G Rinchak Valery Ivanovich - the commander of the reconnaissance company of the 285th tank regiment (aka the 682nd motorized rifle regiment); Chief of Staff of the 781st Separate Reconnaissance Battalion of the 108th Nevelsk Red Banner Motorized Rifle Division as part of the 40th Army of the Red Banner Turkestan Military District (a limited contingent of Soviet troops in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan), captain.
Born on June 21, 1957 in the village of Chemerpol, Gaivoronsky District, Kirovograd Region, Ukraine, into a peasant family. Ukrainian. In 1972 he graduated from the Chemerpolskaya eight-year school, and in 1974 - from the Sabatinovskaya secondary school of the Ulyanovsk district of the Kirovograd region.
In the Soviet Army since 1974. Member of the CPSU since 1977. In 1978 he graduated from the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command Twice Red Banner School named after M.V. Frunze, specialty - command, tactical motorized rifle troops.
1978-1982 - commander of an airborne assault platoon; battalion chief of staff; the commander of the airborne assault company of the 620th separate airborne assault battalion of the 13th separate airborne assault brigade of the Far Eastern Military District;
1982-1983 - commander of the reconnaissance airborne company of the 20th separate reconnaissance battalion of the 30th motorized rifle division of the Central Group of Forces (Czechoslovakia).
In 1983, Valery Grinchak was sent to the limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan. From October 1983 he was the commander of the reconnaissance company of the 285th Tank Regiment, and in March 1984 the regiment was reorganized into the 682nd Motorized Regiment.
July 19, 1984 Captain V.I. was appointed chief of staff of the 781st separate reconnaissance battalion of the 108th Nevelsk Red Banner motorized rifle division, but did not manage to accept the post ...
Remained in the 682nd motorized rifle regiment (108th Nevelskaya Red Banner motorized rifle division), as part of which it took battle on July 14, 1984. The brave officer was seriously wounded in both legs, but having independently provided himself with first aid, overcoming the pain, maintaining self-control and composure, did not leave the battlefield, but continued to skillfully lead the actions of the company ...
Despite the amputation of the legs, the courageous officer achieved a return to the army ...
Have By the kaz of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of February 18, 1985 for courage and heroism shown in rendering international assistance to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan, Captain Grinchak Valery Ivanovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal (No. 11523).
After completing treatment in the hospital, V.I. Grinchak in 1985-1992 - assistant to the head of the department; teacher of military history at the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School; since 1992 - a pensioner of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine.
1993-1998 - studied at the Faculty of Law at the Taras Shevchenko National University of Kiev, where he received a specialty - jurisprudence, state legal specialization.
1995-2006 - Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of Heliotrope CJSC - Ukrainian Union of Afghanistan Veterans.
From 1999 to the present, V.I. Grinchak in public work - Consultant of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine Committee on Pensioners, Veterans and Disabled Persons, and since 2002 he has also been the chairman of the control and revision commission of the National Assembly of Disabled People of Ukraine. Lives in the hero city of Kiev.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin (18.02.1985), the Order of the Red Star (13.06.1984), and a medal.
By the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated February 15, 1999, he was awarded the Order "For Courage" 3rd degree, the badge of distinction "Order" For Courage "of the Plenipotentiary of the Supreme Council of Ukraine for Human Rights (23.02.2007)
Thank you, Hero of the Soviet Union, pensioner of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine V.I. Grinchaku (Hero City Kiev), for changes and additions to his biography!
STAYS IN BUILD
Valery Grinchak's award list contains the following lines:
“The commanding qualities of Captain Grinchak V.I. manifested themselves in a clash with the rebels on July 14, 1984. The company engaged in battle with a numerically superior rebel band and fought it for several hours. During the fierce battle, the officer was in the line of the company, while showing courage and composure. He received a serious wound in both legs. Overcoming severe pain, he independently provided himself with medical assistance. Showing an example of courage and courage, he did not leave the battlefield, he continued to manage the actions of the company. The personnel, shocked by the heroism of their commander, took all measures to achieve victory ... "
And she came. The company won in that difficult battle with a gang of dushmans. But the last shots did not end the battle for the commander, Captain Grinchak. The wounds were too serious.
Doctors warned: "You will live, but amputation of legs is necessary." Painful days of treatment dragged on. First in a medical battalion, then in a military hospital. But neither the doctors nor the nurses ever heard any moans or complaints from him.
Valery was tormented by the thought more than pain: how to live on? Yes, he admired the feat of Alexei Maresyev at school. But can he be like Maresyev - as strong, stubborn, so inflexible?
When the wounds healed, Valery Grinchak was transported to the Central Research Institute of Prosthetics and Prosthetics. At the very first examination, the leading specialist assured:
You will walk, commander! But a lot depends on you.
Grinchak was looking forward to this day. And when I got out of bed for the first time, a sharp pain pierced my whole body again. But he took a step, then a second. The officer, akin to military discipline, did not deviate in any way from the treatment prescribed by the professor. He fell, but again found the strength to rise. And walked again. He walked forward, as if on the attack.
And when he felt that it had happened, that not victory had come, but he had come to victory, he took a blank sheet of paper from the nurse and wrote: "To the Minister of Defense of the USSR", and just below: "Report". He presented his short biography and asked to remain in the Armed Forces. I didn’t believe in success, but very much hoped.
Now he is back in the army - Captain Valery Ivanovich Grinchak, Hero of the Soviet Union.
Vladimir Klimov. - see "We are internationalists". A set of postcards. - M .: Ed. "Poster", 1987.
I always remembered that my mother was waiting for my fighters at home.
Reference: Valery Ivanovich Grinchak was born on June 21, 1957. In 1978 he graduated from the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command Twice Red Banner School named after M.V. Frunze. Served in the Far East, in the former Czechoslovakia, Ukraine.
In October 1983, he was appointed commander of the reconnaissance company of the 285th tank regiment in the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan (in March 1984, the regiment was reorganized into the 682nd motorized rifle regiment).
On May 19, 1984, he was appointed Chief of Staff of the 781st ORB of the 108th Motorized Rifle Division.
On July 14, 1984, he was seriously wounded in battle, as a result of which he lost both legs.
On February 18, 1985, Valery Ivanovich was awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union with the Order of Lenin and the Gold Star medal.
Valery Ivanovich, how did you choose the military profession? Was this what your parents wanted or was it an independent choice, maybe a childhood dream?
I dreamed of becoming a military man from early childhood. Only I could not decide in what form, type of troops to serve: now I wanted to be a sailor, now I wanted to be a pilot. But fate always sent some kind of signs. The test pilot in our family was the husband of my mother’s cousin; he died in the line of duty during the test of the aircraft. Of course, after that my possible profession of a pilot would immediately become a psychological burden for my parents. And the fact that the service in the Morflot was ordered to me became clear after one incident. Once, while relaxing on the sea, I decided to go for a boat ride, and I was "seasick". Therefore, at the end of the 10th grade, it was decided to enter the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School. I studied well (in the certificate there were only 2 fours, the rest were fives), at school I did a lot of sports: athletics, independently studied sambo, karate from books that I could find then, so I did not doubt myself and did not worry. Mom was skeptical about my choice. From our village (Chemerpil village, Gayvoronsky district, Kirovograd region) and even from the region, rarely did anyone manage to enter a military school. And even in Kiev! And I entered. The first time.
You were assigned to serve with a limited contingent of Soviet troops in Afghanistan in 1983. Please tell us how a 26-year-old guy feels when he gets into a real, real war?
The information policy of the Soviet Union regarding the war in Afghanistan at that time was reflected in the newspapers, which wrote that "our military are called upon to ensure the peaceful life of the friendly Afghan people." In fact, from the conversations of the guys who returned from Afgan, I already had an idea of what in reality I would have to do.
At first, after arriving in Kabul, the real situation was guessed by external, visible signs: an ambulance plane was parked at the airport, into which the wounded were carried on a stretcher; in some places undermined military equipment stood on the way.
In Kabul, at the airfield, there was a so-called transfer point, and in it, from those who returned to their homeland (who were replaced, who were on vacation), I already learned exactly where and on what scale the hostilities were going on. Here I was informed that the division, in which, according to the order, I had arrived for subsequent service, was the most “belligerent” of all Soviet divisions on the territory of Afghanistan.
In general, to be honest, it was difficult morally. Imagine: the country lives a peaceful life, you are a young guy who just wants to live, work, love. And here once - and one out of ten conscripts or those who serve in the army ends up in a war, and even in a foreign country. It took time to stop asking yourself philosophical questions and just come to terms with the fact that you have to fulfill your international duty.
Before Afgan, you served as the commander of a reconnaissance company in the former Czechoslovakia. In Afghanistan, you were also appointed commander of a reconnaissance company. What was the difference between this activity in peacetime and wartime? Didn't you feel at first some difficulties, lack of certain skills, experience?
