Putin’s Mobilization (yes, another opinion)
An account via Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty (h/t Claudio)
I have had the opportunity to interact with Russian people and former Russian military people in my life. I don’t view them as an alien subset. They’re real people with real situations and their established military has always beaten recruits for their money, extorted relatives for money, and stolen their food and their uniforms. It’s the Russian way of things. It’s not unusual for a recruit to be beaten to death. I don’t know what the percentages are and based on the next piece on the blog (see “Wickedness” coming tomorrow), it seems that places in the USA are devolving to the same level.
Those blog readers who served in any US Military branch will have induction stories, having the medics hold the compressed air injection guns just off the skin so that the shots blow holes in your arm and the vaccine runs down to the deck with your blood. Sometimes the uniform issue doesn’t go quite to plan. There is a period of acclimation that everyone goes through. But it’s nothing like Russia.
I’ve been through very challenging training and very strenuous situations in my career. Many days in my career were difficult, and I’m not the only one. But, the level of bullshit that the Ruskies are going through both in mobilization and in combat from no or bad equipment, bad leadership, bad training, bad intelligence, bad food, weak logistics, and on and on is a level of dysfunction that we simply don’t see in the West.
Good officers look after their men. The fault isn’t with senior NCOs, it’s with officers. I know that there are strong officers and weak ones – because they’re selected from the human race, but frankly, there is no excuse for being a bad officer. In many cases, the senior NCOs form the backbone. I know this, but the fault for systemic failure is with the officers. I don’t know whether I was a good officer because I have to look at it from my perspective, not through the eyes of the men that I led (I never led women). When saw injustice, I put a stop to it, when my frogs needed something, I made sure they got it, and there was iron discipline if somebody said, “good to go”. That meant that it really was GOOD TO GO. I watched my people for signs of stress and for indications that they were pushed too far, too long, or too hard. Yes, the NCOs were there, but the responsibility was all mine. The Russians don’t appear to have that working for them at all. The officers and NCOs are not asserting control or discipline, they are likely stealing the food that should go to their soldiers and selling it out the back door. Maybe it’s the same with uniforms and medical supplies?
The Russian military is folding at the point of kinetic contact and it’s obvious why.
Not trying to suck up but as a 28 year NCO and retired CMSgt you saying that “but the responsibility was all mine” is a strong mark in your favor. Many of the junior officers I worked with would not say that. Several of the O6s and O7s I worked with would definitely say that though thank goodness.
I think I was in the military during an ideal time. As long as all the munitions I was responsible for worked and we passed all the major inspections people left the bomb dump pretty much alone. Don’t think I would be near as successful as I was if I had to deal with everything that today’s troop have to deal with.
NONE of the people I served with would be ok with what is going on today. There were a lot of strong-willed people in my epoch who took their oath to defend the Constitution against all enemies, both foreign and domestic seriously – as serious as a heart attack. The presence of critical race theory, embracing homosexuality, transsexuality, and 31 genders, and assigning political officers to oversee political indoctrination would not have been accepted to any degree.
Every perspective is different. I had a decent military experience with decent NCO’s and, with some exceptions, decent officers. Most problems I brought on myself, being a smart ass. Add alcohol and that was smart ass squared.
My unrecognized physical weakness was low crawl. I had never done it. Push ups? 50 with the right, or fifty with the left, no problem. Compassionate Corporal Arnold introduced me to the Jo Jo Club.
“Step right up folks and see Jo Jo the Dog Faced Boy. He crawls along his belly like a reptile! Show’em son!”
My only reservation was nor getting killed for some damn fool, i.e., Lt Curtiss. If the balloon had ever gone up I would have shot him at the first opportunity. Probably would have needed to stand in line.
The Russian conscript experience I cannot fathom. How does that experience make an effective soldier? Who is he motivated to shoot once he gets the opportunity?
Their pre and post-Patriotic War system was rotten and apparently, it’s only become worse since the Cold War. The system was and is a kleptocracy. “Ryadovóy Slava, your father is a foreman at the tractor plant, tell him that if he wants to see his son again, to send 1000 rubles a month for your maintenance.” And the Russian people knew that if they didn’t send the money, there was a strong chance that Private Slava wouldn’t make it back in one piece. Even if the money was paid on time – there wasn’t much of a guarantee.
