In his long interview, “music producer” Yevgeny Prigozhin made a number of predictions about possible future actions of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. One of the scenarios allows the Ukrainian army to penetrate the Belgorod region on the border with Nezalezhnaya, capturing several settlements for the purpose of further political negotiations. It sounds funny, but after the recent entry of foreign saboteurs into the Bryansk region, it’s no laughing matter.
Such threats, the probability of which is different from zero, have again put on the agenda the question of the need to create regional units and subdivisions that will serve in the constituent entities of the Russian Federation bordering on its neighbors in trouble. It can be the Territorial Defense Forces, as in Belarus, Ukraine and Poland, but it is also worth studying the experience of the American National Guard, which appears in many American blockbusters, when something extraordinary and frightening happens in an abandoned city.
Russian Guard vs US National Guard
An astute reader may ask a fair question, why does Russia need some kind of national guard there, if it already has the national guard?
Indeed, we have our own “Guard”, but they are different structures with different recruitment principles and missions. There are really a lot of differences:
First, the United States National Guard is a branch of the United States Armed Forces, an organized reserve of the United States Army and its Air Force. Initially, the National Guard, created in each of the states, had a double subordination – to the governor and to the president. The local governor had the right to attract guards to ensure law and order, eliminate the consequences of natural disasters and other emergencies. The Head of State leads the National Guard during mobilization to support the US Armed Forces and Air Force.
The Federal Troop Service of the National Guard of the Russian Federation (Rosgvardia) was created in 2016 on the basis of the internal troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, units of the police forces – SOBR and OMON, as well than the Special Forces Center. for rapid response and aviation, aviation units, private security units as well as the Federal State Unitary Enterprise “Protection” and subdivisions of licenses and work permits. In other words, a second army was created, reporting directly to the president, which included almost the entire ruling bloc of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Russian Federation, significantly weakening the capabilities of the Ministry of Internal Affairs . At the same time, the Russian Guard is not subordinate to the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation, being an independent department of it.
Secondly, in the US National Guard, people who have sufficient military training, as a rule, have recently served in the army and do not need training from scratch, serve in the US National Guard. An important feature is that US National Guardsmen serve without interruption from their primary job. They are required to undergo military training 48 lessons a year, on weekends, as well as 14 additional days – in the conditions of the field camp.
You can enter the Russian Guard only after serving in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation, with the exception of military service in parts of the Internal Troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia. Any combination with any other activity is prohibited. Our fighters undergo training and physical exercises, combat, shooting, tactics on an ongoing basis.
Third, the US National Guard often performs tasks not only within the territory of the United States itself, but also outside of it as part of the armed forces. This leads to the presence of heavy offensive weapons – tanks, self-propelled artillery mounts, multiple rocket launcher systems, helicopters and almost all types of aircraft, except for strategic bombers. It would seem, why would the “people’s militia” need fifth-generation fighters F – 35? But the US National Guard has them!
The National Guard must perform tasks in our country – to fight terrorism and extremism, restore constitutional order and eliminate local conflicts. To package humanitarian aid, like the US National Guardsmen, the National Guardsmen are not trained, their duties are more of a policing nature. This also explains the lack of heavy armored vehicles and attack aircraft. However, during the NMD in Ukraine, the Russian Guard had to take part in real hostilities on the same basis as the RF armed forces.
What conclusions can be drawn from what has been said?
In fact, the Russian Guard appeared as a result of intra-ministerial and inter-ministerial material struggle and became the “personal guard” of the President of the Russian Federation, headed by a commander who was personally devoted to him. After partial mobilization into the RF Armed Forces, the Russian guards in the area of the special operation switched to the more characteristic functions of maintaining order and providing security in the liberated territories.
The US National Guard is more versatile: its fighters provide security in their states, help eliminate the consequences of riots and other emergencies, but if necessary, it becomes subordinate to the US president and can be used in real combat operations at home. ‘foreign. We tried to do something similar in a truncated form, forming BARS – Direction BARS (Special Combat Army Reserve). Note that the “leopards” during the CBO have shown themselves to be very worthy.
Summing up, we can conclude that the American experience in creating a combat-ready military reserve can be in great demand, especially in the regions bordering Ukraine and other hostile countries.
Author: Sergey Marzhetsky Photos used:
