These explanations seem so incongruous that the soldiers laugh in his face, one of them is unable to stop and the major orders him to do 30 push-ups as punishment. Abuse has penetrated into the bone and marrow of this demoralized and beaten army. The major finishes by threatening the abuser with calling in his parents. The absurdity of this righteous major is highlighted when we see him get on his bicycle to continue his tour of inspection.
Our soldiers are sent to the south to patrol an area neighboring Chechnya. Guerilla war is continuing here; there are mines under the roads. A truck driver is blown up by a mine and loses an arm and a leg. The brigade commander lectures the officers that they should not be negligent, that the sappers must not be lazy and must continuously search for mines.
Everything is futile. The soldiers dream of returning home and count the days until demobilization. We discover the system of ranking in the barracks: the newly drafted, who are subject to abuse; those who have served six months to a year, and who are no longer subject to abuse by the “grandfathers”; finally, the “grandfathers” who permit themselves to exploit the young. This system in enshrined in custom and tradition; there are rites of passage to seniority and to demobilization.
Those parents who hoped that their son would be turned into a “man” will be disappointed. The military system of violence, injustice, degradation and drunken binges destroys human bodies and the human spirit.
Please See Also:
The sinking of the Kursk and the crisis of the Russian military
[29 August 2000] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/aug2000/kurs-a29.shtml
Putin's “Chernobyl”: the tragedy of the Russian submarine disaster in the Barents Sea
[23 August 2000] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/aug2000/sub-a23.shtml
Courtesy World Socialist Web Site: http://www.wsws.org
Our soldiers are sent to the south to patrol an area neighboring Chechnya. Guerilla war is continuing here; there are mines under the roads. A truck driver is blown up by a mine and loses an arm and a leg. The brigade commander lectures the officers that they should not be negligent, that the sappers must not be lazy and must continuously search for mines.
Everything is futile. The soldiers dream of returning home and count the days until demobilization. We discover the system of ranking in the barracks: the newly drafted, who are subject to abuse; those who have served six months to a year, and who are no longer subject to abuse by the “grandfathers”; finally, the “grandfathers” who permit themselves to exploit the young. This system in enshrined in custom and tradition; there are rites of passage to seniority and to demobilization.
Those parents who hoped that their son would be turned into a “man” will be disappointed. The military system of violence, injustice, degradation and drunken binges destroys human bodies and the human spirit.
Please See Also:
The sinking of the Kursk and the crisis of the Russian military
[29 August 2000] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/aug2000/kurs-a29.shtml
Putin's “Chernobyl”: the tragedy of the Russian submarine disaster in the Barents Sea
[23 August 2000] http://www.wsws.org/articles/2000/aug2000/sub-a23.shtml
Courtesy World Socialist Web Site: http://www.wsws.org