Yes, This Was Called ...

... NVP (Начальная Военная Подготовка--Initial Military Training) in Soviet schools and yes, we were taken to ranges to shoot live munitions. Apart from studying all kinds of other military shit. Girls were studying tactical medicine and also were allowed to shoot. 

Russian youngsters as young as 12 are now required to participate in drone and firearms training during school hours. This Kremlin initiative is being interpreted as a stark indication that Vladimir Putin remains committed to prolonged military conflict.

And no, it is not a "stark indication"--it is a return to normalcy in the nation whose military history dwarfs anything there is in the world. It is also a return to what many Americans (with the exception of urban metrosexuals) instinctively know--boys need to grow into men and defenders. Here is how it looked like in Soviet times.

All of us went through this. It is a good sign together with the transition from the baloney of Bologna Process in education and discarding all those "degrees" like Bachelor's (equivalent of incomplete higher education) and all other M.S. to the system of concentrated professional higher education in specialties with a strong emphasis on overall culture and STEM bases from public schools. In military of the XXI century (albeit it was true already in 1960s) moreover? Don't trust me, here is the US Army:

Since the 1980s, America’s world ranking in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) has declined, placing our once unquestioned supremacy in technological innovation and application on par with or behind those of our economic and military adversaries. A recent warning from the Office of the Secretary of Defense Acquisition and Sustainment Industrial Policy declared the paucity of STEM-educated Americans may lead to a “permanent national security deficit.” The lack of STEM education extends to Army officers. In 2018, the Army Strategy assessed the strategic environment to include partners, allies, and adversaries leveraging “advanced capabilities” such as cyber, counter space, electronic warfare, robotics, and artificial intelligence (AI). This assessment has proven true in the Russia-Ukraine War, an artillery-heavy war interwoven with the burgeoning development and implementation of new and evolving technologies that demand innovative thinking, alliances, and strategy informed by STEM+Management (STEM+M)

There is ALREADY "permanent national security deficit", that is why Pentagon, CIA et al have difficulties grasping what is happening. Difficult to make a sense of capabilities when you have majored in English Literature, Journalism or Business from University of Phoenix. That gets us into this funny territory of System of Systems, because nations and their militaries are exactly that. 

NVP Is In...

What is NVP? Recall--6 years ago I wrote:

These are not fake, albeit on the second photo I would have really kicked the ass of the teacher for pointing, even if unloaded and disabled, AK towards students. Let me explain why those are not fake--because in my time it also was absolutely normal to come to the lesson on physics or geography with AKM (later AK-74) if we would have some exercises in the course of NVP (Nachalnaya Voennaya Podgotovka--Basic Military Training) after this lesson. These photos are most likely from Belarus or Kazakhstan where the subject of NVP not never was cancelled (unlike it was in Russia) but thrives and rightly so. I, as well as very many of my peers in USSR knew how to assemble-disassemble AK as early as 5-6th grade,  we learned about basic tactics in offense and defense (squad-platoon), by 10th grade we would be on the nearest military unit's firing range firing real live ammo from Kalashnikovs--these were and are real requirements for the graduate of the high schools.

Now, as official RG reports today (in Russian)--The Initial Military Training is getting back into Russian public schools' programs and it includes training with AK-74s, grenades F-1 and RGD-5, first medical help on a battlefield,  tactics of squad, including motor-rifle training with APC etc. Yes, those things we did in school, including live fire exercises on the ranges of nearest military formations. In my case we did it at the range in Radygino in Kamchatka in 1978-79. Finally. Long overdue. 

This is how you prepare real men on the wholesale scale. Exceptions are possible, of course. Well, it is Saturday and:

Can you believe it? The UK used to be a great and cool country with a great music. I wish to preserve the Status Quo of that time. Pun is intended.

Everybody Was Kung Fu Fighting....

OK, people, this is getting ridiculous. French MP wants mandatory martial arts classes in schools following terrorist attacks. Are these people for real?  Make no mistake, I am all for martial arts. I spent years being trained by some very impressive martial artists, starting from Kyokushinkai (by my friend, 3rd Dan) and eventually moving to "softer" styles of Kung Fu. And I am talking about full contact and grueling training sessions, not some BS for teenagers. My kimono was dirty and bloody, some spots never washed away. My, fairly limited, skills did come handy couple of times but never in my mind would I think that I could use those in the situation with terrorism. In the end, my very close friends, who trained number of special units of KGB and MVD would never even think about instructing fighters of those units to drop their AK-74s (or AKSU) in a face of armed and determined enemy. A really great martial arts skills which can make a difference are a realm for a relatively narrow strata among attendees of all kinds of martial arts groups and overwhelming majority of those attendees do it mostly for psychological self-assurance, while never getting serious skills which would allow them to effectively defend themselves. Those skills come through a lot (and I mean a lot) of pain and blood. And here are some things which all those Europeans may (but will not) take as a lesson from USSR/Russia. 

Instead of imposing mostly useless exercise in futility, how about looking at this:

These are not fake, albeit on the second photo I would have really kicked the ass of the teacher for pointing, even if unloaded and disabled, AK towards students. Let me explain why those are not fake--because in my time it also was absolutely normal to come to the lesson on physics or geography with AKM (later AK-74) if we would have some exercises in the course of NVP (Nachalnaya Voennaya Podgotovka--Basic Military Training) after this lesson. These photos are most likely from Belarus or Kazakhstan where the subject of NVP not never was cancelled (unlike it was in Russia) but thrives and rightly so. I, as well as very many of my peers in USSR knew how to assemble-disassemble AK as early as 5-6th grade,  we learned about basic tactics in offense and defense (squad-platoon), by 10th grade we would be on the nearest military unit's firing range firing real live ammo from Kalashnikovs--these were and are real requirements for the graduate of the high schools. Russia is also re-introducing NVP in its schools. And here is an advice to this Euro-morons--get your kids trained in basic weapons, in how to react to terrorists and terrorist acts, how to profile, how to avoid being hurt in stressful situations, how to develop a cohesion in a class during an attack, how to move. Yes, I know, all this is a wishful thinking--no European nation will implement this, because everything is fine, everything is peachy and shooting, decapitating, stabbing, blowing people up or executing them because they are infidels is not a war, no--it is just a cultural enrichment and it has to be gladly accepted. Exercising an idea that a boy is on his way to becoming a man and that any man must have basic weapons and tactics skills is so not metro-sexual, is so not tolerant, is so not-Euro.......But still....it is all fun and games.