By the time they reach secondary school, most Soviet students are becoming a bit cynical about the military. After years of indoctrination, the tales of heroism and valor begin to wear thin. Teenage rebellion is becoming as much a part of Soviet life as in the West. It's not that Soviet teenagers are unpatriotic. American teenagers become cynical toward television commercials without rejecting the nature of a consumer society. Soviet teenagers become cynical of the messages of the party, without rejecting allegiance to the society.
Although the Komsomol plays a role in preparing exceptional students for leadership in the army, the DOSAAF has a significant role in preparing the average Soviet student for the military. DOSAAF is a military-sponsored organization designed to drum up support for the armed forces outside the normal party or school system. In a totalitarian society like the USSR, there are no private sports or recreation groups. If you want to play on the local soccer team, you play on a DOSAAF-sponsored team. If you want to build model airplanes, you join a local DOSAAF hobby club. If you want to ride a motorbike, you join a DOSAAF motorbike club.
DOSAAF is sponsored by the military for a variety of reasons. In a country like the USSR where few people own private cars, the Army encourages young men to learn how to drive, and how to repair automobiles and trucks. It is better to train young men in basic automotive skills before they enter the military rather than during the two years they are under the colors. The other advantage DOSAAF enjoys is that it controls a lot of precious resources in a consumer-poor economy. This not only affects cars and motorbikes, but sporting and hobby equipment as well.
In the USSR, you can't simply visit a local shop to buy a snorkel or a tennis racket. DOSAAF has an extensive flying club network to teach basic aviation, and sponsors skydiving clubs as well. The DOSAAF leadership is made up mainly of retired military officers, and the training frequently has a military flavor to it. Boys not only learn how to drive Lada sedans, but ZiL-130 trucks (as used by the army), and even BTR-70 armored infantry transporters.
Since the mid-1960s, mandatory military training has been extended to secondary schools. And this applies to girls as well as boys. By the time they leave secondary school, Soviet girls as well as boys will know how to fleldstrip and use an assault rifle. The aim is to have the boys familiar with the basics of military service before they enter. This includes basic weapons training, basic drill, and familiarity with the organization of the armed forces. There is some difference in the training that young women receive. For example, there is more emphasis on medical training than on small arms, due in no small measure to the fact that women are not drafted, and very few women serve in the Soviet armed forces. But young Soviet women will be able to administer basic medical care in the event of chemical or nuclear contamination.
The Soviet Union may be a centrally planned, totalitarian society, but the quality of social services and government programs differs enormously across the vast country. The extent of preinduction training varies as well. Teenagers in the European regions of the USSR have a much greater chance of belonging to the more interesting DOSAAF clubs such as flying clubs or rally car clubs. The quality of secondary school military training is also better in these areas. Many schools in rural Central Asia have poor facilities, if any, for military training. And in some Muslim areas schools have even had to recruit women teachers for military training, which goes against the grain of these traditional societies. As a result, teenagers from European regions of the USSR enter the armed forces with distinct advantages over their Central Asian counterparts. They are more likely to speak Russian, to have had better preinduction training, and probably to have a usable skill that will steer them to the more desirable postings.
The draft inducts eighteen year olds in two waves. The first induction takes place in April and May, and the second in October and November, after the harvest. The Soviet Union is still an agricultural society, and the rhythms of the army have to give way to the rhythms of nature. About 75 percent of all eighteen year olds are inducted in any given year. Deferments come in three categories: education, family hardship, and health. A certain percentage of teenagers is exempted as physically or mentally unfit, and in rare circumstances, young men may be deferred due to family hardships. Educational deferments are not exemptions. In most cases, the student will be obliged to perform military duty after university. Only 12 percent of young men manage to escape military duty altogether. So for the vast majority of Soviet young men, army service is a normal aspect of growing up.
During the induction process, the recruits are assigned their combat unit or training unit. The complicated network of DOSAAF clubs, schools, and party organizations like the Komsomol has some impact on this process. Young men with a good record at a DOSAAF skydiving club have a better chance of entering the elite VDV Air Assault Force. A Russian student with good science grades, a clean political record, and Komsomol membership has a good chance of entering a prestige service such as the Strategic Missile Force. On the other hand, a young Azeri from a rural area of Azerbaijan, with a spotty record of school attendance and a poor grasp of Russian, will probably end up in a construction battalion for his two years of service.
For the average young Soviet citizen, chances are better than even that he will end up in the Ground Forces. Basic training is brief — usually four weeks. The texture of training differs considerably from the experience of most NATO soldiers, and more closely resembles that of a soldier from decades (if not a century) ago. Basic military skills are taught, including the wearing of and care for the uniform, saluting officers, and basic marching drills. Basic training also includes medical examinations and treatment. The USSR is so vast, and its health care system so spotty, that the army is obliged to pay careful attention to communicable diseases. The soldier receives a standard assortment of vaccines. Treatment, when needed, is brief and to the point. If problems are found during dental examinations, for example, the teeth are simply pulled (often without a painkiller!) to prevent further problems with them during the tour of duty.
One of the fundamental differences between the Soviet Ground Forces and most NATO armies is the hierarchy of command. The Soviet Army mirrors Soviet society. The Soviet style of command emphasizes rigid control from above. Orders to lower levels of command are in detail and give the subordinate officers less freedom in the way they execute the order. Lower layers of command have less autonomy than in NATO armies.
In the infantry, one of the more interesting structural differences between NATO and the Soviet Army is the matter of sergeants, better known in army parlance as noncommissioned officers (NCOs). In NATO armies, there is the traditional divide between officers and enlisted men. To bridge that gap, the NATO armies have an extensive professional NCO class. The NCOs are not simply technicians. They are leaders in their own right, entrusted with considerable responsibility by the officers to lead the men in their units. In the Soviet Army, there are sergeants, but they do not play the same role as in most NATO armies. The sergeants are not professional soldiers, simply draftees with more technical training. Soviet sergeants are not longterm professionals, and have little more experience in the army than the average draftee. The Soviets have done little to encourage a professional NCO class, and as a result, officers have to do many of the tasks that NCOs would perform in NATO armies.