ON CONSCRIPT SERVICE IN MODERN RUSSIAN MILITARY FORCES

Abstract

In late 2008 – early 2009 the next stage of the military reform to rearrange Russian military forces started in Russia. One of the major tasks was the humanization of the compulsory military service. Complex sociological research studying the problems in the Russian army provides the assessment of the transformation of the military service. According to the results of the research, the basic thing that the patriotism is grounded upon is the past: historical events, memory about great ancestors and respect of the traditions. Such manifestation of patriotism as defending the Motherland with weapons has almost no effect on the attitudes of the military personnel towards military service. Due to the indistinct image of the enemy prevailing in mass consciousness and low prestige of the military profession in the Russian society, the attractiveness of the military service is defined by social goods that it can give to the youth. The urgent issue in the life of the military personnel today is providing the personnel with comfortable living conditions so that the soldiers (sailors) could be fully engaged in the military training, not being distracted to solve everyday problems. The intense training and increased moral and physical activities of the military personnel require organization of their free time and leisure; however, the analysis of the data suggests that the biggest number of the unsatisfied military personnel can be found in these spheres. It was also revealed that the way the military service is shaped identifies the corporate identity of the military personnel. Thus, for many soldiers the public image of the Armed Forces is of great importance. To form the positive image of army and fleet, the military personnel should perform their official duties conscientiously and threat the civilians with respect. To satisfy their demand for the information, most of servicemen use traditional mass media (television and newspapers); however, many of them use the Internet. The results of the study help better understand the modern trends in the Russian Armed Forces.