250 km. With all that it implies. And there are almost a thousand to the Lower …
I talked about this with one of the senior officers. But not very. An office "odnushka" in Boguchar is not a "three-ruble note" in Nizhny, where the whole family remained.
But let's face it.
First. Where is it said that a soldier (from a private to a general) must serve near the house, constantly in one place, and so on? Yes, the interests of the state demanded the redeployment of the motorized rifle unit closer to the border. So sorry, it's not even a boost! There we have nothing to strengthen, to begin with. Two tank units on the 500 km border. And that's all. No, there are missile, air defense, electronic warfare. But really, the 20th Army is spread over such an area that you calmly think about what will happen "if something happens" from the very side, that "a case of what" is not generally foreseen. For now, at least.
Second. Monetary allowance, maintenance, and so on, today in the army has been raised to such a level that it is not a shame, in general, to send a person to serve wherever the command deems it necessary. And, by the way, none of the officers discussed this moment in the brigade. So, rather, booze by inertia. Of course, I would like the best.
Third. Then I will move on from him to the topic of arbitrariness and lawlessness. The same officers told me that the work in connection with the redeployment of the unit was not just a lot, but a complete blockage. And the working day lasts from 8 in the morning until 22-23 in the evening. And the weekend - so, purely for the sake of form. Monday often really starts on Saturday.
This, of course, fits into the charter "hardships and deprivations of military service." But - up to a certain limit. And the limit should come when all the issues of relocation are resolved. So there is a prospect. And everyone understands this.
Only those who openly shit on the heads of really standing men, who, far from their families, defend our borders, do not understand.
And more about everyday life. On the territory of the unit, barracks and hostels are being erected. Fact. And the fact is that in September the commander of the Western Military District came to oversee this issue. We were invited, but we worked for ARMY-2016. The buildings have been erected, communications have been connected, and interior finishing is currently underway. And by winter everyone who has been living in tents since June will be settled there.
3. "Torture and beatings" in the unit
Everything is simple here. Reading the article, I really felt the wind of the 90s. I don’t know where Nikiforov and Kharitonov were dug from, who gave heartbreaking details of their service, but for a person familiar with the army service, this already goes under the category of hard drugs.
All this torture with a field phone is a masterpiece! The author has clearly read some kind of polymilitia chronicles in social networks. This is their "tapik" tightly prescribed in everyday life.
In like … not a part, but some kind of criminal brothel. And, apparently, the word "episodic" weakly characterizes the state of affairs. Because today's scourge of the army is precisely the war on cell phones. Somewhere they are supposed to be used on weekends or in case of emergency, in some I personally observed their presence among the personnel. Certainly no one restricts the contractors, with the exception of guard duty.
And conscripts really go to all sorts of tricks in order to keep their usual gadget with them as long as possible. Well, young people are already used to it. And here the war is really going on in full. And the command staff does not always win, because the ingenuity of our youth in this regard has no boundaries yet. And in each platoon there are a couple of securely hidden phones, just in case.
So the punishment for such flights should have been more than just massive. General. Apparently, it was for this that a special unit had to be created. Patrol and torture service.
Epic, right? There were also a couple of questions. Support battalion … what? Order on the territory of the unit? Isn't it a bit too much? Or were they recruited by zones? And in general, how did the brigade commander manage to create a separate battalion, don’t understand what, to protect the "chip"?
Or did the author mean such a structure as BOP? Training support battalion? So this unit is inherent in either training units or military schools. Mostly the latter. And what such a battalion has forgotten in an absolutely combat unit is a question that will remain unanswered, since there is doubt that Mr. Vashchenko served at all and understands what the keyboard is tormenting about.
But it's easier this way: I mixed the mud thinner, but dumped it out wider. The main thing is that the stink is stronger.
I think there will be those who believe in the nonsense invented by Mr. Vaschenko. Based on "reliable testimony". But it will be, quite obviously, people who saw the army only on the screen of the Zvezda TV channel. Moreover, those who trust not this TV channel. And the normal and knowledgeable, in the nonsense about the creation of a certain criminal structure on the basis of a personnel military unit, engaged in taking money from soldiers, torturing and beating, will believe only after using the same thing that the author accepted.
But I will return to this in the conclusion. And now about how it all began.
4. Fatal accident
It all started with the fact that one of the soldiers of the unit committed suicide by hanging. Actually, it all started from this.
