He served in the Airborne Forces but did not jump. From what heights and planes do paratroopers jump with a parachute. Training airborne recruits in the art of landing

• “Of the five thousand residents of Rostov celebrating Airborne Forces Day, only one and a half thousand actually served in the airborne forces”
  

Today is Airborne Forces Day!

Airborne Forces Day!

Day of the Paratroopers or “Landing Forces”!

Of course, every year, the “Landing Forces” are becoming quieter. Grandiose fights and showdowns with the “Watermelon” mafia in the markets are slowly becoming a thing of the past. Still, our country is becoming more and more tough on all kinds of lawlessness, on the one hand, on the other hand, we are fighting in some places around the world. And it has long been noticed that if the country’s Army leads real fighting, less people bathes in fountains and goes to protest rallies.

Therefore, the question is always relevant: how to distinguish a real paratrooper from one who simply puts on a vest and takes it, or maybe even wears a “Throwaway” tattoo, drinks in the fountain and tells army stories.

By the way, this is what distinguishes Muscovites. Anyone who served in the Airborne Forces knows that rotten soldiers are more often found among those drafted from Moscow...

Of course not all, there are many excellent fighters among the guys from Moscow. I myself had a “friend” from the Capital in the army.

But honestly, everyone knows that among the residents of Moscow there are “not very good comrades”, more than from the outskirts of the country...

In our company there was a “Muscovite”, the only communist among the soldiers. By the way, he was sent to the army after “shar” (shar or sharatsya is another slang expression in the army and airborne forces) in civilian life. He was the released secretary of the Komsomol, I don’t remember where. There was a reprieve, but he got knocked up and was sent to serve in elite troops. I'm sure he bathes in the fountain and drinks in a beret and vest.

But for every real paratrooper there are several fake ones. So let's start learning to identify the deceiver. I will give below a few questions and some detailed answers to these questions.

Knowing the answers to these questions, you can identify a fake “Landing”!

1. Where did you serve?

The answer to the Airborne Forces or DShB does not work, just like the DMB (this is demobilization!). As well as the place of service, such as Pskov, Ryazan, and so on. Maybe he's heard enough army tales from his older brother or neighbor. By the way, addition, in the military camp of the airborne unit there may even be construction battalions. For example in Pskov. If anyone remembers, soldiers from the construction battalion went to the photographer and took photos in a “demobilization parade with axels” and a blue beret. They sent us home and boldly told us that they were serving in the Airborne Forces. Of course they did it secretly. The construction battalions were not very fond of landings. In Pskov, there was a garrison lip (gaubwatch), this is a place where soldiers and officers are detained for minor and major violations of military discipline. The lip was guarded by the guard of the Pskov division

2. Part number?

Each military unit has a number. The unit number is hammered into the soldier's head. As well as the number of the machine gun and military ID. I served almost 30 years ago and still remember.

3. What is the VUS?

VUS, this military registration specialty is written on the Military ID. If such a Landing is shown to you by his military officer, then looking at his VUS, you will understand who he really is. “Military specialty (MRS) is an indication of the military specialty of an active or reserve service member of the Russian Armed Forces and other troops and formations. Information about the military service is entered into the military ID. All VUS are divided into groups; the VUS designation itself is a multi-digit number (for example, VUS-250400).

Possible list of military specialties

Apparently, there are no open sources containing decryption of the codes of all currently operating VUS: the VUS catalog is a document of the Russian Ministry of Defense with the secrecy level “Secret”.

The first three digits of the VUS for warrant officers, sergeants, foremen and soldiers indicate specialization (VUS code), for example:

100 - rifle
101 - snipers
102 - grenade launchers
106 - military reconnaissance
107 - units and units of the Special Forces
122 - BMD
461 - HF radio stations
998 - not having military training fit for military service
999 - the same thing, only LIMITEDLY fit for military service, etc.

The following three digits indicate the position (position code):

97 - ZKV
182 - KO
259 - MV
001 - battery operator, etc.

