These lines are written instead of a requiem for the executed guards. Do we experience acute pain from shrapnel in the body of the Armed Forces? Or have you suffered terrible acts of violence, the mass death of guys killed by their own colleagues? There is little comfort in the fact that the executioner - a serviceman - is usually a person physically or morally disabled. Is it really difficult to insure against socially dangerous types who have no place among armed defenders?

Even Peter I on November 18, 1699 issued a decree on the recruitment of regular troops. At the same time, we adopted the French word "grenadier", which literally means "grenade thrower". Hand grenades in that era were heavy, and the strongest and most agile infantrymen could successfully use them. The old Russian Guard consisted entirely of heroes. The pride of each battalion was a grenadier company, made up of the tallest, strongest and most intelligent recruits. There was no shortage of them in subsequent times, until recently. And today, even elite units are being formed with great effort. The number of socially neglected and criminally affected young people is too high. It is clear to everyone that any representative of the notorious "risk group" is, in diplomatic terms, "persona non grata". That is, an undesirable face. He's a nuisance to the commanders, if not worse. What good can you expect from a subject who is dangerous to yourself and others? The slightly tweaked "title" is just asking for it: "persona non granata".

Sometimes this grenadier appears as a diabolical figure on the contrary. But to see him as the source of all evil is at least naive. This is a nightmarish phenomenon. It is necessary to look at it with close attention. Consider the background of tragedies as a matter of life and death. We study the device of ammunition in the context, in detail - the techniques and rules for handling it. It is not by chance that I have chosen further lines from the Manual of Small Arms for the subheadings.

Killing range

Shameful annual "balance" of Russia: a million crimes, but not simple, but serious and especially serious. In this black million, the proportion of atrocities committed by military personnel is very small. But they receive the greatest public response. And it's not even about the efforts of television and other media outlets, which are most willing to present the army theme in the form of literally killer news. There is a particular danger of crime in the combat system, among armed people and formidable arsenals. Moreover, it is not a secret to anyone: out-of-the-ordinary incidents occurred both in the usual and in the most "cool" parts.

... More than a year ago, in one of the garrisons of the Far Eastern District, the personnel of the guard was riddled with bursts. He caused a bloodbath... sentry private Naumov, who voluntarily left the post. He killed seven of his fellow soldiers. The ruthless killer was apprehended. His vicious tendencies, including the use of toxic substances, were easily identified.

.. Last June night, the peacekeeping forces in Abkhazia suffered even heavier losses - not in combat. Breeding senior sergeant-contractor Vaganov entered the sleeping area and opened fire on the officer and colleagues. Total: 10 dead and 3 seriously wounded. After that, the "peacemaker" put a bullet in his forehead. Conclusion of post-mortem forensic examination:

he suffered from schizophrenia. At the same time, the thoughtfulness with which a mentally ill person committed a cruel reprisal is striking. To eliminate possible opposition, he previously disassembled the machine guns. More precisely, he took out the bolts and hid them. Further, he forbade the guards sent to their posts to check their weapons according to all the rules before loading them. Strangely, the soldiers didn't suspect anything. If they had performed a control descent, they would have immediately felt that the trigger was not resting on the bolt.

.. On September 9, 1998, terrorists in uniform appeared in the Arctic, on Novaya Zemlya. They turned out to be sailors Shakhmalov, Malsagov, Sharipov and Bugaev, who were kept in the brig. While working, they killed a guard and, seizing a car, left the protected area unnoticed. They took 40 schoolchildren and 9 teachers hostage and demanded to take them by plane to Dagestan or Chechnya. Fortunately, they were neutralized-thanks to the fighters of the anti-terrorist center.

.. 19-year-old sailor Kuzminykh served on a nuclear submarine of the Northern Fleet. In the dead of the night on September 11, 1998, he struck a fatal blow with a hammer to a sailor on watch and took possession of his submachine gun. Then he shot seven crew members of the nuclear-powered ship and locked himself in the torpedo compartment. It is not known what else might have occurred to this "latent schizophrenic," as he was later described. It's bitter to say, but many people breathed freely when he committed suicide. It is clear that the suicide who brought so much grief was not well remembered. They recalled that Kuzminykh was sullen, unsociable, and obsessed with violence. According to the official representative of the fleet, such an entity in former Soviet times would not have been included in the team serving nuclear missile technology under any circumstances.

