European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - September 28, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse                                Red army Reform continued from Page 13 soviet Trouil is paid 3 50 rubles a month about $6 50 Tho Loo to paid Volu Lnor in Tho u s earns $590 70 n month plus $250 quartos allowance if he has a Dimity the myth of a classless society is shattered quickly or Young soviet recruits when they join their first unit they learn hat hey Are at the Bottom of a peeking order among enlisted men the Afghanistan War has provided new evidence of hut old tradition in the soviet voices the youngest Roc Ruif suffer abuse heating and i Hill at the hands of Iho More St Nici men ii a also Hinr lot to perform he daily Harracks  to or Hihi. Cloth of of the More senior if Ruilt and in  to draw the More dangerous ii j . Offit or Rax inner lord Ai h,,r.  hated what War already a r,, Pio item said  corp analyst ale Alc Icv who his Condin Lod to studies of the soviet armed Force i lie seniority system shows no signs of letting up and jets worse the longer the War drags on " soldiers in their first six months arc known As youngsters at the Halfway Mark in their first year he graduate to Liscs at Tho end of a year they Are candidates and responsible or making sure the Lisl year soldiers perform the chores for All seniors or  those in their last months of duly sergeants arc simply enlisted recruits who receive an extra three months of Basic training they relay orders irom officers but provide no leadership themselves it is to its professional of Liccar corps that the red army looks Lor leadership ii15 huge nearly three times the size of the u s corps with Aboul 950.000 Ollices most began training at age 17 and come from the to military academies in the soviet Union compared to three in Tho u s they have their own department stores ice hockey Nekr special Parks and Dachau Lor the More senior Ollices frequently they serve into their 80s not surprisingly. Soviet Deurr Lars say that beyond special warfare regiments there is Little unit loyally in the red army among enlisted troops the lessons of Afghanistan began shortly after the soviets rolled Mlo their mountainous neighbor in december 1979 in accordance with their doctrine each division brought along its Lull complement of Long and Short Range surface to air missiles and anti aircraft bal tones. It look Tho soviets some time to realize that the afghan tribesmen did not possess an air Force but it look the Mujahideen Only a Short time to realize that captured Sam missiles and the massive gun batteries worked wonderfully against slow flying helicopters and fixed defensive positions foreign newsmen were invited along several times to witness ambushes of armoured soviet columns slowly winding their Way through the mountains once attacked the lumbering vehicles slopped dead in their tracks they made no attempt Al  Tho Muslim ret Els analysts believe the red army has Learned irom those Early mistakes to the extent that they have gotten better in such combat and they certain by have it is exclusively in Small unil operations they have incorporated a new air Mobile Doc nne into their tactical warfare plan and special warfare and reconnaissance units Are much More effective said Rand corp analyst atom Rev they have Learned the importance of training Young officers to take the initiative before platoon company and even battalion commanders relied on the centralized command Structure olten they were at a loss Alexiev said deserters have confirmed thai the strongest and most athletic of recruits reporting to Afghanistan Are now detailed to airborne assault units and a special 3,000 Man pc Snaz or special forces unit stationed in Kabul. Afghanistan s capital an estimated 600,000 soviet troops have rotated through the afghan War. Many of them Young troop commanders who have taken that experience Back to their units the War has also resulted in a steady trickle of Sovil army deserters from them have come reminders that the red army is still deeply troubled by alcoholism pilferage and equipment far below Western standards. The t-62 and t-72 tanks both in service in Afghanistan have exhibited deadly quirks. An automatic Shell ejector on the t 62 occasionally misses the Small porthole in the current sending the Cartridge car Wheeling around inside the Lank. The vehicle commanders have Laken to wearing Metal head guards. According to Jane s weapons and tactics of the soviet army the automatic Shell loader aboard the t 72 has the Nasty habit of Cas Raling the  the soviets Are fairly open in their Reliance on inferior weapons. Great numbers of tanks thai might go Only 250 hours without a major overhaul bul Cost less re preferable to More expensive and durable models. Some analysts however believe the West would to making a mistake to assume the red army is a staggering drunk. Richard Gabriel s Survey of sex soldiers almost Allol them with a grudge against the soviet Union disclosed that 78 percent of them Tell a Soldier Diane More in civilian Lile than in the service Only 16 percent reported seeing soldiers drunk or drinking while on duly there is a serious drinking problem in the soviet army bul serious drinking does not moan alcoholism when you re 19 or 20 years old the Ollices have the greatest  said Rand analyst Alexiev. Soviet soldiers were traditionally Given great amounts of alcohol before Bailies against the nazis someone once said the red army crawled drunk on its belly All the Way to Berlin bul they got there thai s the thing to  Alexiev said on nov. 7 this year the reviewing stand above Lenin s Tomb overlooking red Square will have a new Row of faces Lor the Gigantic military Parade marking the anniversary of the great socialist revolution most of the veterans of world War ii a War the soviets Are Quick to remind any visitor Cost them 20 million dead Are gone now gone Are the chief of the political directorate the commander in chief of the strategic rocket forces the commander in chief of ground forces and the Admiral of the Heel. Tho changes began under the caretaker ship of general Secretary Konstantin Chernenko and continue under Mikhail Gorbachev. A modernization of the soviet military leadership is said to be underway. Already the percent of officers holding higher education or military specialists degrees is nearing 75 percent up 25 percent Over a Low years ago. The new leaders have argued for More modern thinking to accompany the new and More frightening technology of modern  said analyst Alexiev. Many of the older marshals were simply incapable of doing that what we Are witnessing is a changing of the guard from the old world War ii warriors to a younger More sophisticated More modern and certainly a More dangerous Era of leadership " four soviet soldiers at a moslem rebel base in Afghanistan after they deserted in 1983. Page 14 the stars and stripes deserter s Jim Stewart Cox news services Nikolay Movchan is the son of a comm Farmer from the Village of Ozer Yanka near in the Ukraine in March 1982 they Earl turned 18 Movchan was notified to rep two years of duly in the soviet army. Six months later he was in Afghanistan serving i sergeant in a grenade launching platoon of the 191 special motorized anti tank regiment he desert May 1983 alter living a year with the afghan rebel was assist cd in reaching the United Stales by a f Nihls organization. Today he lives in new Jersey and commutes to in a ukrainian publishing House in Manhattan. The Friend said thai Movchan also misses the s Union and sometimes grows very melancholy. Occasionally someone from the soviet embassy o and invites Movchan to come by and Telephone hit Mother and father he does not go and he does no think he will Ever return to the Ukraine. With the assistance of Ludmilla Thorne a direct Freedom House a new York based human rights Movchan gave a reporter this account of his life in soviet army we had a party the night before i left. My Friend relatives came to say Farewell. I also spent some i with my Girlfriend that sort of thing the older peo. Were sad i think. My parents had Long faces. But t Young people were Happy alter All it was a party