Defender's Day

Dear editors!

I am writing to my favorite newspaper on a big holiday - Defender of the Fatherland Day. Although, according to established tradition, February 23 is often considered a men's holiday in general, it is still primarily a holiday of those who, at the call of the party, are ready to defend our Motherland with arms in hand. I have respected military men since childhood, although I did not follow the military line myself. Largely due to the fact that the military commanders kept telling me: “Don’t put on a smart face - you’re a future officer.” But I haven’t always managed not to make such a face: sometimes it looks concentrated and smart to me, even when I’m not thinking about anything at all.

But let's not talk about my humble person. I respect the military and believe that the last decades have been very difficult for them, as for many of us: to the traditional hardships and deprivations of military service were added lack of money and a decline in the prestige of the profession. No, of course, some staff and rear defenders of the Fatherland have greatly improved their financial situation, but for the bulk of servicemen everything turned out completely differently. Certain improvements appeared here only after our national leader and current prime minister began to lift the country from its knees.

Of course, our country is large, it takes a long time to get up from its knees... But now, when the country has risen from its knees and straightened its shoulders to the fullest, there will be significant changes for the better in the situation of the military. Most recently, Defense Minister Serdyukov said that starting from 2012, the average salary of lieutenants who graduate from military schools will be 50 thousand rubles. Its lower limit will be 40 thousand rubles, and the upper limit - as much as 80. An ordinary contract soldier will receive 25 thousand rubles. I am sincerely happy about this and congratulate our military on their professional holiday, which we, the staffers, strive to join in with all the time.

However, to my sincere bewilderment, some of my colleagues were not as enthusiastic about this. Moreover, they reacted to the fact that a lieutenant who had just graduated from college would receive the same amount as a doctor, professor, head of the department of my beloved Moscow State University. M.V. Lomonosov, without any understanding. How can you put on the same level a person who has defended two dissertations and a yellow-throated graduate, or an associate professor - a candidate of sciences - and an ordinary contract worker, they say. This, they say, is an indicator of the state’s real attitude towards science and education.

When I hear this, I immediately want to say: stop, stop, stop, colleagues. There is no need to lump together the undying love of our party and government for science and education and despicable metal. You can’t be like those materialistic girls who consider diamonds their best friends; As adults, we must be able to appreciate sincere and selfless feelings.

Yes, my fellow colleagues, it is simply outright and thoughtless selfishness to think and speak like some of us. Judge for yourself, if Georgian tanks go to Tskhinvali again, it will not be you with test tubes of alcohol for cleaning the optical axes at the ready who will go to defend it, but the military with machine guns. For thick-headed egoists like you, let me remind you of a common truth: a country that does not want to feed its army will feed someone else’s. I don’t know about you, but this prospect seriously frightens me: we can hardly feed our own officials and traffic cops, and if in addition we have to feed someone else’s army... No, it’s definitely better not to spare money on your own.

In addition, one cannot ignore the tension of the socio-political situation. The Middle East and North Africa are burning, stable regimes are collapsing like houses of cards. Well, just like in our country, poverty, corruption and lack of rights reach some irresponsible elements, who will then go to defend the constitutional order? Not so long ago, raging crowds walked around Moscow to destroy Ostankino and seize the mayor's office, have you forgotten? And who, I ask you, will stand in the way of the brutal crowd? I think that it’s not the professors of Moscow State University or the research fellows of the Russian Academy of Sciences...

No, this blow will have to be taken by the man with the gun; it is he who will have to defend the values ​​of modernization, sovereign democracy, innovative development and policies aimed at the full prosperity of the entire people. And, judge for yourself, will he want to stand under attack if he is paid as much as a researcher and associate professor? That's it. Therefore, on this day, together with the leaders of the party and government, I fill my glass and raise it to our defenders. Yours Ivan Ekonomov