Soviet construction battalion, or soldiers without weapons.

Which branch of the military was most treated with humor? To the construction site. There are many anecdotes among the people related to construction troops. And all this was due to the specifics of the formation of personnel - about 90% of the military personnel of these troops were conscripts from Central Asia and the Caucasus. Therefore, the bulk of Russian young people tried to avoid service in the construction battalion units - even then, from time to time, the question arose regarding tense international relations, only it wasn't on display.

However, despite this attitude, the construction battalions carried out quite serious tasks, erecting objects both for defense purposes and for the national economy. It can even be said that the construction battalions are indirectly connected with engineering troops, whose duties have always included the construction of various fortifications and rear facilities. The construction battalion took over some of the tasks that had previously been performed by units of the engineering troops.

historical moments

In 1942, on February 13, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued a decree on the formation of the Military Restoration Administration, whose main tasks included the construction or repair of various facilities in the territories liberated from German occupation. This day is the date of birth of the military construction units, abbreviated as VSO.

In the 70s, the name "construction battalion" was assigned to these troops, which has remained in the lexicon to this day. For the period of the 80s, the number of construction units exceeded the total number of military personnel of other military branches. For example, there were about 60 thousand people in the Airborne Forces, 15 thousand people in the Marine Corps, about 220 thousand people in the border troops, and about 300-400 thousand people in the construction troops of that time. Of course, as one well-known anecdote says, a construction battalion is such a terrible army that they don’t even trust weapons. But often, even in these troops, service was directly connected with danger.

1986 was the year terrible disaster that took place on Chernobyl nuclear power plant. And one of the first to take part in the elimination of the consequences of this accident were the fighters of military construction teams, many of whom paid with their lives for working in the contaminated zone. Two years later, an earthquake in Armenia - and again the construction battalions were the first to take part in the removal of rubble.

The military personnel of the construction battalion also served in Afghanistan, when in 1979 it was necessary to organize the quartering of personnel of a limited contingent of troops in that country. In the shortest possible time, all the necessary infrastructure was organized there by the efforts of the military construction troops.

And in 1982, an event occurred that proved the presence of fighting spirit in the ranks of military builders. A construction battalion from the USSR was sent to the Falkland Islands to reconstruct the runway. At this point, British troops invaded these islands, because. there was a confrontation with Argentina for control of the territory. The fighters of the construction battalion were not at a loss: they mined the approaches and, using captured weapons, held back the advance of the British combat units. Only thanks to the intervention of diplomats from Moscow, the development of the military conflict was stopped.

The courage of the military builders is also confirmed by the case when a barge without food and water with four servicemen of the engineering and construction troops - Ziganshin A., Poplavsky F., Kryuchkovsky A. and Fedotov I. - was carried away to the open spaces of the ocean. They lasted 49 days without losing their human appearance.

These units were formally related to military affairs, which is why this branch of service was not very popular among young people. But military builders had some advantages over military personnel from other branches of the armed forces. In 1977, on May 30, the order of the USSR Ministry of Defense No. 175 was issued, according to which each military builder was paid a salary. Although the cost of food, the price of uniforms, payment utilities and other support. But the size of the allowance significantly exceeded the costs, so the soldiers could accumulate considerable funds. In addition, military personnel could earn extra money by working where they paid extra. And ensigns and officers had benefits that allowed, for example, to quickly solve housing problems.

The unpopularity of service in these troops, caused by the recruitment of conscripts from Central Asia or the Caucasus, bore fruit - from the Slavs, disadvantaged youth or young people with a criminal record were sent there. Yes, and people from the Caucasus or Central Asia often ended up in a construction battalion from distant villages, where there was a poor knowledge of the Russian language. Even sometimes the sergeant staff helped the recruits to take the oath, reading out the text of the oath in one sentence, which was then repeated by the privates. By the way, often non-Slavic servicemen managed to deceive commanders, citing a lack of understanding of the Russian language. There was even a joke in the USSR: in a construction battalion, soldiers say “don’t understand” until a year old, and after a year “it’s not allowed.” Therefore, officers of the construction troops working with personnel had a difficult time.

