ABSTRACT
A book on Soviet society has no need for an account of battlefield history or military preparedness, but to omit the Soviet military would leave a gap in the picture of the Soviet social scene. There is probably no other country in the world where uniforms are so much in view, even on military personnel who are on leave, where military service is of such great importance and medals are worn so often, or where past wars have so strong a hold on people's imaginations. One of the critical problems facing the Soviet military today is the growing percentage of non-Russians among army draftees, who usually serve between two and three years. The non-Slavic recruits present several shortcomings from the army point of view: lack of feeling for the Russian military glory and tradition on which army morale is based, often poor command of the Russian language, and potential for ethnic confrontations.
