Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation introduced the reform of military departments, the changes are being introduced in order to optimize military training, and this, according to experts, can significantly reduce the number of reserve officers.
However, the relevance of the reform is justified, on the contrary, not by the reduction, but by the need to expand the scope of military programs for future reserve officers.
It is worth recalling that since 2008 there already exist in addition to the military departments military training centers (UVC), who are responsible for the training of career officers in engineering, technology, science-intensive specialties in civilian universities, now they intend to connect these UVCs with military departments and create separate training centers.
Retired Air Force Colonel, ex-Deputy of the State Duma of the Russian Federation Victor Alksnis in an interview with suggests that, quite possibly, such centers will exist separately from civilian universities, which will entail a decrease in the mobilization capabilities of the army.
-The Ministry of Defense announces the liquidation of military departments in universities, how do you feel about such an initiative?
I have a negative attitude. This is due to the fact that as a result of reforms Russian army(the so-called "reforms") we have a serious shortage of officers. Especially in the era of Serdyukov, a large number of military schools and academies were closed, they were reorganized and lost teaching staff. And now the problem of lack of officer personnel is considered one of the most important. Yes, for the small army that exists today, this number of officers can still cover the need for personnel, but the problem is that no mobilization reserve.
In the event of an increase in the size of the army - you understand, the army exists in order to enter the war - there will simply not be enough officers. And so the military departments performed very important role, almost all men, students, where these departments were, received the necessary military training and, if necessary, to increase the size of the army, they were called to the positions of junior officers, then at the very least this problem could be solved.
Now, if departments are closed, I would not hope that special centers will train reserve officers in such quantities. I really doubt. For the students themselves, there will be no motivation to leave home, to spend several months apart from studies, work, whereas before they received all this at the place of study. Therefore, it seems to me that this is one of those excesses of reformers that have been manifesting themselves in the Ministry of Defense for the last 30 years.
Military departments in universities are no longer coping with their task, or are there other disadvantages? Lack of qualifications for training or no unified management? What is the reason for the reform, in your opinion?
One of the current problems not only of the military reality is that our leaders have an ineradicable "itch of reformism." Everyone wants to excel and enter the history of Russia. Officials are simply experimenting on the army, as on a test subject, but they should first "train on cats."
Were there already created in addition to the departments and military training centers for the training of highly qualified reserve officers: engineers, technicians? Separate centers are being created to unite with them, what could be the negative aspects of such UTCs?
It's one thing when a student has a military department, and he takes it seriously, as an important discipline, he moves from the audience where he passed the exam on strength of materials, to another - where he immediately receives the training necessary for an officer. And it's a completely different matter when a student needs not only to leave the walls of the alma mater, but also to go, maybe to another city, to go somewhere to the "training center". I think that this is stupidity, and it will not end well.
- But how is it that in most countries, from where we learn from experience, all this is carried out?
If in most countries of the world land army regarding the population and the scale of the state - and they are not very large, these countries of Europe, the territory is insignificant - in a normal ratio, then Russia has the largest territory, therefore it needs such a large army that can protect its borders and a large number of officers.
Other countries do not have this problem, they tend to have small, compact armies that can secure their relatively small borders. Russia, I repeat, has the largest territory in the world, therefore, the largest borders in the world, and they need to be controlled.
This reform will lead to a reduction in the number of reserve officers for the Russian army.
The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation explained exactly how the reform will take place, during which all military departments will disappear in civilian universities. In early June, the Russian government submitted to the State Duma a draft law designed to unify educational structures engaged in military training of students. According to the document, all military departments and faculties in civilian universities are proposed to be turned into military training centers. Many such restructuring frightened. There were rumors that students would no longer be able to study at the military departments, as they would be liquidated.
As it turns out, there is absolutely nothing to be afraid of. The number of students who will be able to receive a military specialty or rank directly at their institute or university, on the contrary, will increase.