Guest workers instead of construction battalion: what do we have today

Since 1992, there has been a wave of disbandment of military construction units, which was given impetus by the order of the President of the Russian Federation on the disbandment of the VZO, which are under the jurisdiction of the Moscow department. By 2006, the liquidation of the last military construction formations was completed.

Today there is no WSO, but the very idea of using the labor of citizens of the near abroad has remained. Organizations, including those constructing military facilities, often employ guest workers. Although, like the Soviet military builders, today these hired workers do not cost free, the houses are built much cheaper than by the forces of any large SMU. So the saying, “Two soldiers from a construction battalion replace an excavator,” popular in the Soviet Union, is still relevant today - albeit from a slightly different perspective.But the gain from the disbandment of the WZO is doubtful. The fighters of the construction battalion went to the barracks after work - there was no unnecessary wandering around the streets, drug trafficking, mass fights, robbery or rape. And after the end of his service life, the former serviceman departed for his republic. So you can once again make sure that it is easy to destroy a properly functioning system. And in return, instead of a “beautiful distance”, we often get a bunch of problems.

Skills. For example, if you are a skydiver, you can count on serving in the Airborne Forces. If you have a driver's license, then with a very high probability you will serve as a driver. If you have skills in radio, you will get into the signal troops, technical units of the Air Force, etc. - that is, where your skills will be in demand.

If you do not want to get into the construction battalion, you should acquire certain skills. At the same time, many of them do not need to be documented, during the military registration and enlistment office you will simply be asked a few questions. For example, if you were engaged in radio business, you may be asked about how a power supply or a simple radio receiver works. For any difficulties in answering these questions will not arise, as a result you are guaranteed to get into good troops. AT modern conditions computer skills and programming skills are useful.

Primary registration to a particular type of troops occurs even at the stage of obtaining a registration certificate while studying at. Here you should be realistic and understand that if, at your request, you are first enrolled in the Airborne Forces, then this does not mean anything. To get into the elite troops, you must at least have good physical fitness. On the other hand, if you ask to join the signal troops, your chances will be quite high.

The place of your study also affects getting into certain troops - if before serving in you managed to enter a university or other educational institution. Not all of them have military departments, so after the first year you may be called up. If you study at a technical institute, your chances of getting into a construction battalion tend to zero. On the other hand, you can end up in a construction battalion, even while studying at a university in the natural sciences or the humanities. It is technical skills that are needed in the army, so the humanist has a fairly high chance of being in the construction troops.

Be sure to watch your health. If you have poor eyesight, you must prove that you cannot serve at all, or come to the draft board without. The worst option is when you are considered fit for service, but with restrictions, in which case you are practically provided with a construction battalion.

Kremlin troops

To serve in the Kremlin troops, you must meet certain physical requirements. In particular, you need to be no shorter than 175 and no higher than 190 cm. It is also worth noting that the weight should be in normal proportion to such a tall figure. In addition, the sharpness of each eye cannot be lower than 0.7 and have an acceptable color perception. There are also restrictions that do not allow serving in the Kremlin troops. For example, the applicant must not have relatives abroad, have complaints from the police and be registered with a psychiatrist and dermatologist.

Internal troops

Every conscript who does not have deviations in physical condition can get into service in the internal troops. As a rule, it is enough to voice your desire to the employee of the military registration and enlistment office and him. However, internal troops are not considered elite in and of themselves. Squads fall under special purpose, such as Vityaz, Alfa, FSB and GRU. You can become an employee of such elite units only after passing military service or graduating from a military department. Only those who pass certain tests will be able to apply for service in these units. Quite complex psychological and physical tests have been developed for applicants that determine readiness for service. Examiners will test both firearms training and the ability to resist an opponent in hand-to-hand combat, and endurance. In addition, the applicant, his family ties are carefully studied, and consent to the service is taken from parents and spouses.

foreign intelligence

For service in foreign intelligence suitable applicants whose age is in the range of 22 to 30 years. You must have a higher technical or humanitarian education, as well as be fluent in one foreign language, the level of which is determined by the employees of the organization. In addition, most grades in the last year of higher education should be high. Service restrictions are no different from the requirements of other elite units. Compliance with physical and intellectual training is required, as well as the absence of a criminal record and foreign citizenship.