The letter at the end indicates “special characteristics of the service”:

A - having none
B - missile weapons specialists
D - Airborne Forces
K - crew of surface ships
M - MP
P - V.v.
R - PV (FPS)
S - Ministry of Emergency Situations (?)
T - construction parts and divisions
F - SpN, etc.
E - Flight personnel for warrant officers, sergeants, soldiers

4. How many times did you jump? Usually you will hear mind-boggling numbers of 30-40-50, or maybe 100 jumps. “The annual norm for a conscript soldier is 12 jumps, 6 in each training period. At all parachute training- a mandatory condition of service in the Airborne Forces. Everyone is parachuted - from the general to the private" - interview with Shamanov. For those who don’t know, Vladimir Shamanov is the Airborne Forces Commander and Colonel General. Even in the USSR, jump more than 20 times, for conscript service was problematic. Because the soldier went on guard duty (this is when a man with a gun buries “Guba”, warehouses and parks with equipment), went on duty in the park (where the equipment is located), and finally on duty in the dining room (where he peeled potatoes, set the table and washed the dishes), stood “on the bedside table” (company duty), and so on... In the army there was self-service, the soldier did everything himself and no one freed him to make the jump. Of course, there were sports companies in the army. These are free units where soldiers mainly train and perform for the unit. For example, where I served, there was a “squadron”. Conscripts were skydiver athletes who did nothing but jump and compete. But this is a separate caste, they even wore a unique uniform, officer’s greatcoats and shoulder straps of conscripts. Rudiments contract army. I'm not talking about contract sergeants and warrant officers. They were already professional soldiers then. But an ordinary paratrooper did not jump very much. Just like now. Only “for demobilization” could they buy a “nausea” (a parachutist badge in the form of a dome with a pendant in the form of numbers according to the number of jumps) with big amount jumping.

5. Did you jump in combat? Many fake paratroopers do not know that the Airborne Forces and special forces in every possible way can jump in several options.

I will give the simplest ones:

Without weapons and RD (Paratrooper's Backpack)

With RD and weapons in transport position. An assault rifle, SVD and even an RPG, in a special transport case, are “screwed” behind the back of the dashing landing force.

With taxiway and main body (Cargo Container)

With a combat weapon, on the chest under the chest strap of the harness. Allows you to fire while descending by parachute, straight from the sky.

Then there are night ones, in the forest, on the water, at high altitudes, and so on. Only no one jumps inside the equipment, although this option was developed for war. The son of the legendary founder of the Airborne Forces Vasily Margelov, Alexander Margelov, made a parachute jump inside a BMD-1 back in 1973. For this feat, he was awarded the title of Hero of Russia, 20 years later... Since then, more than 110 people have jumped inside the equipment, but these are testers. An ordinary paratrooper who tells you about this is simply pi....!

6. Have you jumped with the ISS? For reference, the ISS is a Multidome system for landing equipment, for example the ISS-5-760. A person simply cannot jump with this crap. But I met Landing Forces who claimed that they jumped with it... In the Airborne Forces they jump mainly with parachutes: D-1-8 is the oldest parachute, created back in 1959. This parachute has the main advantage, the canopy cover clings through an extension halyard to an airplane or helicopter. The paratrooper doesn't even have a ring. They took me to the hatch and gave me a kick in the ass. Then everything works automatically without any devices. This is the perfect parachute for your first jump. 300% guarantee, the main thing is not to twist the slings during installation. D-1-5U is the oldest controlled parachute. D-6 and all its modifications. You have seen this dome in most films about the Airborne Forces. The paratroopers fly for some time on a stabilizing small canopy. The same canopy extends the main canopy of the parachute if you pull the ring or when a belay device like PPK-U is triggered. PPK-U - Semi-automatic Parachute Combined Unified (device) - designed to deploy the parachute pack (after a certain period of time at a certain altitude). Now they are planning to supply the D-10 to the troops. PSN - Parachute Special Purpose. I jumped with PSN-71, it is more controllable. It has rolls for better handling (which we were forbidden to unlock) and locks on suspension system. When landing, you can immediately unfasten the canopy. For example, in the wind, when jumping into water or in battle. Created for the GRU Spetsnaz and Airborne reconnaissance companies. Software - Planning Shell. These are the same rectangular “wings” or “mattresses” on which all athletes now jump. From PO-9, from the times of the USSR, to modern PO-16, PO-17 and the famous “Crossbows”. A conscript has never jumped with such canopies!

7. And finally, what is “Razor - Smile”? Or did they shave you with a smile? This is a flexible pin from the same PPK-U device. In the Airborne Forces and among civilian paratroopers, the most fashionable keychain and souvenir. On the neck, on the keys and so on. When straightened, the hairpin specifically catches the hairs, no worse than an epilator. In the army it is used to punish careless soldiers, and just for fun. Airborne humor, I shaved with a smile. Did they shave you with a smile? Only understandable to paratroopers.