Yes, the press service of the Western Military District is also those characters, of course, sometimes reminding me of the heroes of the cartoon about the ice age. Only there are not two of them, but more. But this time the information was shared. Well, purely by chance, in Boguchar I have relatives who are related to state structures of a certain orientation. So I formed a very specific picture.
They asked not to give the surname of the suicide, since the investigation and all that. Good. But the picture came out like this.
Indeed, a soldier of a motorized rifle brigade took his own life. From the locals. Signing a contract in Boguchar itself. So here are some more questions for the Boguchar services responsible for the selection for the contract.
The most difficult "conditions of service" in the process of passing through it is a two-week field trip. The rest of the time, the fighter lived, as he should, in his wife's private house, while also having his own apartment.
So, we immediately dismiss the topic of abuse of a 35-year-old man in a tent using a telephone set. For 35 years of age and contract.
So one of the colleagues allegedly said. By the way, I believe. But about the "rather difficult conditions of service," the editorial board of "Gazeta" clearly added.
For the rest, apparently, the fighter was unlucky in his personal life. Except as a completely complete fool, I cannot call his former life partner. Probably, it is not necessary to give figures on the salary of an ordinary contractor. In the godforsaken agrarian Boguchar, these figures are very significant. For comparison, the average salary of a tent-market trader is 10 thousand. Low-level civil servant - 14-18. Teacher at school - depending on the category from 8 to 15. Policeman - from 30. And to be a military man there is the height of desires. There are, however, categories that earn better. These are cattle farmers, combine operators and other agrarians. The average income of a private operator is 80-100 thousand per month. But he earns this money in spring and autumn. And you have to plow in the truest sense of the word.
So, as a "fuse" for the whole story, we have a contract soldier with a clearly unbalanced psyche, who killed himself and his idiot wife. But this is no longer our business, the main question - where does the part come in? Questions, I repeat, should be addressed to those who have inspected the candidate for the contract carelessly.
I don't even want to disassemble the rest of the jumble of dirt and other substances. Therefore, I will pass to the conclusion.
5. Personal opinion about military unit 54046
During my work, I visited many units of various types of troops. And he formed a definite opinion about today's army.
As a correspondent, I consider the main problem not to be some kind of malfunction and dropouts, but outright window dressing. Yes, the one when the snow should be white and square, and the grass should be green. Nothing has changed here, oddly enough. Much cannot be shown simply because those who give us permission to shoot think so. Or vice versa, it is best to show what pleases those who kind of order the tune.
But then there is often nothing to show. And there is nothing to talk about. And this year there was more than one such event, after which I did not write anything.
But Roman and I consider the reportage about the educational process in Boguchar to be one of the best. Precisely in terms of the fact that there were no embellishments there. And the readers themselves made the following conclusions, which we talked about: it was a simple training trip to the training ground. With the old shamanic technique, with actually very poorly trained fighters who were drafted in April-May and after the KMB were relocating from Mulino to Boguchar.
Much of what we observed did not get into the cameras. Not because I didn't want to shoot it, but purely humanly. And I wanted to shoot. To be completely honest, something got into the frame. But not in the reportage.
In our work, we have never set ourselves the goal of “catching a beautiful shot”. We just wanted to convey the essence of the moment. But not as such detached neutrals, no. We both treat our army in the same way as two people who have served their duty without pretensions can treat. And we look exactly like this. From the side, but on the side of the army. And we understand and appreciate, probably a little more than those who were not in the army.
As a lieutenant colonel throws a tablet and a walkie-talkie on the ground, takes a machine gun and begins to show how to do some somersaults with it. As a contract sergeant interrupts the lieutenant and begins to explain the squad's system of actions in his own way, while the lieutenant does not interrupt him with a menacing cry, but listens no less attentively than ordinary recruits. How then these same recruits shared the last water with the tankers who were crazy from the heat, who, due to the fact that the young were stupid, were slowly frying in their caterpillar microwaves. How the battalion commanders sent two of their personal radio operators to fetch water to the starting line. And the guys, who dragged through the radio for half a day on their backs, scattered for one and a half kilometers and pinned on themselves a canister (20 liters) with the coveted liquid. Running.
At the camera? Come on, by that time we ourselves were lying in the bushes. And the lieutenant colonel, when he tumbled, was sure that we were not around. We weren't there, but the telephoto camera allowed me to capture it.