And the Western world is happy to pick up this kind of news. They say that the Russians do not reliably protect important objects. Get their nuclear arsenal under control, or even better - to the nail!

We have our own ideas on this point. There is no dispute that it is risky to arm people who are completely unfit for military activity. They have already given us the reputation of a "self-destructing army." The question is: why do we start to find out "who is who" inexcusably late-when the worst has already happened? This pattern causes confusion in the listed and similar tragedies. In some places, weapons are safely entrusted to drug addicts or the mentally ill ("schizophrenia" in Greek means "split mind"). In other cases, they do not take control of subordinates who have criminal records. They turn a blind eye to hooligan habits, which sometimes turn into gangster affairs. At the Novaya Zemlya training ground, those four sailors began with barrack terror, and then dared to dictate their terms to both the island and the mainland. Many TV viewers must have watched a fascinating story about how Basayev's Polar followers were disarmed. It also took computer analysis to get to the bottom of the bandits and understand what to expect from each of them. Oh, if we had practiced such a detailed forecast on the threshold of the service, how many black cases would we have anticipated!

Basic data

I am reporting from the border, which is located in ...Moscow itself. Of course, you won't see any border posts at the city assembly point. Nevertheless, there is an important milestone here. Here the path to military life opens for some and closes for others. The staff of the station is vigilant in protecting the interests of the army and conscripted youth. Here they do not simplify, but complicate their lives. But we are talking about a lot of destinies.

The center for medical and psychological research created here also" complicated life". But the result is impressive. Last time, only 6 people fell under the category of "unjustified appeal". That is, out of a solid number of recruits sent from here, only six were rejected in military units. This is nothing compared to how much the center's employees eliminated. One of them, Major R. Klementyev, heads the professional selection group. With the legitimate pride of an enthusiast, he is in a hurry to show the product.:

"We used to act haphazardly. And they often disagreed. Let's say, according to my observations, such and such a lad should not be put into service. And the doctor for his candidacy is a mountain: they say, the service will pull. The conclusions were lopsided. Now, working in a team, it is easier for us to get a versatile and, most importantly, objective description of a particular person.

How everything happens - judge for yourself. It looks like an ordinary computer class. This is, figuratively speaking, an electronic confessional. The next stream of recruits sits down at a table with displays. The operator briefly instructs how to use the equipment. And then comes the time of confessions, which, however, lasts 15-20 minutes. Testing is carried out using a multidisciplinary program, the principle of which is "trust, but verify". About two hundred innocuous questions are put together in such a way that, like it or not, the truth comes out. The guys themselves are convinced that this is not a naive examiner who can easily rub points in front of them. You can't fool an astute computer around your finger. The printout contains a complete list of the subject's strengths and weaknesses.

The final "portrait" is made in the laboratory of psychodiagnostics, also automated. For the best "drawing" of details, the option of checking a soldier without five minutes is individually selected - taking into account the assessment of his emotional stability. If in doubt , an in-depth neurological examination is performed. Lieutenant Colonel of the medical Service O. Rabotkin, head of the military medical commission, is also happy to speak out in favor of innovations.:

- Until recently, I had to rely heavily on the personal data of a conscript, take his word for it. Now there is no need, for example, to ask: was the boy addicted to drugs? Here I have in my hands the simplest device "express test" worth $ 12-it brings the utmost clarity.

The "risk group" does not pass unhindered through the small "sieve" of the center. Its specialists actually conduct a control examination of young men, sometimes cleaning up the" sins " of conscription commissions. And yet the tongue will not turn to blame someone. Even in the capital's district military enlistment offices, not to mention the Russian hinterland, fitness for combat is determined in the old-fashioned way. Forms are filled out manually and indicators are calculated. Hell of a job. In addition, it is difficult to vouch for the accuracy of information obtained in the old-fashioned way. And instead of an electronic dossier that fully describes the recruit, the commander receives accompanying documents with extremely sparse information.