Almost every type of troops in Russia has its own elite unit. You can find out information that will help you get closer to getting a job at the military registration and enlistment office or at the relevant department.

Why was the construction battalion so unpopular with conscripts and why was everyone so afraid to get there?

Firstly, in the "ordinary" troops, soldiers were taught shooting and other combat skills, and these activities have always been considered truly masculine. And the construction battalion workers were, in fact, just hard workers, there are many of them in civilian life.

Secondly, the formation of the personnel of the "royal troops" had its own characteristics. Their backbone was made up of graduates of construction educational institutions. There were residents countryside able to hold construction tool. Another rather numerous category is conscripts with a dysfunctional biography, for example, with a criminal record. Young people with health limitations could get into the construction team, which, however, did not prevent them from being drafted into the army. It was believed that they were not suitable for "classical" troops, but just right for construction.

And finally, in some construction teams, up to 90% of the contingent were people from Central Asia and the Caucasus. Why were they sent there? It was believed that the main reason was poor knowledge of the Russian language. Under the conditions of combat training, it was extremely inconvenient and even dangerous to deal with soldiers who spoke Russian poorly - they were simply afraid to trust them with weapons ... But during construction works it didn't play a big role.

Hazing and fraternity flourished in the "stroytroops". Individual recruits, who were surrounded by criminals living according to their wolf "laws" and representatives of Eastern nationalities with the corresponding mentality, experienced, were often subjected to bullying, among the "construction battalions" there was a high percentage of suicides.

In addition, construction teams often turned into points of sale for drugs, in particular, hashish, which was distributed by the natives of Central Asia. This led to the fact that many, having served their time, returned home as complete drug addicts.

Photo by the press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a decree on the spring conscription for military service of 142,000 young citizens of the country. One of the features of this campaign, apparently, will be that, in addition to combat units, conscripts will be sent to the newly created military construction units in the Armed Forces. They will be formed by increasing the staff of military personnel from January 1, 2017 by 13.6 thousand people. On the eve of this, the president signed a corresponding decree, according to which the total staffing of the army and navy (that is, military and civilian personnel) should increase by 17.6 thousand people by July 1, 2017 compared to 2016.

The increase in the staffing of the Armed Forces is due, among other things, to the transfer of the functions of the Federal Agency for Special Construction (Spetsstroy) to the Ministry of Defense, which should be abolished by July 1, 2017. In this regard, the armed forces will be given " headcount servicemen and civilian personnel of engineering and technical military formations and road-building military formations, which were part of the abolished Spetsstroy. AT open access there is no data on how many specific servicemen served in these formations. And were any of them last years military conscripts are also not known. Earlier, in August 2011, the then head of Spetsstroy, Grigory Naginsky, said that as a result of the reform, there would be no conscription soldiers in his department, who would be replaced by workers from "our friendly republics." According to the Ministry of Defense, last year total strength employees of Spetsstroy was about 44 thousand people.

Meanwhile, only less than half of them will join the construction structures of the Ministry of Defense, only a small part - about 4 thousand people - will be civilian personnel. At the same time, “the number of federal state civil servants of the central office of the abolished Federal Agency for Special Construction in the amount of 200 units” is transferred to the staff of the Ministry of Defense managers. As Deputy Minister of Defense Timur Ivanov recently reported, "as part of the reorganization of Spetsstroy, the Ministry of Defense should retain eight units instead of the current 19." These enterprises will specialize in the construction of facilities in each of the military districts and in the Northern Fleet, “and will also deal with highly specialized issues: they will be responsible for the construction of facilities of the Aerospace Forces and airfields, for the infrastructure Missile troops strategic purpose, for the construction of berthing facilities in the interests of the Navy. So far, there are no official reports that the units created on the basis of Spetsstroy will include military engineering and military construction battalions and detachments. But sources in the Ministry of Defense report that their formation is already underway. full swing. And unlike the construction battalions that existed during the Soviet era, they will now include contract and conscript servicemen with military construction and technical specialties, as a rule, with higher education.