Already at the end, finding myself at the starting line and falling into the grass in the shadow of the car with the first-aid post, I involuntarily overheard such a conversation from the soldiers of one platoon, who had also returned from the range.
- That's what "…" (I will skip the call sign of the brigade commander) is yelling at us? Have you forgotten that we practiced the landing for the first time yesterday?
- Come on, the first time you might think … Pooret and stop.
- These are his, the journalists … Then they will write some … and him …!
With the words "we will not write", I got out of the grass, which pretty confused the guys. But we talked pretty well. We were even given a compliment that we were good at attacking with them.
I didn’t ask for names, I didn’t read the names on the labels of the flasks. I was not interested in which platoon, company, battalion. I just talked "for life" with the rank and file, as I had before with the officers. Just for yourself. And I would not have mentioned this if it were not for this case.
The guys were all from Nizhny Novgorod. The shock, of course, from understanding where it had drifted, had already passed, but it did not add joy. Of course, it's one thing to serve in Mulino, 60 kilometers from Nizhny Novgorod, where you can quite normally hit the road to leave home, and another thing is Boguchar.
By the way, he asked about the leave. The guys looked so strange and asked one question: meaning? Well, purely to the store for sweets, nothing more. And so it is better to sleep on the day off.
This, by the way, refers to the question of 500 rubles for a leave of absence. Boguchar is not even a town. This is an urban settlement of 11 thousand people. And 5 thousand soldiers and officers. With all the ensuing consequences. For the former inhabitants of a million-plus city, it is deathly anguish.
“Somewhere in that life they messed up,” said one of my interlocutors.
Of course, there was no such frankness, which is quite justified. You never know what I will then paint there? But most importantly, I did not see in anyone a doom like “oh, why did you give birth to me, mom,” or any such persecution. Normal guys, tired for the day.
A contract platoon sergeant approached. What? Nothing, we are talking. I suppose you're washing your bones for your bosses? Well, not without it. Mine. Okay, wash. After 10 minutes we move to the location.
I asked, nothing, what about the bosses so? Yes, he’s okay, he’s quite a man. With us all the time, he even spends the night in a tent, except on weekends.
Why did I write all this like that? Just because I spent the whole day in this part. More precisely, at its training ground with personnel. It can be seen, it is still clearly visible when everything is done and said on camera, and when just like that, with tongues hooked.
I saw how these soldiers and their commanders worked. I saw the relationship between them. Respectful, by the way. Yes, during the training process over the training ground, not only squadrons, air armies flew over from bodies, organizations and just swears. But no one banged their heads against the armor. So, he shook off the arrived, and then he went or drove. Working moments.
Yes, personal impressions, but they are so valuable to me. That I personally observed. And not only in this part. And I can say with confidence that having visited motorized riflemen, missilemen, anti-aircraft gunners, chemists, tankmen, rebel soldiers, pilots this year, nowhere have I met some kind of oppressive atmosphere, which is described in that article. Yes, "army standard insanity" has a place to be in places. Somewhere more, somewhere less. Apparently, it's a shitty obsolete thing.
But trying to show that in our army today criminality of the 90s of the last century is flourishing … With extortion, robbery, torture and other attributes of those times …
Sorry, but this is from the enemy. From a vile enemy who is trying to shove a spoonful of truth into a barrel of lies and draw conclusions that our army today is a den of immoral scum. Well, he just (the enemy) himself and judges by himself.
To my delight, I watched, and I hope I will watch a different army. Yes, with flaws (well, no way without them so far), yes, with ostentation (this muck also survives badly), but precisely in the process of becoming and transforming into the very Army that you can and should be proud of. You can start today.
Yes, it is not easy in Boguchar today. It is still very tense there in terms of everyday life. But the issues are moving towards their solution, and the higher command helps to solve them. Why else would the commander-in-chief of the Western Military District have to fly there? To stagger around an unfinished construction site? Probably not. Probably, in order to personally make sure that in the winter the soldiers will enter not in tents with potbelly stoves, but in new buildings.
And the last thing. You can cite a lot of evidence of all the "Nikiforovs" and other unknowns, I can do that too. But I will write personally from the two of us who worked there.
We do not have the slightest doubt that everything described in the Gazeta and picked up by the “bloggers-sabbats” is nonsense. Aimed exclusively at simply throwing dirt into our army and trying to convince everyone that there is still no order or law there. But this is a matter of the personal conscience of each writer.