In principle, there is still a lot of information that only those who served in the Airborne Forces can know. But I think that what I wrote will be enough to identify the fake paratroopers who disgrace the glorious name of Uncle Vasya’s Troops. Vasily Margelov is the founder of the Airborne Forces and the father of all paratroopers!

Happy Airborne Forces Day to all real paratroopers!
Nobody except us!

I work as a fitness instructor. I have professional education and 25 years of coaching experience. I help people lose or gain weight muscle mass and at the same time maintain health. I conduct training via the Internet or at the Mamba fitness club in Rostov-on-Don.

No, I did not serve in the Airborne Forces, but I have experience communicating with one of those who served there and I think that I have the right to express my opinion.

What interests me most is where this fashion for swimming in fountains came from, and what it means.

Now a lyrical digression.

My parents got an apartment in a new 120-apartment building in the early 70s. Almost all the residents are young workers and professionals with families, with the exception of two families, which I will not write about, except that one was gypsy (they tried to accustom them to sedentism life), another Chinese, consisting of five children and, accordingly, two parents. All other families had from one to three children.

The yard was very friendly, modern generation will not understand, of course, that the doors were practically not locked, and feeding the neighbor’s child if the parents were late at work was in the order of things.

In the summer there was complete bedlam in the yard, children of all ages made noise and made all sorts of noise in the sandboxes, on the swings, on the makeshift football field or simply in the front gardens. With the onset of darkness, the older generations came into their own, they were already strumming guitars and squeezing their friends in the bushes.

So 10-15 years passed, and in the mid-80s all these yesterday’s boys, that is, us, began to be actively drafted into the army to repay their debt to the Motherland.

There was no such thing as mowing at that time, it appeared a little later, so everyone, not to say that with pleasure, but they went, it was necessary, then it was necessary.

So here is one of our comrades, very quiet and modest guy, before the army, he was a professional cyclist, which we mercilessly mocked, like, why do you need this, he got on a bike and rode to a river or a garden, and don’t listen to the coach, he ended up in the Airborne Forces.

We only found out about this a few years later.

Coming from the army, everyone bragged about their exploits, demobilization albums, jackets with a bunch of badges, but what to hide, I myself had a master’s badge, although where I served, soldiers were not awarded higher than first class, so that the ensigns would not be offended. I just asked a warrant officer I knew.

And he was always silent and smiling.

We teased him, I suppose he was a clerk at the headquarters, or a bread slicer in the canteen.

Then he went to live in another city, this had never happened before, the courtyard, by inertia, lived as it had been since the day of its inception, a little later everything fell down like a house of cards, everyone went to seek their illusory happiness.

One day we, those who remained (those who had not left and gathered occasionally) were sitting in the courtyard gazebo and remembered the army and the days that had passed, his older brother came out, listened to us and was silent. Someone asked about his brother. Then we learned that he served in the Airborne Forces in Afghanistan, received two medals for courage and two wounds. And for some reason he hid it from us. He never splashed in the fountains, although we had them within walking distance, and he never broke bottles.

If I offended anyone, but looking at the bathing paratroopers breaking bottles on their heads, I remember a comrade in the yard who was quiet and could have become the coolest in the yard, but he chose to remain silent.

Airborne troops in mandatory undergo jump training during the training phase. Then the skills of parachute jumping are used during combat operations or demonstration performances. Jumping has special rules: requirements for parachutes, aircraft used, and training of soldiers. The landing party needs to know all these requirements for a safe flight and landing.

A paratrooper cannot jump without training. Education - mandatory stage before the start of real airborne jumps, during it theoretical training and jumping practice take place. All the information that is told to future paratroopers during training is given below.

Aircraft for transportation and landing

What planes do paratroopers jump from? Russian army on this moment uses several aircraft to drop troops. The main one is IL-76, but other flying machines are also used:

• AN-12;
• MI6;
• MI-8.

IL-76 remains preferable because it is most conveniently equipped for landing, has a spacious luggage compartment and retains pressure well even at high altitudes, if the landing force needs to jump there. Its body is sealed, but in case emergency situations the compartment for paratroopers is equipped with individual oxygen masks. This way, every skydiver will not experience a lack of oxygen during the flight.

