The word "construction battalion" causes a smile or slight irony in many, since, officially, this kind of troops no longer exists. The last parts were disbanded in the 90s. But there are still many folk sayings or just anecdotes about the construction battalion.

History of creation

A construction battalion is a construction battalion, although in official documents everything was different. VSO (military construction teams) take their beginning since 1942, when the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided to create the Military Restoration Administration. Under his leadership, all the infrastructure facilities destroyed by the occupying Germans during the Great Patriotic War were built. The term "construction battalion" itself was coined by the people and went out of circulation in 1970. It is worth noting that the soldiers themselves called themselves very ironically - the royal troops.

Facts - in 1980 the number of personnel of the WZO was about 300-400 thousand people, which covers the total number of units such as: Airborne Forces, Marines and Border Troops.

The soldier is sleeping - the service is on. Terms of service

To be honest, not all conscripts wanted to get into the construction battalion. And there are a number of reasons for this:

1. The soldiers had a formal relationship to military service. They could spend more time not in a trench or shooting, but at a construction site or digging a foundation pit.
2. national component. The detachments were formed from multinational groups. Often, children from dysfunctional families or teenagers registered with the police were taken to the construction battalion. This combination of different types of nationalities and people prone to crime frightened the young fighter. Often there were cases of desertion from units.
3. The VZO could be sent to potentially dangerous places, even in peacetime. They were thrown to eliminate man-made disasters or to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters. Such work was associated with the risk of getting a dangerous disease or injuries of various complexity.
4. The very attitude of society towards this type of troops was condescending. There were many jokes about the construction battalion among the people, so serving in this type of troops was undignified.

Despite all the shortcomings, there were also distinctive advantages among other types of troops. For example, a soldier received a salary for his service, and its size was about 120–180 rubles. From this amount you need to subtract 30 rubles for the service of the fighter and his food. But even in this case, there is a decent amount left. This money was deposited on the personal account of the fighter, and only in case of urgent need, the soldier could use it. The salary could reach up to 250 rubles per month. Everything depended on the specialty that the young fighter possessed. Specialists of a narrow profile associated with machines and equipment, such as bulldozer operators, crane operators, excavators and others, were valued. Sometimes a demobilized soldier brought home a sum of money up to 5,000 rubles.

Official criticism

The construction battalion was often criticized by state officials. So, in 1956, the chief of the general staff and the minister of defense criticized in their report the places of service of the fighters. The content of the document referred to the constitution, according to which an ordinary soldier should serve in the ranks of the armed forces of the USSR, and not in the construction organizations of the country.

There have been other cases. In 1955, one of the construction teams was sent to an unfinished building for construction and installation work. As the commission later found out, the sanitary and hygienic conditions here did not meet the standards and were grossly violated in places. Many soldiers were sent to the hospital with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis. Some of the soldiers were found to have lice.

Despite all the unflattering statements about the WZO, one cannot deny their huge role in the formation and construction of the country. Factories and large enterprises, infrastructure facilities and means of communication - everywhere one could see fighters working for the good of their homeland. Construction battalions built schools, hospitals, and sometimes entire settlements. Thanks to military discipline and streamlined logistics, the facilities were commissioned on time, sometimes overfulfilling construction plans.

"Royal troops" or "construction battalion" were a real legend in the USSR. True, rather in a bad sense of the word - many conscripts shunned this type of troops, and the military leadership generally opposed its existence ...
"Royal Troops"
Military construction detachments (VSO), or in common parlance - “construction battalion”, date back to February 13, 1942, when the Military Restoration Directorate was formed by a decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR, which was engaged in the repair and construction of facilities in territories liberated from German occupiers.
The term "construction battalion" was officially withdrawn from circulation in the 1970s, but did not completely disappear from the lexicon, remaining as part of the military and civilian jargon. Also, the phrase "construction battalion" continued to be used in relation to some groups of foreign troops.


