Nodar Dumbadze in his immortal film "I, Grandma, Iliko and Illarion" has an episode that is difficult to read without tears. An elderly woman living in a God-forsaken mountain village knits warm wool socks all night long. She takes her wool from an old feather bed - there's nowhere else to go. And in the morning, socks will be a gift to a Red Army soldier: a load of goodies is collected from the village for the front...

How can we not remember this in Chechnya today? The citizens of our country have not demonstrated such mass patriotism and unanimous support for the Armed Forces as during the counter-terrorist operation in the North Caucasus for a long time. Probably since the Great Patriotic War.

In 1999, Dagestani residents were the first to show examples of mercy and generosity to their armed defenders. Especially in those areas where there were battles with Chechen extremists and their local Wahhabi henchmen. Sometimes here the women quietly pushed the soldiers 'cooks away from the field kitchens, took their places and significantly improved the soldiers' diet at the expense of their own products: young mutton is much tastier than even the best canned army food...

There were cases when commanders literally begged local residents not to interfere with the progress of the columns, but the obstacle was not concrete barricades, as in Ingushetia in 1994, but crowds of people greeting the soldiers with flowers and fruit.

About a year ago, one of us happened to witness such a scene. Together with the military commissar of Dagestan, Major General M. Tinamagomedov (now a lieutenant general), we were returning from the village of Ansalti to the helipad. At one of the corners, the UAZ truck passed a group of girls hurrying somewhere with huge armfuls of flowers. Where-it became clear when they drove up to the tail of the BMP column that stopped at the roadside. Local residents distributed apples, cookies, and cigarettes to the motorized riflemen... The example of Dagestanis was soon followed by other Russians. Here are just a few episodes from the chronicle of unfaithful charity and true charity of our people.

...Vials with a unique wound-healing agent "Baliz-11", made by Krasnodar scientists, as well as medicinal candles "Baliz" were sent to the Rostov District Military Hospital by the head of the laboratory of biologically active substances of Kuban State University A. Shurygin. According to the scientist, "Baliz" has an anti-stress effect and is effective in the treatment of hard-to-heal wounds and burns. Employees of the Krasnodar laboratory expressed their readiness to continue to supply the military with Baliz as necessary.

...Every two days, trucks with humanitarian supplies began to leave Krasnodar for the area of military operations. Processing enterprises of the city handed over tons of vegetables, fruits, and hundreds of cans of juice to the soldiers. Krasnodartabakprom allocated thousands of packs of cigarettes. Hundreds of crates of mineral water bottles also became a great support for the military.

..In the Stavropol Territory, residents of the border Kursky district were the first to join the collection of humanitarian aid to soldiers. They collected food, warm clothes (socks, sweaters, gloves, hats) and handed them over to the district military commissariat for transportation to Dagestan and Chechnya.

...A motorized rifle brigade stationed in Budyonnovsk (Stavropol Territory) is patronized by the Stavropolenergo team. At the suggestion of the chairman of the Board of Directors of this association A. Dyakov, the residents of Kavminvod collected gifts for the soldiers of the North Caucasus. Heavily loaded KAMAZ trucks with trailers left for the war zone. They contained high-quality food products: flour, canned goods, fruits and vegetables.

...A ton of sugar, medical equipment, and basic necessities were handed over to the Rostov District Military Hospital by Taganrog customs officers.

...The Rostov regional branch of the socio-political movement "Women of Russia" managed to collect seven tons of humanitarian aid and send it to soldiers in Chechnya in just a few days.

...Hundreds of tons of potatoes were sent to the soldiers of the United Group of Troops by residents of the Tver region.

...The soldiers and officers are especially grateful to the Governor of the Kemerovo region, Aman Tuleyev, who sent 1,700 bulletproof vests of a new type, four thousand pairs of insulated rubber boots, 10 Motorola radio stations, a large amount of wood and roofing material for dugouts. This list can go on for a long time.

For the sake of objectivity, it should be noted that the peak of humanitarian flows occurred in the first two or three months of the counter-terrorist operation. It was then, by and large, that the question was decided whether our country would find the strength to resist international bandits who encroached on its integrity and independence. We survived. The state and its security agencies now have time to find their bearings in the situation, mobilize their efforts, and raise their reserves.

The reader here has the right to ask: do the soldiers of the group really need humanitarian assistance today? Our army has equipment and weapons, uniforms and food. Yes, and additional cash payments for participation in hostilities, unlike in the past, are quite solid.

All this is true. But there are, as they say, nuances. Take the same "combat" ones. Most military personnel who are directly involved in combat are paid them on their return to their permanent deployment sites, and even then with delays. That is, few people have "big money" on hand in Chechnya, and there is simply nothing for people to diversify a rich but monotonous field ration. And sometimes it's not safe. In the last days of August, two servicemen who tried to buy a couple of kilograms of tomatoes and apples were shot at point-blank range in a Grozny market in broad daylight...

