In uniform

The miracle did not happen?

April 23, 2009 Alexander Golts

The time of miracles has passed, and if they happen, then perhaps for the worse. This beloved phrase from Remarque (sorry, high -luminous aesthetes) occurred when I read the interfax’s message about the recent orders of the head of the Ministry of Defense. According to the unnamed source of the agency, the head of the military department ordered the dismissal of officers "on a voluntary basis on the basis of reports." According to the source, reports will have to write officers who do not want to serve in a lower position or go to a new place of service. The same source claims that all this was required because the money allocated to the dismissal of officers for the so -called organized activities (in this case, the officer receives a cash benefit of up to 185 thousand rubles and is provided with an apartment) ended. And optimization must be carried out.

Even when the leadership of the military department announced its reform planes, many were struck by what was stated: all events would be held within the existing budget, without additional allocations. It was obvious that the dismissal of more than one hundred thousand officers who have not served the deadlines set to receive a pension would require considerable compensations, and therefore considerable expenses. Another spending will require the disbandment of almost two thousand parts and formations (their number only in the Ground Forces should be reduced by 11 times). At the same time, the reformers did not say what means they intend to spend on optimization. It turned out that they counted on a miracle. The miracle did not happen.

And now, according to the anonymous source of Interfax, the army administrators received from the Minister of Cart-Blanche to act “as usual”. Well, something, but to dismiss an endless penalty and creating unbearable conditions in a voluntary-compulsory way, hanging on the officer. The worst thing is that in this way all the correct goals of the reform are strongly discredited. And the officers, with whom they threaten to do so in a prickly, have a moral right to quiet sabotage. They, believe me, also know how to do excellently. As a result, the reforms will slow down if they do not stop at all. Over the past one and a half decades, we have observed this repeatedly.

However, everything may not be so sad. It is noteworthy that, as the only example of lawlessness, the source pointed to 100 colonels and 50 generals from the central apparatus of the Ministry of Defense, who do not want to serve in lower positions, nor change the Arbat military district to others, let's say, much less comfortable for life, the areas of our immense homeland. Let's not forget that the officers of the central apparatus have three times more salary than their colleagues, pulling the army strap. The conflict, presumably, arose, while trying to realize Anatoly Serdyukov’s plan on the reduction in the number of the Ministry of Defense and the General Staff and other main headquarters from 22 to 8 thousand officers. Of course, no one has the right to lower the officer who has no penalties. But he is obliged to serve without any objections where the homeland with the authorities will be sent. So if we are talking about these officers, then the minister’s decision does not seem to be completely Dragon.

It is significant that at the same moment another information related to the command link of the Armed Forces came from the Ministry of Defense. 160 to the generals and colonels, appointed to the posts of commanders of divisions and brigades, a very tough exam was arranged. We checked physical training, the ability to drive military equipment and handle personal weapons. And besides, they checked knowledge and practical skills in the field of "management of the brigade divisions during the battle." As a result of the audit, 10 percent of the commanders received unsatisfactory estimates, that is, they demonstrated the unpreparedness to fulfill their positions. According to the head of the military training department, General Vladimir Shamanov, who is listed in the initiators of the audit, "the results of control classes will be entered into the personal affairs of the military and is the priority criteria for decisions on official growth." And the Minister of Defense has already ordered the Central Certificate Commission to consider the “compliance with the positions” of generals and senior officers who received “non -dudes”.

In my opinion, this is just a revolutionary event. In the Soviet and Russian army, the process of appointing to a high position was a secret behind seven seals and at the same time privilege of senior management, which no one should have reported regarding the motives of a personnel decision. I remember what the anger of Marshal Yazova at one time caused at first glance an article in the Red Star, which revealed a terrible secret: in the United States, generals are appointed by competition. And this competition has no chance of withstanding those who do not meet clearly formulated requirements, did not receive an appropriate education, did not serve in specific positions.

And today and we have the process of promotion in the service are trying to make a little more open. At the same time, it is clear that for “parquet generals” who have served at the headquarters all their lives, this does not mean anything good. And they will resist with all their might. The easiest way is to organize leaks in the media by transferring their own general problems to the entire officer corps. In conditions when reformers do not want to answer important questions, for example, regarding financing measures to optimize, this, unfortunately, may work.

Photo by RIA Novosti