Anyone have experience in the Russian military?

[Jackfruits]

I am a big fan of Russian MUSIC as well, so not Russia but it's music. Oh yeah I do understand Russian, did forget most of it by not using it for more than 10 years. But my biggest musical hero's are Viktor Tsoi (from his band Kino), some 80s/90s groups Forum, Zemlayne, some crazy guys calling themselves Agatha Christie, and ofcourse Boris Grebenshikov. Try these out. Amazing musical lyrics

[HouseMD]

Hello everyone,

I was wondering if anyone whos been in the Russian military as a foreigner can share their insights on their experience. There is much material to peruse on those who have served in the French Foreign Legion but I haven't been able to find any first hand accounts of anyone, much less any westerner, who has served in the Russian Army. My interest was piqued as according to this article one can go through a simplified application for Russian citizenship after 6 months on deployment and a year in the service.

https://www.themoscowtimes.com/2022/09/ ... ons-a78941

I guess Putin is getting desperate for any recruits.

Yes, I am considering joining. My friend has expressed interest as well. As for myself, I have experience as an officer, an O-1 second lieutenant MOS 56X, in a state defense force and as a member in the Civil Air Patrol and Coast Guard Auxiliary but I am under no delusions that this would be an easy undertaking. I have begun personal training at a gym with a 90 percent discount and will begin my beginning Russian class next quarter at a community college and I have started studying the Cyrillic script today . I already speak Spanish, Korean and English so I hope learning a 4th language won't be too difficult. I am however, obese, and 37 years old but have the maturity of a teenager. I am only 5'5" inches tall. I am also disabled with Schizophrenia and sleep apnea.

My friend is 6ft, only in his mid twenties, an Orthodox Christian, and has a MS degree in a STEM field and is a weightlifter so I feel he has a much better chance of pulling this off than me but I reserve hope. The only thing is he has no military experience.

We are both pampered Americans who would no doubt be shocked at the conditions in the Russian Army as rank and file enlisted men.

Please don't criticize me too harshly. If someone could also assess the probability of our suc cess it would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Everything I've heard firsthand from Russians that served is basically that you get minimal weapons, minimal training, corruption is everywhere, and your life is worth less than dirt. You used to be able to just buy boxes of equipment from them to f**k around with if you knew who to ask, knew this Scottish guy that walked away with a box of hand grenades, a couple AKs, and a shitload of ammunition he paid almost nothing for and used for a nice weekend of target practice and explosions back when it was safe to just travel there as a Westerner. Things like that are why they're so hard up for equipment right now- corruption bled out a lot of their basic gear

[MatureDJ]

The only experience I have had with the Russian Army is when I was in Volgograd in the early 00s, and I bought beer for a few soldiers that were hanging around a kiosk looking for someone to buy them beer; their pay was something like $4/mo, and the price for decent P2P was $7/hr.