...At first, the news that an experimental Cossack air defense battery would be created on the basis of the division of Senior Lieutenant Nikolai Nelyuzov did not cause even the slightest optimism. Maybe because it's not generally accepted to enjoy the unknown. Most likely, there was a wariness that was dominated by an underlying spring of internal resistance: what, please tell me, are the Cossacks better than others, so that they, and not Voronezh residents, Tambov residents, or, for example, former Rostselmash workers, should be driven under a single roof to serve as a soldier?! But the good thing about being skeptical is that any outcome other than the most dismal one inevitably evokes at least a sense of satisfaction or relief. They say it worked out, and that's good. ...It was not possible to complete the battery completely from the Cossacks: village specialists in this profile were searched literally throughout the air defense association. But even "diluted" by the young replenishment, they gathered "under the wing" of Nelyuzov two platoons. Nevertheless, not a complete Cossack battery was still different from others: both discipline became stronger, and the envoys of the All-Kuban Cossack Army treated the military specialty more seriously than their peers, and Nelyuzov, to his surprise, began to slowly forget about the ever-memorable "hazing". And then there were frequent delegations from the Seversk and Novotitarovskaya stanitsas (from where most of the recruits came to learn the art of air defense) - and the deputy political officer seemed to grow wings behind his back: not only were food preparations for the main types carried out with a large margin, but real home-made peddlers became permanent on the soldiers ' table. But for the battery commander himself, the following incident remained a notch in his memory. During the next visit of the Cossacks patronizing the air defense unit, the officer somehow accidentally mentioned something; something complet ... Читать далее