| After graduating from the secondary school
in 1981 I passed the exams and was accepted in "Leningrad Institute of Aviation
Instrumentation". My main speciality was aviation instruments, the military
part of the programm taught us anti-aicraft defence systems. We spent one day
of every week in the military department of the institute. |
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Obligatory attributes were: short cut
hair, green shirt, tie and a suit.Since the professors and teachers were active
duty officers, they were all in the ranks starting from major to colonels.
Every student of our institute remembers such names as Colonel Poppel and
Sub-Colonel Shetnikov. There were numerous jokes about these officers. Boy,
they were stupid. Here is one: Q: Why doesn't Colonel Poppel eat pickles ? A: Because his head doesn't go through the jar's mouth. (in the old times pickles were stored in barrels, in the modern times - glass jars) |
| It took us 5 years to graduate from the
institute, plus another year for a diploma project. And all these years (for me
just first 4 years, though) one day a week was spent on the premises of the
"military department". The most vivid memories are about the time after lunch
when the blood, enriched with all the good food ate in the cafeteria, reaches
the brain. You could almost fell asleep with your eyes open. This hours were
usually spent on "self-learning". |
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After the 4th year, I was found "not ready
for active duty" on medical reasons. When I was 7 years old, I got into a car
accident. An ambulance hit me when I was crossing a street and I hit a curb
with my head. There was a gush 7 by 15 cm. Only the experience and talant of
Russian neurosurgeon Boris Rachkov saved my life and health. He successfully
made a scull trepanation and closed the hole with a piece of somebody else's
scull. By the way, trepanation is the very serious operation, it might have
changed my life. Yeras ago I have read an article in Washington Post about the
people who were trepanned and an effect it caused in their lives:
read that story. |
| I
am feeling OK and don't have any problems so far, but army considered me unfit
for the service. That prevented me from going to the boot camp after the 4
years of military training and thus from becoming an army officer. I didn't
have to read the following: |
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Military Oath
I, the citizen of the Union of Soviet Socialist republics, joining the armed forces of USSR, take this oath and solemnly swear to be honest, brave, disciplined, attentive soldier; keep military and state secrets, observe the Constitution of the USSR and Soviet laws, carry all regulations and orders of commanders and superiors.I swear to study the military honestly, take care of military and peoples' property and be fair to my people, my Soviet motherland and Soviet government untill the least breath of air.
I am always ready to defend my motherland - the Union of Soviet Socialist republics by the order of the Soviet government; and I am as a soldier of the military forces of the USSR, swear to defend it courageously, skilfully, with worthy and honor without sparing my blood and even life to fulfill the complete defeat of the enemies.
If I fail my solemn oath, let I be punished by severe Soviet laws, everebody's wrath and .. of the Soviet people.
Affirmed by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR