Translated material
Fell and did push-ups
They want to make the army and navy slimmer
Defense Minister Anatoly Serdyukov set the task for his subordinates to develop a concept for elite sports by September 1 of this year. After agreement with the Ministry of Sports and Tourism, the document will be submitted to the President of the country for approval. So the military department, despite the crisis and the ongoing large-scale reform, is not going to completely abandon elite sports. However, he will reconsider his approaches to it. The head of the physical training department of the Russian armed forces, Colonel Alexander Shchepelev, spoke about this. True, he did not specify what parameters are included in the concept and how it will differ from previous similar guidance documents. That is, the fate of CSKA still remains unclear .The newly appointed head of the Central Sports Club of the Army, Colonel Dmitry Shlyakhtin, will bring the new concept to life. The document will outline the structure of CSKA, the principles of recruiting sports teams, and military service by athletes, including conscripts. As is known, Minister of Defense Anatoly Serdyukov and Minister of Sports, Tourism and Youth Policy Vitaly Mutko, after the scandal surrounding the destruction of the army sports system and the sending of professional athletes serving to military units, agreed that conscripts would remain in CSKA until the fall of 2009, and Athletes-officers who have merit must decide on their future career during this time.
The Concept of physical training of military personnel, approved by the head of the military department in May 2008, continues to operate. The main requirement of this document is that physical training must ensure the readiness of military personnel to conduct combat operations. In 2009, the military department developed a physical training manual, which was approved by the Ministry of Justice. Other documents of a “lower rank” are being prepared - manuals for the types of armed forces and branches of the armed forces.
The physical readiness of military personnel, explained Colonel Shchepelev, is now assessed according to a hundred-point system. To be an excellent student, you need to pass the standards with at least 70 points. A sufficient number of points entitles the officer to additional payments. All standards for physical training were developed by specialists from the Military Institute of Physical Culture and are based on age. Unlike the US Army, they are in no hurry to dismiss military personnel who fail to meet the standards. A period of six months is given for “correction,” during which an instructor is assigned to the “weak person.” The minimum requirements are ten pull-ups on the bar, as well as 36 flexions and extensions of the arms in a lying position, simply put, push-ups from the floor.
If earlier physical training classes in army units were planned once or twice a week, now five times - every day for an hour. This requirement also applies to senior and senior officers. If an officer has excellent marks in physical training, he can determine the hours of such training for himself. Full units will participate in training in military applied sports. Naturally, the traditional thirty-minute physical exercises will be carried out daily in divisions and units.
Two new concepts are being introduced into the military sports vocabulary. The first is physical fitness tests. Everyone will take them upon entering military service. The second test - physical readiness - will be taken by all categories of military personnel systematically throughout their service. Physical training requirements will be specified in the contracts that those entering the service enter into with the Ministry of Defense. Even a uniform sports uniform is being developed for military personnel on active duty and under contract.
The concept of physical training for military personnel provides for an increase in the number of instructors. Today there is only one physical training specialist per regiment. This is not enough, the military believes. Therefore, for the first time, a whole platoon of instructors in military-applied sports is being introduced into the formed brigades of constant readiness. Ten instructors will work in a brigade of up to 4 thousand people, with a larger number - 15. All of them are sergeants and foremen with secondary specialized education. They will be trained in St. Petersburg at a specialized institute for two years and ten months. Graduates will be awarded the qualification “specialist in physical culture and sports.” There is already a corresponding decision by the Minister of Defense.
Instructors will be invited from civilian pedagogical universities and vocational schools to conduct physical training classes with military personnel. There are more than 70 pedagogical universities in the country that do not have a military department, but whose students must serve military service. Instructors will also be recruited from graduates of the Military Institute of Physical Culture. The recruitment of instructors for the courses has already begun.
In peacetime, they will conduct classes with military personnel, members of their families, pre-conscription youth, and reservists. These are specialized classes in the troops, that is, in army hand-to-hand combat, shooting training, overcoming obstacles, diving training and swimming (about 40% of conscripts cannot swim), mountaineering, terrain orientation and accelerated movement on skis. In wartime, counter-sabotage and reconnaissance and sabotage platoons will be formed from physical training instructors.