I have little sympathy but I have sympathy. Many of these volunteers did so for the money. It’s a major part of their recruitment strategy. “You fight for your country, your family has more money, and if you die there’s enough for their comfort.” This is their country that’s been lying to them their whole lives. And they’re doing it for their family.
I feel no sympathy for their deaths in battle, but this isn’t Russians vs Ukrainians here, this is poor people being convinced to die for their rich leader’s ego and he isn’t even giving their family the money he promised. And many of these people likely think they’ll be conscripted anyways so they may as well take the cash when it’s an option
I appreciate the separation between those two concepts, and find that too few people look at it that way.
Every last one of them needs to be booted off Ukrainian soil, of course - that also goes without saying - but the Russian Army has a long history of lying to their citizens, promising money that never appears, and pulling small numbers of people from e.g., remote villages so that surviving families believe they’re one of the few and don’t see the larger losses at scale.
I can’t locate my well-thumbed copy of Grau at the moment, but I’m reasonably sure he substantiates the above at least as far back as Afghanistan.
Hunh. Doesn’t sound all that different from what we’ve got here in the US, if I’m being honest.
I volunteered to fight for leopards and then they ate our faces, says lady in an actual leopard shirt. Are we sure the writers strike ended? This just seems so lazy.
Cry me a river.
Continue like that and you’ll get tea.
Tea cost money. Window is free.
Volunteers pay for themselves, that’s the core principle of volunteering. If you get paid for it it’s a very normal job.
They don’t get anything right over there, don’t they.
well, it’s not incoherent to give a volunteer supplies, or even a basic stipend to cover supplies… If the 200,000 she mentioned was rubles, that’s not even $2,200, that’s not a soldier’s pay, that’s a small stipend—especially if they don’t give you a uniform or even fucking feed you.
This feels so 1700s. Like the revolutionary war where the volunteers just kind of showed up with whatever they had.
This feels so 1700s. Like the revolutionary war where the volunteers just kind of showed up with whatever they had.
well… uh, they weren’t all volunteers.
In this context, volunteer means signed up voluntarily, rather than drafted. They’re still paid.
Volunteer troops usually are contrasted to conscripts not to professionals. The United States for example fields an all volunteer professional military ever since the end of the Vietnam war. Unpaid troops are usually militias, and they can be contrasted to professional troops. That said militias often provide stipends or some form of compensation.
Oh no! Anyway…
But Putin wasn’t supposed to lie to THEM, they’re all bros and whatever, dude did Putin a solid and went to war. Kinda like narcissistic dictators (is that redundant?) just say whatever they want to get the most support they can at that minute. Hopefully others have and others will continue to learn from this and make some changes for their country. I’m not holding my breath though.
Good. Fuck #Russia.
narrators voice
no funds were transferred
5d chess.
Husband would rather die on the front than return home to his angry wife.
And this the first big mistake of become a soldier in a war during this times. That’s why many europeans will not fight for their countries aswell, there isnt a rich paycheck waiting you, only misery and death, warlords games sitting on their red chairs around long table, I can’t believe that still there is someone doing the soldier, expecially the attackers, who are this people to accept invading another country? Thiefs, murders, evil guys.
why many europeans will not fight for their countries aswell, there isnt a rich paycheck waiting you
I’m not many europeans, and I’m afraid you’re partly correct, but should the need rise I will fight for my country and any amount of money isn’t in the equation. I want my kids to grow up in a free country like I did and fight for it, like my grandparents did. I really hope things don’t escalate to that, but I’ll do it if necessary and I’m pretty happy I don’t need to go by myself.
From my current location you could reach Russian border in 3-5 hours by car (as it always has been) and I’m somewhat far away from the eastern border by our standards. Ukrainians are witnessing what our eastern neighbor is capable of all day every day and if I have anything to say for it it’s not going to happen here.
waiting you, only misery and death
You’re right, Elrond. /s
Get fukt