Of course, there were differences. But it helped that, firstly, the terrain was very similar, I also had to carry out similar tasks in the Far East.
It is another matter that the involvement in the execution of combat missions happened somehow rapidly. After arriving in Afghanistan, I took the post of the reconnaissance company commander of the 285th tank regiment of the 108th motorized rifle division for 5 days. On the 6th day, we already received the task to ensure the protection of the division commander, who was also taking on the position at that moment. He needed to learn the state of affairs in the division's area of responsibility. Our area of responsibility ran 300 km - from the city of Jalalabad (by the way, during the presence of Soviet troops in Afghanistan, this area was considered one of the most tense) to the settlement of Dashi. The Salang pass was also in our zone. We covered this distance in a week, going around 5 posts daily.
Thus, I arrived in Afghanistan on October 23rd, took up the post on October 28th, and on November 14th, with my company, I took part in a large-scale military operation (with shelling of militants, the use of artillery). And here I had to remember everything that we were taught in the classroom at the school. Even educational tables popped up in my memory. In general, in extreme conditions, everything that I once learned, and everything new that can help you, is remembered and assimilated very quickly. For example: as a rule, during combat operations, reconnaissance officers are given an artilleryman and an aircraft controller in order to correctly determine the coordinates of the target of destruction, to adjust artillery fire and aviation strikes, taking into account the terrain features. So on the second day of the operation, I already knew how to do it myself.
What was the hardest decision for you as a commander in Afghanistan?
Probably the hardest part was deciding who to send on this or that combat mission. There is a rule that the commander does not have the right to go first when the reconnaissance body is advancing on foot. And here the success of the operation depends on how competently the commander selects the composition of the patrol squad. You cannot send only newcomers, but at the same time, newcomers need to be taught, therefore, there must be one newcomer in the patrol squad. The commander must clearly know the abilities and level of experience of each of those who are sent on a mission, and, in accordance with these characteristics, set individual tasks. At first, it was difficult to make decisions about calling fire or aviation on populated areas from where the Mujahideen fired. But life has proven the need for this to save the lives of its subordinates.
How did the Afghan civilians feel about our contingent?
Each citizen has his own task, both in peacetime and in wartime. During the war, a civilian is faced with the task of surviving. And therefore, the civilians of Afghanistan leaned towards the one behind whom at a certain moment there was power. There were cases when the inhabitants of the villages located near our division, trying to thank us for humanitarian aid (sometimes we supplied them with electricity, fuel), informed us about the actions planned by the Mujahideen, mined areas and the like. As for the inhabitants of remote villages and mountain gorges, which were under the control of Islamic parties, for them we have always been enemies and foreigners.
Under what circumstances did those events take place that, without exaggeration, radically changed your life, tested your character for strength? I mean a serious injury and your being awarded the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
On the 20th of June 1984, a reinforced reconnaissance detachment under my command went out on independent reconnaissance and search operations. Two days later, a group of mujahideen was destroyed from an ambush, and the commander was taken prisoner. According to his testimony, verified with radio interception, two more battalions arrived in the mountains, we fought our way into the so-called “base area” of the Mujahideen group. There were captured and destroyed warehouses with ammunition, food and material values.
On July 14, 1984, we were returning from a successfully completed combat mission, when a well-disguised high-explosive mine exploded under my feet. I did not lose consciousness, but in the first seconds I did not realize what had happened. When I understood, I shouted that everyone should stay in their places, and a sapper approached me cautiously (there are times when comrades rush to a mine blown up and also explode on mines located nearby). A medical instructor approached the sapper, then the others, and I gave instructions on what they needed to do (call a helicopter, how to transport me, and so on). Every second was important, because a mine immediately tore off one leg, and the second (amputated already in the hospital) was very badly damaged: the joint was shattered, the blood vessels were torn, and even the bone fragments severely cut my face. But the guys worked quickly and smoothly and did not allow me to die from blood loss.
And then a number of hospitals, operations, and rehabilitations stretched out. Resuscitation in the Bagram Medical Battalion, hospitals in Kabul, Tashkent, hospital named after Burdenko in Moscow, where I underwent the main operations. From November 1984 to May 1985 - Central Research Institute of Prosthetics named after V.I. Semashko, where, in fact, they put the prostheses. Here I was caught by the news of the presentation for the highest state award. I remember at that moment it occurred to me: "Well, even if I die, now it will not be so offensive."
