Warren Gray
The Russian Airborne Forces (Vozdushno-Desantnye Voyska Rossii, or VDV) are the huge nation’s substantial, paratrooper command, formed on May 7, 1992, and boasting at least 60,000 soldiers in four divisions and four separate brigades. They serve as light infantry, airborne infantry, or airmobile infantry, and they wear sky-blue berets and blue-and-white-striped telniashka undershirts, usually visible at the neck of the uniform. So, they are nicknamed the “Blue Berets,” although Russian elite, SpetsNaz commandos also typically wear the blue beret, to blend in with ordinary airborne troops.
However, the advance elements of any military formation are their forward-deployed scouts, or reconnaissance teams, tasked with traveling very fast and light in order to stay ahead of the main columns and report vital intelligence information about enemy troop dispositions and possible targets back to the unit’s leaders in combat. These are a special breed of men – part spy, part messenger, and part commando, normally trained not to fight, unless absolutely necessary, because combat action would betray their concealed positions. In the Russian Army, these special reconnaissance units wear a distinctive, dark-green beret, or a camouflaged beret if worn into actual battle.
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