The Soviet Army structure is not exactly clear from the first sight. As any other military, Soviets had their own practices, traditions and habits. The Army consisted of two types of personnel - recruited conscripts and regular troops. Both officers and other ranks could fall into either of these categories. But the Warrant Officers were a very special category - and in this article we will talk about the history of the rank, as well as about the duty of the people holding it. Overall, this topic will be further studied in our upcoming book - Red Alert: Structure and Uniforms of the Soviet Infantry Regiment.
History of the Soviet rank of praporshik
The rank of praporshik was introduced to the Soviet Army in 1972. But it has deep historical roots. The word itself comes from the old word "prapor" - which is Ukrainian for "flag". So, back in Imperial Russian Army, praporshik was someone who quite literally held the flag during the battle - the Standard-bearer. During the Imperial times the actual role of praporshik was constantly changing - what started as a more experienced soldier in 17th century has become an officer rank by the First World War. But things changed after the October revolution.
Red Army was experimenting with the ranks a lot. By 1943 the ranks became almost identical to systems largely adapted by other European countries. However, the rank of praporshik was not yet (re)introduced. The top non-commissioned rank was starshina at the time, and the lowest officer's rank was Junior Lieutenant.
This structure of ranks stayed untouched until 1972, when the rank of praporshik has, once again, appeared in the soviet rank system. The were two major factors to introduce this rank. First, serving as a regular sergeant was becoming less and less popular. Second, the advance in weaponry and other hardware has called for specialists, who could actually operate the equipment. Ever since, it was present in the Soviet military and is now present in most post-Soviet countries.
How one could become a praporshik
There were two types of personnel in the Soviet military - those who were conscripted and those who served in the Army as their main career. To become a praporshik one had to get conscripted and serve for at least one and half of the year as a conscripted soldier. Other options were also available, depending on one's specialization - those who have studied in technical schools could become praporshiks much earlier in their service.
Army was desperate to increase the numbers to fill in all opened positions. This has jeopardized the ranks of sergeants - by 1980s there were almost no professional sergeants, they have all became WOs, leaving the sergeant stripes to conscripts.
The study term in the WO school could be anything from three to nine month - depending on the specialization. Those individuals who have attended these schools would be issued officer grade uniform and plane WO shoulder boards. After finishing the education, a fresh praporshik would most often return to the same unit where he has served as a conscript. But if the individual who decided to (re)join the Army after some years have passed since his demobilization, he was usually free to choose the military regiment for himself. Quite often it would be the one close to home for obvious reasons.
Duties and responsibilities of the Soviet WO
In terms of salaries, Soviet military was quite cheap for the state - conscripted soldiers were paid almost nothing. But it had its drawbacks. While it was relatively easy to train soldier to shoot an automatic rifle or even drive an armored vehicle, teaching him to operate complicated air-defense rocket systems or communication devices would require significantly more time. And in many cases, after such person did become qualified, he was close to finishing his time of service, which was only two years in the 1970s and beyond. So, the initial idea of praporshik rank was to increase the number of experienced personnel within the military system without increasing the number of officers.
The realities of the Soviet military quickly proved, that this will not be the only duty of a newly appeared almost-officers. Relatively soon, praporshiks became responsible for all the household - looking after storage depots, armories, uniform issue etc. At the same time, they could still be operating complicated military equipment and training conscripts on it. On top of that, they were supposed to be acting leaders within their platoons and companies - depending on the situation in the unit and availability of personnel, praporshik could easily be a section, platoon or even a company commander.
Comments