Today there will be many publications dedicated to the good, truly national holiday - Defender of the Fatherland Day. There will be congratulations. There will be memories. There will be a concert. There will be solemn meetings. Official holiday. A holiday for those who are always ahead. Who is the first to meet danger, who is the first to die, who is always ready to really protect.
There will also be pleasant "get-togethers" with former colleagues. Toasts, traditional for all troops. There will be memories and laughter. There will be "jokes" and "jokes". The holiday is not only official. Home holiday.
Due to circumstances, all of us from time to time come to the burial places of soldiers and officers. This usually happens on professional holidays. Fortunately, there are many such days. Border guards, sailors, paratroopers, artillerymen, tankmen … And over the years you begin to notice how these graves are "getting younger".
No, nothing changes there. All the same "Killed in the line of duty …", "Killed while performing the assignment of the Government of the USSR …", "Killed in the line of military service …". Perished, perished, perished … We are changing. We grow up, we get old, we get old. And they remain at the same age.
And with age, you understand how much you have not seen in life that lieutenant colonel who died at 34 years old. Or this lieutenant at 24 … Even the major at 41 did not see much. And that smiling sergeant in a Panama hat with an obviously ineptly drawn "Red Star" on his chest did not seem to live at all at 21 … Soldiers and officers in military cemeteries.
But today I want to say not about that. Memory and respect for those who perished have always been inherent in our people. Even in the dashing years of our history, when they tried to deprive us of this memory, the graves, and the overwhelming majority, remained untouched.
They "touched" and turned the facts over. Roughly the same as what we hear today about Donbass or Syria. "Why are the guys dying!", "Russian citizens are dying for the ambitions of political leaders …", "Let's negotiate with the killers, because …"
Today I remembered how this holiday changed in the lives of a large number of our readers. It is no secret that there are a lot of us, those who have been living on this earth for a long time.
Remember your childhood, dear veterans. Day of the Soviet Army and Navy. Front-line soldiers with military awards in the streets. Accordions. Dances. We snotty boys looked at these 50 (plus or minus 5) year old men and women with wide eyes. And they waited. They were waiting for when they would also entrust us to wear the uniform of the Soviet army.
Those who, due to various circumstances, did not serve in the army understood everything perfectly. This is not their holiday. Like Victory. The holiday is universal, but the main persons on it were and will always be those with orders and medals on their chests. Those who personally had a chance to "break the back of German fascism."
And then something happened. They began to teach us that this day is no longer just a holiday for the army and all those who wear shoulder straps. February 23 began to turn into an analogue of the women's holiday on March 8. Belonging to the male sex somehow automatically ranked you among the "protectors". Even if you only saw the machine on the screens of cinemas. Man…
Even a special term has appeared: “potential defender”. Very pleasant for those who were not going to approach the army for a cannon shot. Especially among young people. Not served, but with testicles, which means - potential. I am not going to serve, but to celebrate … And until recently it was the "potential" ones who celebrated most zealously.
I understand that then the country was faced with the task of training more officers. Khrushchev did his dirty deed. He chopped off the roots of the army. That is why a lot of "reserve officers" appeared, who, apart from at the military department in their native university, did not see military equipment and weapons in their eyes (if they did), and the soldier was perceived as something similar to a nightmarish monster. A sort of "beast" that exists only to harm the young "reserve officer".
And somehow imperceptibly, at least for me, the Day of the Soviet Army has ceased to be a military holiday. A kind of day when women give gifts to men at work. Everyone, without exception. In the hope that they will not be forgotten in a couple of weeks on March 8th. And the main role was no longer played by the military. The main role was played simply by men.
What happened next? And then it suddenly turned out that "those who served - morons …". It means that there was not enough money for a bribe or intelligence to go to college. "Two years erased from life …" Well, and other nonsense that most of the readers remember. The parents of the soldiers did not say proudly when they met - "Yes, they serve somewhere in Sakhalin …". They said - "They took them to the army …" And the army itself then began to turn into a kind of zone. In some parts, even the "laws" were almost the same.
Afghanistan did not really change the situation either. Those who returned from there were surprised to see on TV that they did not fight there, but were engaged in some form of charity. They built orphanages, if memory serves, "Rodnichok" in Russian, built roads. "Bridge of Friendship" … And the parents of conscripts all over the country ran in search of an "approach" to the military commissar so that the boy would not be sent there. Hence the famous "I did not send you there …"
And what about perestroika? Remember the orders of the commanders about the prohibition of wearing military uniforms outside the service. Think of the officers at the vegetable bases. In the freight yards of railway stations. Remember yourself. I don't dream of these long Manchurian cucumbers, but I can't look at them calmly if I see them. Those who served in the Far Eastern Military District in the early 90s will probably understand and hum with understanding.
We often talk about the national idea. We often talk about the fate of Russia in general. We resent the performances of our liberals on television talk shows. But all this is from there. From what I described above. A country that, out of 1000 years of its existence, was forced to defend itself, fight, perish, drive the enemy from its native land for 700 years, cannot exist without a Defender. It just can't!
They cannot forgive us Dmitry Donskoy. We cannot be forgiven for Alexander Nevsky. They cannot forgive us Peter the Great. They cannot forgive us Suvorov. We cannot be forgiven for Ushakov, Nakhimov, Kutuzov, Zhukov, Rokossovsky. And what hatred our "partners" feel at the mention of the names of Soviet commanders, how they mangle, it is simply pleasant to observe.
Today, and this is very noticeable, Russia has returned to understanding the role of the servant person. Therefore, the competition for military schools will soon become the same as in Soviet times. That is why the military is playing games. Parks are being built.
We have changed. Our memory has returned to us.
More precisely, there has always been memory, just the concepts and the system of perception as a whole have changed. We are not the same as 20 years ago. Not all of a sudden, of course, but they remembered that we are the descendants and parents of the winners. Descendants of those who beat the fascists and relatives of those who exterminated animals in human form in Chechnya and Dagestan. Closing themselves Abkhazia and South Ossetia. Reconciling Georgians who have finally lost their shores. Who became the shield of Donbass. Embodying today the hope for a peaceful tomorrow in Syria.
And all of these are Protectors.
The idea that our politicians and ideologists do not see in any way - here it is! Not a businessman is the main character of our life. Not a fat wallet solves all problems. You can only buy someone who is on sale. And the country is not defended for money. The country is defended at the call of the heart. The main person in the country, the "backbone" of the state, is a serviceman. Defender. No matter where he is serving. In a war or a fire in the nearest neighborhood, at a police post or in an ambulance, near your home or in another country. Man defends Russia!
And the graves, which I wrote about in the beginning, are nothing more than a call to our minds. Here we are! We, who gave ours for your life. We, who by our unborn children, gave you the opportunity to become a father, mother, uncle, aunt, grandfather, grandmother. We are our own, on which Russia has stood and will remain. We are the foundation.
Recently I watched the performance of the Alexandrov ensemble, which was renewed after the tragedy. First concert. To be honest, I watched it with concern. Will they fail? Do not let you down! Nice concert, great professionals. Some people left, others came. But the ensemble remained! The same is true for Russia. People leave, but the Defenders remain. Is always! It's just that faces and names change.
Happy Defenders! It is difficult to become a Protector, if you are a true Protector. It costs a lot of sweat and blood. But, if you are the Protector, then this is forever! For all time.