They say that Moscow is the only place out of 89 subjects of the Russian Federation where the above-described computer "purgatory"is widely used. The Moscow government has allocated funds for its equipment. And who will be generous with other "borders"?

Security measures

Weapons are weapons. A quality status card is attached to each machine and gun. Ammunition without marking is not allowed to be fired. It is strictly forbidden to use, for example, shells with bent stabilizers and fuses with rust, shell casings with dents and soaked charges, cartridges with skewed fuses and fuses with cracks... It is not for nothing that a shell or grenade box is necessarily stamped with a danger sign. Ammunition must be sorted and rejected at the slightest suspicion of a malfunction.

You can't dispose of living souls that way. A sentient being is more complex than the most sophisticated mechanism. Suffice it to say that to define various traits of human character in the Russian language, there are, according to Dahl, over one and a half thousand words. Recruits are not delivered in the original packaging of the same caliber with the inscription "do not turn". They don't have anything written on their foreheads. And their superiors should show real skill in order to quickly figure out who has a broken fate and rust in their soul, who has shaky life attitudes and distortions in their minds...

Midshipman V. Dahl, a wonderworker of Russian literature, also knew military life very well. In his story "Retired", the image of the staff doctor is curious - "an experienced recognizer of the mental qualities of a person by external signs." Meeting the next batch of servicemen, "he examined each recruit under a double look, official and private." Those whose eyes he read with intelligence were designated as orderlies.

Sophisticated physiognomists are still in price. Every time the "merchants" from the military units are launched on tricks to push the competitors to find the right guys. "As soon as I was one day late, all the good ones were taken apart," an officer almost cried in public at the recruiting station.

In different types of Armed Forces and branches of the Armed Forces, in regime and simple units - their own secrets of selecting and studying variable composition. In this regard, many garrisons are conducting a genuine "attack on maybe", as the "Landmark" has repeatedly told us.

You don't need to go far for examples. In the Taman motorized rifle division, they instruct officers who are assigned to young recruits. "Comrade Major, consider that you are going after people who will be under your command," - carefully explain to anyone who sins with an indifferent official look in such an important matter.

The commander of the Guards division, Major General E. Lazebin, sadly revealed to me that his reference book was a reference book for a military investigator. No, no, and he is forced to embody in one person a divisional commander and a detective. To reduce to a minimum the number of unauthorized absences and other misdemeanors, he was helped not only by his knowledge of criminology, the ability to investigate an incident and harshly influence the perpetrators. What then?

"You know, if a soldier feels that he is being looked after and cared for like a good parent, his conscience will not allow him to pay with black ingratitude.

Take the performance of a combat task for the protection and defense of objects. In the regiments, a privilege is established for those on guard duty. They are offered a special menu. On weekdays and holidays, they prepare their favorite dishes to order: dumplings, cabbage rolls, chebureks. Attention to requests is accompanied by the strictest demand for accurate compliance with the statutes. So that it does not work out, as in the famous poem:

"Where the table was filled with food, there stands the coffin."

It is significant that the planned prosecutor's landing from Moscow did not find a single incident among the Taman soldiers that they tried to hush up and silence. And the military justice authorities are just concerned about latent, that is, hidden, crimes concealed by the command. "We want the army to become transparent," said the chief military Prosecutor, Colonel - General of Justice Yu. Demin.

You can talk for a long time about how openness is ensured from the inside in the units of the division. So, when the guards are put into service, their anonymous survey is conducted-twice in the initial month and a half of service. Most of the questions from the category of sensitive: "Do you feel like a full-fledged member of the team or would you like to transfer to another division?", " What is the relationship with colleagues?", " Is it customary for you to calculate money for any needs?", " How satisfied are the living conditions, food, washing in the bath?", "Who do you turn to when you're having a hard time?"

