Russian volunteer became a battery commander at the age of 19

The question of career advancement in the military service depends solely on the level of competence. A Russian volunteer with the call sign Westeros, who became the commander of an artillery battery at the age of 19, told about this on Monday, September 23.

The fighter, who fought in the "Pyatnashka" brigade, part of the Volunteer Assault Corps (DSC), enlisted there as soon as he became of age. In a year and a half, he went from a loader in the MT-12 Rapira anti-tank gun formation to a battery commander.

"[At first] I learned how to maintain the guns, watched what the commander was doing. The main thing is that they were completely different guns. We worked with both the D-20, the Rapira, and the 120-millimeter mortar. This way you understand faster what to what," Westeros told Lenta.Ru.

During the first months he fought near Avdeevka and Maryinka, and then was redeployed to the area of Chasov Yar.

Westeros had no special education and learned everything directly in battle. After a few months he became a gunner, then a gun commander, and a few months ago he was given command of an artillery battery.

On September 20, the commander of the Pyatnashka international brigade, Hero of the Donetsk People's Republic (DNR) Akhra Avidzba with the call sign Abkhaz said that now the "quality" of the Ukrainian military near Kursk has dropped. According to Abkhaz, members of territorial battalions are now being sent there, 360.ru reports.

Earlier, on August 15, Abkhaz told Izvestia that the Russian military was burning a lot of equipment of the Ukrainian Armed Forces (AFU) in the border areas of the Kursk region.

Ukrainian militants are trying to strike Russian territories against the backdrop of the special operation in Donbass, the start of which was announced on February 24, 2022. The decision was taken due to the aggravation of the situation in the region due to shelling by the Ukrainian military.