| Submit your comments on this article | ||
| Caucasus/Russia/Central Asia | ||
| One Third Of Russian Conscripts Too Sick To Serve | ||
| 2011-01-21 | ||
| Nearly one third of Russia's latest batch of conscripts were too sick to serve in the armed forces and ended up being sent back home, a top commander said Thursday. The general added that more than 200,000 Russian teenage boys were also evading the draft because of the army's reputation for brutality. "We have been forced to release more than 30 percent of the young men from service because of their health," the joint staff's deputy commander Vasily Smirnov was quoted as saying by Interfax.
Moscow newspapers reported in September that the army only managed to draft 550,000 new soldiers last year, bringing its ranks to between 750,000 and 850,000 troops. The figure is short of the million-man army foreseen in planning. Russian President Dmitry Medvedev complained in 2009 that over 40 percent of those eligible for military service were not fit enough to serve and that draft dodging was becoming endemic. Smirnov said he was "very concerned" about the number of draft dodgers, but provided no details of how the army planned to deal with the problem.
A general prosecutor's office statement said the soldiers became ill due to their commanders' failure to "ensure the protection of the servicemen's life and health," Interfax reported. The garrison's commanders have been charged with failing to isolate sick soldiers from other recruits as an epidemic swept through the region in late December and early January. | ||
| Posted by: Anonymoose |
| #9 See also RELATED > WMF > RUSNEWS: RUSSIAN ARMED FORCES DEPUTY CHIEF OF STAFF GENERAL VASILY SMIRNOV CLAIMS THAT 20.0MILYUHN ELIGIBLE RUSSIANS AVOID MILITARY SERVICE, E.G 13,600 YOUNG RUSSIANS WHOM LAST YEAR RECEIVED THEIR FORMAL GOVT. NOTICE FOR MILITARY SERVICE BUT INTENTIONALLY FAILED TO REPORT. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2011-01-21 23:24 |
| #8 When i enlisted (1966) there was still a draft, the very first thing they did was innoculate everybody and w were all sick(Probably from the innoculations.) However food was good and plentiful, Living quarters (Shipboard} were somewhat cramped but comfortable, and even the bunks were comfortable. While it seems unusual the most comfortable Bunk I ever slept in was 4 inches of foam rubber over a steel deck, the locker was beneath the bunk so NOBODY could get in it when you were sleeping, Not even you,(The locker opened by raising the mattress and steel slab) Yes modesty was non existent, but absolutely nobody bothered you sexualy ever, at all. |
| Posted by: Redneck Jim 2011-01-21 22:41 |
| #7 I'll throw in a few things: Alcoholism or effects from over-use of alcohol. Poor nutrition. Substandard housing. All either prior to or after being drafted |
| Posted by: Pappy 2011-01-21 21:34 |
| #6 Putting the rest in uniform in a "mass army" just means that you have more cannon fodder to die, not kill, for your side. Ah, but Carnot was able to mold the Levee en Masse which allowed Revolutionary France to put off the 'professional' armies of Europe. It took the adaptation of the equivalent in the Landwehr to provide the means of bringing down Napoleonic domination. Till the full effects of industrialization, those without mass armies played at the fringe of world affairs and events. By the late Twentieth Century military systems are cycling back from that push. What has occurred is that the expense is indeed the issue. Just as the Romans found out in the Empire. There's always an evolutionary cycle of quantity versus quality. Quality can will out for a while but can't afford a significant failure or two because of its own costs. Barbarians don't worry about the balance sheets. Plus there's that historical nagging issue of military establishments ending up running things that put most democracies in the uncomfortable state with uniform professionals. Particularly those democratic states that end up with incompetent self serving political classes. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-21 10:28 |
| #5 After all these years, I think the light has finally dawned that only a small fraction of people are warriors. Putting the rest in uniform in a "mass army" just means that you have more cannon fodder to die, not kill, for your side. Plus, a grand army sucks down resources like crazy and is expensive as hell. But admitting this is like pulling teeth to senior officers, who still adamantly believe that *anybody* can be a warrior, just like athletes believe that *anybody* can be an athlete. That uniformity will win the day. Mind you, the non-warriors can still help support the warriors, as long as it is totally non-warrior stuff they are doing. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2011-01-21 09:50 |
| #4 Nearly one third of Russia's latest batch of conscripts were too sick to serve in the armed forces and ended up being sent back home, a top commander said Thursday. Well, at least they can't blame being overweight because they were XBox/PS3 couch addicts. /sarc off Too Dumb To Fight Why are so many young Americans too stupid to be soldiers. A fourth of potential American military recruits can't join because they are too fat. That got some media attention. But the fact that a quarter of high school graduates who tried to join failed the written exam attracted less attention. |
| Posted by: Procopius2k 2011-01-21 08:06 |
| #3 No problem, they can all join the 'international jobs program' and come to Assghanistan as US Contractors supporting FOBs. |
| Posted by: Besoeker 2011-01-21 03:43 |
| #2 Meh. I'm thinking our friend Pooty-Poot's concluded that he doesn't really need a big, well-trained professional conventional army to get his way in his 'hood. It's cheaper, quicker and easier to just be Michael Corleone sitting on a gas pipeline and some ICBM's. |
| Posted by: Ricky bin Ricardo (Abu Babaloo) 2011-01-21 01:36 |
| #1 I suppose enforcing some discipline in the ranks and eliminating the brutality is out. |
| Posted by: gromky 2011-01-21 00:27 |