Most people plan their day in advance, deciding what time they will get up in the morning and what they will do at certain times. In the army there is also a clear daily routine that must be followed. A characteristic difference between the military and the so-called civilian daily routine is that the time of military personnel is managed by the unit commander, who directly approves the daily routine of the military unit.
Daily routine for conscripted military personnel
Strict adherence to the daily routine by military personnel is one of the key factors of military discipline, and its violation entails disciplinary sanctions. It is worth noting that depending on the type of troops and the specifics of performing tasks, the daily routine of the unit may differ, but not significantly. For conscripted military personnel, the daily routine establishes a plan for carrying out and completing the necessary activities, and also allocates time for study and personal needs. The daily routine on weekdays differs from weekends, but we’ll look at what exactly that is next.
Example of a daily routine
To understand what we are talking about, we suggest you visually familiarize yourself with an example of the daily routine of conscript military personnel:
5.50 – rise of squad commanders and their deputies;
06.00 – general rise;
06.10 – morning exercises;
06.40 – morning toilet, as well as making the beds;
07.10 – inspection of soldiers;
07.30 – breakfast;
07.50 – preparation for classes;
08.00 – listening to radio broadcasts;
08.15 – informing personnel, training;
08.45 – sending personnel to informative classes;
09.00 – classes (5 lessons of 1 hour with 10-minute breaks);
13.50 – shoe shine;
14.00 – lunch time;
14.30 – personal time;
15.00 – self-study classes;
16.00 – maintenance of weapons and military equipment;
17.00 – change of clothes, shine shoes;
17.25 – summing up;
18.00 – time for sports and educational events;
19.00 – hygiene;
21.00 – watching information television programs;
21.40 – evening verification;
22.00 – lights out.
How the daily routine may differ on different days of the week
Depending on the day of the week and due to additional events, the daily routine may change.
In many units, on Mondays before classes, there is a general meeting on the parade ground, at which the unit commander or his deputy sums up the results of the past week and also sets tasks for the next one.
Friday is called “park day” (maintenance and cleaning of vehicles and military equipment), for which a separate time is also allocated in the daily routine.
Maintenance of equipment by military personnel during a park day In addition, there are bath days in which time is allocated for washing personnel. Typically, the unit commander allocates two days a week for washing, but in some cases, for example, after housework, servicemen can also be given a shower. Bath days got their name from the fact that previously soldiers actually washed in baths, but now in practice all baths have been replaced by showers. However, all military personnel, out of habit, continue to call these days bath days.
The transition to shower systems in barracks is now being actively practiced, thanks to which military personnel can take a shower every day. Therefore, leaving bath days in the routine is a matter of time.
Daily routine of a contract soldier
In military units, military personnel undergo not only compulsory service, but also voluntary contract service. A characteristic difference between contract soldiers and conscripts is that they serve in the unit only at the time established by regulations. In other words, for them, like for civilians, service resembles a regular working day. Military personnel spend the night outside the unit: in dormitories, in rented apartments or in their own apartments.
The daily routine of military personnel under a contract must be drawn up taking into account the regulations of service time in order to fully ensure the fulfillment of the tasks of service and combat training and not exceed the standard 40 hours per week regulated by the Labor Code of the Russian Federation. If a serviceman is involved in service beyond the established weekly norm, he is required to provide him with rest time, based on his desire and interests of military service.
The regulations of service time and the daily routine of contract servicemen are approved directly by the unit commander and must provide the following regulatory guarantees:
- 24-hour duty (outside daily duty) is allowed only by order of senior command and in special cases;
- according to the regulations, the serviceman is allocated time for lunch, physical training and independent study;
- if a serviceman is called to duty on one of the days of rest, then he has the right to take time off on another day of the week;
- on rest days (Saturday, Sunday, holidays) a special, softer daily routine is established;
- The contract worker must be given two days off per week, although in practice this does not always work out, especially if the unit is short-staffed. In this case, they are paid for overtime or given time off (according to the serviceman’s report).
