SPETSNAZ - THE SOVIET SPECIAL FORCES

The Inside Story Of The Soviet Special Forces

Selection And Training

Chapter 7 Page 4 NEXT PAGE >

The interview moves gradually on to the subject of the armed forces of the probable enemy and takes the form of a gentle examination.

`Of course, comrade general.'

`Just supposing, lieutenant, that you were chief of staff of the Soviet division, how would you destroy the enemy's missiles?'

`With our own 9K21 missiles.'

`Very good, lieutenant, but the location of the American missiles is not known.'

`I would ask the air force to locate them and possibly bomb them.'

`But there's bad weather, lieutenant, and the anti-aircraft defences are strong.'

`Then I would send forward from our division a deep reconnaissance company to find the missiles, cut the throats of the missile crew and blow up the missiles.'

`Not a bad idea. Very good, in fact. Have you ever heard, lieutenant, that there are units in the American Army known as the "Green Berets"?'

`Yes, I have heard.'

`What do you think of them?'

`I look at the question from two points of view -- the political and the military.'

`Tell us both of them, please.'

`They are mercenary cutthroats of American capitalism, looters, murderers and rapists. They burn down villages and massacre the inhabitants, women, children and old people.'

`Enough. Your second point of view?'

`They are marvellously well-trained units for operating behind the enemy's lines. Their job is to paralyse the enemy's system of command and control. They are a very powerful and effective instrument in the hands of commanders....'

`Very well. So what would you think, lieutenant, if we were to organise something similar in our army?'

`I think, comrade general, that it would be a correct decision. I am sure, comrade general, that that is our army's tomorrow.'

`It's the army's today, lieutenant. What would you say if we were to offer you the chance to become an officer in these troops? The discipline is like iron. Your authority as a commander would be almost absolute. You would be the one taking the decisions, not your superiors for you.'

`If I were to be offered such an opportunity, comrade general, I would accept.'

`All right, lieutenant, now you can go back to your regiment. Perhaps you will receive an offer. Continue your service and forget this conversation took place. You realise, of course, what will happen to you if anybody gets to know about what we have discussed?'

`I understand, comrade general.'

`We have informed your commanding officers, including the regimental commander, that you came before us as a candidate for posting to the Chinese frontier -- to Mongolia, Afghanistan, the islands of the Arctic Ocean -- that sort of thing. Goodbye for now, lieutenant.'

`Goodbye, comrade general.'

An officer who joins spetsnaz from another branch of the armed forces does not have to go through any additional training course. He is posted straight to a regular unit and is given command of a platoon. I was present many times at exercises where a young officer who had taken over a platoon knew a lot less about spetsnaz than many of his men and certainly his sergeants. But a young commander learns quickly, along with the privates. There is nothing to be ashamed of in learning. The officer could not know anything about the technique and tactics of spetsnaz.

It is not unusual for a young officer in these circumstances to begin a lesson, announce the subject and purpose of it, and then order the senior sergeant to conduct the lesson while he takes up position in the ranks along with the young privates. His platoon will already have a sense of the firmness of the commander's character. The men will already know that the commander is the leader of the platoon, the one unquestionable leader. There are questions he cannot yet answer and equipment he cannot yet handle. But they all know that, if it is a question of running ten kilometres, their new commander will be among the first home, and if it is a question of firing from a weapon their commander will of course be the best. In a few weeks the young officer will make his first parachute jump along with the youngest privates. He will be given the chance to jump as often as he likes. The company commander and the other officers will help him to understand what he did not know before. At night he will read his top secret instructions and a month later he will be ready to challenge any of his sergeants to a contest. A few months later he will be the best in all matters and will teach his platoon by simply giving them the most confident of all commands: `Do as I do!'

An officer who gets posted to spetsnaz from other branches of the forces without having had any special training is of course an unusual person. The officers commanding spetsnaz seek out such people and trust them. Experience shows that these officers without special training produce much better results than those who have graduated from the special faculty at the Higher Airborne Command school. There is nothing surprising or paradoxical about this. If Mikhail Koshkin had had special training in designing tanks he would never have created the T-34 tank, the best in the world. Similarly, if someone had decided to teach Mikhail Kalashnikov how to design a sub-machine-gun the teaching might easily have ruined a self-educated genius. continued next page...