Introduction
When I was 18, like all guys my age, they tried to conscript me. As a teenager, I dreamed of being a military man, I wanted to be a movie hero, participate in special operations, and if I died, then in battle, as a warrior. But over the years, I realized that something had taken me in the wrong direction, and I began to live my life to the fullest.. I evaded service in every way I knew how.
But then, at the age of 22, I was still drafted into the army, an engineering regiment.
I heard that lawlessness and harsh hazing were going on in the army, and I really thought that either they would kill me there, or I would go to prison because I myself would have to kill someone to save my life.
I decided that I would write a diary every day and when I returned home, I would publish it. Each of you will be able to find out what the life of a conscript soldier is in Russia and in the post-Soviet space as a whole.
The course of a Young fighter.
My first day in the army was November 20, 2017. Everything turned out to be completely different from what I thought.
We were gathered near the military enlistment office and taken to a unit 350 kilometers from the city. We handed over all our things, took a shower, and were given a uniform. There were no usual underpants and T-shirts. We were given 2 sets of some kind of pajamas, one thin, the other thicker, they were all torn, it is clear that the old underwear is already there. A military uniform was put on top of it. This underwear was called "beluga". This is such underwear for the winter period.
Everything seemed too formal and strict, the attitude was like to animals.
Lawlessness, as it seemed at first glance, was not there.
But I can say that the army is like a new and completely different world. New rules, new concepts, new atmosphere. What previously seemed somehow stupid and funny is the norm there and quite important for someone or something. It was really a new and wonderful world. It reminded me of the movie "avatar" when the Earthlings arrived on another planet. I was constantly stupid, like many others, I was always lost and did not know what to do, because life seemed completely new. It was necessary to constantly obey someone and for me it was wild. You can't leave there like you don't like your job, you're there for a year and a half and that's it. You're just like a puppet. We had a course for a young fighter, we studied the statutes and other legislative acts. We were forced to constantly do the cleaning, straighten the beds, wash the floors and shave regularly.
Shaving was stressful for me, I never shaved outside, I had a beard. And here, after each shave, there was terrible irritation, and there was very little time for shaving, and the quality was demanded.
I didn't keep a diary for the first 2 weeks, because I didn't understand what was going on there at all, we were always in a hurry and there was always not enough time.
Our daily routine was something like this:
6:00 a.m. rise
6:10 building for charging
6:40 the cleaning starts. Make the beds, wash the barracks, level all the beds by thread, wash yourself. 8 washbasins for 100 people.
7:00 building for breakfast
8:00 the beginning of classes (theory and sometimes practice. They learned the rules, went to the drill and a little bit of combat tactics).
13:00 lunch
14:00 classes. We learned a lot in the classroom. It was necessary to memorize the text verbatim. It was torture.
18:00 dinner
19:00 we are filing 1 and in general we are preparing for tomorrow.
20:30 news viewing
21:20 evening walk. They walk in the army in formation and sing songs.