Not only my injury played a role in the decision on the nomination for the title, but also the fact that during the year of my commanding activity, out of 56 subordinates, we had only three killed and 12 wounded, and this turned out to be the smallest indicator of losses. Actually, this is what I consider to be my main merit, because it is impossible to carry out any military actions without losses, the commander's task is to organize the execution of a combat mission so that the number of these losses is minimized. When sending the guys on a combat mission, I always remembered that each of them had a mother waiting at home.
Have any of your comrades in arms become your lifelong friend? How often do you meet with fighting friends, and what does the date of February 15 mean for you?
First of all, February 15 is, of course, Memorial Day. The day when my colleagues and I meet, we commemorate the dead comrades.
We keep in touch with many people, but we communicate most closely after Afgan with Yura Ismagilov. He was a platoon leader, and after my injury he became a company commander. He continued his military career, currently retired. We often call each other on the phone, we meet once or twice a year. From time to time I see the sergeants and soldiers of the company - Alexander Romanik, Leonid Peresunko, Nikolai Dolgiy, Sergei Taran, the medical officer who bandaged my wounds.
Any stage in a person's life leaves in memory both bad and good memories. Has the service in Afghanistan left something good in your soul?
I can say with confidence that it was in Afghanistan that I first saw and realized the essence of true male friendship. I understand that this sounds corny, but it really is. War is like a litmus test for identifying in a person his real traits - both noble and insignificant.
Today it is fashionable to debate whether the war in Afghanistan was necessary. What do you think about it?
A soldier on the battlefield should have one thought - to complete a combat mission and at the same time try to stay alive. If we, the warring officers and soldiers, had pondered this question at the time, I think many of us would have literally gone crazy. We fulfilled our civic and military duties, remained faithful to the military oath. As for today's view of that war, I will say this. Half of the Americans who fought in Vietnam consider that war to be unjust, and the other half sincerely believe that they defended the ideals of democracy. According to my personal impressions, most of the participants in the 1979-1989 Afghan war are inclined to the point of view that we fought against Islamic terrorism, which was only gaining strength then. I belong to the minority who believe that that war was not needed either by the Afghan people or by the peoples of the USSR. We, on the one hand, fought this terrorism, and, on the other hand, by our actions we multiplied and increased it to modern scales. I also doubt the need to further expand the presence of Ukrainian military personnel and specialists in today's Afghanistan. Unlike other places, there is no peacekeeping mission under the auspices of the UN, but an “anti-terrorist operation under the auspices of NATO,” and Ukraine is not a member of this bloc.
Would you like to wish something to the young men who are choosing the profession of a military man today?
If you choose the military profession, you must completely devote yourself to this business, as, in principle, to any other. You need to be able to make a decision, be responsible for your actions and think not only about yourself, but also about your environment, about people who, to one degree or another, depend on you.
At a meeting with students
Kiev gymnasium number 19,
2011
Pea
YAROSLAV PAVLOVICH
Company commander, captain. Born on October 4, 1957 in Ukraine, in the Ternopil region, in the family of a teacher. In 1981 he graduated from the Khmelnytsky Higher Military Command Artillery School. From September 1981 to November 1983 he took part in the hostilities in Afghanistan: he was the commander of a mortar platoon and an airborne assault company.
In 1986 he was sent on a second mission to the Afghan war. In a battle on October 31, 1987, at the head of a special forces group, he received an order to come to the aid of a group of senior lieutenant O.P. Onischuk surrounded by the enemy.
... At dawn we received a radio broadcast: “We are waiting for reinforcements. We are being attacked from all sides. " The village of Duri did not pass. "Zelenka" around him spat shells like crazy. The helicopters “evaded” the volleys at minimum altitude, changing course and speed. And yet, for the umpteenth time, they retreated. But Yaroslav Goroshko thought about those below.
That battle near the village of Duri will go down in military history. Twelve attacks of more than two hundred dushmans were repelled by a small group of Senior Lieutenant Onischuk. Everyone will know how he himself, with a grenade in one hand, with a knife in the other, shouting: "Let's show the bastards how Russians die!" - rushed to the enemies.
But then, on the approach to Duri, Goroshko did not know all this. He was carrying five letters to Oleg Onischuk from his parents and wife. Yaroslav knew what it was like to run into an ambush. He himself had been shell-shocked a week before, but managed the company to the bitter end.