"Stroybatovtsy" ironically called themselves "royal troops".
According to one version, due to the large number of personnel: in the 1980s, it consisted of approximately 300 to 400 thousand people, which exceeded the number of military personnel in the Airborne Forces (60,000), the Marine Corps (15,000) and the Border Troops (220,000) taken together. According to another version, the self-name was associated with the name of the designer Sergei Korolev (all spaceports of the USSR were built by construction teams).
Terms of service
Among the Soviet youth, the construction battalion was considered not the most prestigious place for military service. His unpopularity was largely due to the fact that he had only a formal relationship directly to military affairs.
Nevertheless, recruits who replenished the composition of the construction detachments had certain advantages over those called up for other branches of the army. According to order No. 175 of the Minister of Defense of the USSR dated May 30, 1977, a military builder was charged wages for work, from which, however, the cost of food, uniforms, bath and laundry services, cultural events and other types of support were deducted - those that were united by the concept of "clothing debt."


As one of the employees of the construction battalion recalled, about 30 rubles were withheld from him every month for household services - “washing, washing, uniforms.”
The salary in the construction troops (for the period of the 1980s) ranged from 110 to 180 rubles, but in some cases reached up to 250 rubles. Everything depended on the specialty. As a rule, those who worked on tower cranes and excavators received more than others. The money was deposited to the employee's account and issued upon dismissal to the reserve. True, in case of urgent need, they were allowed to send money to relatives.
At the end of the service, the “construction battalion workers” sometimes took out up to 5 thousand rubles.

The “construction battalion workers” also had additional sources of income, in particular, on the so-called “hacks”, where they paid around 10-15 rubles for one working day. They also received benefits. They were received by ensigns and officers who had the opportunity to quickly solve their housing problems.
Personnel
The VSO was recruited mainly from conscripts who graduated from construction schools. Often, construction teams were replenished with people from rural areas who “know how to hold a tool in their hands.” Disadvantaged youth were also sent there, sometimes with a criminal record.
Although it was not customary to talk about it, the national sign was another selection criterion for the construction battalion. Thus, the share of the Caucasian and Central Asian peoples in some construction battalions reached 90% of the personnel.


It is widely believed that the reason why people from Central Asia and the Caucasus were mainly allowed to work in construction was a poor knowledge of the Russian language. The national composition of the construction teams scared away many conscripts.
Another category of conscripts who were "ordered" to go to the construction battalion are young men with health limitations. Their parents, by hook or by crook, were looking for all sorts of workarounds to protect their children from labor service.
Criticism of the construction battalion
The very fact of the existence of military construction detachments was repeatedly criticized by the top military leadership, which considered such formations to be ineffective and even “illegal”.
In 1956, Defense Minister Georgy Zhukov and Chief of the General Staff Vasily Sokolovsky reported that “the use of military personnel in the industry is a violation of the Constitution of the USSR, since, according to Article 132 of the Constitution, military service ... should take place in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and not in the construction organizations of civilian ministries THE USSR".

Specialists drew attention to the fact that the production activities of the military construction units were poorly organized, and their material and living conditions were at an extremely low level.
One of the negative examples is connected with the military construction detachment No. 1052, which in November 1955 was placed in an unfinished building. The commission revealed unacceptable living and sanitary conditions for the maintenance of employees. The workers had to sleep dressed, as the temperature in the rooms did not exceed +3 degrees. For a month they were deprived of the opportunity to take a bath and change their linen, as a result of which many got lice.
Dangerous regions
Contrary to popular belief, service in construction teams was by no means safe. In 1986, the “construction battalion workers” were sent to eliminate the consequences of the Chernobyl disaster - according to some reports, they made up at least 70% of the contingent working in the contaminated zone. Two years later, construction teams went to Armenia to dismantle the rubble and rebuild cities after a devastating earthquake.
They also served in Afghanistan. In 1979, immediately after the entry of Soviet troops into this country, the question arose of quartering personnel. In the shortest possible time, the builders were required to create and improve military camps with all the infrastructure, residential and military-administrative buildings, build warehouses for ammunition and equipment, fortifications along the perimeter of military units, and airfields.


