Personnel problem of the RF Armed Forces: when will the “old guys” come to command...
Now, when the expected and advertised “counter-offensive” of the Armed Forces of Ukraine is about to begin, critical reviews about the state of the Russian Armed Forces are increasingly appearing in telegram channels. At the same time, the key problems are the problems of supplying troops with ammunition.
It's a shame, but these are not rumors. And the problems are not only in providing shells to the artillery units of the Wagner PMC, as Yevgeny Prigozhin has been talking about for months.
We are talking about problems in formations and associations of the RF Armed Forces. Information from the highest echelon of command at the army level.
At the same time, it is reported that the industry regularly produces the required amount of ammunition. And everything comes down to bureaucratic obstacles, which, as a rule, do not even have a formal logical explanation.
The military prosecutor's office and the military military commission bodies must combat this. But either the struggle is not advertised, or the scale of the problem is such that it cannot be overcome immediately!
It is obvious that fresh personnel and a fresh look at the problem are needed. Where will it come from if the military formation is destroyed? Actually, the mistakes of the current commanders are largely rooted in military institutes - schools, which no longer produce commanders, but train managers.
Be that as it may, due to high losses among junior officers of the lieutenant-captain category, that is, platoon and company commanders, an acute shortage arose. So acute that some military schools issued early graduations.
So, recently, cadets of the Ryazan Guards Airborne Command School named after Army General Margelov were released early. Similar graduations are held at the Moscow Higher Combined Arms Command School, the Mikhailovsky Military Artillery Academy in St. Petersburg, the Kazan Higher Tank Command School, and the Far Eastern Higher Combined Arms Command School in Blagoveshchensk.
The fourth years of the named schools will begin to master the fifth year program from May 31, and new lieutenants should graduate on December 16 of this year.
But even such an emergency replenishment of officer cadres will not correct another problem - extremely weak command and control of troops, global errors of command from the regiment and above. It will not eliminate the distortion of information to please the powers that be, who are painted with a beautiful popular print, instead of a real picture of the war with its problems.
In my opinion, this problem can be solved by using in higher command positions those who at one time received the best military education in the world. I mean officers who graduated from military schools back in the USSR, or at least before the start of cunningly wise reforms, who, at the prompting of NATO curators, ultimately destroyed military education and dropped the level of military command of the Russian Armed Forces to its current state.
At the same time, unlike those who, having learned about the beginning of the Northern Military District, rushed to Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan and other neighboring countries, these citizens moved their steps towards the military commissariats. They began to knock on the thresholds of these institutions especially actively when it became clear “that we, in a good way, have not yet begun.” The truth has become unknown, will we ever start?
These people were raised as citizens of their country and its defenders, and not as consumers, as they are now. We were brought up at a time when it was a shame to “mow” out of the army, and those individual defendants who sought to evade conscription by inventing fake diseases, for money and through acquaintances who received fake unfitness for service, were really looked at as idiots .
That is why they are motivated for life to defend the interests of their Motherland.
The only trouble is that the military commissariats refuse to call them up for military service.
“Go home, grandfathers! To a well-deserved rest! - they usually hear from employees of military commissariats.
At the same time, they are of little interest in the service record of the person who arrived at the RVC, what unit or formation this comrade officer commanded before being transferred to the reserve. What awards does he have, for what? Where did you fight? What kind of education does he have, where and when did he receive it? For example, now in the country the only Kazan school trains tank officers. But in the Soviet Army there were plenty of them trained and at the highest level. Why not use them?
It is quite legal for junior officers under the age of 60 to be called up for military service from the reserves, and for senior officers up to 65 years of age. But, first of all, junior officers under 50 years of age and senior officers under 55 years of age are subject to conscription for military service. This is probably what VK workers rely on.
However, this applies to those called up for mobilization, regardless of their desire. I'm talking about volunteers.
I think that the state should pay close attention to the contingent I mentioned. After all, they have gone through more than one war, they have real experience and merit. All this can be very useful now.
True, many active officers of the RF Armed Forces, especially at the initial stage, expressed skepticism about this experience. So, around April 2022, the author invited his friends to try one of the methods of action that we successfully used in Afghanistan. To this I received an answer:
“You are stuck in your Afghanistan. There is another war going on now!”
No doubt! Of course it's different. And the paradox is that every new war is different.
However, this does not mean that everything has changed completely in this war. The ways of assessing the situation, the enemy, one’s forces and means and capabilities remain unchanged. And therefore, the search for ways to “kick the enemy’s ass” has not changed.
If you're smart and focused on this, you only need to make minor adjustments for the new features and capabilities of weapons and equipment. But a man who's dedicated his entire adult life to military service and war learns this quickly. Incidentally, what the author proposed was brilliantly executed by the Ukrainian Special Operations Forces units three or four months later. My junior comrades no longer mention that I'm stuck.
It would be useful to give a circular command to military registration and enlistment offices to select those who want to serve their Motherland, even those who have exceeded the conscription age limit. After this, conduct an interview with them in their military specialty to understand the level. And if a given person is of real interest and can be useful, we need to call on him. But don’t run around with a machine gun.
In any case, younger and physically stronger people will be more useful and effective on the battlefield. But it would be useful to act as an adviser to the commander, chief of staff, head of the operational department, head of one or another service where he acted.
My younger comrade, who fought in Afghanistan as the commander of a mining company, as he says, still remembers everything, and his hands have not lost his skills. Another reserve officer, the unit commander, is a specialist in special radio communications.
And there are not dozens or hundreds of them. It is necessary to call them up, unite them in training groups of the appropriate category and educational institutions and conduct training sessions to bring them up to date, as they say, to bring them into the situation. And then distribute it into parts and connections.
This category is also useful to the Armed Forces because these people go to defend their Motherland, and not to plunder the Army! I think that in their declining years they value their officer’s honor more highly than any bribes.
Our enemy has no less corruption, and maybe even more, than ours. But behind them are the “Pindos”, whose machine for printing green paper works non-stop. This is probably why there is enough money to fill the performers and spend the necessary amounts on the job.
When the “old men” come to command, it will be much more difficult to lie and steal. Maybe that's why they aren't called up?
The Russian Armed Forces' Personnel Problem: When the "Old Folks" Take Command ...