God bless the Cossacks!

Prapor

Active member
In Russia, in the Southern regions, mostly, live a strong, proud, freedom loving people. They are called Cossacks, warriors of the steppe. According to them, their main duty in this life, as assigned by God himself, is to protect Russia’s borders. That is why they settle way out there, always on the frontier.
32494_434589161557_721246557_6049731_217074_n.jpg


There were once some 3,000,000 Cossacks, under the last Tsar, Nikolai II. After the Bolshevik Revolution, Lenin’s genocidal Decossackization purge nearly wiped them out. In 2002, by the Census taken that year, there were only 150,000 Cossacks in all of Russia. Today, due to a number of reasons, including a high fertility rate (5, 6 children in a family); people of Cossack heritage, particularly youth, returning home to their roots; and worthy outsiders admitted and initiated into the noble, elite caste; their numbers have grown once again. In 2010, there are an estimated 740,000 people in Russia who consider themselves to be Cossacks. Now, they are fighting to be recognized as a nation, a distinct ethnic group, within the larger Russian society.
Cossacks are, indeed, very different from other Russians. Since early age they undergo the rigorous, sometimes even brutal, ‘combat preparation’ training. This includes, but is not limited to, shooting of various weapons (AKs, Saiga 12, Dragunov sniper, and others) 32494_434589366557_721246557_6049738_4348572_n.jpg 30144_430336671557_721246557_5942093_5442118_n.jpg, martial arts 24332_101488453227826_100001000150477_10264_4210582_n.jpg, mountain climbing 32494_434589581557_721246557_6049750_3496108_n.jpg 32494_434589571557_721246557_6049749_8351024_n.jpg, parachute jumping (for boys who want to go to VDV Airborne Paratrooper Forces) 32494_434589101557_721246557_6049722_1655878_n.jpg, medical aid training for girls
24332_101488673227804_100001000150477_10269_4537513_n.jpg
, and ‘tactical exercises’, where the children are thrown into battle situations that simulate real warfare in different environments, against different enemies, with different styles and ways of combat
30144_430335346557_721246557_5942032_981933_n.jpg
32494_434590081557_721246557_6049760_3270857_n.jpg
32494_434589936557_721246557_6049758_5123229_n.jpg

It is hardly surprising, then, that the Russian Armed Forces go out of their way now, to recruit Cossacks. They get excellent fighters, professional, well trained, disciplined troops that do not need to be taught or trained, because they already know all there is to know about war. For example, 22nd Motor Rifle Brigade, in Stavropol Krai, a traditional Cossack area, is now to be formed entirely out of Cossacks. Cossacks are recruited en masse for the Border Guard, in fact, the Russia-Georgia border is now being secured almost entirely by Terek and Kuban Cossack volunteer units; and Amur Cossack militias are active in securing the Far East borders with China and North Korea.
A year ago, Internal Affairs Minister Rashid Nurgaliev signed an agreement with Cossack leaders, for Kuban Cossack Army to be official ‘Guard’ of Sochi 2014 Olympics. Cossack teams, on foot and on horses, will patrol the city during the Olympics, helping police enforce the law and maintain order. Similar Cossack patrols, which were widespread in the Tsars’ era, can now, again, be seen in many Russian cities, even, since about two months ago, in Saint Petersburg.
32494_432930751557_721246557_6007892_7326516_n.jpg


There are problems, to be sure. Some of the Cossack militias do not recognize the legitimacy of ‘Supreme Ataman’ (Russian Cossack self-proclaimed ‘Commander in Chief’) Vladimir Vodolacky. In return, he cuts them off from Federal funding that is now, supposed to be, allocated to Cossack communities. So, they are poor and underarmed. These men, for instance, are holding rifles and carbines from the War (WWII) era and even before
32494_434590651557_721246557_6049782_3173499_n.jpg

Also, there is a powerful patriotic sentiment among the Cossacks that often turns into an uglier form of nationalism and even racism, as this video shows: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kg66az1nbpE.
[FONT=&quot]Overall though, the Cossacks thrive, and will keep on growing and thriving in the future. As they say, ‘Spasibo, Gospodi, chto mi kazaki’ ‘Thank God, we are Cossacks!’.
29101_132082580137450_100000071261864_366819_7248572_n.jpg
32494_434591241557_721246557_6049805_1748747_n.jpg
32494_434589596557_721246557_6049751_3225482_n.jpg
32494_432933116557_721246557_6007927_3049109_n.jpg


Some videos: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pb2elymFNp8 (Cossack kids at training camp)
[/FONT]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t8AomZN9dZY (Cossack knife fighting)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RDTiZVHGcwc (Cossack swordfighting with their traditional shashka)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZSqsHT3F4A (another traditional Cossack weapon nagaika)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TJAIzdMfq-o (Cossack martial arts)
[FONT=&quot]

[/FONT]
 
Last edited:
yes, but what better could a recruiting officer ask for than an entire ethnic group dedicated to military service to their country and who train "brutally" for combat?
 
yes, but what better could a recruiting officer ask for than an entire ethnic group dedicated to military service to their country and who train "brutally" for combat?
Right, if they are dedicated to military service to their country in the armed forces of their country. The Cossacks by Russian law are on state service, but they are not part of general military structure. They have their own pretty big quasi-military organization with quite strict ranking. De facto that is an important, religious, conservative and quite nationalistic ethnic unity which has its own army (of course i'm not talking about howitzers and bombers, just SALW).
 
Back
Top