In 1982, a Soviet construction battalion was sent to the Falkland Islands at Port Stanley to lengthen a concrete runway. It was at this time that British troops invaded the islands, disputing control over these territories with Argentina.
According to a participant in those events, Soviet soldiers mined all the approaches to the airfield, armed themselves with captured weapons and withstood the siege by the British military for three days. Only thanks to the intervention of Moscow, the local military conflict was stopped - the Soviet soldiers were ordered to lay down their arms.
Taras Repin

The word "construction battalion" causes a smile or slight irony in many, since, officially, this kind of troops no longer exists. The last parts were disbanded in the 90s. But there are still many folk sayings or just anecdotes about the construction battalion.

History of creation

A construction battalion is a construction battalion, although in official documents everything was different. VSO (military construction teams) take their beginning since 1942, when the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR decided to create the Military Restoration Administration. Under his leadership, all the infrastructure facilities destroyed by the occupying Germans during the Great Patriotic War were built. The term "construction battalion" itself was coined by the people and went out of circulation in 1970. It is worth noting that the soldiers themselves called themselves very ironically - the royal troops.

Facts - in 1980 the number of personnel of the WZO was about 300-400 thousand people, which covers the total number of units such as: Airborne Forces, Marines and Border Troops.

The soldier is sleeping - the service is on. Terms of service

To be honest, not all conscripts wanted to get into the construction battalion. And there are a number of reasons for this:

1. The soldiers had a formal relationship to military service. They could spend more time not in a trench or shooting, but at a construction site or digging a foundation pit.
2. national component. The detachments were formed from multinational groups. Often, children from dysfunctional families or teenagers registered with the police were taken to the construction battalion. This combination of different types of nationalities and people prone to crime frightened the young fighter. Often there were cases of desertion from units.
3. The VZO could be sent to potentially dangerous places, even in peacetime. They were thrown to eliminate man-made disasters or to eliminate the consequences of natural disasters. Such work was associated with the risk of getting a dangerous disease or injuries of various complexity.
4. The very attitude of society towards this type of troops was condescending. There were many jokes about the construction battalion among the people, so serving in this type of troops was undignified.

Despite all the shortcomings, there were also distinctive advantages among other types of troops. For example, a soldier received a salary for his service, and its size was about 120–180 rubles. From this amount you need to subtract 30 rubles for the service of the fighter and his food. But even in this case, there is a decent amount left. This money was deposited on the personal account of the fighter, and only in case of urgent need, the soldier could use it. The salary could reach up to 250 rubles per month. Everything depended on the specialty that the young fighter possessed. Specialists of a narrow profile associated with machines and equipment, such as bulldozer operators, crane operators, excavators and others, were valued. Sometimes a demobilized soldier brought home a sum of money up to 5,000 rubles.

Official criticism

The construction battalion was often criticized by state officials. So, in 1956, the chief of the general staff and the minister of defense criticized in their report the places of service of the fighters. The content of the document referred to the constitution, according to which an ordinary soldier should serve in the ranks of the armed forces of the USSR, and not in the construction organizations of the country.

There have been other cases. In 1955, one of the construction teams was sent to an unfinished building for construction and installation work. As the commission later found out, the sanitary and hygienic conditions here did not meet the standards and were grossly violated in places. Many soldiers were sent to the hospital with serious illnesses such as tuberculosis. Some of the soldiers were found to have lice.

Despite all the unflattering statements about the WZO, one cannot deny their huge role in the formation and construction of the country. Factories and large enterprises, infrastructure facilities and means of communication - everywhere one could see fighters working for the good of their homeland. Construction battalions built schools, hospitals, and sometimes entire settlements. Thanks to military discipline and streamlined logistics, the facilities were commissioned on time, sometimes overfulfilling construction plans.

Which branch of the military was most treated with humor? To the construction site. There are many anecdotes among the people related to construction troops. And all this was due to the specifics of the formation of personnel - about 90% of the military personnel of these troops were conscripts from Central Asia and the Caucasus. Therefore, the bulk of Russian young people tried to avoid service in the construction battalion units - even then, from time to time, the question arose regarding tense international relations, only this was not put on display.

However, despite this attitude, the construction battalions carried out quite serious tasks, erecting objects both for defense purposes and for the national economy. It can even be said that the construction battalions are indirectly connected with the engineering troops, whose duties have always included the construction of various fortifications and rear facilities. The construction battalion took over some of the tasks that had previously been performed by units of the engineering troops.

historical moments

In 1942, on February 13, the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR issued a decree on the formation of the Military Restoration Administration, whose main tasks included the construction or repair of various facilities in the territories liberated from German occupation. This day is the date of birth of military construction units, abbreviated as VSO.

In the 70s, the name "construction battalion" was assigned to these troops, which has remained in the lexicon to this day. For the period of the 80s, the number of construction units exceeded the total number of military personnel of other military branches. For example, there were about 60 thousand people in the Airborne Forces, 15 thousand people in the Marine Corps, about 220 thousand people in the border troops, and about 300-400 thousand people in the construction troops of that time. Of course, as one well-known anecdote says, a construction battalion is such a terrible army that they don’t even trust weapons. But often, even in these troops, service was directly connected with danger.

1986 was the year of the terrible catastrophe that occurred at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant. And one of the first who took part in the elimination of the consequences of this accident were the fighters of military construction detachments, many of whom paid with their lives for working in the contaminated zone. Two years later, an earthquake in Armenia - and again the construction battalions were the first to take part in the removal of rubble.

The military personnel of the construction battalion also served in Afghanistan, when in 1979 it was necessary to organize the quartering of personnel of a limited contingent of troops in that country. In the shortest possible time, all the necessary infrastructure was organized there by the efforts of the military construction troops.

And in 1982, an event occurred that proved the presence of fighting spirit in the ranks of military builders. A construction battalion from the USSR was sent to the Falkland Islands to reconstruct the runway. At this point, British troops invaded these islands, because. there was a confrontation with Argentina for control of the territory. The fighters of the construction battalion were not at a loss: they mined the approaches and, using captured weapons, held back the advance of the British combat units. Only thanks to the intervention of diplomats from Moscow, the development of the military conflict was stopped.

The courage of the military builders is also confirmed by the case when a barge without food and water with four servicemen of the engineering and construction troops - Ziganshin A., Poplavsky F., Kryuchkovsky A. and Fedotov I. - was carried away to the open spaces of the ocean. They lasted 49 days without losing their human appearance.

These units were formally related to military affairs, which is why this branch of service was not very popular among young people. But military builders had some advantages over military personnel from other branches of the armed forces. In 1977, on May 30, the order of the USSR Ministry of Defense No. 175 was issued, according to which each military builder was paid a salary. Although the cost of food, the price of uniforms, payment of utilities and other provisions were deducted from it. But the size of the allowance significantly exceeded the costs, so the soldiers could accumulate considerable funds. In addition, military personnel could earn extra money by working where they paid extra. And ensigns and officers had benefits that allowed, for example, to quickly solve housing problems.

The unpopularity of service in these troops, caused by the recruitment of conscripts from Central Asia or the Caucasus, bore fruit - from the Slavs, disadvantaged youth or young people with a criminal record were sent there. Yes, and people from the Caucasus or Central Asia often ended up in a construction battalion from distant villages, where there was a poor knowledge of the Russian language. Even sometimes the sergeant staff helped the recruits to take the oath, reading out the text of the oath in one sentence, which was then repeated by the privates. By the way, often non-Slavic servicemen managed to deceive commanders, citing a lack of understanding of the Russian language. There was even a joke in the USSR: in a construction battalion, soldiers say “don’t understand” until a year old, and after a year “it’s not allowed.” Therefore, officers of the construction troops working with personnel had a difficult time.