The plane reaches speeds of approximately 300 km per hour, and this is the optimal indicator for landing in military conditions.

Jump height

From what height do paratroopers usually jump with a parachute? The height of the jump depends on the type of parachute and the aircraft used for landing. The recommended optimal landing altitude is 800-1000 meters above the ground. This indicator is convenient in combat conditions, since at this altitude the aircraft is less exposed to fire. At the same time, the air is not too thin for the paratrooper to land.

From what height do paratroopers usually jump in non-training situations? The deployment of the D-5 or D-6 parachute when landing from an IL-76 occurs at an altitude of 600 meters. The usual distance required for full disclosure– 200 meters. That is, if the landing begins at a height of 1200, then the deployment will occur at around 1000. The maximum permissible during landing is 2000 meters.

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More advanced models of parachutes allow you to start landing from a level of several thousand meters. Thus, the modern D-10 model allows you to land on maximum height no more than 4000 m above the ground. In this case, the minimum permissible level for deployment is 200. It is recommended to start deployment earlier to reduce the likelihood of injury and a hard landing.

Types of parachutes

Since the 1990s, two main types have been used in Russia landing parachutes: D-5 and D-6. The first is the simplest and does not allow you to adjust the landing location. How many lines does a paratrooper's parachute have? Depends on the model. The sling in D-5 is 28, the ends are fixed, which is why it is impossible to adjust the direction of flight. The length of the slings is 9 meters. The weight of one set is about 15 kg.

A more advanced model of the D-5 is the D-6 paratrooper's parachute. In it, the ends of the lines can be released and the threads can be pulled, adjusting the direction of flight. To turn left, you need to pull the lines on the left, to maneuver to the right side, pull the thread on the right. Square parachute canopy the same as D-5 (83 square meters). The weight of the kit is reduced - only 11 kilograms, it is most convenient for paratroopers still in training, but already trained. During training, about 5 jumps are made (with express courses), D-6 is recommended to be issued after the first or second. There are 30 rafters in the set, four of which allow you to control the parachute.

D-10 kits have been developed for complete beginners; this is an updated version, which only recently became available to the army. There are more rafters here: 26 main and 24 additional. Of the 26 stops, 4 allow you to control the system, their length is 7 meters, and the remaining 22 are 4 meters. It turns out that there are only 22 external additional lines and 24 internal additional ones. Such a number of cords (all of them are made of nylon) allow maximum flight control and course correction during disembarkation. The dome area of ​​D-10 is as much as 100 square meters. At the same time, the dome is made in the shape of a squash, a convenient green color without a pattern, so that after the landing of the paratrooper it would be more difficult to detect.

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Rules for deplaning

The paratroopers disembark from the cabin in a certain order. In IL-76 this happens in several threads. For disembarkation there are two side doors and a ramp. At educational activities prefer to use side doors exclusively. Disembarkation can be carried out:

• in one stream of two doors (with a minimum of personnel);
• in two streams from two doors (with an average number of paratroopers);
• three or four streams of two doors (for large-scale training activities);
• in two streams both from the ramp and from the doors (during combat operations).

The distribution into streams is done so that the jumpers do not collide with each other when landing and cannot get caught. There is a small delay between threads, usually several tens of seconds.

Mechanism of flight and parachute deployment

After landing, the paratrooper must calculate 5 seconds. It cannot be considered a standard method: “1, 2, 3...”. It will turn out too quickly, the real 5 seconds will not pass yet. It’s better to count like this: “121, 122...”. Nowadays the most commonly used counting is starting from 500: “501, 502, 503...”.

Immediately after the jump, the stabilizing parachute automatically opens (the stages of its deployment can be seen in the video). This is a small dome that prevents the paratrooper from spinning while falling. Stabilization prevents flips in the air, in which a person begins to fly upside down (this position does not allow the parachute to open).

After five seconds, stabilization is completely removed, and the main dome must be activated. This is done either using a ring or automatically. A good paratrooper must be able to adjust the opening of the parachute himself, which is why trained students are given kits with a ring. After activating the ring, the main dome opens completely within 200 meters of fall. The duties of a trained paratrooper paratrooper include camouflage after landing.

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Safety rules: how to protect troops from injury

Parachutes require special treatment and care to ensure that jumps using them are as safe as possible. Immediately after use, the parachute must be folded correctly, otherwise its service life will be sharply reduced. An incorrectly folded parachute may not function during landing, resulting in death.