The decision to revive the Soviet practice of construction battalions is easily explained. The reform and "dispersal" of Spetsstroy led to its inflation administrative states. Multi-stage management structures appeared, and the main construction functions were performed by low-skilled firms that recruited workers from residents of the CIS countries. They did not work well, especially in the Arctic and in remote areas. As a result, many important defense and government contracts were not completed on time. Numerous facts of corruption and bribery were revealed.

“Reorganizing the military construction complex, we are moving to comprehensive work directly with the performer,” notes Timur Ivanov. The experience of building more than 130 km of railway track bypassing Ukraine in the west of the Russian Federation on the Zhuravka-Millerovo section. This construction is carried out entirely by the railway battalions of the Armed Forces. And, as Deputy Defense Minister Dmitry Bulgakov recently stated, the road that is being built will start functioning more than a year ahead of schedule. It will open on August 15, 2017. No corruption facts were revealed during its construction.

The word "construction battalion" causes a smile or slight irony in many, since, officially, this kind of troops no longer exists. The last parts were disbanded in the 90s. But there are still many folk sayings or just anecdotes about the construction battalion.

History of creation

A construction battalion is a construction battalion, although in official documents everything was different. VSO (military construction teams) take their beginning since 1942 when the decision of the Council people's commissars The USSR decided to create a Military Restoration Directorate. Under his leadership, all infrastructure facilities destroyed by the occupying Germans during the Great Patriotic War. The term "construction battalion" itself was coined by the people and went out of circulation in 1970. It is worth noting that the soldiers themselves called themselves very ironically - the royal troops.

Facts - in 1980 the number of personnel of the WZO was about 300-400 thousand people, which covers the total number of units such as: Airborne Forces, Marines and Border Troops.

The soldier is sleeping - the service is on. Terms of service

To be honest, not all conscripts wanted to get into the construction battalion. And there are a number of reasons for this:

The soldiers had military service formal relationship. They could spend more time not in a trench or shooting, but at a construction site or digging a foundation pit.
national component. The detachments were formed from multinational groups. Often, children from dysfunctional families or teenagers registered with the police were taken to the construction battalion. This combination different types nationalities and people prone to crime, frightened the young fighter. Often there were cases of desertion from units.
VSO could be sent to potentially dangerous places even in peacetime. They were thrown to eliminate man-made disasters or to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters. Such work was associated with the risk of getting a dangerous disease or injuries of various complexity.
The very attitude of society towards this type of troops was condescending. There were many jokes about the construction battalion among the people, so serving in this type of troops was undignified.

Despite all the shortcomings, there were also distinctive advantages among other types of troops. For example, a soldier received a salary for his service, and its size was about 120–180 rubles. From this amount you need to subtract 30 rubles for the service of the fighter and his food. But even in this case, there is a decent amount left. This money was deposited on the personal account of the fighter, and only in case of urgent need, the soldier could use it. The salary could reach up to 250 rubles per month. Everything depended on the specialty that the young fighter possessed. Specialists of a narrow profile associated with machines and equipment, such as bulldozer operators, crane operators, excavators and others, were valued. Sometimes a demobilized soldier brought home a sum of money up to 5,000 rubles.

Official criticism

The construction battalion was often criticized by state officials. So, in 1956, the chief of the general staff and the minister of defense criticized in their report the places of service of the fighters. The content of the document referred to the constitution, according to which the private must serve in the ranks of the armed forces of the USSR, and not in construction organizations countries.

There have been other cases. In 1955 one of construction teams sent to a still unfinished building for construction and installation work. As the commission later found out, the sanitary and hygienic conditions here did not meet the standards and were grossly violated in places. Many soldiers were sent to the hospital with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis. Some of the soldiers were found to have lice.

Despite all the unflattering statements about the WZO, one cannot deny their huge role in the formation and construction of the country. Factories and large enterprises, infrastructure facilities and communication routes - everywhere one could see fighters working for the good of their homeland. Construction battalions built schools, hospitals, and sometimes entire settlements. Thanks to military discipline and streamlined logistics, the facilities were commissioned on time, sometimes overfulfilling construction plans.