On approaching, he saw the slope of a skyscraper, strewn with the corpses of spooks. Onischuk's group was not visible. But there was hope.
- Comrade captain, aren't they ours? - the machine gunner sitting at the open door touched him on the shoulder.
Now Goroshko noticed a dense line of people, dressed in paratroopers' jackets, hurrying towards the spooks with suspicious openness. I noticed ... and burned myself about the guess: they removed, bastards, the uniform from the dead.
- Grenades for battle! Join the bayonets!
With this command of Captain Goroshko, the time count for his subordinates went by seconds. The grenade explosions in the ravine, where the rebels took refuge, had not yet had time to subside, and the guys were already jumping on the move from the helicopter. Towards hand-to-hand combat.
The battle, in which Senior Lieutenant Onischuk died a heroic death, nevertheless ended in complete victory, which brought glory to the Hero to his friend, Captain Goroshko.
The most difficult thing in this war for the captain was still ahead. The first thing he was going to do when he returned to his homeland was to visit his friend's wife. And his little daughters ...
Upon returning from Afghanistan, Goroshko Ya.P. became a student of the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, served as the commander of a special forces battalion, stood at the origins of the creation of military intelligence of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
Lieutenant Colonel Yaroslav Goroshko died on June 8, 1994 during a training swim in the Dnieper (according to the official version, he drowned as a result of cardiac arrest). Both sons - Ivan and Pavel - followed in their father's footsteps and became officers.
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| POROSHKO Ya.P. | V. I. GRINCHAK |
GRINCHAK
VALERY IVANOVICH
Commander of the reconnaissance company of the 285th tank regiment, chief of staff, captain. Born in 1957 in the Kirovograd region of Ukraine, in a peasant family. In 1978 he graduated from the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School, specialty - command, tactical motorized rifle troops. In various command positions he served in the Airborne Forces in the Far Eastern Military District, in Czechoslovakia. In 1983 he was sent to Afghanistan.
On July 19, 1984 Captain V.I. was appointed chief of staff of the regiment, but did not manage to accept the position. On July 14, 1984, he became a member of the battle with a gang of rebels outnumbering his company. During the fierce battle, which lasted several hours, the officer was in the line of the company, while showing courage and composure. Having received a severe wound in both legs and overcoming severe pain, he independently provided himself with medical assistance. Showing an example of courage and courage, he did not leave the battlefield, he continued to manage the actions of the company. The personnel, shocked by the heroism of their commander, took all measures to achieve victory. And it took place.
But the last shots did not end the battle for the commander, Captain Grinchak. The wounds were too serious. Doctors warned: "You will live, but amputation of legs is necessary." Painful days of treatment dragged on. First in a medical battalion, then in a military hospital. But neither the doctors nor the nurses ever heard any moans or complaints from him. Valery was tormented by the thought more than pain: how to live on? Yes, he admired the feat of Alexei Maresyev at school. But can he be like Maresyev - as strong, stubborn, so inflexible?
When the wounds healed, Valery Grinchak was transported to the Central Research Institute of Prosthetics and Prosthetics. At the very first examination, the leading specialist assured:
- You will, commander, walk! But a lot depends on you.
Grinchak was looking forward to this day. And when I got out of bed for the first time, the sharpest pain pierced my whole body again. But he took a step, then a second. The officer, akin to military discipline, did not deviate in any way from the treatment prescribed by the professor. He fell, but again found the strength to rise. And walked again. He walked forward as if to attack. And when he felt that it had happened, that not victory had come, but he had come to victory, he took a blank sheet of paper from the nurse and wrote: "To the Minister of Defense of the USSR", and just below: "Report." He presented his short biography and asked to remain in the Armed Forces. I didn’t believe in success, but very much hoped.
Now he is back in the army - Hero of the Soviet Union, Captain Valery Ivanovich Grinchak, a teacher of military history at the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School. In the 90s he received a second specialty - jurisprudence, state legal specialization.
Prepared Evgeny POLEVOY
Source: site "Heroes of the Country" (http://www.warheroes.ru)
To be continued
Cossack dictionary-reference
Continuation. For the beginning, see No. 1 (1).
