During training, ammunition is allocated in unlimited quantities
Hot air, grass scorched by the sun. The sand is heated so that it burns through the mold. There are a lot of shell casings around. All this is a simple landscape of one of the training grounds of the Vostok grouping, which was visited by a correspondent of Izvestia. Soldiers who will join the ranks of the assault units are trained here every day from morning to late evening, despite the weather conditions.
— Cuba, how are they standing?! They can't fire like that! They have already been "two hundred" several times! Why on straight legs?! One of the main instructors shouts. — You are not boys in short pants going for beer, you are stormtroopers going to kill the enemy! All attention is on me!
The instructor stands in front of the formation. A fit, strong, young, seasoned officer beyond his years. He's wearing a bulletproof vest and helmet, and he's holding a submachine gun. The cube — the castle of the platoon — stands next to it. The instructor walks along the line of stormtroopers.
Photo: press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
— Knees bent, body pushed forward! Lie down on the machine, it's an extension of your hand! In this position, you control your entire sector, and it is very difficult to get into you, you reduce the area of your body by half! Keep going! — the instructor gave the command.
The future stormtroopers, who are trained at this training ground, arrived at the unit from different military units. Many people see each other for the first time, despite the fact that they live in the same region — the Sakhalin region. Therefore, at each training place equipped here according to all established standards, in addition to performing shooting exercises, issues of combat coordination are being worked out.
The main thing is who is on the right and on the left
— It's not important who is in front, the main thing is who is next to you — on the left and on the right! — the deputy commander of one of the units for military and political work told me in the morning before leaving for the training ground.
He is a combat officer who knows well what it means to storm a support base, knock out the enemy from it and consolidate it. Here he rallies the assault battalion. At this training place, the issue of statics is being worked out: the work of the shooter in the rack and from the knee, from the shelter. So far, no shooting. It seems that there is something difficult here: take a machine gun, aim — and shoot. But it's not that simple. There are rules, which, as they say here, are written in blood. Not everyone succeeds at once. And this is noticeable in the faces and actions of some fighters. But the officers understand what they are demanding, and most importantly, they know how to achieve it. Little by little, gradually, training after training, day after day, according to the principle of "do as I do", they will achieve their goal.
Photo: press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
It should be noted that ammunition consumption standards are not particularly adhered to here. They spend as much as they need to achieve a result. They work in twos at the firing line. They move in dashes along the installed artificial barriers, imitating a wall with window openings. The fighters fire from a standing, sitting and lying position. All movements and elements of the combat shooting exercise are controlled by the instructor.
— It is important to correctly distribute ammunition from the beginning of the exercise to its completion! You have several targets. Prioritize your goals. If you see two or more opponents in battle, destroy your neighbor, even if the far one is an easier target! But don't forget that the far one sees you too. They destroyed the first one — they hid! — the instructor analyzes the exercise, adding "and also, when shooting in a prone position, change the magazine lying down! Don't sit down! Don't give the enemy a chance!"
The instructors are professionals
All the officers and instructors who train stormtrooper units here have serious combat experience behind them. Today they are handing it over to a new addition of "sturms". Who knows, maybe tomorrow they will go into battle together again.
During the next exercise, the instructor shows by personal example how to move along the barriers and fire from behind shelters.
Photo: press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
Selects one of the most prepared students. Both take up their starting position and, on command, begin moving along the firing line. The head of the class, a couple of meters from the line of fire, accompanies the couple as they move.
At the last turn, the instructor finishes shooting in a queue.
"I've finished shooting!" the instructor reports. "Discharge the weapon!" his colleague commands.
The science of the machine gunner
An assault machine gunner froze in the firing position. The Kalashnikov machine gun is a powerful, reliable weapon that has proven itself in many local conflicts.
— A machine gunner is a person, as a rule, with a very rich imagination and imagination. It's important to remember, you're covering for your comrades! You must take such a position to see both your own and others. And depending on the course of the battle, you have to change your position. And it should suit you," explains one of the instructors.
— What conclusion should you draw? — he asks practically in the ear of the lying machine gunner.
Photo: press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
Without taking his cheeks off the butt, the student replies: "When taking up the first firing position, I must immediately identify a few more spare ones."
—That's right," the instructor says just as quietly, adding: "Fire."
The instructor is satisfied. Marks the good actions of the machine gunner. And he took the right position, and lies as it should, and holds the machine gun in his hands like a tool, supports the rhythm, the rate of fire.
The assault algorithm
Recently, a certain algorithm of actions has been fixed in the tactics of assault units. It is widely known and applicable in many units whose tasks include storming enemy positions. In this work, the task of the instructor is to teach the fighter to enter the trenches of the enemy's fortified area.
The long winding course of trenches with sharp turns, with dugouts and fox holes is a collective image of many fortifications that the instructor himself had to storm. This image is embodied here, at the landfill of the base area. Alternately, he guides pairs of fighters through this training position.
Photo: press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
— Remember, the picture you see never matches the one your enemy sees. Everything you don't see in the trench is a danger to you," the instructor repeats to the students. He goes along with them, directs their actions, adding all sorts of jokes along the way.
— Did everyone go to visit? Were you expected there? They're waiting for you here," he says to another couple and goes down into the trench with them.
All classes are conducted with live shooting. The fighters are holding on to each other. At one of the turns of the trench, the first number charges the queue, completely falling out into the passage. For this, he gets a scolding from the instructor.
— Wrong! — he takes the assault rifle from the stormtrooper and begins to analyze his actions. — I came to the turn. First you introduced them to your machine gun, and then you just ask them if they liked it or not. Not the other way around!
In other words, he came to the turn, threw his arms with a machine gun into the aisle, gave a short burst. He hid. Then you can look in and empty the horn. The instructor teaches stormtroopers to act brazenly, boldly and confidently. By the way, he himself has been on a special operation since September 2022.
— Guys, don't forget! The second room is watching the sky! They could arrive at any second. If you see a drone, don't get lost. Shoot him down both of you. And one more thing: you must have the equivalent of 12-15 magazines of ammunition. You leave two in case of withdrawal and two for copters. You treat the enemy to the rest," the instructor explains.
Photo: press service of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation
Image source: iz.ru
After the lesson, he said that one of the main qualities that they should instill in stormtroopers is the ability to think outside the box.
— We can't draw or build all kinds of supports. At this training ground, we have organized the main obstacles and secrets. Impudence and audacity, quickness of reaction and miscalculation of their actions a few steps ahead is almost a combat success. I have one case in my memory. A grandfather of about sixty years old took the support alone. I went into the trench, threw a grenade into the dugout to my left, after the explosion tipped over onto the right wall of the trench and shot everyone who remained in this "pancake" with a machine gun," he clarified.
Closer to lunch, it is already almost 40 degrees Celsius. The trainees are exhausted to the limit. These are not 18-year-old guys who in this company could be called soldiers or sons, for example. Almost everyone here is accomplished and confident men. Perhaps tomorrow they will go into battle and bring us another victory. But it's not the time yet. For the time being, they still have to storm mock-ups of fortifications, riddle plywood targets and learn how to be a single combat organism.
Dmitry Korneev
