The Russian Military: Declining or Better?

[slapout9]

Shoot we do that in Alabama all the time and it didn't cost $19.95.

[Steve Blair]

Shoot we do that in Alabama all the time and it didn't cost $19.95.

Depends on how much...uh...liquid refreshment y'all have to buy first...

[Jedburgh]

CSRC, 28 Jun 07: Pay and Allowances in the Russian Armed Forces

Almost every assessment of the condition of the Russian Armed Forces makes reference, usually unfavourably, to the earnings of Russian servicemen. This issue has become particularly prominent in discussions of failure to recruit and retain contract servicemen in 2005-2007, where salaries are presumed to play a key role.

Unfortunately the vast majority of references to military wages are excessively generalised, and therefore misleading; they do not take account of the complex nature of Russian service pay which means that first, every serviceman takes home far more than the published basic wage figure; and second, servicemen of similar rank doing similar jobs can be earning wildly different amounts. Unlike in the British Armed Forces, where the earnings of a serviceman not in possession of some exotic speciality can often be approximately deduced with reference to his or her rank, in the Russian Armed Forces no such generalisation is possible.

This note therefore leads with a broad summary of the overall structure of Russian servicemen’s pay, which should be sufficient to demonstrate the point above, followed by a more detailed explanation of some of its component elements for readers with a more specific interest. Although illustrative examples are given, this is in no way a comprehensive report on all Russian benefits and entitlements, and its main aim is to warn against issuing, or believing, sweeping generalisations about Russian soldier earnings....

[Stan]

CSRC, 28 Jun 07: Pay and Allowances in the Russian Armed Forces

Thanks for the post,Ted. An excellent document with some intriguing pay issues. Specifically, bonuses for EOD and Nuclear related activities.

50% Bonus for Locating and destroying explosive devices
35% Reloading of nuclear reactors
20% Strategic Missile Forces bonus

It will be noted that many of the increments in the table above have direct equivalents in British military practice. But an additional peculiarity is that in addition to the monthly rate of extra pay to a specialist, there are one-off payments for every time he actually uses his special skills.

I'm somewhat caught between should we ever be worried to Holy Sierra

[Dominique R. Poirier]

There is a very interesting report written by Stephen J. Blank on that matter. You can find it on SSI at the following link:

http://www.strategicstudiesinstitute....cfm?pubID=749