LINERS(the ending). In 1841, the Labinsk regiment was formed from the villages of Labinskaya, Chamlyk, Voznesenskaya and Urupskaya with a number of retired soldiers of the Caucasian army. In 1858, the Urupsk brigade was formed at the fortification of Maikop, which included the villages Spokoynaya, Podgornaya, Convenient, Advanced, Serviceable and Guard. They formed the New Line, which now stretches along the Labe River. As well as on the Old Line, the Lineers settled here in small villages surrounded by a turbulent wattle fence, a moat and thickets of thorns. They lived in constant combat readiness, setting up "pledges" at intermediate between the villages of batteries, posts, tickets, sending out patrols. On Novaya Liniya, the life of the local villagers was especially alarming. They were surrounded by enemies on all sides and had no rest from attacks, day or night.
In 1860, most of the Linear Army became part of the newly formed Kuban Cossack Host, but the Cossacks here also retained their former name of the Lineans, which also spread to all other villages located in the Kuban region away from the yurts of the Black Sea Cossacks, regardless of their composition. ... In the Terek Host, with which the Volga and Pyatigorsky merged, they ceased to be called the line.
LIENTS- a small town in Austria, located in a deep alpine valley on the low-lying left bank of the Drava mountain river.
In the summer of 1945, the inhabitants of Lienz witnessed another Cossack tragedy.
After the October coup, the Bolshevik government of Russia began a policy of decossackization, which turned into mass shootings and the imprisonment of the Cossacks in concentration camps. All these measures had the main purpose either to humble the disobedient, or to destroy them physically. Some of the Cossacks recognized the objective impossibility of fighting against the Soviet regime at that time and began to show prudent loyalty to it. And the emigrants and a small part of the Cossacks who remained in Russia continued their struggle. And when Hitler's troops entered Russia, this small handful immediately began to form their own military units, which joined the ranks of Hitler's fascists. Cossacks-emigrants also joined them. So in the German army, Cossack regiments and battalions appeared, eventually growing into divisions and corps. They were guided by the principle: "At least with the devil, only against the Reds," and this was their mistake.
Meanwhile, the Cossacks were not the most oppressed estate in Soviet Russia. Most of all, the Orthodox clergy and believers of the Russian Orthodox Church suffered from the Bolsheviks. But despite this, when the war began, the new Russian martyrs and confessors forgot their personal grievances and stood up to defend their homeland. Many elders prayed for the victory of the Soviet army. For example, the Monk Seraphim Vyritsky prayed for 1000 nights on a stone, asking the Lord to grant Russia victory over Hitler's fascism. Saint Luke of Crimea at this time worked in a hospital, healing Soviet soldiers from their wounds. Also, most of the Cossacks who remained in Russia joined the nationwide feat of struggle against the fascist invaders. Cavalry units were formed from them.
But for many emigrants and a small group of Cossack collaborators, such an attitude towards the Motherland and their people turned out to be unacceptable. They tied their fate with Hitler's fascism, which was making plans to destroy the Slavic population in the occupied territories ...
To be continued.
USSR USSR→ Ukraine Ukraine
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Valery Ivanovich Grninchak(genus.) - Soviet and Ukrainian military leader. Hero of the Soviet Union (1985) - participant in the Afghan war.
Biography
1993-1998 - studied at the Faculty of Law at the Shevchenko KSU, where he received the specialty "jurisprudence", state legal specialization.
1995-2006 - Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of Heliotrope CJSC - Ukrainian Union of Afghanistan Veterans.
From 1999 to the present, V.I. Grinchak has been in public work as a consultant to the Committee of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine on the Affairs of Pensioners, Veterans and Disabled Persons, and since 2002, at the same time, he is the Chairman of the Control and Auditing Commission of the National Assembly of Disabled People of Ukraine. Lives in the hero city of Kiev.
Feat
From the award list for conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:
On July 14, 1984, he accepted a battle, in which he received a serious wound in both legs, however, he independently provided himself with first aid, overcoming the pain, maintaining endurance and composure, did not leave the battlefield, but continued to skillfully lead the actions of the company ...
Despite the amputation of his legs, he achieved a return to the army.