"Not a single university will reduce the military training of students, but, on the contrary, the number of universities with military departments will increase," Nikolai Pankov, state secretary and deputy defense minister, said at a briefing in the Defense Ministry.
Today, reserve officers are trained in civilian universities for 150, and reserve soldiers and sergeants - for 90 military specialties.
The military department emphasizes that in last years consistently increased the volume of military training, increasing the number of military departments in civilian universities. In 2015, there were 70 of them, in 2016 - already 75, in 2017 - 87. And in September 2018, at a meeting of the collegium of the Ministry of Defense, the issue of creating six more will be considered. Thus, there will be 93 military departments in the country (if by that time the law on military training centers has not yet come into force).
The Ministry of Defense said that until 2008, only reserve officer training programs existed in civilian universities. And these programs were implemented only by military departments. In 2008, the training of career officers in engineering, technology, science-intensive specialties was organized in civilian universities.
In addition to military departments, military training centers appeared in civilian universities. Thus, since 2008, there are two structures in universities - a military department and a military training center. They work in the same classrooms, on the same training grounds, on the same weapons, on the same military equipment.
“The idea was born for all types of military training to create a single unified structure in civilian universities called a military training center. Such centers will implement all three military training programs: training reserve officers, career officers, as well as reserve privates and sergeants,” Nikolai Pankov said. .
The Ministry of Defense emphasized that the creation of military training centers poses absolutely no threat to the teaching staff of the current military departments. On the contrary, the volume of military training will increase, so none of the teachers will lose their jobs. "We are not changing anything, we are maintaining the volume of training and the current training programs. More than 61 thousand students are now undergoing military training in civilian universities. 10.5 thousand in the training of career officers, 34.2 thousand in reserve officers, sergeants and reserve soldiers - 16.5 thousand. And these proportions will be maintained," the deputy defense minister said. According to Pankov, students will not notice these "overflows" at all.
The draft law on the creation of military training centers on the basis of military departments in civilian universities was considered and approved at a meeting of the Russian government on May 30.
"The purpose of the bill is to increase the efficiency of managing the process of teaching university students in the existing areas of military training," the official website of the Cabinet of Ministers says. According to the authors of the legislative initiative, this, among other things, is necessary for more efficient sharing of the educational and material base available at institutes and universities, training weapons and military equipment.
"We talked a lot about the need to give the maximum number of young people the opportunity to undergo military training, receive military specialty in universities, - said the head of the military department, Sergei Shoigu, at a recent meeting of the Public Council under the Ministry of Defense. - We continue this work. We started to have comprehensive training centers. It includes both military departments and military institutes."
We have so many fun with them. Even with graduates of the military medical academy... What are you complaining about? My head hurts and my stomach hurts. Here's a pill... bisects it. This (one half) is from the head, this (the other half) is from the belly. Look, don't mix it up.