An example of service time regulations for contract military personnel:
arrival for duty from Monday to Friday – 08.45;
departure from service from Monday to Friday – 17.45;
lunch – from 14.00 to 15.00;
classes – from 09.00 to 13.00;
physical training classes – on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 15.00 to 17.00;
preparation for classes - from Monday to Friday - from 15.00 to 17.00;
communicating orders, setting tasks for the week (summarizing the results for the month) - on Fridays from 16.00 to 16.45;
preparation for duty by those on duty in a company (battery) or division is carried out on the day of entry from 13.00 to 17.00;
briefing of duty officers is carried out on the day before joining the outfit, from Monday to Friday at 16.00;
The duty shift supervisor is briefed on the day before going on combat duty, from Monday to Friday.
In general, the daily routine of contract soldiers differs from the routine of conscripts, but not significantly. In the unit, only lunch is provided for contract soldiers, since they have breakfast and dinner at home.
Officer's daily routine
The daily routine of an officer in the Russian army is almost the same as that of an ordinary soldier. It differs in that the officer must monitor compliance with the daily routine by his subordinates, and also, if necessary, organize additional events.
To understand what we are talking about, let's look at one day in the life of an officer.
Since military personnel get up at 6:00 a.m., the officer needs to arrive at the unit 10 to 15 minutes earlier. Immediately after getting up, the officer must carry out exercises, which last for 30 minutes. After this, while the personnel are busy in the morning toilet, the officer has about an hour of time to plan the day, fill out logs and other daily activities. Also, at this time, a meeting can be held with commanders of units at different levels.
The officer then accompanies the unit to breakfast.
After breakfast, immediately before classes, it is necessary to assemble the personnel and inform them about the plan of action for the day, or provide the necessary information. This happens separately only if there is no general divorce on the parade ground.
During classes (most often from 9 to 13.50), the officer is busy with official matters: checking internal order, organizing the work of the internal squad, working with documentation, conducting classes with personnel, and much more. Upon arrival of military personnel from training sessions, they must be taken to lunch.
Next, the officer monitors the military personnel’s compliance with the daily routine until the evening check, which is usually carried out twenty minutes before lights out. After checking the presence of all the soldiers, the officer tells the soldiers to clear out at 10 p.m. and can be free until the next day.
This is the approximate daily routine of an officer, but it is worth noting that it may vary depending on the day of the week and additional instructions from management. Currently, contract servicemen (sergeants) can replace officers when accompanying the company to lunch, as well as during other events.
Daily routine in the classroom
Let's start with the fact that after conscription, some military personnel do not end up in combat units, but in training units (popularly called “training camps”), where they gain the proper knowledge and skills before entering a combat unit. The training period usually lasts from 3 to 6 months, after which the young soldiers are disbanded in parts. The daily routine in the training unit is approved by its commander. The main difference between the daily routine of the training unit and the usual one is that, as a rule, more time is allocated for training sessions and military personnel are trained in more specialized areas. In all other respects, the daily routine of the training section is not much different. Monitoring compliance with the routine in the training unit is very strict, since newly arrived military personnel must be shown that the daily routine is the basis of discipline for all military units.
Upon completion of training, a serviceman, depending on the direction of training, can receive a narrowly focused specialty, for example:
- Driver of a tank, infantry fighting vehicle, armored personnel carrier
- Operator-gunner, gunner and similar specialties
- Truck crane operator, transport-loading machine operator and others
- Various specialties in engineering, airborne, radio engineering, air defense and artillery troops
Also, after completing the training unit, a number of junior commanders join the troops. Often with the rank of junior sergeant. They are specially trained to manage the unit, work with personnel and all the skills necessary for a commander.
Daily routine at a military school
Most often, young guys who dream of becoming officers enter military universities. Most of them just come after school and have no idea what actually awaits them. The daily routine is the first difficulty that they encounter from the very beginning of training, since they will now have to get up at 6.00, and “fight back” at 22:00, and not at what time their body is accustomed to. The first weeks are especially difficult to get involved in the “new life”, since not everyone is ready to live according to the schedule, but there is nowhere to go.
Formation on the parade ground of the Novosibirsk Higher Military Command School Senior cadets are most often allowed to live on the so-called “free exit”, that is, after self-training, they go to the dormitory until the next morning, which is reminiscent of the daily routine of contract soldiers.
To understand how the daily routine at a military school differs from the routine of a regular military unit, we suggest looking at the example of one of the military schools and comparing it with the army one, which was given earlier.
General rise – 6.00.
Toilet – from 6.00 to 6.10.
Morning exercises – from 6.10 to 7.00.
Making beds, washing - from 7.00 to 7.20.
Morning inspection - from 7.20 to 7.30.
Breakfast – from 7.30 to 8.15.
Operational information – from 8.15 to 8.45.
Preparation for classes, departure for classes - from 8.45 to 9.00.
Classes:
1 hour – 9.00 – 9.50;
2 hours – 10.00 – 10.50;
3 hours – 11.00 – 11.50;
4 hours – 12.00 – 12.50;
5 hours – 13.00 – 13.50;
6 o’clock – 14.00 – 14.50.
Hand washing – 14.50 – 15.00.
Lunch – from 15.00 to 15.30.
Afternoon. Listening to the latest news - from 15.30 to 16.00.
Maintenance of weapons and equipment - from 16.00 to 16.50.
Self-study - from 16.50 to 18.30.
Educational and sports events – from 18.30 to 19.20.
Dinner – from 19.30 to 20.00.
Time for personal needs is from 20.00 to 21.00.
Watching informational and political television programs - from 21.00 to 21.20.
Evening walk - from 21.20 to 21.35.
Evening verification – from 21.35 to 21.50.
Evening toilet – from 21.50 to 22.00.
Lights out at 22.00.
As you can see, the daily routines of a military school and other military units are very similar.
In conclusion, I would like to add that by following the daily routine in the army, after demobilization it will be much easier to plan your time, since it really becomes a habit, making a person more disciplined and organized. Many note positive changes in the lives of young guys after the army thanks to the routine. Here they learned to complete assigned tasks on time and became independent and responsible. It is easier for those who have served in the army to get a job and join a new team, especially for law enforcement agencies, where preference is given to candidates who have completed military service.
01.01.2016
What is the life of a cadet like?
Admission to a higher military educational institution is fundamentally different from admission to a civilian university. When entering, yesterday's schoolchildren must be aware that the next 5 years of study will be spent away from their family and friends. Thousands of school graduates who want to serve their Motherland must go through the initial stage of admission to various military institutions in the country.
Military "qualification"
“Abitura” (admission) begins at the beginning of July and continues until the end of the month. The initial stage includes the training of future military personnel.
Young guys become familiar with such concepts as: morning exercises, sports and mass work, marching in formation, a clear daily routine, marching and much more, which most people are used to doing without in civilian life.
Several dozen guys live in one room called a barracks. They are preparing to pass entrance exams, for professional selection, which will show who is ready to serve in the armed forces and who is not.
After 2 weeks, future cadets undergo a thorough medical examination, as a result of which persons with health problems will be identified.
Exams are taken in accordance with the faculty in which the applicant wishes to study, and in the future he will serve in this specialty. Based on the results of passing the entrance examinations, the applicant is enrolled in a university, puts on a military uniform, has his hair cut short in accordance with the regulations and receives cadet shoulder straps.
KMB or Young Soldier Course
Starts from the end of July and lasts until the end of August. At this stage, the future soldier undergoes initial training. It includes: outfits, “sacred” military rituals (getting up, morning inspection, evening roll check, lights out), studying the articles of the charter, learning to march, throwing a march, performing according to the standards of putting on a gas mask and OZKA.
Fire and physical training is an integral part of the training of any military personnel.
Order in the barracks is ensured by cleaners, who are appointed every morning before the start of exercise.
The responsibilities of the cleaner include: sweeping away dust from under beds and bedside tables, sweeping between rows of beds, wiping the floor with a damp cloth if necessary, taking out trash, wiping dust from all flat surfaces.
Each cadet has his own bedside table where he can store washing supplies, brushes for cleaning shoes and clothes, handkerchiefs, collar pads (stitching material), small personal items, notebooks, educational books, regulations.
Many guys, former schoolchildren, accustomed to sneakers and other civilian footwear, quickly develop calluses on their feet. For medical help, they can go to a medical center - an infirmary.
Upon completion of the CMB course, all personnel are redeployed to places of further training (academy, university). Upon arrival at the academy (university), cadets receive full dress uniform. You need to prepare it for use yourself: the guys themselves sew on shoulder straps, sleeve chevrons, and insert emblems into the lapel of the collar. They also polish shoes until they shine and smooth creases on trousers.
Three days later, the main military ritual, the oath, takes place in a solemn atmosphere. The oath is one of the most important and significant events in the life of every soldier, which makes him personally responsible for the defense of his country.
Cadet everyday life
The daily life of a 1st year cadet, as well as subsequent ones, follows the same daily routine: getting up, morning formation, exercises, during which future military personnel improve their physical fitness, morning toilet, formation for the morning inspection, where appearance is checked, breakfast, divorce for classes. It is mandatory to go through a ceremonial march, where the cadets show their drill skills and the coherence of the unit as a whole. Classes according to the curriculum, lunch, self-study, during which cadets prepare homework and repeat the regulations, dinner.
In the evening, you are given personal time when you can chat with your family and girlfriends, write a letter home, and prepare your form for the next day.
The day ends with a formation for the evening verification, during which the course personnel and the list of persons forever included in the lists who died a brave death are read out. Lights out.
Outfit
All military personnel, without exception, wear uniforms. The outfit is assigned to maintain internal order, protect personnel, weapons, ammunition, military equipment, and premises. And also to monitor the state of affairs in the department and timely take measures to prevent crime.
At the beginning of each month, a list of outfits is created, which indicates the dates on which a particular serviceman goes to the outfit.
Outfits can be external and internal. Internal patrol - on course, external - patrolling.
Military partnership
“The military team is a family! “Practically all of my service takes place in this family,” said the freshman. — Everyone helps each other in studies, sports and other activities. Today you helped him, and tomorrow he will help you. This is one large team, different from study groups at the institute, which lives, breathes, and interacts. "One for all and all for one!" - this is the motto of military brotherhood.”
Dismissal
At universities, dismissal is not such a common occurrence. But if you have no complaints about your service, violation of dress code, debts and unsatisfactory grades in subjects, then you have the right to be dismissed for a day. You can spend this time with your family, friends, and your girlfriend. When leaving for the city and putting on civilian uniform, the cadet should not forget about the status of a military man, the rules of behavior in the city and military politeness.
— The life of a cadet is very diverse and full of exciting events that are radically different from ordinary student life. The years of service at the Academy cannot be described on paper; you cannot tell it; you have to feel it and feel it yourself. Military people are never ex-military - this goes through our whole lives. In the army, a guy becomes a man. A man, a defender of his Motherland, a defender of his relatives, his family, his future children.
At first I wanted to make this article long with detailed descriptions of lectures, seminars, labs and everything else. But, firstly, there is still a whole chapter ahead dedicated only to studying and all this will be there. Now let’s continue our review of the daily routine and focus purely on the features of military training.
Three pairs were assigned to classes every day, except Sundays. Starts at 9.00, ends at 14.15. There is a long break of 15 minutes between pairs, and 5 minutes between academic hours. It seems like we didn’t study much, but we had enough. Especially if there were some field classes or all three pairs of one discipline, this happened.
What are the features?
The most amazing thing for me is the constant summing up
Every week, every month and, naturally, semester, the results of our training were summed up. In the unit we sat on stools and distribution took place. The best and the worst stood out.
That is, for each discipline, the grades of each cadet for the week (month, semester) were written out and all people were sorted into excellent students, good students, C students and poor students:
- If you get an A in all subjects or 75% of disciplines, and the rest are good, you are an excellent student.
- If only good or excellent, but less than 75% of A's - good.
- At least one C grade is a C student.
- At least one bad student is a bad student.
And this alone sometimes decided whether you were good or bad. Because personal discipline and excellent service in uniform were taken for granted, for which it was not worth rewarding.
This is how I, having received a single A in a seminar on cultural studies, became an excellent student in the first week of school in 2003. And this allowed me, almost the only one from the entire course (except for the incoming soldiers, who had been in uniform during the oath a week earlier) to go on first leave. The rest were deprived of dismissal for poor internal order, I wrote about.
But never after have I managed to be even a good student based on the results of the weeks. It’s true that he wasn’t a loser either. Always with threes. That didn’t stop me from passing session after session with excellent marks. (How damn modest I am!).
Appointment of duty officer
A person on duty for the study group was appointed daily. In our highly organized platoon, this was the morning cleaner to avoid confusion and injustice. And although I wrote that he was appointed from those who were especially sick and did not want to run, this was not always the case. By the senior year, another cleaner was assigned to the beds. This is how they slept, and took turns cleaning the barracks in the morning. This was convenient because you could always roughly know your day when you were on duty.
