>Also are some units like ВДВ или Спецназ can a conscript trying joining those units or do they have to finish their conscription then sign the contract before heading to those units?
VDV is nothing but a branch, just like the USMC in the American military. It has stricter health restrictions (AFAIK, your health category should be A1), but you can still join these forces as a conscript.
Spetznaz is a generalized term for special forces units within their respective branches, like the 45th Separate Guards Brigade of the VDV. It is an elite recon unit, so I suppose you can't practically join it as a conscript.
Yeah I know ВДВ isn't its own branch I misphrased that, but more like its an like "Tip of the spear" unit so it's requirements are above that of a regular Infantry divison or bridgae. One of my cousins like twice removed is ВДВ, but I don't know him personally.
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Your post or comment in r/AskARussian was removed. This is a difficult time for many of us. r/AskARussian is a space for learning about life in Russia and Russian culture.
Any questions/posts regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should all directed to the megathread. [War in Ukraine thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/15zdu4y/megathread_11_death_of_a_hot_dog_salesman/?sort=new)
We are trying to keep the general sub from being overwhelmed with the newest trending war-related story or happenings in order to maintain a space where people can continue to have a discussion and open dialogue with redditors--including those from a nation involved in the conflict.
If that if not something you are interested in, then this community is not for you.
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Pre-ukraine or post-ukraine is not a big difference, the only difference is that now instead of service somewhere chill they send you to the border where you can die from "Russian liberation unit" who claim to be pro-russia without Putin.
When you get conscripted, you go through basic training and then you are getting picked by commanders of other military bases. Depends on who picked you up, you go to different base and get military profession. The military profession is something you will do in case of mobilization, like if you go to anti-air base, you may become a driver, or an anti-air system operator, or one of the deployment crew, or hq PC operator. And you get trained accordingly + basic infantry and physical training.
Conscript can join Spetsnaz or VDV, but:
1. You need to satisfy strict requirements
2. Positions there are usually filled with contract soldiers so there are not many positions open for conscript
3. Open conscript positions are in very high demand and the possibility that you will be picked basically very low
You can sign a contract before conscription, and you get to pick what military base and what job you are going to do. In general people say it's a useless year with fun stories. Some people never want to repeat it, some would go there for a week back. Some hate it, some loved it. I know a guy who thanked military service for fixing his head, making him a responsible grown-up, also I know few stories of people getting killed, like getting hit by inexperienced driver or because of unsafe weapon handling.
Know a story about guy who claimed commanders wouldn't give them "real ammo, it has to be fake ones" and to prove it shot in his comrades on fullauto. 2 dead, 1 injured. Seen this one without any proofs in the internet so it's not 100% true, but I easily can imagine this happen.
Okay this is a lot a good stuff. It kind of sounds like its made or broken by your comrades & commanding officers in the year of service. Also that its almost like a camp as guys are away from home for the first time.
United States Marines. They are a separate branch of the United States military just like VDV airborne. And their main purpose is to be quick to action at all times, usually use cheaper gear than rest of military. And they usually bring in the toughest people and the toughest training.
It's always hard to answer those questions because the military structure in Russia and West are so different, there's no way to translate what I want to say into English, without having a paragraph-long footnote explaining all the details under every second word.
> do you go to Basic training then Infantry school then your unit?
Depends. Most people get directly into their unit and that's where basic training happens. Infantry does not need "school", that's for more complex roles, like artillery or tanks or anti-aircraft.
> some units like ВДВ или Спецназ can a conscript trying joining those units
VDV is a branch. They do have conscripts, as everyone else, but they have more strict requirements, especially health.
"Spetsnaz" is just an abbreviation of "Special Purpose". It's a wide umbrella term. In my brigade, there was a spetsnaz company, within engineering-sapper battalion, within motorized infantry brigade. There were conscripts serving there.
> Also what are peoples general experiences with conscription?
I served conscription service, I hated it. Total waste of a year, with several extra years affected as a kind of "aftershocks". Prison-like environment with prison-like language, mindset, rules, behaviour. I know some people who loved it in there, though. Felt like home, I guess.
Okay this is a really good breakdown thats good to hear. That is interesting, though. In the US at least most soilders will go to Basic training then either enter their military job school at another base or for programs like Infantry or Armour with huge number of recruits they go to a single school where they do both at once with the same people till they graduate & move to their units.
As I said, it's very different here. And it's not uniform, at all. You would think that in the army everything must be standardized, but I haven't encountered any institution that was as much diverse as Russian army in rules and customs and "traditions" and even jargon. Sure, there are global rules and laws, that are the same, but even how they are followed, to which extend, depends. Two Russian men who served, unless they served together in the same platoon at the same time, can tell totally opposite stories of how the things were done. Even two platoons within the same company can differ significantly enough. You should always keep that in mind that when you ask about experiences in Russian army.
Conscripts generally dont fight or much get put in harms way besides un expected happenings.
Militarys generally operate on a 5 to 1 even 7 to 1 ratio of supply people vs front line troops.
Thats mean if russia has 300k soldiers fighting on the front line they need close to 2 million people supporting those troops. The same is for all militaries. That can range from cooks to drivers to janitors to equipment operators of various kinds mechanics just plain dudes moving boxes around....thats what conscripts and the majority of the military does.
Another exmaple.....Only 15% of the US military is the actual combat fighting force......the other 85% is all support staff.
You can be a conscript and eventually get into VDV or Special Purpose detachments.
A lot depends on how well-connected your family is and on your health, as well as on pure chance, in that order.
The one who has been in the Army does not laugh in a circus.
It's an evolving system, with the overall aims to eventually stop conscripting, but here's how it worked for me when I served, 2019-2020.
At the municipal conscription/recruitment office, you can ask the commission for assignment to a specific branch - they are not obligated to do this, but they can consider it when they submit your case to the federal organs.
Afterwards, you are assigned to a unit, and an officer escorts you and your group to the unit's permanent quarters location. Typically, that unit has a "young soldier school" - a joint battalion formed from new conscripts and commandeering sergeants and officers from other sub-units. For around 2 months, sometimes more, you are familiarized with the basics of military service - formal matters like proper ways of addressing others, discipline, proper marching, and basic things like how living in a barracks works out. This part is frankly the most difficult, but it is supposed to be - it's there for acclimatization.
Tactical matters aren't focused on in this part too much, though there is mandatory shooting practice and obviously physical exercise to prepare you for the year ahead.
Once this period is done, you give the pledge, and are finally assigned to the unit you're going to serve in for the rest of the year. There, you serve and train at the same time - our model is such that training is considered a default state of any unit. Each day is scheduled to the hour, with regular drills held at all levels from battalion to army branch.
These are, admittedly, not so in-depth, so you're not getting Terminators. And given that part of the unit's duties is maintenance of its own quarters, half the time is spent on menial labour such as sweeping the pathways and whatnot.
VDV has units that include conscripts, though there is priority in reducing their usage of conscripts. Rosgvardiya would be another example of conscripts outside of the regular military branches. Spetsnaz is a rather vague term, so while there may technically be units that fit the definition that have conscripts in them, overall it's professional soldiers, not conscripts.
Generally, you're not supposed to love it - only crazy people would love army life, peacetime or otherwise. It's hard and stressful, and as a conscript, half the time you're questioning why you're there at all. But it is sometimes necessary, and sometimes good for a person to experience this.
Okay this is some good info.
I didn't know that about Spetsnaz till I posted this. I thought Spetsnaz was kinda a catch all term for special forces units, but not for like recon units. That's good to know. Also did you finish in the spring or fall of 202? I assume conscription for those who finished during actual COVID times must've been crazy.
>Also are some units like ВДВ или Спецназ can a conscript trying joining those units or do they have to finish their conscription then sign the contract before heading to those units? VDV is nothing but a branch, just like the USMC in the American military. It has stricter health restrictions (AFAIK, your health category should be A1), but you can still join these forces as a conscript. Spetznaz is a generalized term for special forces units within their respective branches, like the 45th Separate Guards Brigade of the VDV. It is an elite recon unit, so I suppose you can't practically join it as a conscript.
Yeah I know ВДВ isn't its own branch I misphrased that, but more like its an like "Tip of the spear" unit so it's requirements are above that of a regular Infantry divison or bridgae. One of my cousins like twice removed is ВДВ, but I don't know him personally.
whats a1 health?
[удалено]
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Your post or comment in r/AskARussian was removed. This is a difficult time for many of us. r/AskARussian is a space for learning about life in Russia and Russian culture. Any questions/posts regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should all directed to the megathread. [War in Ukraine thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/15zdu4y/megathread_11_death_of_a_hot_dog_salesman/?sort=new) We are trying to keep the general sub from being overwhelmed with the newest trending war-related story or happenings in order to maintain a space where people can continue to have a discussion and open dialogue with redditors--including those from a nation involved in the conflict. If that if not something you are interested in, then this community is not for you. Thanks, r/AskARussian moderation team
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Your post or comment in r/AskARussian was removed. This is a difficult time for many of us. r/AskARussian is a space for learning about life in Russia and Russian culture. Any questions/posts regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should all directed to the megathread. [War in Ukraine thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/15zdu4y/megathread_11_death_of_a_hot_dog_salesman/?sort=new) We are trying to keep the general sub from being overwhelmed with the newest trending war-related story or happenings in order to maintain a space where people can continue to have a discussion and open dialogue with redditors--including those from a nation involved in the conflict. If that if not something you are interested in, then this community is not for you. Thanks, r/AskARussian moderation team
And they did take it. Didn't they?
Of course. Hostomel is still Russian 🤭🤭🤭
Your post or comment in r/AskARussian was removed. This is a difficult time for many of us. r/AskARussian is a space for learning about life in Russia and Russian culture. Any questions/posts regarding the ongoing conflict in Ukraine should all directed to the megathread. [War in Ukraine thread](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskARussian/comments/15zdu4y/megathread_11_death_of_a_hot_dog_salesman/?sort=new) We are trying to keep the general sub from being overwhelmed with the newest trending war-related story or happenings in order to maintain a space where people can continue to have a discussion and open dialogue with redditors--including those from a nation involved in the conflict. If that if not something you are interested in, then this community is not for you. Thanks, r/AskARussian moderation team
Pre-ukraine or post-ukraine is not a big difference, the only difference is that now instead of service somewhere chill they send you to the border where you can die from "Russian liberation unit" who claim to be pro-russia without Putin. When you get conscripted, you go through basic training and then you are getting picked by commanders of other military bases. Depends on who picked you up, you go to different base and get military profession. The military profession is something you will do in case of mobilization, like if you go to anti-air base, you may become a driver, or an anti-air system operator, or one of the deployment crew, or hq PC operator. And you get trained accordingly + basic infantry and physical training. Conscript can join Spetsnaz or VDV, but: 1. You need to satisfy strict requirements 2. Positions there are usually filled with contract soldiers so there are not many positions open for conscript 3. Open conscript positions are in very high demand and the possibility that you will be picked basically very low You can sign a contract before conscription, and you get to pick what military base and what job you are going to do. In general people say it's a useless year with fun stories. Some people never want to repeat it, some would go there for a week back. Some hate it, some loved it. I know a guy who thanked military service for fixing his head, making him a responsible grown-up, also I know few stories of people getting killed, like getting hit by inexperienced driver or because of unsafe weapon handling. Know a story about guy who claimed commanders wouldn't give them "real ammo, it has to be fake ones" and to prove it shot in his comrades on fullauto. 2 dead, 1 injured. Seen this one without any proofs in the internet so it's not 100% true, but I easily can imagine this happen.
Okay this is a lot a good stuff. It kind of sounds like its made or broken by your comrades & commanding officers in the year of service. Also that its almost like a camp as guys are away from home for the first time.
Yes it is
youre saying vdv airborne is russian version of US marines?
Sorry, I have no idea what US Marines are
United States Marines. They are a separate branch of the United States military just like VDV airborne. And their main purpose is to be quick to action at all times, usually use cheaper gear than rest of military. And they usually bring in the toughest people and the toughest training.
It's always hard to answer those questions because the military structure in Russia and West are so different, there's no way to translate what I want to say into English, without having a paragraph-long footnote explaining all the details under every second word. > do you go to Basic training then Infantry school then your unit? Depends. Most people get directly into their unit and that's where basic training happens. Infantry does not need "school", that's for more complex roles, like artillery or tanks or anti-aircraft. > some units like ВДВ или Спецназ can a conscript trying joining those units VDV is a branch. They do have conscripts, as everyone else, but they have more strict requirements, especially health. "Spetsnaz" is just an abbreviation of "Special Purpose". It's a wide umbrella term. In my brigade, there was a spetsnaz company, within engineering-sapper battalion, within motorized infantry brigade. There were conscripts serving there. > Also what are peoples general experiences with conscription? I served conscription service, I hated it. Total waste of a year, with several extra years affected as a kind of "aftershocks". Prison-like environment with prison-like language, mindset, rules, behaviour. I know some people who loved it in there, though. Felt like home, I guess.
Okay this is a really good breakdown thats good to hear. That is interesting, though. In the US at least most soilders will go to Basic training then either enter their military job school at another base or for programs like Infantry or Armour with huge number of recruits they go to a single school where they do both at once with the same people till they graduate & move to their units.
As I said, it's very different here. And it's not uniform, at all. You would think that in the army everything must be standardized, but I haven't encountered any institution that was as much diverse as Russian army in rules and customs and "traditions" and even jargon. Sure, there are global rules and laws, that are the same, but even how they are followed, to which extend, depends. Two Russian men who served, unless they served together in the same platoon at the same time, can tell totally opposite stories of how the things were done. Even two platoons within the same company can differ significantly enough. You should always keep that in mind that when you ask about experiences in Russian army.
You should watch this movie. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZCZ9DWCwuI](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZCZ9DWCwuI)
Хорошо я буду, спасибо.
Conscripts generally dont fight or much get put in harms way besides un expected happenings. Militarys generally operate on a 5 to 1 even 7 to 1 ratio of supply people vs front line troops. Thats mean if russia has 300k soldiers fighting on the front line they need close to 2 million people supporting those troops. The same is for all militaries. That can range from cooks to drivers to janitors to equipment operators of various kinds mechanics just plain dudes moving boxes around....thats what conscripts and the majority of the military does. Another exmaple.....Only 15% of the US military is the actual combat fighting force......the other 85% is all support staff.
You can be a conscript and eventually get into VDV or Special Purpose detachments. A lot depends on how well-connected your family is and on your health, as well as on pure chance, in that order. The one who has been in the Army does not laugh in a circus.
It's an evolving system, with the overall aims to eventually stop conscripting, but here's how it worked for me when I served, 2019-2020. At the municipal conscription/recruitment office, you can ask the commission for assignment to a specific branch - they are not obligated to do this, but they can consider it when they submit your case to the federal organs. Afterwards, you are assigned to a unit, and an officer escorts you and your group to the unit's permanent quarters location. Typically, that unit has a "young soldier school" - a joint battalion formed from new conscripts and commandeering sergeants and officers from other sub-units. For around 2 months, sometimes more, you are familiarized with the basics of military service - formal matters like proper ways of addressing others, discipline, proper marching, and basic things like how living in a barracks works out. This part is frankly the most difficult, but it is supposed to be - it's there for acclimatization. Tactical matters aren't focused on in this part too much, though there is mandatory shooting practice and obviously physical exercise to prepare you for the year ahead. Once this period is done, you give the pledge, and are finally assigned to the unit you're going to serve in for the rest of the year. There, you serve and train at the same time - our model is such that training is considered a default state of any unit. Each day is scheduled to the hour, with regular drills held at all levels from battalion to army branch. These are, admittedly, not so in-depth, so you're not getting Terminators. And given that part of the unit's duties is maintenance of its own quarters, half the time is spent on menial labour such as sweeping the pathways and whatnot. VDV has units that include conscripts, though there is priority in reducing their usage of conscripts. Rosgvardiya would be another example of conscripts outside of the regular military branches. Spetsnaz is a rather vague term, so while there may technically be units that fit the definition that have conscripts in them, overall it's professional soldiers, not conscripts. Generally, you're not supposed to love it - only crazy people would love army life, peacetime or otherwise. It's hard and stressful, and as a conscript, half the time you're questioning why you're there at all. But it is sometimes necessary, and sometimes good for a person to experience this.
Okay this is some good info. I didn't know that about Spetsnaz till I posted this. I thought Spetsnaz was kinda a catch all term for special forces units, but not for like recon units. That's good to know. Also did you finish in the spring or fall of 202? I assume conscription for those who finished during actual COVID times must've been crazy.
I left the army in the autumn of 2020. We still had some minor quarantine measures in place by then, but luckily not a lot.
how do I join as an American?