Guest workers instead of construction battalion: what do we have today

Since 1992, there has been a wave of disbandment of military construction units, which was given impetus by the order of the President of the Russian Federation on the disbandment of the VZO, which are under the jurisdiction of the Moscow department. By 2006, the liquidation of the last military construction formations was completed.

Today there is no WSO, but the very idea of ​​using the labor of citizens of the near abroad has remained. Organizations, including those constructing military facilities, often employ guest workers. Although, like the Soviet military builders, today these hired workers do not cost free, the houses are built much cheaper than by the forces of any large SMU. So the saying, “Two soldiers from a construction battalion replace an excavator,” popular in the Soviet Union, is still relevant today - albeit from a slightly different angle.But the gain from the disbandment of the WZO is doubtful. The fighters of the construction battalion went to the barracks after work - there was no unnecessary wandering around the streets, drug trafficking, mass fights, robberies or rapes. And after the end of his service life, the former serviceman departed for his republic. So you can once again make sure that it is easy to destroy a properly functioning system. And in return, instead of a “beautiful distance”, we often get a bunch of problems.

Considering the number military construction teams(about 500 - only in civilian ministries and departments) with an average staffing of 600-800 people in the 1980s, personnel military construction troops reached 300-400 thousand people, which at that time quantitatively exceeded such types of troops as the Airborne Forces (60,000), Marine Infantry (15,000) and Border Troops, KGB, USSR (220,000) combined.

Despite the wide distribution and large numbers, the work of military builders in the national economy, as some believed, was contrary to the Constitution of the USSR and the USSR Law on universal military duty, and such units themselves were illegal (see the report of the Chief Military Prosecutor of the USSR, Lieutenant General of Justice A. F. Katusev at a meeting of members of the USSR Supreme Soviet Committee on Defense and State Security, June 1990).

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✪ Construction troops

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IN USSR

Construction Troops(or colloquial "construction battalion") - the name of the formations that were subordinate to the Deputy Minister of Defense of the USSR for construction and quartering and other civilian ministers of the Union.

To carry out the tasks of quartering and equipping troops (forces) in the Armed Forces of the USSR, the military districts (VO) (fleets) and the corresponding structures of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the USSR and the KGB of the USSR included military construction departments (AFU), the analogue of which in civil engineering is a construction trust .

The military construction departments were subordinate to the departments of engineering works (uir), to which the departments of the chief of works (unr) were subordinate - analogues of civil construction departments.

The departments of the chief of work were subordinate to construction and installation sites (SMU), construction sites (su), warehouses, transport bases and human resources concentrated in military construction military units of districts, groups of troops, fleets and other associations of the USSR Armed Forces and civilian ministries.

The main military construction unit was military construction detachment(vso), having the status of a military unit - a separate battalion, which is why the collective colloquial colloquial name "construction battalion" came about, although this term existed earlier. Term construction battalion was officially withdrawn from circulation in the 1970s and the term detachment was introduced, which, in this case, indicated the versatility of the use of a military construction unit. As an exception, in the 80s the term construction battalion it was used only in foreign groups of troops - for example, in the GSVG (57th military construction brigade) and in OKSVA (342nd Directorate of Engineering Works). Each of these compounds consisted of several separate construction battalions .

