RANK RELATIONS BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN MILITARIES DURING THE AFGHANISTAN WAR (1979-1989). „DEDOVŞCINA” Cover Image

„DEDOVŞCINA” RAPORTURILE IERARHICE ÎNTRE COMBATANŢII SOVIETICI DIN RAZBOIUL SOVIETO-AFGHAN (1979-1989) ÎN MEMORIA COLECTIVĂ
RANK RELATIONS BETWEEN THE RUSSIAN MILITARIES DURING THE AFGHANISTAN WAR (1979-1989). „DEDOVŞCINA”

Author(s): Ion Valer Xenofontov
Subject(s): History
Published by: Argonaut

Summary/Abstract: The present article focuses on the study and analysis of the rank relations which were established between the Russian soldiers during the Afghanistan war, reflected from both a vertical and a horizontal perspective. The inter human relations between the Russian militaries were established in a tense context and they were enhanced by a series of traditions, regulations as well as by an inherent metamorphosis induced in a new social and cultural environment, and a lifestyle that was most of the times brought about at the very brink of infamy, of the multi national mixture and of the psychological profile of the soviet militaries. The young recruits perceived their military superiors as a leaning point, an idealized image shifted towards a patriarchal one. In spite of this fact, the exhibition of hierarchy was at the same time not ruled out, a fact that is noticeable if one observes the background of divergences which sometimes led to tragic consequences. The hardest mechanism of communication between the soviet militaries was generated by the institution known as Dedovscina (familiar among both soldiers and officers), which instituted an informal, hierarchical structure, which was based on consuetude and presented a specific terminology. At times it was employed more intensively in Afghanistan than in the USSR. Unlike the Dedovscina established in the USSR, the one encountered in Afghanistan was even more excessive due to the war circumstances. Dedovşcina was an embodiment of an unrealistic dimension and it inflicted a system of intense physical and moral sufferings. Moreover, the arbitrary pattern of the relations which were established outside regulations led to suicides and the desertions from the garrisons. But the most extreme form of human degradation and proscription was outlined by the group of subsidiary soldiers.

  • Issue Year: 2006
  • Issue No: VII
  • Page Range: 335-366
  • Page Count: 32
  • Language: Romanian