MILITARY THOUGHT (USSR): REDUCTION OF THE TERMS OF ACTIVE MILITARY SERVICE AND PROBLEMS OF MANNING THE ARMED FORCES

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP10-00105R000302530001-3
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: T
• Document Page Count: 10
• Document Creation Date: December 22, 2016
• Document Release Date: September 27, 2012
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: November 5, 1976
• Content Type: MEMO

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Reduction of the Terms of Active Military Service
and Problems of Manning the Armed Forces
by
General-Leytenant A. Kuleshov
One of the most important aspects of the Universal Military
Service Law adopted 12 October 1967 at the Third Session of the
USSR Supreme Soviet is the reduction of the term of active
military service by one year.
The new terms of active military service established by the
law for soldiers, seamen, sergeants, petty officers, and military
construction troops are the result of the great achievements by
the Soviet people along the path of a half century of socialist
reforms in our country and are an important event in the
development of the Soviet Armed Forces.
The terms of active military service, as one of the main
elements of the system of manning the forces, depend directly on
the numerical strength of the armed forces, the availability of
draftee contingents within the country, and also on various
factors of a social-economic and military nature, among which
great importance is attached to the level of development of
military equipment and armament, as well as to the qualitative
state of the draftee contingents.
The annual requirement of the army and navy for young
replacements is determined by the numerical strength of the armed
forces and the terms of active military service. Naturally,
reducing the terms of service leads to an increased need for
draftee contingents. The following example can be used to
corroborate this. When the army numbers 300 thousand soldiers,
and the term of service is three years, it is necessary to
replace annually one-third of the soldiers, i.e., 100 thousand
men. In switching over to a two-year term of service it will be
necessary to replace annually not just one-third, but SO percent,
i.e., 150 thousand men. Thus, when the term of active military
service is reduced by one year, the need of the armed forces :50x1-Hum
draftees is increased by SO percent annually.
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Considering this circumstance, we could raise the question
of reducing the terms of active military service in the Soviet
Armed Forces only if there were a sufficient number of draftee
contingents available for the yearly manning of the forces.
Yet in the postwar period right up to 1964, in connection
with the decrease in the birth rate in the years of the Great
Patriotic War, we could not allow any changes whatsoever in the
procedure for manning the armed forces. We were compelled to
wait until the citizens born after the war began to enter
military service.
The second condition concerns the quality of training of the
young people drafted for military service. It is known that the
profound economic and social transformations that have taken
place in the life of our country, the increased level of
political development, as well as the growth of the general
educational and technical training of Soviet youth, have had
decisive importance when the question of reducing the terms of
active military service was studied.
The practice of providing our forces with personnel
convincingly confirms the successes obtained in training our
young replacements. For example, in 1966 almost all the young
people who entered the armed forces had better than a seventh
grade education, while 70 percent of the youth assigned to the
Strategic Rocket Forces had higher, secondary, or secondary
technical education.
In accordance with the new Law that went into effect on 1
January 1968, a two-year military service term has been
established for soldiers and sergeants of the Soviet Army,
shore-based units and aviation of the Navy, and Border Guard
Troops and Internal Troops. All soldiers and sergeants of the
Strategic Rocket Forces, Ground Forces, Air Defense Forces of the
Country, the Air Forces, shore-based units and aviation of the
Navy, troops of the Ministry for the Protection of Public Order
of the USSR, and troops of other ministries and agencies having
troops under their jurisdiction, will finish their service in two
years. 50X1-HUM
For seamen and petty officers assigned to warships,
noncombatant ships and shore-based combat support units of the
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Navy and to seagoing units of the Border Guard Troops, a
three-year term of service has been established. Under the new
Law, a one-year term of service in the armed forces has been
retained for soldiers, seamen, sergeants, and petty officers of
the Soviet Army, Navy, and Border Guard Troops and Internal
Troops who have higher education.
The new Universal Military Service Law makes no mention of
the terms of service for military construction troops, but by the
Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR,
"Procedure for applying certain provisions of the Law of the USSR
on Universal Military Service", the term has also been set at two
years for military construction troops. This same decree has
established that time of service in the military construction
detachments for military construction troops counts as active
military service, as longevity in the Armed Forces of the USSR,
and in the labor record.
The changeover of the Armed Forces of the USSR to reduced
terms of military service touches upon many problems concerning
the manning of the .troops. First of all it will be necessary to
ensure the high combat readiness of units and large units is
maintained while the army and navy make the transition to the new
terms of service, to increase the training of the necessary
number of noncommissioned officers and specialists as well as the
training of young replacements, and to establish the procedure
for manning units and subunits stationed in areas of the Far
North and Far East.
