VDV Airborne Videos:

GarryB wrote:Nice video, thanks for posting, but it belongs in this thread as it is Airborne rather than ground forces.

A while back it would be considered very unusual for VDV to be deployed by sea.

It is my understanding that events in the 8 8 8 war where VDV units were deployed by navy ships that they started training together to improve their abilities to work together.

Thanks for the heads up Garry. Yeah I often have trouble telling one from the other when it comes to videos like these, especially so because I don't speak Russian. I'll try to be a little more observative in the future.

Now this is most definitely VDV.

Yeah I often have trouble telling one from the other when it comes to videos like these, especially so because I don't speak Russian. I'll try to be a little more observative in the future.

No worries. The letter V in Cyrillic looks like a capital B, so if you see a three letter word on a military video and it is B something B, and the letter in the middle is a strange sort character that looks like a box but with the bottom line wider than the top line and like little tails at each end of the bottom line pointing down then it is probably VDV.

Notice in the names of both videos you find three letter words BxB, where x is that strange character that represents D?

The amusing thing is that the Russian Air Force is the VVS, but the V looks like a B and the S looks like a C so I have several photos of Migs with BBC written on the side... ...it is not a sponsorship deal...

Learn something new every day...

Thanks for the new vid too.

Vladislav wrote:Great video. I remember when I was in the Army dosaff. Not quite as exciting as airborne but fun nonetheless. I am suprised we have such a hard time recruiting when kids get to enjoy this stuff.

Most teens are too happy being indoors playing video games or social networking. Have you all ever observed the younger generations? Theyr'e like zombies infront of screens. For example is schools they just sit recess , lunchtimes and negate extracurricular activites....I call em wossies......Out doors are fun, violence is cool, pain is something to laugh at...If i was in russia i would definitely join this and get a career in military!

gloriousfatherland wrote:
Most teens are too happy being indoors playing video games or social networking. Have you all ever observed the younger generations? Theyr'e like zombies infront of screens. For example is schools they just sit recess , lunchtimes and negate extracurricular activites....I call em wossies......Out doors are fun, violence is cool, pain is something to laugh at...If i was in russia i would definitely join this and get a career in military!

Very true. My kids will never be allowed on facebook, that thing consumes your life.

Here's a great video showing VDV (or whatever it was called back then) footage all the way back from WWII, to modern day.

The very idea of dropping large masses of men and equipment by parachute was basically invented by the Russians... in the Early 1930s they had drops of 10,000 men and equipment and held displays for foreign dignitaries. The Germans and British and US created their own airborne forces after watching the Soviets do it.

Just part of the arrogance of the west... I remember buying a video called Airborne and took it home and watched it and it was basically all about the US 82nd Airborne. I was so disappointed I promised myself after that to only ever buy books or videos with Russia or Soviet in the title, so unless it says Russian Airborne or Soviet Amphibious forces then I am not interested

As you get older you start to really appreciate comfort and warmth, but when you are young you need to get experiences... the only sure way to work out if you like something is to try it and give it a fair chance.

Violence is not cool, and pain should be something you learn from, and I would have loved to have joined DOSAAF or a similar such organisation. I have plenty of regrets... like not learning foreign languages, and not learning to play a musical instrument, but I also regret not taking part in many things at school.

GarryB wrote:The very idea of large masses of men and equipment was basically invented by the Russians... in the Early 1930s they had drops of 10,000 men and equipment and held displays for foreign dignitaries. The Germans and British and US created their own airborne forces after watching the Soviets do it.

Just part of the arrogance of the west... I remember buying a video called Airborne and took it home and watched it and it was basically all about the US 82nd Airborne. I was so disappointed I promised myself after that to only ever buy books or videos with Russia or Soviet in the title, so unless it says Russian Airborne or Soviet Amphibious forces then I am not interested

As you get older you start to really appreciate comfort and warmth, but when you are young you need to get experiences... the only sure way to work out if you like something is to try it and give it a fair chance.

Violence is not cool, and pain should be something you learn from, and I would have loved to have joined DOSAAF or a similar such organisation. I have plenty of regrets... like not learning foreign languages, and not learning to play a musical instrument, but I also regret not taking part in many things at school.

go out to the range and make some music with your guns ....Thats the music i like

I already do my friend, I have quite a range of instruments, though almost half are bolt action Russian rifles from WWII.

GarryB wrote:I already do my friend, I have quite a range of instruments, though almost half are bolt action Russian rifles from WWII.

I prefer AK variants myself. Well, I guess that's fairly obvious.

Promotional video for the VDV

I prefer AK variants myself. Well, I guess that's fairly obvious.

I prefer more modern weapons myself but they are harder to come by here...

I can buy a Mosin Nagant Carbine for $200-300 here, and my Chinese copy of an AK cost me $600, but the Soviet/Russian AKs tend to be rather more expensive.

We have some pretty stupid ideas here about semi automatic rifles too, which makes things difficult.

Nice vid BTW.

Yeah gun laws in general are often pretty stupid. The only one that I honestly agree with are the ones outlawing the use of automatic weapons. Too many drunken idiots out there with a gun license. I myself have a mosin nagant and a few SKS rifles, but there is no rifle I love more than an AK.

In all honesty I just love Russian guns.

What is not to love.

Simple to operate and maintain... the minimum of moving parts, and easy to keep clean.

I had an SKS which is a pretty neat little rifle, not too heavy, cheap to feed and easy to keep clean.

My SLR is not too bad in terms of maintainence, but is is very long but it has a nice balance to it.

My AK is a bit front heavy, but that is mainly because of the Suppressor.

I have a nice semi auto Remmington shotgun which I like a lot but I must admit I like the look of the Saiga shotguns...

I have a Russian double barrel shotgun with the barrels side by side which seems to be a little unfashionable these days, but I like it.

Looks like fun ....Glad to see these boys covering their faces now, for they are not regulars, they are putins elite

Excellent video.

They might be wearing balaclavas because it is so cold, and remember it might be cold on the ground but in a high altitude jump it is always cold in the plane.

When the President says "Go"

Thanks for getting us back on topic George1...

Yeah thanks George, I can get carried away with the gun talk sometimes.




Is that the new desert camo they're using in some parts of the video?

God I love the 45th. .

Edit: That's odd, it won't embed for some reason.

Edit #2: any Russian speakers want to tell us what they were saying about that AR-15 at 11:42?

Mr.Kalishnikov47 wrote:Yeah thanks George, I can get carried away with the gun talk sometimes.




Is that the new desert camo they're using in some parts of the video?

God I love the 45th. .

Edit: That's odd, it won't embed for some reason.

Edit #2: any Russian speakers want to tell us what they were saying about that AR-15 at 11:42?

They tell: "I like the expression of our grandparents that number 1: the fire arms should shoot anyway. This is good and easy, ergonomic, it shoots accurate, etc. But not always. Why do we need that? I`ve told I`ve been washing AK by salo (cured slabs of fatback (rarely pork belly), with or without skin). I`ve had nothing more. We`ve been for a few days in the water. There has been small pieces of salo.We`ve been oiling our guns by salo. You can walk with AK in the shit,crawl in the sand, in frost, but that gun if there was any gerbil that stops to work. There are own pluses and minuses.If that shoots small 50 mm coin by 10 shots, the AK shoots so big diameter..."

Pirate wrote:
They tell: "I like the expression of our grandparents that number 1: the fire arms should shoot anyway. This is good and easy, ergonomic, it shoots accurate, etc. But not always. Why do we need that? I`ve told I`ve been washing AK by salo (cured slabs of fatback (rarely pork belly), with or without skin). I`ve had nothing more. We`ve been for a few days in the water. There has been small pieces of salo.We`ve been oiling our guns by salo. You can walk with AK in the shit,crawl in the sand, in frost, but that gun if there was any gerbil that stops to work. There are own pluses and minuses.If that shoots small 50 mm coin by 10 shots, the AK shoots so big diameter..."

Soo. .He likes it?

Mr.Kalishnikov47 wrote:

Pirate wrote:
They tell: "I like the expression of our grandparents that number 1: the fire arms should shoot anyway. This is good and easy, ergonomic, it shoots accurate, etc. But not always. Why do we need that? I`ve told I`ve been washing AK by salo (cured slabs of fatback (rarely pork belly), with or without skin). I`ve had nothing more. We`ve been for a few days in the water. There has been small pieces of salo.We`ve been oiling our guns by salo. You can walk with AK in the shit,crawl in the sand, in frost, but that gun if there was any gerbil that stops to work. There are own pluses and minuses.If that shoots small 50 mm coin by 10 shots, the AK shoots so big diameter..."

Soo. .He likes it?

Yes, he does.But he prefers AK more

He says it is more accurate but the AK is accurate enough.

He basically says that accuracy isn't everything as long as you hit your target.

The M16 might put 10 shots through a tiny hole (size of a coin) but it doesn't shoot every time and presumably while the AK puts its rounds into a larger circle it fires when the M16 fails.

I have found when hunting and target shooting different rifles are good for different things... with a powerful scope one of my .22s is very accurate on a shooting range and repeatedly creates very small groups.

Very powerful scopes make light rifles held without a rest very difficult to hold steady and when shooting rabbits it is pretty hopeless. I tend to use a much lower power scope for hunting rabbits... my preferred scope is a 2.5x magnification scope with gives a nice clear view that has some improvement of the view of the target without making it hard to hold still. Doesn't hurt that it is semi auto too, so follow up shots are quick and easy.

Will be interesting to see comments about the AK-12 and ADS which are said to retain AK reliability and add better accuracy.

Thank you both for your answers, much appreciated.

Russian airbrone troops have military exercises with US airborne forces in Fort Carson, the state of Colorado.

3 minutes? That's it? Somebody please tell me they're going to release more footage than that.

Well anyways thanks for the post Pirate!