What Is The Base Pay For An Army Second Lieutenant With 6 Years Of Service

Servicemen participate in the Range Practice, a phase of the Masters of Reconnaissance competition, as function of the 2015 International Army Games. Source: Yevgeny Kurskov / TASS

During the military campaign in Syrian arab republic, the Russian military machine has confirmed its standing as one of the best armies of the world, demonstrating a high level of technical potential and combat grooming. Merely every bit recently as 2008 before the conflict with Georgia began, no one was able to predict the readiness or effectiveness of the Russian Army.

The Russian Army was afflicted by a significant moral and fabric reject afterwards the collapse of the Soviet Wedlock. Merely over the last vii years, the Russian Army has been able to revive itself and become one of the virtually efficient armies in the globe. Over the past yr, Russia has played an active role in military operations and major training exercises, as well as continuing army reforms that began back in 2008.

Public attitudes

Military service in Russia has historically acted as a career heave. In Soviet times, the army was known as the Workers' and Peasants' Army and it acquired a certain prestige; compulsory service lasted just ii-3 years and was regarded as an obligation for men. With its opportunities to acquire a trade, military service gave many – specially those from villages – a start in life.

Sergey Shoigu. Source: Ramil Sitdikov / RIA Novosti

During the upheavals in Russia in the 1990s, notwithstanding, serving in the armed forces lost its value as the armed forces received little funding, new equipment was non purchased, practically no military training took place and many career officers resigned in order to support their families.

"In the 1990s, I remember that every officer, including me, tried to wear a war machine uniform every bit fiddling equally possible – it was embarrassing. The military officers then were losers – people who could not get a skillful job stayed in the regular army. So people attended military service in their civilian wearing apparel," recalls Colonel Vladimir Yard.

This difficult period for the Russian Army lasted more than ten years. Post-obit Sergei Shoigu's engagement as Defense Government minister, military pay increased significantly, with the monthly allowance existence raised half dozen-fold from RUB 12,000 or $170 to RUB l,000 or $720 for a lieutenant. The housing result has been addressed and about military members that had been waiting on a list for 20 years accept been given housing.

The staging of military machine exhibitions is now open up to the public. The revival of DOSAAF (Volunteer Lodge for Cooperation with the Army, Aviation and Navy), which trains young people approaching the conscription historic period in military occupational specialties and also develops and popularizes military sports, including target shooting and battlefield orientation, have also borne fruit. As a result, public attitudes to regular army service and a career in the military have started to change. Wearing epaulettes have become prestigious once more and armed forces service, whether conscription or professional person, accept fabricated a comeback as a sign of masculinity.

In a recent survey by the Russian Public Stance Enquiry Center, 64 percent of respondents said that the army was the all-time place for a fellow to get a skilful moral and physical education, virtually twice equally many as the 33 percent that said as much in a similar survey in 1990 on the Soviet Army.

Another positive factor is that living conditions are likewise perceived as having improved significantly: sixty percent described them as "good," compared to just 18 percent in 1990.

Being employed past the military has get more prestigious in contemporary Russian society, although ofttimes it is used as a springboard for a career rather than a demonstration of an interest in military diplomacy.

"I don't want to connect my fate with war machine service in the future," says Vladimir P., a sergeant in the military machine commandant's function in Sevastopol. "I plan to offset a career in government service or the FSB. They take people there that are only getting out of the army."

Mostly, the motivation is material.

"Like a lot of people, I was tempted by the high pay compared to civilian workers," says Anna Z., a lieutenant serving in a Moscow-based unit. "That was my main motive for joining the armed forces."

Autonomously from this revival of its social part and an increased involvement in the military as a profession by immature people, the Russian regular army has inverse in many other ways over the concluding iii years.

War machine training

Nether the previous Minister of Defense force, Anatoly Serdyukov, it was decided that all of Russia's military units had to be in a abiding country of combat-readiness. Since then, the per centum of professional soldiers has increased every yr and their number should reach 425,000 past 2017. Having so many professional members of the forces requires the constant improvement of their theoretical knowledge and the development of gainsay skills at war machine grooming facilities. The introduction of new military equipment that requires advisable preparation further complicates matters.

Members of the Novosibirsk War machine Command University team crossing a water obstruction during the 2015 International Army Games. Source: Yevgeny Kurskov / TASS

Information technology is no surprise that big-scale grooming exercises and surprise inspections have become commonplace in the Russian military machine. Co-ordinate to experts, in his first year every bit Defense Minister in 2012 Shoigu intensified the training processes for military machine personnel. After seven different grooming exercises in 2010 to 2012, there were five surprise inspections of combat-readiness in 2013 alone for Russian army units in different regions of the country.

From 2013 to 2015, there were 20 surprise inspections and exercises involving foreign and Russian personnel. The quality of the skills learned can exist seen in Russian federation'southward current anti-terrorist operations in Syria.

In general, the process of improving the combat readiness of Russian federation's forces covers several major factors: developing and improving private abilities and the skills of personnel; improving the cohesion of the military regime and their leadership methods; and organizing and supporting cooperation between the different types of armed forces.

In terms of scale, the virtually impressive stage of military machine preparation is the operational and strategic manoeuvres that involve ten,000s of personnel and 1000s of units of military equipment. They help Russia'south military command to practice a modern grade of personnel deployment for the future evolution of the regular army and navy.

Arms, equipment and apparel

Serdyukov had lobbied for the purchase of more than foreign-made armed services appurtenances, only Shoigu has reduced such purchases to a minimum since becoming Defense Minister. For instance an order for 1,775 Italian Iveco-LMV65 armored vehicles has been cancelled (although Russia nevertheless bought 358).

