Tag Archives: basic military training

Schooling up the kids…

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Two different takes in two different ends of the same rock.

In Estonia, the Riigikaitseõpetuse (National Defense Education) program is aimed at teens. Organized into 70 hours of formal instruction, half are delivered online via remote education, then capped by an intense three-day field camp. Besides military history, drill, and courtesy, it also spends nine hours covering land navigation, 14 hours in basic weapons training, 14 hours in first aid, and 10 hours in CBW/NBC along with civil defense tasks such as basic firefighting and search and rescue.

It was first established in 2015 and, while no substitute for some serious BMT, is better than nothing and courses like this can serve as a spark to encourage seeking additional training. It would be nice if something like this was offered wholesale here, in addition to current programs like JROTC, Sea Scouts, etc. 

Attendance is voluntary and unpaid, and those who graduate from the course receive the Riigikaitseõpetuse rinnamärk or National Defense Education badge, with lapel wear encouraged

A camp, one of many across the country, was held last week for 377 students from 12 schools.

Meanwhile, on the other side of the globe…

Philippine lawmakers are considering making introductory military training mandatory for all college and university students, via four semesters of ROTC and an inactive reserve commitment to serve as O1s should things go south.

 

In Soviet Russia, the Breakfast Club had Kalashnikovs

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For generations in the CCCP, there was NVP= Nachal’naya Voyennaya Podgotovka: Initial Military Preparedness lessons for Soviet teenagers.

Typically starting in 9th grade, twice a week a retired soldier (vojenrúk) would hold class on everything from proper military drill and courtesy to chemical/biological warfare.

This would include sessions on basic nomenclature and manipulation of small arms, firing pellet guns in the basement, taking trips to local Army ranges for a little AK live fire, basic small unit tactics, first aid training, and grenade throwing.

While you would wonder why these 1960s/70s era kids are learning about DP28s and PPSh-41s in class alongside AKMs, keep in mind that the Soviets had (and the Russians still have) warehouses full of that old stuff, just in case

Sergei in the back just can’t get with the program. Don’t be like Sergei

NVP class with Izhevsk МР-512 Мурка pellet rifles, 1969. Odds are these girls had mothers, aunts, or grandmothers that may have picked up a rifle as a partisan in WWII, especially in places like Belorussia. 

The Ushanka Show has a great installment below on what it was like to go through such a class.

The practice lasted from the 1930s through the end of the Cold War when it was largely abandoned as compulsory in Russia and most of the former Soviet Republics with the exception of the Central Asian “stans.”

A lil basic bayonet training with wooden fencing rifles in the 1930s– just behind the village schoolhouse

However, it has become popular as an elective class, and, in 2014, Ukraine once again made it mandatory for their high schoolers.

Further, so-called Yunarmia elective classes and groups are surging in popularity, and largely replace the old NVP program, only on a smaller scale. With a degree of sponsorship from the Ministry of Defense, Moscow aims to have 1 million kids enrolled annually in the program in the coming years, with the bottom age limit starting around age 6.