In addition, every normal person, and even a Russian soldier and officer who is used to enduring everyday inconveniences, requires basic hygiene items, while smokers need cigarettes, etc. Just water

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getting drunk in Chechnya can be a problem: it is in a number of places there of rather low quality. So supplements to the soldier's table or everyday life are by no means superfluous.

Not everything in our army, let's face it, is safe and with uniforms. No, there is plenty of camouflage in the warehouses, and the soldiers do not go barefoot. Another thing is the practicality of the current field military uniforms of clothing and shoes. I would like to see the army designers who developed them, who, strictly according to the charter, would carry all-army all-weather camouflage in forty-degree heat for at least a day. They come to the aid of military personnel here... entrepreneurs. Without changing the standard color, protective properties of military uniforms, they use in its manufacture materials that greatly facilitate the weight of clothing. And this makes the uniform more comfortable for everyday wear, and for actions in battle. Perhaps some of the elements of camouflage developed "in civilian life", which were received by the troops as humanitarian aid, will later be taken by army clothing manufacturers as a basis for further improvement of military uniforms and shoes. After all, this is exactly what happened after the first Chechen campaign, when, along with a hat with earflaps, the troops began to receive a wool cap that was more convenient for conducting combat operations, nicknamed menatepka by the military (because for the first time such caps were sent to the area of operations as humanitarian aid by the Menatep Bank, which flourished in those years).

And if you touch on the army's means of communication, especially in the battalion-company-platoon link? The fact that they are outdated and initially lag behind those used by militants is a long-established fact. So the "Motorolls" sent by Aman Tuleyev turned out to be in place.

They say you don't look a gift horse in the mouth. But in vain. Here the inhabitants of Troy did not beware and paid the price. Although it was a long time ago, human nature has changed little over the centuries. Therefore, every time you receive a "horse" as a gift, it makes sense to take a closer look, not a Trojan. Here are just a few examples of the"Danaean gifts." At the beginning of the summer, a part of the Eastern Grouping received a humanitarian cargo - Italian mineral water "Vera". The paratroopers drank it for several months - the heat in the republic was incredible. But only the attentive ones saw the half-erased numbers on the bottles. The shelf life of mineral water expired in May last year. So, her place is in the trash, and not in the active army.

It's the same story with Chinese-made toothpaste with a hard-to-pronounce name. Its expiration date expired seven months before it was received by the army recipient. In Chechnya, we also came across "humanitarian" shaving machines made allegedly in Korea. They are suitable only for removing bristles from the lard crust. And that's only because it doesn't hurt Sal. Those who did try these machines were, to put it mildly, dissatisfied... Examples can go on, but the essence of the phenomenon is quite clear. There are figures who, hiding behind the guise of nobility, do their dark deeds, solve personal issues. The mechanism of fraud is simple: instead of incurring losses due to their own lack of professionalism, dealers turn stale goods into "humanitarian" aid. Thereby gaining significant tax breaks and a good reputation.

In one of the motorized rifle units, we were told such a case. A cargo of humanitarian aid arrived. And everything would have been fine, but only the citizen who accompanied this cargo asked the commander to sign the invoice, which contained absolutely absurd figures. If you believe them, then for every serviceman of the unit there were products as much as two thousand rubles. Although even to the eye it was clear that in fact it was a maximum of two hundred rubles each. To the credit of the regiment commander, he had the heart to send the gentleman to hell with his cargo...

Alas, such cases have taken place. How to deal with it, and is it worth it? Let it be a matter of conscience for everyone who has decided to help the people defending law and order in the North Caucasus.

No less material for the soldiers of the group is the moral support of society. The visit of Vladyka Sava, Head of the Department for Relations with the Armed Forces and Law Enforcement Agencies of the Russian Orthodox Church, who visited Chechnya on behalf of Patriarch Alexy II of Moscow and All Russia, was well remembered here. As a humanitarian cargo for the servicemen, the clergy brought consecrated water and church literature along with various dishes.

The Siberian delegation that delivered humanitarian aid to the group also included a priest. He presented the servicemen with an image of the Mother of God and a television set, and christened more than 300 soldiers and officers at their request.

How can you not remember the charity concerts that famous artists and pop performers Vika Tsyganova, Valdis Pelsh, Alena Sviridova and others performed in front of the soldiers in Chechnya? The SKVO song and dance ensemble and other groups of the region constantly went to the troops. In short, there was no shortage of moral support for the soldiers. And this is a very good sign: despite everything, Russians still have not lost the best qualities of their soul. So, we will win!

Colonel Sergey PRYGANOV. Major Igor MELNIKOV. North Caucasus Military District

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