The state of emergency introduced in Russia. War machine detachments in Moscow. Source: Alexander Polyakov / RIA Novosti

Additionally, steps take been taken to substitute imported components with Russian-made equivalents. The conflict with Ukraine has dealt a pregnant blow to Russian federation's defence industry, forcing the country to produce helicopter and transport engines domestically. Russia had been buying a considerable range of war machine products from its neighbour and the demand to observe alternatives naturally delayed the introduction of new equipment.

Even so, Russia intends to modernize 70 per centum of its weaponry past 2020.

"Indeed, at a sure time we increased defense spending," said Prime Minister Dmitry Medvedev in an interview on Dec 9, 2015. "By that indicate the status of our military machine hardware was below par. Now we've brought this spending up to international levels."

As information technology stands, in 2015 half of the Russian army's military equipment is already new, so the target does non seem unreasonable.

For instance, Russia's regular army is already existence equipped with the Ratnik infantry combat organisation, which includes the new AK-12 rifle. It now has more land-of-the-art Tornado-G multiple launch rocket systems, 120-mm Khosta self-propelled guns and Khrizantema-S self-propelled anti-tank missile systems. It is likewise getting the latest Iskander-Thou tactical ballistic missile systems.

As well every bit an increase in the number of armored trucks and cars of various classes and functions, the ground forces is getting modified BTR-82 and BTR-82A armored personnel carriers. A conclusion has also been made to get back to purchasing BMD-4m infantry fighting vehicles. The armored forces have been given tanks such as the T-72BA, T-80BA, T-80UA, T-80U-E1 and T-90A. In the well-nigh future, the forces should get the latest models based on the Armata heavy tank platform.

The country'southward air defense forces have been given the latest Triumph Due south-300V4 and Due south-400 surface-to-air missile systems.

The aerospace forces have the latest Sukhoi Su-34, Su-30 and Su-35 fighter aircraft and the Mil Mi-28N and Kamov Ka-52 helicopters. Some of them have shown their capabilities in military machine operations confronting ISIS in Syria. Air-to-surface missiles such as the Kh-29L and the Kh-101 have besides proved their worth.

The navy is existence provided with new types of vessels and submarines equipped with effective weapons systems, such as the well-known Kalibr prowl missiles used by Russia confronting ISIS. It also at present has cutting-edge submarines equipped with Bulava ballistic missiles.

The scheduled replacement of ground-launched ballistic missiles is likewise under way. Russian federation's Strategic Missile Troops are being equipped with new Topol-M and Yars intercontinental ballistic missiles.

The defense industry and R&D

The Russian regime allocates significant resources non only to providing the regular army with modern equipment and weaponry, but as well to enquiry and development.

At the terminate of 2013, a new federal law was passed establishing control mechanisms for the defense industry. Now, several agencies will simultaneously monitor how public funds allocated to new weaponry for the army are spent.

1 of Shoigu's kickoff steps as defense minister was to increase the number of employees working in equipment credence inspection to 25,000 in order to make cooperation betwixt the military and the defense industry more effective. Representatives of the armed forces at defense industry companies monitor product quality, which significantly reduces the number of complaints before the products are brought into service.

In early 2015, by presidential decree, chief designers were put in charge of piece of work on creating strategically important systems. There will be no more than 20 such designers, but their status and responsibilities will increase. Equally such, Russia's defense industry has returned to something resembling a Soviet-era system of command: at the time chief designers heading the design offices made decisions concerning the direction of R&D in creating advanced technology.

Conscripts and professionals

The Soviet structure of the military machine was completely dismantled every bit a issue of the military reforms of 2008 nether Serdyukov. The large divisions, which complicated the control structure, were replaced by mobile brigades that meet the requirements of modern warfare.

Participants dressed as Ruddy Regular army soldiers seen in Moscow'southward Crimson Foursquare ahead of a armed services parade, November 7, 2015. Source: Stanislav Krasilnikov / TASS

The army itself is becoming more professional and gradually moving away from universal conscription. There are already more professional members of the forces than conscripts.

However, Russian federation is not in a position to cancel conscription altogether. Its economy today cannot back up a fully professional army and in any instance the number of professional members of the forces is 400,000 less than the million proposed by the state's military leaders. Apart from the U.S., no country in the world today has the capacity to maintain a professional person regular army of ane 1000000 soldiers.

Anarchistic methods are being used to increment numbers. For instance, following an idea from Shoigu, and then-called "enquiry squadrons" have been set upward in the army. These are units where conscripts tin engage in defense inquiry while completing their military service. The Ministry of Defense expects that soldiers from these enquiry squadrons will be more than willing to sign professional contracts after completing their compulsory military service.

Military machine education

Military education is 1 of the all-time and most prestigious forms of education in Russia. This goes for both secondary military teaching (such every bit the buck corps and the Suvorov and Nakhimov schools) and higher military pedagogy (including academies, armed services universities and advanced military institutes).

Military chaplains

All of these bookish institutions have their own specialization – air, ocean, engineering or control. The military college education institutions have one huge advantage over their noncombatant counterparts: graduates from a military college didactics institution have ii areas of expertise (military and civilian), making it easier for them to observe work.

Immature women tin also enter war machine schools. For instance, at the level of buck didactics in Russia there is an elite boarding school for female Ministry building of Defence pupils and some military higher education institutions allow women to study certain specialist military fields including communications, military medicine and certain command positions.

From 2010 to 2012 some military institutions temporarily ceased taking in new students because of the reduction in the number of officers in the armed forces, but they are now accepting them once again.