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"On Point"
MINSK, 4 February (BelTA) – Military personnel and hardware were tested in complicated weather conditions as part of the surprise inspection of the combat readiness of Belarus’ Armed Forces. Andrei Bogodel, Candidate of Military Sciences, Deputy Head of the Faculty of Education and Science, Head of the Education and Methodology Department of the Faculty of the General Staff of the Armed Forces at the Military Academy of Belarus, made the statement in a recent episode of BelTA’s YouTube project On Point.
The weather contributed to the challenges faced by the military personnel. “It was 20 degrees below zero. The temperature was very low. I might add that the imported drones we had were unable to fly, but the old Soviet equipment and the new modernized equipment started up and went to work. There were no problems with the people. As State Secretary [of the Security Council] Aleksandr Grigoryevich Volfovich said: ‘It was only invigorating’. That’s right. This frosty weather only energizes Belarusian infantrymen. What else do you expect to happen to them?” said Andrei Bogodel.
He noted that quite a few aspects had been tested. “On the one hand, we saw a perfect march, with personnel pulling themselves together, running a forced march. Everything was shown as fragments focusing on some fundamental moments. But a lot was left behind the scenes. First of all, the preparation of weapons and military equipment was left behind the scenes. You see, when it’s minus 23 outside, a lot depends on the lubrication of weapons and how machine guns, cannons, grenade launchers, and so on were serviced before that. In other words, if you did it wrong, you would get a failure there and then, and you simply would not pass the inspection,” he emphasized.
Domestic drones were also tested during the surprise inspection. “Ours flew. There are some peculiarities, of course, without a doubt,” said the expert.
During the large-scale event attention was even paid to the gear of the soldiers, especially in the severe frost. How did it all go? “I can’t say that everything went smoothly and easily, but it went much better than we expected,” the expert noted. “And the inspectors who arrived were very strict. First of all, the inspectors came with a wealth of experience. These are people from the Security Council. And there are aspects related precisely to the subtleties of the moment and the fact that no one will report just anything to the president, trust me. In other words, no one will deceive him in this situation, this is why the most reliable information was provided. Were there shortcomings? I can say unequivocally that there were. These shortcomings existed, they were eliminated, but most importantly, we need to understand that, as the saying goes, we need to learn from our mistakes. And today these shortcomings will form the basis of combat training. Meaning, what we saw today, the shortcomings or strengths of the units, also needs to be discussed, and all of this will form the basis of combat training.”
Andrei Bogodel emphasized that such a large-scale event is only comparable to real combat operations. “Let’s be honest, this surprise inspection can only be surpassed in severity by actual combat operations. Only combat operations can show more results than a surprise inspection. But god willing, we will only have these surprise inspections,” said the expert.
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