In order to fulfil this important task of the State
systematically and in a well-organized manner, the Soviet Army,
Navy shore-based units and aviation, Border Guard and Internal
Troops, as well as the military construction detachments will
make the transition to the new terms of service during 1968 and
1969.
On warships, noncombatant ships, and in the shore-based
combat support units of the Navy, the transition to the new terms
of service will be carried out during 1968 to 1970.
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The aforementioned time periods for the transition of
enlisted and noncommissioned officer personnel to the new terms
of service have been established in accordance with the combat
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readiness requirements of units and ships, and also based on the
necessity for ensuring the gradual replacement of personnel,
while maintaining uniformity in manning troops and ships with
sergeants, petty officers, soldiers, and seamen in accordance
with the times they are to be called up for active military
service.
By the time the Law goes into effect, units and large units
making the transition to the two-year term will have in them on
active military service conscripted sergeants and soldiers
drafted in 1965, 1966, and 1967, with approximately one-third of
them having been drafted in each of these years. On warships,
noncombatant ships, and in combat support units of the Navy which
are converting to the three-year term of service, on active
service will be petty officers and seamen drafted in 1964, 1965,
1966, and 1967, with approximately 25 percent of them having been
drafted in each of these years.
In this connection, we are faced with the task of organizing
a systematic replacement of conscripted soldiers, seamen,
sergeants, and petty officers in such a way as to, on the one
hand, not lower the combat readiness of units and ships, while on
the other hand, have forces manned in an orderly fashion in
accordance with the call-up times by the time the transition
period is completed.
For a military unit converting from the three- to the
two-year term of service, these situations can be successfully
settled in the following way. Let us take a unit manned
uniformly by sergeants and soldiers drafted in 1965, 1966, and
1967. When converting to a two-year term of service, the unit in
1968 will have to carry out discharges into the reserves as
follows: in May and June, 33 percent of the sergeants and 25
percent of the soldiers drafted in 1965; in November and
December, 17 percent of the sergeants and 8.3 percent of the
soldiers drafted in 1965, and 17 percent of the sergeants and
16.7 percent of the soldiers drafted in 1966. In 1969 this unit
must discharge into the reserves: in May and June, 33 percent of
the sergeants and 16.7 percent of the soldiers drafted in 1966
and also 8.3 percent of the soldiers drafted in 1967; in November
and December, 33 percent of the sergeants and 25 percent of the
soldiers drafted in 1967. 50X1-HUM
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Naturally, to replace those being discharged, the same
number of draft-age citizens called up for active military
service will enter the unit, and by the time the transition to
the two-year term of service is completed, each of the following
draft dates will have provided the given unit with 33 percent of
its sergeants: May and June 1968, November and December 1968,
and May and June 1969. Regarding soldiers, each of the following
draft dates will have provided 25 percent of them: May and June
1968, November and December 1968, May and June 1969, and November
and December 1969.
As pertains to a navy ship in transition from the four-year
to the three-year term of service, it will be uniformly manned
each of the draft years if every half year, over a period of
three years, it discharges into the reserves 20 percent of its
petty officers and 16.5 percent of its seamen.
One of the primary tasks during the transition of large
units, units, and ships to the new terms of service is to adhere
to a uniform discharge of noncommissioned officers and
specialists so that not only in large units, units, and ships,
but also in each squad, crew, or group we maintain required
manning levels according to the main military registration
specialties.
In connection with the reduction of the terms of active
military service, we are going to have to accomplish difficult
tasks in dealing with the problems of providing the armed forces
with sergeants, petty officers, and specialists. Before the new
terms of service were introduced, the training of sergeants,
petty officers and specialists in schools, training units and
detachments lasted from three months to a year. Accordingly, a
unified approach to the organization of the training process was
lacking and plans and programs varied greatly. We can observe
this in the following facts.
In training programs much time has been devoted to the study
of theoretical matters which repeated secondary school programs,
and also to subjects not connected with the training of
specialists. Several programs have provided for the study of
various types of combat equipment and weapons although in
subsequent service, graduates of the schools dealt only with a 50X1-HUM
single type of equipment or weapon.
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In accordance with the new tasks, we must introduce
substantial changes in organizing and conducting the training of
sergeants, petty officers, and specialists.
When developing the programs we must, in our view, proceed
from the fact that sergeants, petty officers, and specialists
need, above all, solid skills in the employment of armament and
special equipment, and also a knowledge of the rules for their
operation, maintenance, and repair under field conditions. The
study of theoretical situations should be provided for only to
the extent necessary for proper understanding and fulfilment of
practical operations using the armament and combat equipment.
Experience has shown that the most important condition for
improving the system of training sergeants, petty officers, and
junior specialists is the further centralization of training in
training large units, units, and schools which have good training
materiel resources.
Therefore, under the new conditions the training of
sergeants, petty officers, and specialists will best be carried
out in existing training divisions and units, detachments and
schools whose tables of organization must be brought into
conformity with the new tasks. In this connection, a new list of
positions for the sergeants, petty officers, and specialists who
must be trained in the schools, training units and detachments,
acquires great importance.
Taking all of this into account, and also the further
improvement of the quality of work of the military commissariats
in selecting draftees to man the schools, training detachments,
and units, it is recognized that the training of the majority of
petty officers, sergeants, and specialists can be carried out
over a period of 5.5 months, so that two classes will be turned
out per year. We make an exception only for specialists of the
submarine fleet and individual specialties in the rocket forces
and air forces, where we intend to establish the length of the
training period at eight to nine months. This procedure for the
training of sergeants, petty officers, and specialists will
ensure that the troops and ships are maintained at constant 50X1-HUM
combat readiness and, at the same time, will allow us to
accomplish this task in the most economical manner, since it will
not require a great increase in the number of training units and
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schools.
It is stipulated that the manning of the training large
units, units, schools and training detachments with trainees be
conducted through the military commissariats twice per year: in
May and June, and in November and December. Since the draftees
will immediately enter the schools and training units, the
screening and study of them is entrusted to the military
commissariats, which then will select the men who are the best
educated, exemplary in conduct, and with high volitional
qualities for the positions of commanders of squads and crews.
While resolving the practical problems of reorganizing the
training procedure and improving the quality of training for
sergeants, petty officers, and specialists with reduced terms, we
shall inevitably encounter a number of other problems. For
example, we must not lose sight of the improvement of the
training materiel resources and also the need to carefully select
the officer and noncommissioned officer personnel for training
units and schools.
Reducing the terms of active military service will also
require new solutions in organizing the basic training of young
replacements for troops stationed abroad.
Previously, before being sent to their places of service,
young replacements went through one month of basic military
training in the troops of the military districts. As a rule, the
training was conducted in two cycles. Thus, counting the time
needed to send replacements to the basic training location and
then to send them abroad, the manning of groups of forces took at
least three months. Under the new conditions, this time period
must be reduced.
It will be no less an acute situation to provide personnel
to units stationed in Kamchatka and other places that are distant
and difficult of access.
Under the old terms of service, the call-up was carried out
in June for the aforementioned units so as to deliver the young
replacements during the period of navigation and bring back on
the return trip the sergeants and soldiers being discharged in15ox1 -HUNI
the reserves. Under the new two-year term of service, if we
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retain the previous procedure for supplying units stationed in
distant areas, then we will simultaneously replace 50 percent of
the soldiers and 100 percent of the sergeants, which undoubtedly
will affect the level of combat readiness. If we have two
call-ups per year, then the young replacements drafted in May and
June can be sent to distant areas earlier than under the existing
procedure. But how can we send them in November and December,
when navigation is already closed? Some express the view that it
is necessary to considerably expand deliveries by using aircraft
from the Civil Air Fleet. However, a definitive study of this
question has not yet been made.
Up to now incoming replacements always underwent basic
military training independent of troops already in service and
only after completing the training were they sent out to the
subunits to their T/O positions. If such a procedure is
maintained under the semiannual draft, then we would have to
conduct basic training twice annually for the young replacements.
This would require us to allocate to the combat training
programs, not one to one and a half months as occurred before the
new Law was adopted, but two to three months. Naturally, under
the new terms of service this is not desirable. Therefore, it is
extremely important that before our young people are drafted into
the army, they acquire the military skills and knowledge which
will allow them to join the ranks of their squads and crews
without basic military training and to undergo training through a
single program.
In order to accomplish this important task, under the new
Universal Military Service Law basic military training has been
established for young people in general education schools,
secondary special training institutions, and schools of the
professional-technical education system. The training program
will correspond in its scope and divisions to the training
program for young soldiers which existed before the new Law was
adopted.
The basic military training being established by the new Law
will permit young people to acquire the necessary military
knowledge before they are drafted into the army, and also will be
conducive to developing in them a spirit of discipline and
efficiency. 50X1-HUM
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Under the new conditions the army and navy have a growing
need for military technical specialists. In this connection, the
scope of the training for these specialists is being increased
considerably in DOSAAF training organizations and in training
institutions of the professional-technical education system.
This applies above all to motor vehicle drivers, driver-mechanics
of tracked artillery prime movers, and communications
specialists.
In conclusion, we must state that the implementation of the
new Universal Military Service Law adopted by the third session
of the USSR Supreme Soviet has levied on staffs of all levels,
unit and large unit commanders, and military commissariats, great
and complex tasks whose accomplishment will require much work and
energy. In so doing, all measures associated with reducing the
terms of service must be carried out without sacrificing troop
combat readiness.
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