Mother Of Soldier From Pechy: I Had To Work For Army

Belarusians continue to talk about hazing in the army.

One had his jaw broken, and other returned home sick with tuberculosis: Belsat published two stories about the Belarusian army.

Lidziya's son

Her younger son wanted to go to serve in the special forces, but they did not accepted him because of a concussion. Military enlistment office sent a 18-year-old boy to the infamous school in Pechy. Further he was transferred to the Barysau military unit 32377.

"He is sitting and playing computer games now. He goes to work which he found via an employment agency. He doesn't meet with friends. He has no interest in anything. He returned being a completely different person from the army – with broken psyche and a sick with tuberculosis," – Lidziya says.

Business on diesel fuel and army boots

"I visited him every two weeks. I brought him heavy bags full of food products. I saw what kind of food they had there. Soldiers stay hungry there.

I was sending him quite a lot of money. Where did they go? It seemed to me that when my son would go to serve, I could save at least some money, but I had to work for the army. He came once in ragged boots, so I gave him money so that he could buy new ones from the ensign.

I brought him even soap. I say some bump from the unit: you steal. And he answered: we were stealing, are stealing and will be stealing, everyone steals.

My son told me that he was ordered to drain 400 liters of diesel fuel, which later were written off. I was afraid for him. I thought that they could put him in prison."

Tuberculosis. Madhouse. And the soldier who wanted to jump out of the window

"He didn't finish his service – there still were three or four months left. First he got into a military hospital. Then to a civil hospital. He spent 7 months in hospital beds. The doctors, as I understand it, made him a puncture improperly. Now, he has a hole in his lungs that does not heal well.

I asked the officer from the unit to send my son to a sanatorium, and he told me: I myself haven't been to a sanatorium for three years, and you want to send your son there. They just don't care about my problems. I send a healthy child there. I told them that I will go to the court and even to the square."

According to Lidziya, her son was lying in the Minsk tuberculosis dispensary, along with 5 or 6 other soldiers from his unit who also became ill with tuberculosis. "There was a guy in their unit, who fell ill with tuberculosis and maybe he infected them. The doctors told me that my son was the first to fall ill. I wanted to contact the guy's parents, but apparently he had been intimidated, and he did not give me their contacts. Other guys who fell ill, they are from the remote villages and do not understand what happened to them, so they and gave up on everything.

By the way, two other guys called my son, they came 6 months later, and they said that they also got into the tuberculosis dispensary. Another guy from his unit got to Navinki["Republican Scientific and Practical Center for Mental Health"], after he returned home. His mother called there herself. The son told me about the guy who wanted to jump out of the barracks window."

All the illnesses are treated at the medical unit with "Analgin"

"I wrote letters to both the president and the defense ministry, but received only run-around replies. My heart started to ache because of that war, and I stopped fighting further. The military unit leadership shuffled off the responsibility for the disease on the medical unit head, and he allegedly resigned at his own request. There are even no tablets. Any disease is treated with Analgin. I'm told by doctors that it's impossible to prove when my son got tuberculosis. I found all the latest fluorographs – everything was fine. And in our family no one got sick or got infected," – the woman says.

Lidziya's son is 21 years old now. He does not want to talk about the army, even with his mother.

The lieutenant broke the jaw of a conscript

After the scandal in the Barysau garrison Pechy, a Belsat.eu reader decided to share his experience of service in the army.

"I do not know if I did the right thing, that I forgave him. Perhaps, because of such officers, such things as in Barysau happens," – the man (who asked not to reveal his true identity) that served in the military unit in Brest, says.

"My story happened in 2004. A young officer came to the company after the academy. One day we were cordoning the Brest training ground. I was responsible for a group of people. One guy disappeared somewhere, and we could not find him. Later it turned out that he had stepped out for a bit. Because of this, we first had a cross-talk with the officer and then there was a hit.

I fell. Everything was reeling before eyes. One part of my jaw was loose, and the other one was still. Then not a single bastard in shoulder straps asked me about my condition. Everyone was discussing how to keep the matter quiet. The unit commander was shocked when he saw me. I could barely speak.

His opinion was the following: do what you think is necessary. I called my parents and they came to me. We decided to go to the regional hospital. They made an X-ray there – an open fracture. Somehow the parents arranged a month of hospital treatment. The lieutenant constantly came and asked not to report anywhere, in short, the story did not become publicly available."

"There was another bastard in the unit – Major Knysh. He was a deputy for the rear.

Every morning he took 20-30 soldiers at his disposal.

The soldiers were scattered all over Brest. Some of them were digging a vegetable garden, and some of them were cleaning up the garbage. They did the most dirty and hard work. Sometimes they were not brought for dinner. Knysh had venues all over the city. All commanders knew this. The conscripts were cursing him.

This is our army...".