- Reassured by the fact that his last name is not highlighted, the interviewee cuts the truth. And the analysis of the answers helps us a lot to get our bearings, " Colonel V. Lemchik, the Deputy Division Director for educational work of the Guard, does not exaggerate at all.

Information for reflection is provided by calls to the "helpline", and written complaints thrown into special mailboxes. And understanding the "tribe of the young, unfamiliar" facilitates an individual approach. After all, the inner world of a person can be judged by the nuances of his behavior. The genius of pedagogy A. Makarenko strongly advised:

"You need to be able to read a human face... There is nothing sly or mystical about recognizing certain signs of mental movement by looking at your face."

Do we pay tribute to the incredible efforts that commanders, educators, and psychologists make in order not to overlook the "risk group"? It is not easy to understand the feelings of subordinates who grew up in broken families, who did not know the positive influence of their father, or even their mother's affection... They live in strong military collectives in a brotherly way, are demanding and attentive to each other, and know who is breathing what. That's why the early warning system works. A negative fact doesn't show up in the worst-case scenario. A misdemeanor does not develop into a criminal offense.

A typical case is that of a guard private named Turnip. His "clean" documents did not mislead the officers. Experience and intuition told me that this unbalanced guy should not be trusted with a weapon. When they requested a real professional selection card for a conscript from Novorossiysk, they were horrified. The young man found himself with a "wormhole": a drug addict with experience, was registered in a psychiatric clinic. He was sentenced to 4 years of probation, followed by a 5-year probation period. And after the verdict, he was brought to the police three more times.

- It should have been kept under constant control for nine years in a row. But instead, they shamelessly shoved them into the Guards 'ranks," the divisional commander is rightly indignant.

They decided to send the unfortunate fighter for examination to the district military hospital. And before him, 123 Taman soldiers from the spring draft visited the psychiatrist, Lieutenant Colonel of the medical service M. Gabrielyants. It turned out that 16 of them urgently need hospitalization due to mental illnesses.

For a little over a year, about a hundred people were dismissed prematurely for this reason. In fact, they were removed from the start of military service. It seems to be a successful outcome: the division got rid of potential carriers of emergency situations. And the gaps in the formation? You can't fill them out with claims. It is easier to get sense out of suppliers of unusable "military products", who are obliged to quickly send a replacement in response to a complaint.

Simulated salvo

In all ages, the best minds have argued about the preference of this or that type of warrior. "The recruit of serfdom entered the regiment as a hero of the main soldier's virtue - obedience," wrote the famous pre-revolutionary thinker M. Menshikov.

"But conditions have changed radically since then. The soldier now comes out of a wild, disorderly environment, from anarchic youth, whose mischief reaches psychosis... The army is not a place to dump sewage. The army is the greatest treasure of the people, the most necessary organ that ensures the life of the state. The army should be protected as a sacred object, taking every possible care to preserve its spirit." And the same author seriously suggested using "people who are naturally belligerent" as "material for war". "If it is true," he reasoned, " that war is not made by tools, but by men, then a born rapist is naturally more likely to understand his business than a simple - minded mother's son... Imagine that we have a conscripted army of troublesome individuals somewhere on a troubled border."

Practice has shown the failure of many theories. On troubled borders, both the humble and the boisterous are equally undesirable. And outwardly tough guys are not very likely to be called to a hot spot. Some, "self-determining" for the service for hire, strive to find a safe, secondary position, where it is easier to imitate some activity. Others prefer to join a gang...

Perhaps it is rare in any country not to feel a shortage in the recruitment of troops. The recruitment plan at all costs forces Americans to enlist people from poor neighborhoods, Blacks and Mexicans who are registered with the police. According to a recent study by Newsweek magazine, gangsterism occurs at more than 50 major U.S. military bases. Drug business, robberies, armed attacks on citizens and their homes, murders... Even the Navy, traditionally considered a bastion of law and order, has been infiltrated by powerful criminal groups. The magazine states: "Common sense suggests that when crime is rampant in the country, the army cannot remain a virgin either."

(The ending follows)

Постоянный адрес данной публикации: