The formation of a professional mobilization reserve is beginning in Russia. “Partisans” who signed a contract with the Ministry of Defense will receive wages and a number of compensations, but will be required to attend special classes every month and undergo military training every year. If necessary, existing units will be supplemented with reservists, as well as new ones will be formed. The creation of a full-fledged professional mobilization reserve will have a positive impact on strengthening the state’s defense capability, military experts believe.
The Russian Ministry of Defense told journalists from the newspaper “” that from 2018 the mobilization reserve system in our country will begin to operate in full. The regulations necessary for this were adopted earlier. Thus, the Ministry of Defense has already conducted an experiment on the formation of an organized mobilization reserve in certain regions of Russia. The experiment lasted almost two years, its results are assessed as successful. The decree “On the creation of a mobilization human reserve of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation” was signed by the President of Russia on July 17, 2015. The first paragraph of this decree precisely prescribed the creation of a mobilization human reserve of the RF Armed Forces for the period of the experiment on the introduction of a new system for training and accumulating mobilization human resources. The very mechanism for attracting citizens to new structures and the terms of contracts concluded with them are spelled out in the law “On Military Duty and Military Service”; it states that soldiers and reserve officers who have passed a medical examination can become reservists.
It is worth noting that the mobilization reserve exists in the armies of many countries around the world; this is a very common practice. For example, in the United States the number of reservists is almost equal to the number of regular armed forces. Reserve components include the reserves of all five branches of the armed forces, as well as the U.S. Army and Air National Guard. At the same time, the US National Guard itself, whose military personnel combine combat training with work in their main specialty, is an organized reserve. There is also an unorganized (individual) reserve, which consists of persons with sufficient military training, that is, those who have recently completed military service and do not need to undergo additional training.
In general, it can be noted that the formation of a mobilization reserve of people signing a contract with the Russian Ministry of Defense is another step towards the formation of a modern professional army in the country. In the Russian army, the number of contract soldiers already exceeds the number of conscripts. On November 7, 2017, Chief of the General Staff Army General Valery Gerasimov said that the number of contract soldiers in the troops over the past 5 years has doubled and amounted to 384 thousand people. According to plans, by the end of 2018, 425 thousand contract soldiers, 220 thousand officers and 50 thousand warrant officers and midshipmen should serve in the Russian army. Thus, the share of professional military personnel will reach 70 percent.
Currently, military registration and enlistment offices are responsible for the formation of the mobilization reserve. Not all of them have started the corresponding work yet. At the same time, in some, for example, in the Rostov region, recruitment of reservists is already underway. At the Novoshakhtinsk military registration and enlistment office in the Rostov region, reserve servicemen can already sign a contract to serve in the reserves. As the Izvestia newspaper notes with reference to the Novoshakhtinsk military registration and enlistment office, for this, citizens need to come to the military registration and enlistment office with a military ID and passport. After signing the contract, the reserve soldier will be required to undergo special training for 2-3 days every month and annual training lasting from 20 to 30 days. It will be possible to call up a person from the mobilization reserve for service at any time: in the event of major exercises, the announcement of a special or threatened period, emergency situations, or simply in the event of an acute shortage of military specialists in units.
Previously, an experiment to form a new mobilization reserve took place in some regions of Russia. The Northern Fleet also took part in the experiment and actively collaborated with the military registration and enlistment offices of the Murmansk region. The purpose of the experiment, which started in the Northern Fleet in August 2015, was to improve the existing system of training and accumulation of mobilization human resources. In an interview with the newspaper “,” the head of the organizational and mobilization department (OMD) of the Northern Fleet headquarters, captain 1st rank Vladimir Kondratov, said that the first contract for the mobilization reserve on a voluntary basis is signed for 3 years, subsequent contracts for up to 5 years. At the same time, there are age restrictions for reservists; they exist for each category of citizens in the reserve. For example, soldiers, sailors, sergeants, midshipmen and warrant officers can conclude the first contract to be in the mobilization reserve at the age of up to 42 years, junior officers - up to 47 years, senior officers - up to 57 years.
The main difference of the new approach to the formation of a mobilization reserve is that when mobilization is announced, the reservist himself must arrive at the military unit, bypassing the military registration and enlistment offices, and begin to perform his duties in his position according to the official category. In addition, once a year the reservist is sent to military training for up to 30 days, and every month for one to three days, various training sessions are conducted with him according to the plans of the military units and formations to which the reservist is assigned in accordance with the contract. At the same time, the total duration of the training camp is taken into account, which cannot exceed 54 days during a year of stay in the mobilization reserve.
The new system of organized mobilization reserve will make it possible to train and then maintain highly qualified personnel in combat readiness, ensuring the rapid transfer of personnel to different theaters of military operations, where there will be a need to deploy new formations, but there is not enough local mobilization resource. According to military expert Viktor Murakhovsky, the new system for attracting personnel will increase the defense capability of the Far East. Parts of this region have the equipment, but there is a shortage of personnel.
Money issue
According to Izvestia, soldiers and officers entering the mobilization reserve will receive a one-time payment upon concluding a contract: for a three-year period - in the amount of salary, for 5 or more years - 1.5 times more. The salary of a professional reservist will consist of his official salary, regional coefficient and payments for rank. For example, a platoon commander with the rank of senior lieutenant in the central part of the Russian Federation will receive 27.5 thousand rubles. Squad commander with the rank of sergeant in the Kemerovo region (there is a regional bonus: “northern” - 30 percent) - 25.3 thousand rubles. True, this amount of money will be paid in full only during military training. For the rest of the period, that is, 11 months of the year, contract reservists will be paid only 12 percent of their salary. In this case, a senior lieutenant from the Central part of Russia will receive 3.3 thousand rubles per month, a sergeant in the Kemerovo region - 3.036 thousand rubles.
This payment procedure is provided for by the decree of the government of the Russian Federation “On establishing the monthly salary for citizens of the Russian Federation who are in the mobilization manpower reserve, with the exception of the period of military training” dated December 23, 2015. During the training camp, the state guarantees the reservist the preservation of the average salary or stipend. In addition, it will cover all costs of renting housing, travel to training camps and returning home, and business trips.
Separately, bonuses are provided for length of service. For example, 3 years after being included in the mobilization reserve, reservists will be able to receive an additional 10 percent of their salary. Over the years, this payment will increase, the maximum increase of 50 percent will be available after 20 years of continuous presence in the mobilization reserve.
How will it work
An important difference, which was already mentioned above, will be that the reservist will be assigned to a specific military unit or to the Center for Mobilization Deployment Support, where he will undergo training. This is one of the main advantages of the personnel reserve. It is impossible to create truly combat-ready and trained units, when the fighters are well acquainted with each other (at least at the level of squads and crews) and have real experience of interaction within the framework of studies and military training, at the expense of ordinary reservists who appear in the army at best once during many years of being in reserve.
Military expert Vladislav Shurygin, commenting on the formation of a mobilization reserve to Izvestia journalists, noted that there are such concepts as current and temporary shortages (TNKs and VNKs). For example, a serviceman has been transferred to a new duty station, but no one has yet been appointed to take his place. This is a temporary shortage. And if a serviceman gets sick and can no longer perform his direct duties, this is a current shortage. Thus, TNCs and VNCs can significantly influence the combat effectiveness of military units. For example, a battalion may be missing not only several driver drivers and machine gunners, but also a company commander. Their absence will significantly affect the ability of this battalion to solve combat missions. There are also positions that are introduced only in case of war, for example, assistant machine gunner. In peacetime, such positions are not needed, but in combat conditions they are necessary. Contract reservists who have entered into a contract and are assigned to a specific military unit will be able to replace TNKs and VNKs; their other task will be to make up for losses in wartime.
Separately, experts highlight the fate of military equipment storage and repair bases (S&RVT), which will be disbanded. Until recently, the Ground Forces alone had more than 40 such bases (14 motorized rifle bases). Currently, Russia is already undergoing a reorganization of motorized rifle combat and combat vehicles. About a third of them are closed. Mainly, they used to only store equipment, while the staffing of such bases did not allow maintaining the stored equipment in proper technical condition. Now, the TsOMRs created on their basis will store military equipment and train reservists. If necessary, such centers will be transformed into full-fledged formations and military units.
It is known that a new modern infrastructure will be built for the CMMRs. So, back in 2016, the Russian Ministry of Defense signed a contract for the design of a new chemical and mechanical equipment located on Sakhalin. This project can be called an illustration of what the Mobilization Deployment Support Center will look like. The military camp planned for construction near the village of Dachnoye will be equipped with barracks to accommodate 521 soldiers and sergeants, a headquarters and training building, a parking area of 700 thousand square meters, a heated storage facility for 1.2 thousand parking spaces, as well as warehouses for missiles and artillery weapons and property. Special areas for storing and repairing equipment will also be built. This infrastructure will make it possible, in the event of a training camp, to receive an entire battalion of reservists without any problems, conduct with them the necessary exercises and perform scheduled maintenance of military equipment.
AdvertisingFrom the first day of the new year 2018, a new law on mobilization manpower reserves came into effect in Russia, which provides for the completely voluntary entry of reservists into the reserve forces. The exact amount of the amount will be determined by decree of the Russian government. During training camps, full-time reservists will retain their average civilian income.
So, the Federation Council Committee on Defense and Security decided that starting this year, during the experiment, the process of creating a Russian full-time mobilization reserve will begin. It is known that this experiment will be carried out over 2 years. Reservists will be used mainly during war, in emergency situations and during large-scale exercises. In order to maintain the combat effectiveness of reservists, they will be periodically called to training camps in brigades or divisions, where they will be retrained for new types of equipment and weapons.
Mobilization reserve of Russia: Watch VIDEO
Mobilization reserve of Russia: The country has started the full-scale formation of a mobilization reserve
Military personnel who are in the reserve and have entered into a contract with the defense department will be required to attend special classes every month and take part in military training once a year.
Representatives of the department reported that the first contract is for 3 years. Further, the period can be increased to five years. They also recalled that the law establishes clear age limits for staying in the mobile reserve. The contract will not be signed with privates and sailors or warrant officers and midshipmen whose age will be more than 42 years. But junior officers have the opportunity to serve as reservists up to 47 years of age. Further, major-lieutenant colonels - up to 52 years of age. Military personnel of higher rank will be able to serve even longer – up to 57 years. Military personnel who have not expressed a desire to become contract soldiers in the mobile reserve will enter the mobilization human resource.
Citizens who are in the reserve (who have entered into a contract to remain in the reserve) receive cash payments, which consist of monthly payments and payments related to military training (including payment for travel to the place where the contract was concluded and training).
At the end of November, people in Russia started talking about creating a human reserve in case of a global war. The head of the Main Organizational and Mobilization Directorate (GOMU) of the Russian Ministry of Defense, Deputy Chief of the General Staff of the RF Armed Forces Vasily Smirnov said that in the near future it is planned to create an institute of contract reservists. The general said that the issue of changing the concept of training citizens in the reserve is currently being actively studied, and at the same time a new system for training “reserves” is being created. The correspondent of “Our Version” looked into how things stand today with the mobilization reserve in the Russian army, how realistic are the military’s plans to create a new institution of reservists.
According to the new plans, military personnel who have completed conscription service and have entered into a contract for further service in the reserve will be able to become reservists. The services of “reserves” will be needed in the event of war, when reservists will have to quickly replenish the personnel army. It is planned that reserve soldiers will receive money for their readiness to immediately defend the Motherland in peacetime.
According to forecasts from representatives of the Ministry of Defense, this institute will begin operating in 2016. Amendments to the relevant regulations are currently being prepared. According to optimistic experts, the creation of an institute of reservists will not only solve the issue of mobilization, but may also serve as an impetus for abandoning the conscription system. And the problems with mobilization readiness today are serious - more than a year ago, the Ministry of Defense reduced the number of military commissariats in Russia by more than 20 times. Thus, the old system of mobilization, which was completely tied to the work of these local military administration bodies, was practically buried. At the same time, nothing new was created. As a result, according to experts, after the completion of the next reform, our army will not be able to ensure the country’s defense capability in the event of a serious war, even on its own territory. This is based on the experience of recent military conflicts, which clearly shows that today not a single army in the world has sufficient potential to wage serious wars with only personnel.
The military also understands this. It is no coincidence that in addition to permanent readiness units, more than 60 brigade storage bases were created. As planned, these bases will be storage facilities for military equipment; clothing, weapons and ammunition will be stored nearby in district warehouses. During the mobilization period, such bases will be deployed to wartime states at the expense of the mobilization reserve. It is still unclear where this reserve will suddenly appear from.
Experts believe that a participant in such exercises, reserve colonel Evgeny Agafonov, shared his impressions of these events with Our Version: “It seemed that everything was done for show, it was supposed to hold training sessions - they imitated their conduct. True, no one really knew what to do with the reservists. At best, adults separated from work and families were “loaded” with political activities; the situation worsened even more during the period of the collapse of the army, when such gatherings turned into gatherings that turned into mass drinking bouts. One way or another, the reservists returned home without strengthening their military training in any way. At the same time, millions of government rubles were senselessly spent on such maneuvers.”
The last time a large mobilization exercise was held in Russia was in 2008, as part of the Stability 2008 command post exercise. Then, as the military stated, for the first time in post-Soviet times, an entire formation was deployed by calling up reservists. To deploy the tank division, 10 thousand people were called up, mainly from the Perm region. Then the tankers even marched from Perm to the Totsky training ground near Orenburg. The exercise was officially declared a success. However, what remains behind the scenes is that the division took almost three months to form, and such efficiency for modern wars is, to put it mildly, insufficient. Also, nothing was mentioned about the funds spent and the titanic efforts of the military registration and enlistment office workers, who for several months, day and night, literally caught reservists at the entrances. Nothing was reported about the level of training of the reservists. As we managed to find out, the training camp was attended by reserve workers who had not taken up arms or sat behind the levers of tanks for several decades. It is not surprising that after the “successful” exercise this division ceased to exist.
During the current reform, new ideas on how to revive the mobilization system arise regularly. Initially, high-ranking generals announced plans to form a personnel reserve institution from among the laid-off young officers who did not have time to serve their pensions and receive other social guarantees from the state. There were about 60 thousand of them. However, these plans were soon forgotten. Today, a unique situation has arisen in the Ministry of Defense, where the role of the personnel reserve is actually played by officers being laid off as a result of the military reform. The so-called casual workers, whom the Ministry of Defense cannot fire due to lack of housing. These military personnel receive part of the salary, and they are not assigned official duties, but in the event of war they will be required to take up arms. According to the most approximate data, there are about 100 thousand of them in the Ministry of Defense today.
According to experts, the institute of contract reservists, which the military proposes to create in 2016, is a direct copy of the American “first-level reserve.” In America, retired officers and specialists of the armed forces train once a year for a month as part of their reserve units and units of the National Guard. Plus, they participate in major exercises twice a year for two weeks. For this they are paid money and provided with all the benefits that are due to those who serve the state.
As the head of the analytical department of the Institute of Political and Military Analysis, Alexander Khramchikhin, told Our Version, today there are more questions than answers in the situation with the creation of the institute of contract reservists in the Russian Army. An attempt to copy the American system will most likely fail in Russian reality, since it requires strict control over the funds allocated for the maintenance of reservists and a responsible approach to their training. In addition, this system is not the most effective today; even among the Americans themselves it fails, as was clearly shown by the war in Iraq, where the regular units were head and shoulders above the reserve ones. For Russia, the principle of the Swiss militia army is more suitable, a significant part of which are trained reservists - former conscripts who are annually called up for training from the reserves. Or a similar, in fact, Israeli option, where after the end of regular service, all privates and officers are called up annually for reservist training for up to 45 days, the expert believes. As a result, the Israeli army has at its disposal 445 thousand people who are ready at any moment to carry out any combat mission together with personnel units.
It is not yet known on what specific principle the institute of contract reservists will be created in Russia, but it is obvious that since the Russian military leadership plans to purchase the most modern weapons and equipment in the coming years, reservists must also match it. This automatically places higher demands on their training; now their training should not be carried out occasionally, but regular training sessions and exercises are necessary. Military experts have calculated that the approximate costs of maintaining contract reservists will be 1–1.5 billion rubles per year. This is the minimum amount that will keep them in good shape and prevent them from losing their qualifications. As a result, these funds will ensure the deployment of a mobilization reserve of 100 to 200 thousand in the event of war. Moreover, in peacetime, reserve military personnel should receive incentive payments of at least 8-10 thousand per month.
However, there is no certainty that this state of affairs will suit everyone, for example employers, because the reservist will be required to disappear from his workplace several times a year, and it is not a fact that at the first opportunity they will not try to fire such an employee.
Photo: website
On July 17, President Putin signed Decree No. 370 “On the creation of a mobilization human reserve of the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation”
The document is quite short, consisting of only four paragraphs, one of which, as indicated in the text, is “for official use.” That is, in other words, secret, not for public viewing.
Thus, Russia took another step towards creating a fully professional army. Currently, about 50% of its strength is already made up of soldiers serving under contract - 300 thousand privates and sergeants and 200 thousand officers. But this applies to a “cadre” army, deployed, ready to begin hostilities at any moment.
However, in addition to the available Armed Forces, any country also has a mobilization reserve - used, except for the period of planned training and retraining of personnel, for mobilization in the event of a threat of war, in order to increase the number of armed defenders.
Reserve service also exists in Russia - actually founded since the army reforms of Emperor Alexander II, in the second half of the 19th century. During the Soviet era, the order of its organization was changed slightly, which made it possible to quickly create a powerful army during the Great Patriotic War to defeat Nazi Germany. And in the first divisions that entered Afghanistan in 1979, there were also many “reserves”, or, as they are also called - due to their not very high level of discipline - “partisans”.
Nevertheless, the reserve army, for example, in the United States is approximately equal in size to the existing size of the Armed Forces. And it consists not of “green” newcomers who had never been familiar with military service before mobilization, but of veterans who had served, who for some reason did not want to continue their contract service.
If they wish, they sign another contract and become reservists. They attend regular military training, and can also be used by state governors as part of the “National Guard” - to combat riots or eliminate natural disasters; and the president - for use during full-fledged army operations. Thus, a good half of US troops in Iraq and Afghanistan are reservists.
The advantage of “reserve fighters” over traditional “partisans” of first Soviet and then Russian times is understandable. Starting with motivation. In the church environment there is such a wonderful saying: “A slave is not a pilgrim.” Sociological services show an invariably high percentage of Russians who are ready to defend their Motherland with arms in hand - but “civilians” are “civilians” because they think least of all about military affairs and everyday affairs. Some people would be happy to go to training camps, but they get in the way of being stuck at work, having to work hard to pay off a loan quickly, all sorts of family circumstances, etc.
In addition, in order to create a truly combat-ready unit, it is necessary that its fighters be well acquainted with each other (at least within squads and crews) and have joint experience working in a combat situation. At least within the framework of the exercises. Ordinary “assignees”, who appear in the troops once every few years, are not suitable for such a role.
A completely different matter is the personnel reserve.
67. A citizen who is in the reserve is subject to conscription for military training in accordance with Federal Law.
The total duration of military training, to which a citizen is involved during his stay in the reserve, cannot exceed 24 months.
That is, for private sergeants (the period of service in the reserves is up to 42 years) - this works out to be at least a month or two during each year. And this is a completely different matter in terms of the effectiveness of training and real combat readiness.
It is clear that in order for people, even very patriotically minded ones, to make such sacrifices, abandoning the usual comfort of a “citizen”, and be ready to report to their military units within 3 days without any “excuses”, they need to do this somehow compensate financially.
An employee called up for military training must be released from work and compensated for the duration of the training at the rate of average monthly earnings. But these expenses must be reimbursed to the employer from the federal budget.
How much will Russian reservists actually earn? An exact answer to this question will probably be difficult, based on the discrepancy in the assessments of experts and specialists from relevant departments. Thus, according to calculations made 4 years ago, the monthly salary of a reservist officer without allowances should have been about 14 thousand rubles per month, and that of a private – 8-10 thousand. Not that much, of course, but taking into account the “living wage” of 10 thousand rubles, you won’t die of hunger, even if you are completely without “civilian” work. Well, having it - even more so. So, after all, the service does not go on all the time - but, according to the student analogy, “in person and in absentia.”
Now the figures are somewhat more modest - 5-8 thousand rubles. When estimating the total costs of the “experiment”: in 2015 - 288.3 million rubles, and in 2016 - 324.9 million. And the sheer number of real “reservists” is still expected to be only a few thousand people.
In general, if we use only official information, then the process of transferring Russian “reserves” to a professional footing should not cause “beating the kettledrums”, but much less bravura assessments. Well, in fact, how long can you “pound water in a mortar” - talking about creating full-fledged “reserve armies”, but in the end having only an “experimental” desire to form 5 thousand “elite reservists”, which will not be enough to form even a full-fledged division ?!
And how long can you write Decrees and pass laws? The very first Decree on this very “experiment” was issued back in May 2012, then the corresponding Law followed, and now, it turns out, the latest Decree only “rewrote” an older document from three years ago? And this in a situation where Russia’s “best friends” from the West, led by the United States, are increasingly “rattling sabers” near our borders? Isn’t it time to stop with “experimentation” and move on to implementing the desired initiative on a really necessary scale?
But who knows, maybe such criticism will not be entirely justified? Some observers are already drawing attention to the fact that no specific figures, either on allocations for the creation of a mobilization reserve or on its specific size, are provided in the documents available for public viewing. And the “preliminary assessments” of even Duma politicians - well, they are politicians, not government financiers and Defense Ministry generals.
Foreign analysts have already begun to sound the alarm - unable to understand.
According to their estimates, at least 25% of the defense “pie” in the Russian Federation comes from nowhere. That is, one can only guess about their exact origin and potential size of resources.
So, according to Duma experts, it’s probably not worth throwing ashes on your head in advance, comparing American figures for the maintenance of contract reservists (10% of the Pentagon budget) and the measly several hundred million rubles in Russia, according to Duma experts. After all, human resources are an even more important factor in the successful conduct of a potential war than military equipment. And who is surprised if data on the exact quantities of many types of weapons are kept top secret?
So let NATO continue to think that the Russian army will be able to field only 5 thousand well-trained reservists in a hypothetical “Hour”. It could be a very unpleasant surprise for them - when entire previously “secret” divisions and armies are discovered in this way, ready, by order of the command, to repel any aggressor.
The military department was seriously concerned about the mobilization capabilities of the country. As stated by Deputy Chief of the General Staff Vasily Smirnov, the Ministry of Defense has developed a bill that will radically change the system of keeping Russian citizens in reserve.
The generals are in no hurry to make their proposals public in detail. But it is known that we are talking about creating a completely new structure in Russia - a mobilization reserve. Relatively speaking, this will be the second front that the army command will call under its banner during a war, major exercises or emergency situations. In addition, units may appear in the Armed Forces where former conscripts will serve on a temporary basis.
The military is not going to force them into barracks, nor do they intend to tear them away from home and work for a long period of time. The bill provides for the voluntary entry of reservists into the reserve army. It might look like this. Before leaving the army, the commander will invite the demobilized conscript to sign a contract, according to which yesterday’s soldier undertakes to return to duty from time to time.
The size of the army pay and the length of the contract will apparently depend on the military specialty and qualifications of the reservist. People with professions in short supply in the military, say, operators of air defense anti-aircraft missile systems, will probably receive more. For repairmen or drivers, most likely, less. But the latter will not have to leave their family for a long time for army retraining. Mastering the steering wheel of a new military truck or armored personnel carrier is still easier than delving into the intricacies of the electronic brain of an air defense system. It is possible that some categories of former soldiers will not need to enter into a contract at all. Why pay money to an ordinary shooter if his fire and tactical skills can be easily restored at short-term military training.
Considering that “technological” positions in the troops will soon be occupied by professional soldiers, the recruitment of their civilian counterparts to serve in the reserves will be handled by the military registration and enlistment offices. In our reserve army there are only a few successful businessmen and rich people. Therefore, the generals hope that the material interest and traditionally favorable attitude towards the army of yesterday's soldiers will force a considerable number of experienced military experts to respond to the initiative of the Ministry of Defense. They plan to call them for retraining only once a year. So reservists are not in danger of losing their jobs. Moreover, according to current legislation, it is prohibited to fire such employees. This ban will most likely remain in the new document. As well as the obligation of employers to pay subordinates who have temporarily left for the army an average monthly salary.
A fundamentally new moment in the life of reservists could be their temporary service at some Defense Ministry facilities. They are not welcome in ordinary garrisons. After transferring all military units to the category of permanent readiness, divisions and brigades were one hundred percent staffed with conscripts and contract soldiers.
However, in some places, instead of the reduced regiments, storage bases for weapons and military equipment were left. This arsenal will be used when deploying the Armed Forces during a threatening period. However, in order for armored vehicles to drive and shoot after a long “hibernation”, for missiles to fly into the air, and for planes to take off into the sky, all this equipment must be maintained in combat-ready condition. This is exactly the task they want to entrust to the reservists.
As Vasily Smirnov noted, each storage base has 6 military positions and several civilian positions. The General Staff does not see the point in appointing military professionals there - they are needed in linear units. It costs more to staff bases with recruits: incompetent soldiers will only ruin the equipment. But keeping experienced reserve specialists on a rotational basis is just the thing.
Another mobilization innovation could be the involvement of former soldiers in eliminating the consequences of man-made disasters and natural disasters.
The leadership of the Ministry of Defense initially wanted to present a fresh look at the organization of army service and the preparation of a mobilization reserve in two new laws - on military service and on conscription. However, the desire of the generals to separate conscription and service issues did not find support. As a result, the State Duma will consider a single bill.
Forming a reserve is a generally accepted practice in leading Western countries. Its staff in Germany, France, the UK and the US outnumber the armed forces. For example, in America the role of the “second front” is played by the National Guard. In addition, the army and air force have their own manpower reserves. At the Department of the Navy, the reserve is divided between the Navy, Marine Corps and Coast Guard.
Americans serve in the reserves voluntarily, necessarily signing a contract with the military.
Meanwhile
It is possible that deputies will have questions regarding the mobilization initiatives of the General Staff. Moreover, among legislators there are supporters of other options for forming a military reserve. Including the Belarusian type. In this country, the following scheme for preparing a “second front” has been practiced for 6 years. It is not former military personnel who are recruited there, but conscripted youth. It is enough for a person to write an application to the military registration and enlistment office with a detailed explanation of the reasons for the inability to perform regular service as a soldier. Then get a certificate of good health from doctors. If the applicant’s arguments are considered compelling by the commissariat, he will be included in the mobilization reserve. The service there takes place virtually without interruption from the main job. A conscript is called to study in a military specialty in one of the army units for a year, two or three years (the period depends on his education and level of military training). Then comes the stage of a long stay in the reserve with occasional retraining at military training camps.
The scheme looks attractive. However, there is a serious argument against its introduction into Russian practice. Neighbors introduced reserve service because of the surplus of conscripts who could be put into active service. In our country, as you know, there are always not enough recruits.