“Uncle Vasya’s Troops”: jumping in the morning, karate in the afternoon

Photo: archive of Kemerovo Newspapers, illustrations: Pasha Graf, archive of Alexey Bugayets

With shouts of “For the Airborne Forces!” they throw themselves into fountains, mutilate their heads with glass bottles, fight and become rowdy on the city streets on their holiday. Irrepressible energy individual paratroopers causes consternation not only among ordinary townspeople, but sometimes even among the representatives of the Airborne Forces brotherhood themselves, who are ashamed of their colleagues. A Kemerovo Newspaper correspondent talked to a 44-year-old reserve sergeant Alexey Bugayets, who revealed who these madmen really are. He also talked about the little-known tradition of blue berets and his idea to celebrate August 2.

Lawyer, psychologist and teacher at the Faculty of Philology and Journalism of Kemerovo State University Alexey Bugaets served in the Airborne Forces training division in the Republic of Lithuania in the village of Gaizhunai from 1989 to 1991. The young soldier was called up for military service at the age of 18.

“They rarely end up in our branch of the military by accident; guys prepare for everyday life in the Airborne Forces long before they are drafted...”

Alexey Bugaets - left

"WITH poor eyesight They don’t serve in the Airborne Forces"

“Service in all other branches of the military is considered a duty, and in the Airborne Forces it is an honor, a very high trust.”, - Alexey immediately emphasizes.

All the guys about the service in " winged infantry» dream with a romantic mood.

“Commander of the Airborne Forces Vasily Margelov is a brilliant PR man! He managed to make sure that the guys were and are still eager to serve in these troops, they are ready to die for the Fatherland with pride and joy. As a joke, the abbreviation VDV is even deciphered as “Uncle Vasya’s Troops.”

But this romance - to be strong, dexterous and beautiful in order to please girls - quickly fades away, Alexey believes. True, not right away, because at first everyone knows about the difficulties only by hearsay.

“One of the main features of the troops is careful selection. Firstly, the soldier must have the most impeccable health, which is confirmed by the cherished wording: “Fit for service in the Airborne Forces.” I even took advantage of this once. The commander of our company, Major Yablonsky, a stern but very wise man, often called young soldiers to his military camp for various little things. He knew that without leave they could be caught by the patrol. But his goal was to train and see how a soldier would get out of such situations: if you serve in the Airborne Forces, then you should not be afraid of any obstacles. So he once gave me an assignment. After grieving at first, I suddenly remembered the glasses for the visually impaired, which I noticed one day in the store. I dressed up my vest with sweatpants, put on my glasses and walked through the town to see the major. The patrolmen never stopped, because they could not even imagine that he was an unauthorized person in disguise - with poor eyesight. airborne troops do not serve. I later used this trick, hiding it from everyone. Never been exposed. But one day I went on leave legally and, of course, they stopped me for some trifle.”

The second thing to pay attention to is physical preparation.

“If you want to serve in the Airborne Forces, you need to prepare from childhood. For example, before the army I was engaged in sambo wrestling, athletics, skydived: I had 20 jumps. It is useless to join our troops with the hope that this is where they will make a real man out of you, teach you how to endlessly do push-ups, run fast and fight against seven. You must come here as a man. On assembly point“buyers” meticulously inspect the recruits: there is very tough competition between the conscripts themselves. Of course, it happens that they choose people who are apparently healthy and pumped up by eye. But some weightlifter or powerlifter, with all his stature and size, cannot run more than 100 meters. Then the embittered platoon carries this “mountain” on itself over and over again. They give in to him, of course...”

No less important are moral and volitional qualities and intelligence. But this is mainly “intraspecific selection”, which continues throughout further service.

“Patriotism alone is not enough. A paratrooper must be persistent and not hide behind his back. Move quickly and quietly in space, orientate well. He needs to be able to tolerate hunger, heat, cold, and lack of sleep. Of course, ingenuity is also needed: the brain must work even in an exhausted state, solve combat missions in as soon as possible in the most optimal way. Nowhere and without the willingness to endure nervous overload.”

With such a set of qualities and skills, paratroopers rightfully pronounce the motto “Nobody but us!”

Alexey Bugaets - left

“It seemed like I could run forever”

Such strict filtration and selection minimizes the percentage random people in the Airborne Forces, Alexey is sure.

