#11
Moskovsky Komsomolets
May 30, 2002
HUNTING THE LIEUTENANT
[from WPS Monitoring Agency, www.wps.ru/e_index.html]

Army people in charge of recruitment are in despair: over 15,000 young officers under 30 have resigned within the last two-and-a-half years. Within the same period, a third of lieutenants and about 30% cadets also left the military.

The General Staff is working on the option of doubling the period of the primary officer contract - at present, a graduate cadet signs up for five years of service; in the near future his time as an officer may be prolonged to at least ten years.

"Such a decision will not be made in haste," recruiters from the Defense Ministry say. The possible rise in the period of the primary officer contract has been considered before. But even a year ago it seemed unrealistic - salaries of lieutenants were too low. After military wages are raised, there will be extra incentives to serve.

"Sooner or later, we would come to this all the same," says General Valery Astanin from the main organization-mobilization administration of the General Staff. "Look what a mess there is in the armed forces - a dozen lieutenants stay on, out of a hundred graduates. There is no one to command platoons and companies in units. Let people at least repay what the state spent on their training. By the way, as far back as 1998, when the law on military service was passed, we suggested that those who quit military service ought to pay the state compensation for their training costs. Duma deputies did not listen to our arguments then..."

Be as it may, the outflux of career military will not be solved instantly. Therefore, the General Staff is considering another idea: it is not ruled out that the service time for graduates from military faculties of civilian higher education institutions will rise from two to five years.

BACK TO THE TOP    #208 CONTENTS    NEXT SECTION