An excerpt characterizing Grinchak, Valery Ivanovich
Nikolushka and his upbringing, Andre and religion were the consolations and joys of Princess Marya; but in addition, since every person needs his own personal hopes, Princess Marya had a hidden dream and hope in the deepest secret of her soul, which brought her the main consolation in her life. This comforting dream and hope was given to her by God's people - holy fools and wanderers who visited her secretly from the prince. The more Princess Marya lived, the more she experienced life and observed it, the more astonished her myopia of people who were looking for pleasure and happiness here on earth; working people suffering, fighting and doing evil to each other in order to achieve this impossible, illusory and vicious happiness. “Prince Andrey loved his wife, she died, this is not enough for him, he wants to associate his happiness with another woman. The father does not want this, because he wants a more noble and richer marriage for Andrey. And they all struggle and suffer, and torment, and spoil their soul, their eternal soul, in order to achieve the blessings for which time is an instant. Not only do we ourselves know this, - Christ, the son of God, came down to earth and told us that this life is an instant life, a test, and we all hold on to it and think to find happiness in it. How did nobody understand this? - thought Princess Marya. No one except these despicable people of God who come to me from the back porch with bags over their shoulders, fearing to catch the prince's eyes, and not in order not to suffer from him, but in order not to lead him into sin. Leave the family, homeland, all worries about worldly goods in order not to stick to anything, to walk in a thin rags, under a false name from place to place, without doing harm to people, and praying for them, praying and for those who persecute , and for those who patronize: there is no truth and life above this truth and life! "There was one wanderer, Fedosyushka, 50 years old, small, quiet, pockmarked woman, who had walked barefoot and in chains for more than 30 years. Princess Marya especially loved her. Once, when in a dark room, by the light of one lamp, Fedosyushka was talking about her life, Princess Marya suddenly had such a powerful thought that Fedosyushka alone had found the right path of life, that she decided to go wandering herself. When Fedosyushka went to bed, Princess Marya thought about it for a long time and finally decided that, strange as it was, she had to go wandering. She believed her intention to only one confessor, a monk, Father Akinthius, and the confessor approved her intention. Under the pretext of a gift to the wanderers, Princess Marya had in store for herself the complete attire of the wanderer: a shirt, bast shoes, a caftan and a black scarf. Often approaching the cherished chest of drawers, Princess Marya stopped in indecision about whether the time had come to carry out her intentions.
Often listening to the stories of the wanderers, she was excited by their simple, for them mechanical, but for her, full of deep meaning, so that she was ready several times to give up everything and run away from home. In her imagination, she already saw herself with Fedosyushka in rough rags, walking with a stick and a knapsack along a dusty road, directing her wandering without envy, without human love, without desires from saints to saints, and in the end, to where there is no sorrow , no sighing, but eternal joy and bliss.
“I will come to one place, I will pray; I will not have time to get used to it, to fall in love - I will go further. And I will go until my legs give way, and I will lie down and die somewhere, and I will finally come to that eternal, quiet pier, where there is neither sadness nor sighing! ... ”Princess Marya thought.
But then, seeing her father and especially little Koko, she weakened in her intention, slowly cried and felt that she was a sinner: she loved her father and nephew more than God.
Biblical tradition says that lack of work - idleness was a condition of the first man's bliss before his fall. The love of idleness has remained the same in fallen man, but the curse still gravitates over man, and not only because we must earn our bread in the sweat of our brow, but because we cannot be idle and calm by our moral qualities. A secret voice says that we must be guilty of being idle. If a person could find a state in which he, being idle, would feel useful and fulfilling his duty, he would find one side of primitive bliss. And such a state of obligatory and impeccable idleness is enjoyed by the whole class - the military class. This obligatory and impeccable idleness has been and will continue to be the main attraction of military service.
Nikolai Rostov fully experienced this bliss, after 1807 continuing to serve in the Pavlograd regiment, in which he already commanded a squadron taken from Denisov.
Rostov became a coarse, kind fellow, whom his Moscow acquaintances would have found somewhat mauvais genre [bad taste], but who was loved and respected by his comrades, subordinates and superiors, and who was content with his life. Recently, in 1809, he often found his mother complaining in letters from home that things were getting worse and worse, and that it was time for him to come home, to please and reassure the elderly parents.
Having been blown up by a mine and having lost both legs at the age of 27, the officer did not break down and, contrary to the forecasts of the pessimists, returned to the army.
Before serving in Afghanistan, his track record was typical of a Soviet officer. In 1978, Valery Grinchak graduated with honors from the Kiev Higher Combined Arms School, which gave him the right to choose a further place of service. However, Grinchak preferred service in the 13th separate air assault brigade of the Far Eastern Military District to a "warm" place abroad (in the same GDR or Hungary). And only four years later he was sent to the Central Group of Forces (Czechoslovakia) as the commander of a reconnaissance landing company. And a year later, an order came to the division: send one reconnaissance commander and two reconnaissance platoon commanders to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
On the eve of the Day of the Disabled, which was celebrated in Ukraine yesterday, the FACTS freelance correspondent met with the Hero of the Soviet Union Valery Grinchak.