“It happens like this: in terms of health and physical characteristics, a fighter, for example, passed, but on the very first forced marches he could not stand it, and let’s remember his sores, which he kept silent about at the commission. Or even write about them. His desire right away is to get away from everything. I remember one of the first days of service. December. The wind is piercing, Baltic. Shower. We crawl on our bellies in gas masks through the sand, through the swamp, through the water. Here the sun briefly peeks out and, as if in mockery, there’s a rainbow in December! And you realize that this is just the beginning. There are two years ahead. All romance disappears in one fell swoop. Those who are weak in spirit, at the first opportunity, run away to another training school - where they train to become cooks. Then he returns, well-fed, to the company material support. That's how he fights - in the kitchen, with pots and ladle. And it was precisely among these “special forces” that the most extreme hazing relationships flourished - in other words, hazing.”

The service of paratroopers is often thought of stereotypically. They themselves laugh at this: “Those who serve in the Airborne Forces do jumping in the morning and karate in the afternoon. We lay down at night and jump again in the morning.” Reserve sergeant-major Alexei Bugaets immediately dispels all speculation.

“In fact, a paratrooper is an eagle for three minutes, the rest of the time he is a horse.” The main part of the training is on the ground and only a small part is parachute jumping. In our training, let’s say, in six months you could jump three times: from an IL-76 and twice from an AN-2. I jumped a little more often: the French came to make a film, they were looking for extras, my friend Andrey and I volunteered. And among some, and in our company there is no exception, on the contrary, the fashion is to try to “switch off” from the jump before demobilization: as if to save yourself for the “civilian”. They looked at Andrey and me with surprise, and we looked at them with contempt.”

Training for Blue Berets is not easy.

“From five to six in the morning we ran about eight kilometers to the shooting range in all gear, with ammunition. Along the way - tactical training: air raid, artillery shelling, gas attack. Then - fire: from a trench in defense, shooting on the offensive - from different positions. Throwing a grenade. Daytime fire field - lunch. An unspoken tradition: the recruits eat first, not fully tested, not yet strong and therefore unreliable. It happened that someone couldn’t stand it and hatched suicide. And if you don’t feed this one properly, it may be the last straw. Sometimes there was no food left for the experienced ones. When it got dark, night fire preparation began. They returned to the barracks at about three or four in the morning, slept until seven or eight in the morning, and did it all over again. After six months of service, it seemed that we could run endlessly until they were ordered to stop.”

For some, letters added to their suffering.

“Of course, it was difficult for those who had girlfriends. Either he’ll stop writing, or he’ll even marry someone else, which is generally normal, but not for young hero. The company commander in front of the guard did not tire of educating in a chopped roar: “Remember once and for all: your brides are studying in the second, third, maximum fourth grade! She wrote that she’s not waiting - you take a sheet of paper, a boot, smear shoe polish on the sole and send it back. And if you shoot yourself, she will be proud for life: because of me, even an airborne soldier committed suicide!” Before the service, I deliberately cut off all ties so as not to oblige anyone to anything.”

"The paratrooper is actually modest"

Alexey Bugaets reflected with a smile on the fountain adventures of friends in vests, staggering from the next bottle of beer.

“The people who swim there are either young people whose prowess has not yet worn off and testosterone is squelching out of their ears, or pot-bellied men with tattoos. The latter, most likely, are from the category of those same “rangers” from the RMO. They didn’t realize themselves in the service, and in civilian life too, but now they are in a hurry to show off their heroism in front of the girls, to somehow assert themselves. After all, when they break bottles, they rather demonstrate stupidity. The paratrooper fights in the rear, where the advantage is always on the enemy's side. Therefore, fighting obviously requires skill. Broken head decide combat mission won't help at all. Quite the opposite. And one more thing: after service, a paratrooper cannot have a belly down to his knees. At 60 and 70, he must be in shape, ready to defend the Motherland, just like at 18. This is such a secret tradition, familiar only to initiates, of real paratroopers, and not amusing would-be paratroopers. And... the paratrooper is actually humble.”

Every year Alexey runs a festive cross-country race on Airborne Forces Day. For him, this is a holiday of memory of service and readiness for service.

“If it were my choice, I would take tests on August 2 and take them from others. If you pass all the standards, wear the blue one for another year.”