Military officer: army should not overdo it with ‘iron’ discipline

In the army, there is no need for excessive ‘iron’ discipline and unnecessary strictness towards subordinates. It is in the units with overly strict disciplinary methods that there are the most cases of soldiers leaving their posts without permission.

This opinion was expressed by the company commander of the 244th Battalion of the 112th Independent Brigade of Territorial Defense Forces, Volodymyr Bezditnyi (nom de guerre ‘Crimea’), during the program "Station Kramatorsk," which aired on September 25 on Ukrinform YouTube channel.

According to the officer, the army does not need overly strict discipline: "It is in the units with excessive disciplinary methods that there are the most cases of unauthorized absence. My subordinates and comrades-in-arms, after returning from positions, can engage in their favorite activities from civilian life, go shopping in the rear, or arrange their living conditions."

The military commander also shared that, in their unit, soldiers created a lounge area with tables for relaxation and a mini pool surrounded by decorative stones, in which a real turtle lived. "In our bunker, we always had flowers that my comrade Andrii Kun grew himself. Unfortunately, he passed away this spring, just a little before his wedding," Bezditnyi shared.

At the same time, in his opinion, a commander should not give an order to subordinates that he himself would not be willing to carry out. Bezditnyi also noted that, as a former infantryman, he knows which tasks can realistically be completed and which cannot, so he tries to give the most objective orders possible.

Volodymyr Bezditnyi took nom de guerre ‘Crimea’ because he is from the peninsula and lived there until the annexation. In Crimea, he worked as an investigator, but after the occupiers arrived, he did not betray Ukraine, left his service, and moved to Kyiv, where he started a successful business from scratch. Since the beginning of Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, he has risen from a private infantryman to a company commander.

How soldiers manage to set up their living conditions in difficult circumstances (a few hundred meters from the front line), and why sworn brotherhood is much more than just friendship – Bezditnyi talks about this and more in the new episode of the "Station Kramatorsk" project.

As reported, "Station Kramatorsk" is a joint project of Ukrinform and the Center for Countering Disinformation under the National Security and Defense Council. The main goal of the project is to use open conversations to share the personal life stories of heroes and at the same taime highlight the main Russian information and psychological operations related to the army and the war.

The hosts of the program, Kostiantyn and Vlada Liberov, are documentary photographers who have been capturing events in Ukraine since the first days of the full-scale invasion.