Harder than it looks, according to the WSJ:
Sergei Fetisov, a 23-year-old welder, signed on for one of the most ambitious projects in Vladimir Putin’s Russia: rebuilding the remains of the once-mighty Soviet Red Army.
A cornerstone of that effort was the creation of special combat-ready units staffed entirely by professional soldiers, not conscripts. Mr. Fetisov volunteered to be one of them. He enlisted for a renewable three-year stint, enticed by higher pay and the chance to learn new skills.
One of his first tasks, he recalls, was toiling past midnight shoveling snow and ice from a football-field-size parade ground. The work that followed was menial, humiliating and of little practical use, he says. Combat training consisted of two firing exercises a year, he says, and a chunk of his paycheck was routinely withheld by corrupt officers.
“When I realized that being a professional soldier was just the same as serving as a conscript, I wanted to tear up my contract and get out of there,” he says. He quit when his commitment ended in July, he says, “but we had guys who simply ran away.”
With volunteers like Mr. Fetisov leaving in droves, the Defense Ministry has abandoned the initiative altogether. The program’s failure shows the limits of Mr. Putin’s grand plan to transform the army from a cumbersome machine designed for European land war into a lithe force capable of fighting regional wars and terrorism.
There’s no question that a volunteer force is more costly to man, equip and train. But you do tend to get what you pay for, and for Russia to continue to rely on conscripts could well be false economy. This is good news of course for former vassal states, but China rises. The US, being a maritime nation, notes the emergence or anti-access and area denial weapons rolling out just as the PRC prepares an aircraft carrier of its very own and a new stealth fighter.
Russia, on the other hand, has always had a continental focus and shares a much more intimate proximity with China to go with ancient fears.
Ancient fears, nothing. The Mongols had Russia paying tribute in both men and treasure to them for about 400 years. It’s a large part of why Russia missed out on the Renaissance
And the Russians do NOT forget it. Ever.
Playing devil’s advocate, pretty much the world over a great deal of the daily work of a “professional soldier,” unless one is a trained and experienced officer or senior NCO, is “menial, humiliating, and of little practical use” by the standards of your typical long-haired civilian maggot.
Never ceases to amaze the number of average Joes who think that on entering the military, their status or experience in civilian life should automatically confer senior status upon them.
The part about ‘corrupt officers routinely withholding chunks of his paycheck,’ is concerning, though; normally, either a poker game or a ‘suggestion’ for donation to an approved charity is involved.
One has to say that the Royal Navy did o.k. using a non-trivial number of those forced to serve.
Course, they had damned good leaders back then, with pretty open ROE and virtually unquestioned authority and ability to do what they deemed necessary to keep appropriate Naval Discipline.
The weekly reading of the Articles of War aboard ship was taken seriously by all.
You can build up a solid force with conscripts, but you have to be able to keep them in the service long enough to train them thoroughly. The Royal Navy could do this. Armies working on short-service mass conscription can’t.
It’s a point that has major implications if we ever try conscription again. It should not be a two-year tour, but four at least – and I would be more tempted to make it six years and probably an early discharge. Which would not be politically palatable, but probably the only way to make it militarily effective.
I would agree with the four year commitment. Other than what I believe is every American’s duty to the country, I am concerned about the disconnect between the military and American society.
It is also my belief that the military benefits by having persons serving who do not have the mentality of a military career foremost in their concerns.
Over the past thirty years the percentage of politicians who were veterans fell from approximately 60% to approximately 20%. Not a good trend IMO.
conscription in the RN was/is afaik 18 months, could be 16.
Of course they have professionals to lead, the conscripts being mainly the lower ranks in the lower trained jobs (one more reason to end conscription, the menial jobs that require little more than knowing how to march and point a rifle are getting fewer and fewer).
Who says all the news is bad?
If only the Chinese had these problems!
Russia could reprise our goofy Army slogan a few years ago: “An Army of None”
BTW: Singapore has mandatory conscription for all males: A two-year period in the Armed Forces or Police Force. Seems to work pretty well according to my contacts over there.
It could work here too. One problem, however, is the mentality of entitlement. Lee said duty was teh most sublime word in the English language. These days, duty is a four letter word.
Forget duty, just keep those bennies coming my way.
The Russian military is corrupt because Russians are corrupt. Graft and sloth are built in to the culture.
That is so hurtful and insensitive. You should be careful about hurting Ivan’s feelings. He has nukes. Big ones.
I think I may have read this in “The Guns of August.” When the Grand Duke called all of the generals together at the beginning of the war, he said something like, ” Now, gentlemen, remember! This time, no stealing!”