Thread by @ChrisO_wiki

1/ A recent commentary about the Russian army's political officers has struck a chord with frontline officers. They say the army frequently appoints "the most useless person" in a unit – "alcoholics and morons" – who do little to help with morale. ⬇️

https://x.com/ChrisO_wiki/status/1938514770220474485

2/ Russian warblogger Svyatoslav Golikov reports on positive reaction to the commentary which he published last week, in which he criticised the "stupid and unnecessary" work that political officers do, which he says is severely disconnected from the realities of the front line.

3/ He argues that the political cadre's leadership "not only does not see the real problems with the conduct of military-political work and the moral and psychological state of the personnel of our troops, but also categorically does not want to see them."

4/ "I suspect that our top military leadership does not see the real problems either. The problems of the moral and psychological state of our servicemen are the most acute.

5/ "And these problems stem not only from the ostentatious nature of military-political work in the troops as such."

This critique seems to have resonated among his readers. A comrade writes:

6/ "Do you know who forwarded it to me? You won't believe it! The deputy political officer of the regiment!

With the words: 'This is what we need to write about!' A whole colonel, but apparently the guy was fed up too.

7/ "And about 'Red Star' [the army newspaper], a clear example. The other day, people from the battalions came to the regimental headquarters for parcels.

8/ "They were given three packs of newspapers as a bonus. And they were cursing: 'Well, why the hell do we need this shit? It's summer now, guys! No need to light the stove!'"

Another officer writes:

9/ "Everything is spot on. By the way, there is also a tradition in the army, especially in conditions of personnel shortage or in newly formed units, to appoint the most useless person, who is of no use, as a political officer, often also an alcoholic.

10/ "A good idea, in my opinion, would be to organize a parallel way of receiving information.

11/ "It is impossible to appoint political officers completely separately, they are deputies and carry out the commander's orders, including combat ones, but they must pass on problems in the units over their heads.

12/ "Now, regarding the political officers of companies and battalions, the feedback is, to put it mildly, not very good, there are a lot of alcoholics and morons.

13/ "But if we take the ideal, then I would add a junior political officer to each platoon, a political officer to the company administration, and a senior political officer to the battalion administration.

14/ "These comrades should know the value of a pound of salt [i.e. know people well], carry out combat missions together with the soldiers, together on patrols and secrets, together with their units. The only difference is that they can transmit information along their line."

15/ A third individual says that the problem isn't just the deficiencies of the political officer cadre, but the atrocious conditions which Russian soldiers have endured for over three years, which no amount of propaganda can paper over:

16/ "I don't understand how to maintain a high moral-psychological state at the moment. What can you tell people who have been fighting for the fourth year in the current reality?

17/ "The only thing that works is "at least [we're] not in the infantry"... There is already a joke going around among the soldiers: "It's better to sit out five [years in prison] than serve another ten [in the army]."

18/ Golokov agrees: "The further into the forest, the greater the feeling of hopelessness and despair in the vast majority of our fighters.

19/ "Moreover, when confronted with actual reality, this feeling quickly sets in for new arrivals, who see everything with their own eyes and simply wait for their turn [to die]." /end

Sources:
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