Armenian youth refuse military service even for money Soldiers have nothing else to do but sing and dance

Just a year after Armenia's defeat in the 4-day battles of 2016 and the dismissal of lame Seyran from the post of Defence Minister, his successor - Vigen Sargsyan, popularly nicknamed "Jacket", presented the Armenian public with two programs - "I have Honor" and "This is me", provided for officers and enlisted men. The essence of both concepts boiled down to a single goal - to lure as much "cannon fodder" as possible into the Armenian army through benefits and financial support, since this service became extremely unpopular and dangerous for the life and health of that very fodder.

Thus, the idea of the "I have Honor" program was to link universities with officer service, in which all students could participate if they met the appropriate requirements and served not two years as enlisted soldiers, but three years as officers. For this purpose, students studying in civilian universities must attend Vazgen Sargsyan Military University every Saturday from their second to the fourth year. After graduation, graduates also receive the rank of lieutenant and serve in the Armed Forces for three years. They will receive a paycheck during their service and a bonus after the service.

The second program, "This Is Me," was designed for enlisted men and also provides for three years of service, but the enlisted men will be on leave for seven months starting with the sixth month of service. After agreeing to participate in this program, enlisted personnel must complete five months of training and then move on to frontier duty. They will spend seven days of each month at home and the remaining 24 days at military units and battle stations. After serving, the soldiers will be paid AMD 5 million each to buy a house, start a small business or pay tuition fees.

At first, these programs interested some of the Armenian youth, who faced the prospect of being left without a job after graduation or demobilization from the army. There were two perspectives: either to join the Diaspora or to spend three years in the Armenian Army, after which they could get something from the bankrupt government. But then came the 44-day war, which Armenia shamefully lost. Defeat, billions of dollars worth of military equipment, thousands of dead, ten thousand deserters, cowardice and unprofessionalism of the command and officers - all this was in full view of the Armenian youth. Naturally, all this could not add to the popularity of military service in Armenia.

And almost two years after that war, the situation in the Armenian army today is simply awful. The Armenian Defence Ministry has already openly acknowledged this, complaining that the "This is me" program is a complete failure. Thus, according to the information of the Defence Ministry, not a single appeal concerning the program was received during the callups of 2021-2022. Moreover, after the defeat in the 2020 war, numerous servicemen refused to participate in the program and decided to limit their participation to 2 years of service, ignoring even monetary compensation. As a logical result, only...three servicemen are still participating in the "This Is Me" program, and their 3-year term ends in January 2023.

But that is half the trouble. Even at international army competitions, where, in general, the best are always selected, Armenia has made a laughing stock of itself. For example, we've already written about the shame of Armenians at the "Tank biathlon" in Alabino, when all three Armenian crews got the last place in their weakest group of the division, and even managed to clash with the Laotian team. In the sniper contest too, the Armenians proved to be elementary weaklings.

However, every cloud has a silver lining. In one of the competitions, the Armenian servicemen still managed to win a prize. I am referring to the literary-artistic and dance creative stage "Cavalier and Madam," which took place at the Monte Melkonyan Military and Sports College, where the participants competed in nominations such as song, dance, play a musical instrument, reading a lyric poem. In this category, the Armenians won first place. So what if everything is bad with combat training? Nevertheless, the Armenians are good at dancing and singing songs.

But why do they need combat training? Armenia does not need the army now. After all, our soldiers completely discouraged them from coveting Azerbaijani lands and dreaming about new territories in autumn 2020. In such a way that there is nothing left for Armenians but dances and songs.