I’m a native and resident of Donetsk. My views on the current political processes in the former USSR formed a long time ago. I didn’t want to put up with the death of the Soviet Union, and was eager for its revival. However, I didn’t see the certain way to do this, or saw it only vaguely. Only after I found out about Sergei Ervandovich Kurginyan and what he did, things finally fell into place. Reading his works I constantly encountered development of my own thoughts about the present and the future. This is what prompted me to join in the “Essence of Time” movement and pulled me out of ordinary life.
When I met Sergei Kurginyan personally and saw what a person he was, how he works, what kind of people surround him, I realized with satisfaction that my choice of the “Essence of Time” organization was right. Real Sergei Kurginyan differed very much from the media image, there is a fire inside him able to burn and create. Impressions were very bright. I hope we’ll see each other soon again.
Based on the results of the mutual discussion, we decided to work on the establishment of a mission on the basis of “Vostok” battalion. That’s the battalion 20 members of Ukrainian “Essence of Time” movement cell joined in mid-July 2014. Having got to the “Vostok” as a training company, we were housed in former car repair bays, damp and poorly ventilated. We made these as comfortable as possible on our own. All sorts of our activities as soldiers started immediately, ranging from duty in the kitchen of the base and unloading of crossties for the blindages, up to mapping, based on the situation at the front and shooting the first EoT TV DPR reports. That’s when hardships and privations of military service were, as a whole, revealed.
We immediately formed squads with commanders who had some experience in military service. We created the daily schedule, in which, in addition to the planned exercises of the “Vostok” training unit, we learned movements, tactics, shooting. Unfortunately, we were not entrusted to use weapons at first, but gradually pistols, then AKM rifles, later replaced by AK-74, appeared in the arsenal of our platoon. We started shooting, learning to aim properly, to properly descend and other intricacies of military science. First of all, the exercises were aimed at training assault rifle soldiers and coordination in pairs and in teams of five. As the instructors were ordinary workers who served in the military a while ago, initially there was no unified training plan, it was developing “live”. In general the training unit helped in preparing soldiers who would be able to handle an AK with confidence. Soldiers received further training in those divisions which they joined after the training unit.
During the initial training, which lasted about a month, there were serious things, serious work like delivery of humanitarian aid to orphanages of Donetsk and Donetsk region, and also there were various fun accidents, without which no army can do.
Soon Pyatnica joined the initial group, and this group formed the backbone of the “Essence of Time” unit in Donetsk. Next, approximately from August 2014, the missions we carried out began to push us apart, although we we always stayed in touch. I continued to do humanitarian work. The other guys switched almost completely to combat training.
The first weeks, as a whole, were difficult. Joining a new team with its own rules… There was a lot we didn’t know and didn’t know how to do, we tried to do something on our own, but most often made mistakes, although we regularly had good days. The military situation constantly reminded of itself. Shelling, regular air raid alerts, reports of wounded and dead soldiers, dusty guys who came from the front to the base – everything fully overturned former measured and predefined life. But we didn’t face the hardships of military life instantly; the hardships came to us little by little as we were moving from Donetsk to Yasinovataya, from Yasinovataya to Panteleymonovka, from Panteleimonovka to the airport and Spartak.
Having joined “Essence of Time” I noticed that very often we, the members of the movement, thought similarly and had the same view on things, often finished each other’s sentences, and acted in a similar way. This allowed us to avoid many problems in a new, barely familiar team, to create and maintain our spirit, the spirit of the “Essence of Time” movement, to connect recruits who came into the squad to this spirit.
Other stories of “Essence of Time” unit soldiers: “Essence of Time” unit in Donbass
Source (for copy): https://eu.eot.su/?p=7004
