Fear of the command paralyzes the conscience. The story of a fictional unit
It is important to set priorities. And today in Ukraine, there is no higher priority than the situation at the front. That is why I refused the positions offered to me: if I had accepted them, I would have lost the opportunity to raise the issues that arise directly on the front line.
You can pass by this story. Because habit is a dangerous thing. Even before 2021, many fighters fought in our unit, and many of them died in a war that most people did not notice.
One of the cases is directly related to the habit: the fighter, having spent too much time on the contact line, stopped responding to danger – he walked in full growth, climbed over the parapet, etc. That is why, when another artillery attack occurred, he did not hide in a dugout, but tried to determine the direction of the fire, focusing only on the sound. As a result, he received shrapnel wounds incompatible with life.
Most military personnel will understand what I mean. What seems like "courage" to a civilian is often fatigue and indifference to one's own life.
Now imagine this: Ukraine is a fighter who has been on the battlefield for too long. The deaths of relatives and friends have become commonplace. The deaths of children, civilians – for most people, they no longer cause either anger or even fear, as they did at the beginning of the full-scale invasion, or they disappear the next day.
And if this no longer evokes emotions, then lost territories, lack of reserves, and lack of rotations become the norm. Meaningless orders and large losses of soldiers become normal.
Yes, there are statistics on destroyed enemies. There is even a system of points for encouragement. But how often is the issue of losses of our units – killed, wounded, missing – raised at the bet?
Perhaps when the news reports about moving 100 meters forward, the whole country rejoices: "At least something". But I feel pain. Because I know how much the unit has "paid" for this for the sake of the "forward, forward" command. And anyone who knows a little bit of basic math understands that this is a temporary blinders on. There are fewer people. And collapse is only a matter of time.
And yes, this is a war, but every soldier who has taken up arms is ready to give his life for Ukraine and its independence, but not for the service of one general to his leader. And any leader should have realized long ago that if there are no people around who can tell you that you are wrong, this is a dangerous environment that will lead to fatal mistakes in decision-making.
The story follows. A fictional one. A fictional unit depends on another fictional unit, also fictional, which is in a semi-surrounding. And it can be completely surrounded. All coincidences are probably NOT accidental.
Chronicles from the exhausted front. Testimony of a fictional officer of a fictional brigade. But it really hurts.
From "K" to "B". Then "K" again. Then "D" again. No rest, no rotation. In defense – without fortifications. In the assault – without a reserve. Officers no longer lead into battle – they drag those who are still in the ranks there.
There are 10, maximum 12 fighters on a stretch of more than 5 kilometers. Drivers, artillerymen, and cooks are holding the line. But even they have run out of men. The battalions have 25% of their staff left, most of whom had already sacrificed their health earlier, and now work as bath attendants and drivers because they want to remain useful in the future .
When another battalion is burned down, we don't get reinforcements – we get "redistribution". People do not come – they are smeared in holes that are even difficult to count.
The enemy storms in several times a day. Motorcycle waves, armored waves, assault groups of prisoners. Instead, our newcomers have five days of adaptation. On the sixth – into battle or into the ground.
Orders from above sound like hysteria. "Restore the position!" – which does nothing. "Conduct an assault!" – across a kilometer of open terrain, while losing men on the approaches. Orders come directly from the highest military official in the fictional army.
Intelligence? There is no time. Fire support? Didn't arrive in time. FPV? Not even enough for one company.
Those who should understand the situation better than we do are afraid to look at it. They do not recognize the obvious, because it is easier to look for the guilty within the brigade itself than to tell the truth to the top – even though there is only one person above them. It's easier to report the phrase "the situation is under control" or "the commander of a fictitious brigade is deceiving and hiding people" than to admit that this control is an illusion based on shattered knees and such severe fatigue that death seems to be an escape from this theater of the absurd.
Fear of the general in chief paralyzes not only decisions but also conscience. And in this silence, where courage and truth should be, there is only one thing that sounds: how to get out of it, how to shift the blame, how to say the right word in time. The situation looks as if someone upstairs has already reconciled with our deaths and is now only determining who will be the first to lie in the ground and in what order.
We see how we are being squeezed. We see what will happen if we fall. Behind us are other fictitious brigades, already half-circumscribed. We are not holding on to an order or a plan – we are holding on to those to our left and right, to the brigade that is still alive.
The commander? He is with us. But he is a hostage to orders from another world where PowerPoint is more important than evacuation.
And now hypothetical fictional questions:
- How many more "fictional" brigades are needed to make the frontline listen to the generals instead of the parquet?
- How many more lives need to be lost before the authorities recognize that this is not a "partial shortage", it is a systemic catastrophe?
- Why we, who are "on our knees" asking for Mavic, should follow the orders of those who have everything but responsibility?
- Why there are more generals who are afraid of losing their positions than those who are afraid of losing people?
- Who will be responsible for those who will not return? Or again – no one?
- Does it take another tragedy to finally realize that this war is not won by reports, but by blood and truth?
- And most importantly, whether the state will ever be able to look us in the eye if we suddenly return?