Military Construction Detachment (VSO) - a permanent formation in the USSR Armed Forces (USSR Ministry of Defense) and other Ministries of the USSR, consisting of a headquarters and units and intended to carry out construction and installation works, manufacture structures and parts at industrial and logging enterprises of the USSR Ministry of Defense and others work in the ministries of the USSR. The military construction detachment was a battalion consisting of 3-6 companies. The staff and equipment of the battalion differed depending on the tasks it performed, which included: the construction of defense facilities, the construction of roads and bridges, the construction of residential buildings, land reclamation, the procurement of building materials, etc. institutions or those who had construction or related specialties or experience in construction - (plumbers, bulldozer operators, cable workers, etc.), as well as from recruits who had a suspended or completed conviction for minor crimes. Rights, duties and responsibilities of military builders ( in/builders, in/p.) were determined by military legislation, and labor activity was regulated by labor legislation (with some peculiarities in the application of one or the other). The remuneration of labor in / builders was made according to current standards. The mandatory period of work in the VZO was counted in the period of active military service. It was also envisaged that during the war, military builders would be able, if necessary, to perform the tasks assigned to infantry units, so full-fledged combat training was planned, but carried out formally, so as not to distract personnel from performing basic construction work.

Depending on the number of personnel employed at construction sites, military construction teams could be reorganized into military construction regiments(vsp), separate military construction companies(ovsr), etc., and vice versa, so that the nature of the supply and the staffing of the rear services correspond to the number of military builders.

Main strength military construction units was concentrated in the Ministry of Defense under the command of the Deputy Minister of Defense for the Construction and Quartering of Troops (Deputy Ministry of Defense of the USSR for SiRV). In his submission were six main departments (Glavkov) one central:

• Main Military Construction Department of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR (GVSU of the USSR Ministry of Defense);
• Main Military Construction Directorate "Center" of the USSR Ministry of Defense (GVSU "Center" of the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation of the USSR);
• Main Department Special Construction Ministry Defense USSR (GUSS MO USSR);
• Main Apartment and Operational Directorate of the USSR Ministry of Defense (GlavKEU of the USSR Ministry of Defense);
• Main Directorate of the Construction Industry of the USSR Ministry of Defense (GUSP MO USSR);
  • Central Organizational and Planning Directorate of Capital Construction of the USSR Ministry of Defense (TsOPU of the USSR Ministry of Defense)

In accordance with the Decree of the Council of People's Commissars of the USSR dated February 13, No. 187-102s, the Military Restoration Administration (VVU) was formed as part of the People's Commissariat for Communications in order to manage all military units in the restoration, repair and construction of line-cable structures, telephone - telegraph and radio broadcasting centers, radio stations and postal enterprises in the territory liberated from the German invaders.

Possessing its own powerful construction industry, GUSS mastered the production of new series of residential buildings year after year. He built and commissioned more than 17 million square meters of comfortable housing, the construction of various social and cultural facilities was carried out, including the unique cycle track in Krylatsky.

At the beginning of 1956, military construction units numbering 231,015 military builders were kept in the Armed Forces of the USSR to carry out construction. In addition, outside the size norms of the Armed Forces of the USSR, there were military construction units numbering 73,095 military builders, and military construction units numbering 218,880 people. conscripted military workers.

The use of military personnel in the industry is a violation of the Constitution of the USSR, since, according to Article 132 of the Constitution, military service, which is an honorable duty of citizens of the USSR, must take place in the ranks of the Armed Forces of the USSR, and not in the construction organizations of civilian ministries of the USSR. It is quite natural, in connection with this, that the sharp dissatisfaction of the servicemen sent to work in military construction units and, in particular, in military construction units. They are immediately aware of their false position, formally drafted into the ranks of the Soviet Army, but actually used outside the army as a labor force. The facts show that these servicemen consider their use at work instead of military service to be illegal and many of them protest in all sorts of forms, up to and including open defiance and desertion ...

... The practice of many years shows that the construction organizations of civil ministries poorly organize the production activities of military construction units and detachments and are completely careless about their material and everyday support, as a result of which the labor productivity of workers in construction units and detachments is extremely low, and earnings are small. All this led before and is leading now to mass cases of indignation, absenteeism, debauchery, fights and serious violations of public order ...

