It's good in the army."
For a long time I have been concerned with the question of where the moral breakdown in the Russian army occurred, leading to this modern "good in the army".
In my opinion, I found it in the period before the reform, just when Serdyukov became the Minister of Defense and his reforms did not take off.
Yes, this was the last recruitment for two years. The soldiers still wore boots and learned to wrap their feet in the military registration and recruitment bureaus. In the hut there was only cold water and a bathing and washing day once a week. Civil service was not expected. In general, everything was tin and wood.
At the same time, this army had a spirit of its own. Everyone there, from the soldier to the general, understood what it was for; The formula boils down to two words: "Fight NATO."
And yes, looking at this still hungry army, everyone understood that it would be difficult for us to fight with NATO, to say the least. But this formula still seeped into reality. Jokes about another unkempt and stupid contrabass, that it is a "NATO threat" and constant orders for accelerated movement of units, since, for example, "paratroopers of the French Foreign Legion landed in the unit's park". Before discussions between the sergeants whether the Apache would be able to cover our column or whether it would be cut off by the Tunguska, or the constant discussions of the officers in front of the formation about our readiness for combat operations. The reasoning is sometimes unfair and offensive, since combat training was so-so.
I understand that this was all a distant echo of the Cold War. To be fair, the division where the manager served was on constant alert; At the time, there was one for each district. And yes, the memory of her leaving the GSVG is still alive. I mean, it was so eternal when the new recruit had not yet arrived and the army used to live in inertia. And its own structure, at that time, was still tailored to conflict with NATO, tailored, of course, to the modest real capabilities available.