The Russians were never big on non-Coms and there aren’t any/many political officers (purple stripes). The regulars don’t play well with the “Mobiks” (conscripts, retreds) and the regional militia, who are often sacrificed to cover withdrawals by the regulars. The FSB (KGB/NKVD/Cheka) is brutal on civilians but too few to control the “regulars”. It ain’t your Daddy’s army.
If the Russian regulars get the bit in their teeth, Moscow could have some real problems.
I know more about how their navy works including Spetznaz. The officers handle all technical tasks, for example, the sensor suites on ships are operated and repaired by officers, not NCOs.
The training of Spetznaz operators included a hand-to-hand combat kill prior to graduation. Condemned prisoners were chosen for gladiatorial combat and were usually given a knife, whereas the operator had to kill them hand-to-knife. They were referred to as kukly/puppets and a successful kill of a trainee was rewarded with good food and a whore (not necessarily. a good whore, but any port in a storm). Candidly, I’m not necessarily opposed to the rite of passage. If you are training killers, they should be blooded.
All interesting. Thank you all.
You all be safe and God bless.
Avoid all tornadoes, LindaG!
Well, we’re headed for a conscript army again, and it won’t be pretty here, either.
If there is no course correction, they’ll be conscripting sexually ambiguous black people only
How do you undermine – even eliminate – the military that you hate? From within, chipping away and putting the weak incompetent’s in charge of the strong good people.
For me it comes down to the character in a man, and that is getting harder to find these days as the indoctrination of the immoral Left continues unabated. They are unprincipled, and that part glares like a Hellish beacon.
The Constitution? Ahh, we don’t need no stinking Old Dead White Men telling us how to operate, they were SLAVE OWNERS! so we get to dismiss them to achieve our utopian nirvana regardless the sacrifice and destruction. Doesn’t affect ‘us’ so “who cares” if the bodies stack up like cord wood.
At some point even a Putin – with his short-man complex (geez, dude, get over yourself) – would see the failure rate escalating and back off. Same with Zolenskyy, a weirdo if there ever was one (maybe that’s why the Hollywood crowd loves him). But narcissist psychopaths can’t do that…because it’s not their rear-end out there. The only way to end the stupidity is for “the troops” to walk off. I’d rather walk away, or even go to the hereafter, than fight in a pointless war because some moron poser politician wants to look like a tough guy and save face.
Now imagine that our own Half Brain Dead Wanker in Chief decided to send our troops over there “to help”, as he’s been doing by proxy? Then what? Heck, he and his inept crew left our boys behind in Afghanistan, and had the chutzpah to blame DJT. That’s now ancient history, except, of course, for those fighting for their lives stuck behind a [now] well armed enemy line. An impeachable offense of the highest order if there ever was one. But even that gets brushed away like it didn’t happen.
No, the psychopaths are not just in the military, they’re everywhere. It’s because the insidious Left is evil and wrecks everything it infiltrates, like a cancer…even if it means the host withers and dies in the process.
There’s only one way to fix that.
Fixing it at this point is possible. In 2 more years of FJB with a democrat legislature, more difficult. 6 more years? It would take a complete reboot
“We are now engaged in a great civil war to determine whether that nation or any nation so conceived and so dedicated can long endure,”
Lincoln
Yup.
the navy and the air force only met 10% of their recruiting goal. army was short 15k, even after they reduced the goal by 40%. nasty guard had similar numbers while 63k await decision to discharge them due to no vax. the majority of my state guard is returning from a year of cultural enrichment in such bastions of civility as somalia, albania, eritria, syria, and others. any guess on how many of those troops are cashing it in the moment they get home? i know my cw4 will be. especially since his regular job went away while he was gone.
It’s all predictable, isn’t it?
Had a conversation last summer with a SFC who was fixin’ to finish up his 20 and get out soon. He said if I had been disgusted how the Army changed post-Viet Nam (and I certainly was) then I REALLY wouldn’t like today’s Army.
Frankly, that scared hell out of me. But very predictable indeed.
I hear a lot of “WTF?!?” from my Navy buddies about “Today’s Navy”.