... the material and domestic arrangement of the detachments is unsatisfactory, and some of them are in very difficult material and living conditions. So, for example: 1052 military construction detachment was placed in November 1955 in an unfinished building. The workers slept dressed, as the temperature in the rooms did not exceed +3 degrees. For a month, the workers were not washed in a bathhouse and their linen was not changed, as a result of which lice appeared. 75 workers of the detachment received a severe cold. Despite the severe frosts, the workers were not given felt boots, as a result of which they worked in the cold in boots, and during transportation to the place of work they wrapped their legs with various rags. Ten workers in this detachment suffered severe frostbite on their feet. Medical care and food are extremely poor. In November-December 1955, the workers of the detachment were not paid wages.

In detachments of the Ministry of General Mechanical Engineering, the situation is even worse: the workers live in unheated rooms, food is cooked in the open air at a frost of 30-40 degrees. There are 10-15 frostbitten people in the detachments.

All of the above conditions have an extremely negative effect on the state of discipline and lead to disobedience to superiors, massive unauthorized absences, theft, drunkenness, fights and disruption of public order on such a scale that in some cases the intervention of troops and police was required.

The order of service by military builders is regulated by the Regulations on the military construction detachment of the USSR Ministry of Defense, put into effect by order of the Minister of Defense of the USSR dated May 30, 1977 No. 175. In accordance with this Regulation, a military builder is charged salary for work at a construction site, from which the cost of food, uniforms, bath and laundry services, cultural events and other types of support, combined into a clothing debt. After the transfer to the reserve and the final settlements, the military builder is sent a money transfer with the money earned, or a writ of execution to pay off the clothing debt. Military builders employed in the attire for the unit or located in the medical unit are charged the average salary for their unit.

Individual soldiers (sailors) of military construction detachments (medical instructors, signalmen, etc.) had the status of a serviceman, food, uniforms, etc. were free for them.

In the 1980s, about 500 military construction teams worked in 11 different "civilian" ministries.

Disband in 1992 military construction teams(units) working on the construction of national economic facilities in civilian military construction detachments (units) of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR. Council of Ministers of the USSR in the first quarter of 1991 to approve the procedure and specific deadlines for disbanding military construction teams(parts) working in the Ministry of Atomic Energy Industry of the USSR, the Ministry of Communications of the USSR, Rosvostokstroy and the Main Directorate of Special Construction under the Council of Ministers of the USSR.

There were military construction formations, for example, in Glavspetsstroy under the USSR Ministry of Assembly and Special Construction Works, the USSR Ministry of Land Reclamation and Water Resources, and in republican ministries (for example, in the Ministry of Construction in the Eastern Regions of the RSFSR).

As of June 1990, military construction formations, in addition to the Armed Forces of the USSR, were also in 22 ministries and departments, the total staffing exceeded 330 thousand military personnel and military builders (see the report of the Chief Military Prosecutor, Lieutenant General A. F. Katusev at a meeting of members Committee of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on Defense and State Security, June 1990).

Military construction units in the Afghan war

In this regard, since the fall of 1980, as part of OKSVA, 342nd Engineering Directorate (342nd wir) - a connection of military construction units, formed to create a military infrastructure. Organizationally, it included 9 military construction battalions, in 1984 the 159th brigade was reorganized into the 58th brigade, redirecting it exclusively to carry out cargo transportation and supply military units. Puli-Khumri was later subordinate.

As such, there are no more military construction formations in the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation. The construction and construction of facilities for military needs are carried out by specialized non-military organizations.

Ranks

Military builders are awarded the following ranks:

Soldiers of private and non-commissioned officers of military construction units who were in the position of military personnel, as well as serving overtime, were assigned the military ranks of private and non-commissioned officers of the army, aviation and navy: from private (sailor) to foreman (chief ship foreman).