And here real case . One soldier mowed down my outfits. Constantly some sores supposedly. Well, I talked to the doctor on duty. Moreover, earlier he served in the same battalion with him. A mischievous friend. And the paramedic sergeant, he is generally a comedian. My "goal" comes to the WFP to ask for release from the guard. Like a stomach ache, and here and there in addition. Well, here the doctor examines him very carefully, measures his pressure, looks into his mouth, into his ass .... Well, he thoughtfully says something like: “You have a perpetummobilemomentummore ... you need to urgently have an operation, otherwise we won’t take you to the hospital. Paramedic, prepare the operating room." Well, then the paramedic quickly undresses and ties my "goal" to the operating table and begins to lay out the instruments. Medical instruments are already so scary in appearance, so this sergeant also lays out the biggest and scariest. A saw, chisels, scissors, Janet's syringe, the largest needles, a wooden mallet, a scalpel the size of a scimitar, and so on .... Then "sterilization" begins. She smears him with brilliant green from the very eggs to the throat, and even leads a strip under the armpit. "Godyaga" is neither alive nor dead, he has already begun to whimper softly, like why smear so much. Well, the sergeant replies that this is still not enough, we will also hollow the skull and at the same time smear the skull. Well, everything is ready, it's time for the operation. "Godyaga" is no longer happy with his illness. He remembers that being on guard is not so bad. Not like on a cold table next to scary instruments .... And he starts talking, like there are no medicines for this disease? Yes, and it almost doesn’t hurt him, it’s like a little .... And then the sergeant “remembers” that only today they received a new drug from the warehouses of the division. Like, it seems that it just helps from this perpetummobilemomentummore. The doctor makes "puzzled" eyes, goes to the office and "reads" the instructions. After half an hour of "study" he enters the operating room and says: "Yes, it seems to help with perpettummobilemomentummore. But I doubt it very much." The sergeant begins to "prove" that he heard about this drug when he studied as a paramedic, that it is an imported drug, that the teacher spoke well of it. Yes, and the "reacher" is a pity. Type after the operation and the member will not stand and incontinence of urine and feces. Who needs this? It's a pity for the guy.... "The goner" is already saying goodbye to life.... and incontinence is about to begin without surgery.... Finally, the doctor agrees to try to give the drug instead of surgery. They gave me a vitamin pill. Like, if it doesn’t help within half an hour, then we’ll cut it. Well, of course, the drug "helped". And in the WFP, the "goal" was no longer seen.
A bill that provides for the liquidation of military departments in universities and their replacement with unified military training centers. The corresponding order appeared on the website of the Cabinet.
“In order to more effectively share the educational and material base available to these units, training weapons and military equipment, the bill proposes to replace several existing types of structural units of military training in universities with a single type of military training units - military training centers", the document says.
At present, military training is conducted in higher education institutions through training centers, military departments, and military training faculties.
In addition, the explanatory note to the order specifies that the main purpose of the bill is to increase the effectiveness of teaching students in the areas of military training. Also, the authors of the initiative do not expect that the creation of centers will lead to an increase in the number of students enrolled in military specialties.
Before The State Duma already made adjustments to the procedure for training military personnel. In particular, in March 2017, the deputies adopted in the third reading a bill, also prepared by the government, according to which students studying in universities that do not have military departments can undergo military training at military universities.
That is, in fact, the current introduced bill will replace several types of already existing military training units in universities with a single center.
The practice of higher pre-conscription training in higher educational institutions and technical schools originates in the USSR - in the second half of the 1920s. It was introduced as part of the reform of the armed forces and involved 180 hours of theoretical and two months of practical training at training camps. The first military training classes started in 1926-1927 academic year, covering 135 universities and 80 thousand students.
After graduating from the university, students who underwent such training could serve in the army in nine months (in the navy - 12 months), while for all other conscripts the service life was two years - in the infantry and artillery, three years - in the air fleet , and four years in the Navy.
Among the first universities at which the military training formations, turned out to be, in particular, them. Lomonosov. At the military departments, junior commanders of the Red Army, and later the Soviet Army, were trained.
However, in the early 1990s, the training program for junior officers in higher educational institutions began to gradually phase out. According to the Ministry of Defense, now military departments are open at 54 civilian universities. Unlike in Soviet times, students who have completed military training at a university are not called up for military service.
The duration of training at military departments varies depending on the military specialty: 30 months for a reserve officer, 24 months for a reserve sergeant, and 18 months for a reserve soldier. At the same time, classes at the military department are held in parallel with the main educational process.
Periodically, modern military departments in universities are at the center of scandals. So, in April of this year, information appeared that from the students of St. Petersburg state university Telecommunications named after Professor M.A. Bonch-Bruevich took money for training at the military department.
The Minister of Defense of the Russian Federation then sharply reacted to the appearance of such information.
“It is unacceptable for people who want to become soldiers, sergeants or reserve officers to build a business. I signed the order of measures and instructions. We have two options: either deal with the rector of this university, or we will close in SPbSUT military department", - said the Minister of Defense at one of the conference calls.