Which is extremely important, and here's why. The duty of the duty officer was to be the first to see the teacher. Ask what you need, take chalk, maps (topographical), set up the lecturer, prepare the board and all that. The duty officer commanded everyone to stand up when the teacher entered and reported that such and such a study group of so and so people had arrived for classes. And the consumption of personnel was written on the board. According to the list, there is an outfit, medical unit, vacation or somewhere else and how much.
Remember: the word AVAILABLE is written together! How many people have suffered from the ridicule of teachers who are especially jealous of the Russian language? They often asked “whose face?” when it was written separately. Although some didn't care.
So, if it was easier with civilian teachers, then at the department of our tactics “Wax Air Defense Tactics” it was absolutely difficult to simply enter the teacher’s office correctly. They were all no lower than lieutenant colonel, but mostly colonels. Servant and honored. Not without a shell in the head for many. And then the incidental studies of the regulations of the Internal Service and the Combat Service began. If you remember, you will shudder.
And having a schedule in hand and knowing your duty date, you could calculate whether it would be a good day or not. And now about the schedule.
The actual schedule
This is another great thing about military education. My younger sister is now studying at a state university, so she doesn’t know what classes will be given and when they will be given earlier than a few days before they start. This is simply impossible in a military school.
Before the start of each semester, each department is given class schedules for the entire semester, including exams, printed in the academy’s printing house (and there is one!). For six months we knew in which office, at what time and to whom I would take an exam, test or something else in one discipline or another.
Everything was recorded in a special encrypted form of letters, numbers and circles. Name of the subject, topic and lesson number, academic building and office number, type of lesson and teacher's name. And not once in five years was there a single replacement! I don’t know how many people were involved in its development, who these people were, or even where they were located. But these are geniuses. Imagine synchronizing the educational process of an entire academy with about one and a half thousand students. Think about who will sit in which class, who will teach them, and so that nothing overlaps anywhere. Cool guys!
What the class schedule itself looked like is below, and here is an enlarged fragment:
Let's look at the first discipline using an example:
- RCS – Radio engineering circuits and signals (discipline name)
- 6/63 LR – topic 6, lesson No. 63, LR – laboratory work.
- 3/309 – building number and auditorium number.
- 1109, 1108 – teacher numbers (where 11 is the department number, the second group of numbers for the teacher itself).
- A further wavy line with an arrow means that the laboratory is for two pairs.
Pay attention to the line above the 6th instead of classes and the beginning of the same line on the 13th. This is a big outfit. No training was planned for the platoon that day. We took part in the guard (from 13 to 15 people), and the rest took part in other types of academy outfits. More on this later.
All the teachers were listed in the annotation under the schedule, but we already knew them, so this part was usually cut off. After this, the schedule was laminated with tape on the back and worn folded in four for the entire six months. The days were gradually crossed out. By the end of the semester, the well-worn schedule was like a battle map. I tried to preserve them. True, now I found only one thing offhand:
221 study groups. 3rd semester 2004-2005 academic year A most rare rarity. First semester of the second year, 2004-2005 academic year. There is even a donor day on the schedule. True, I was on a collective farm, as the entry says. And in the back, I and another friend of mine were writing down our outfits. For the sake of order. Although the order sheets were properly maintained by the castle platoon commander.
Having strained, I can remember only a few times that the teacher who was not the one indicated on the schedule came, and even then he was a civilian. Exactly! One day the math teacher was sick. All!
Room for maneuver
This rigid schedule gave room for action. One day I had an argument with a warrant-laboratory assistant at one of the departments. The matter reached the head of the department, they sorted it out and it turned out that I was right. I might write out this illustrative saga somehow, but now it’s different. The colonel apologized, we seemed to hush up the story, but just before the session, information reached me through the son of one of the teachers, who was also my colleague, that there was an idea to kill me at one of the two exams of this department. Since the teachers were imbued with sympathy for the ensign.
In one of the disciplines, I passed the “automatic” mark, since I had several A’s in a row, and the teacher at the beginning of the year promised an amnesty to such conscientious military personnel. And now the last lesson before the test with a grade (more terrible than an exam) is coming. Seminar. On which I will definitely get a C, if not a D, and I’ll be killed. And the subject is a muddy shokapets. In principle, it didn’t warm me up to hand it over, and in such situations, it didn’t bother me at all. But there is a schedule! I know when this seminar is. In short, I asked to be hidden in the company outfit for that day and all that. And the sheep are fed and the wolves are safe. I finally got the machine gun.
That's enough about studying for now.