"When we collected the bodies of the dead, the Panjshir Valley seemed like a valley of death."
The commander of the reconnaissance battalion told me then: “Valera, I will recommend you - write a report,” recalls Valery Grinchak. -- Why me? At that moment I had the experience of commanding a reconnaissance company, behind me - dozens of parachute jumps and, finally, out of seven reconnaissance company commanders in a division, I was the only one ... a bachelor.
After arriving in Afghanistan, I spent the first night in Kabul. A movie was played for our soldiers about the "movement", and for some reason I very well remembered the phrase said by the German general: "The civil war can go on forever" ... But by the way, we already understood very well: Afghanistan is for a long time. So, soon I was appointed commander of a reconnaissance company of the 285th tank regiment of the 108th motorized rifle division (one of the most belligerent in the 40th Army). For the whole winter (and it was 1983) we spent a week and a half or two at the base. The rest of the time is in the mountains. They accompanied the convoys, conducted reconnaissance and the so-called implementation of intelligence ("cleansing" the villages taken into the cordon), organized ambushes, for which he received his first military award - the Order of the Red Star. Then I managed to outwit the dushmans, creating the illusion that a convoy of Soviet cars set off on a voyage without proper escort. And the spooks took this hook
The Mujahideen made good use of our miscalculations, especially when people who had no experience in fighting in the mountains were involved in the operations. How, for example, not to recall the tragedy that played out in the Panjshir Valley on the night of April 30 to May 1, 1984. Then the battalion of our regiment suffered huge losses - 52 killed and 58 wounded (later many died from their wounds in hospitals). Then, of course, it was not without organizational conclusions - the regiment commander and divisional commander were removed from their posts. Although the lion's share of the blame lies on the battalion commander's conscience ... Only in the morning, when I and my subordinates finished evacuating the wounded and carrying out the bodies of those killed from the mountain gorges, a terrible picture opened before my eyes: the Panjshir Valley seemed to me like a valley of death! ..
What were the losses of your company?
Three killed and 12 wounded. And this in a year, while I was in command of the reconnaissance company! .. By the way, this fact played an important role when I was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
“Casting a glance at what was left of my feet, I thought:“ That's it. Fought back. "
At the end of June 84, we went out on alarm for another combat mission, successfully completed it, and when we were returning ... It happened on July 14th. I remember very well the moment when the ground shook under my feet and fire flashed in my face. I still managed to shout to my subordinates: “Everything - back! Minesweeper, come to me! " Fortunately, there were no more mines. I called the medical instructor, and he injected me with a portion of promedol, relieving the pain shock. I glanced at my feet, or rather at what was left of them, and a thought flashed through my head: “Well, that's it, I fought back.” The blast wave tore off the right leg, the left - shattered. (Later, due to a highly progressive Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, which put Valery's life on the line between life and death, doctors were forced to amputate his left leg as well. - Author). In addition, the explosion severely injured my face: it was cut by fragments of the bones of my legs. And only in a completely inexplicable way I did not lose my sight: during the explosion, my right eye was severely damaged, and powder dust, which had not been removed until now, was "imprinted" under my left eyebrow.
The regiment commander was immediately informed about my injury by radio, and he immediately sent a helicopter for me. If the car with the departure had been delayed for at least half an hour, and the question of whether I would survive or not, the doctors would no longer have stood. While we were flying to Bagram, I fainted several times. How I was taken to the local medical battalion, how I was operated on (the operation lasted all day!), I don't remember. He finally regained consciousness already in the intensive care unit.
The next day after the operation, the platoon leader visited me and brought a boiled chicken with him. I don’t know where he got it. But I ate that chicken that very day. The surgeon who operated on me was only amazed: they say, how many years have been in medicine, but have never seen anything like it in my practice.
For the rest of my life I have remembered the face of the nurse from the sanitary center of the Tashkent district hospital. Shaving my head off (hair with caked blood had gotten into a tangle, and there was nothing else but to cut it off), she suddenly bent down and whispered in her ear: "Son, are there any checks? .." It was easy to read her face: now you don't need them. Upon my return from Afghanistan, these were the first words that I heard in my homeland ... True, trying not to betray my indignation, I just squeezed out: "Don't rush to bury me ... Checks will still be useful to me ..." For those who do not know what checks are, I will explain: we received one third of our monthly officer's salary in foreign currency. On average, this amount was 230-250 checks, which was equivalent to 500 Soviet rubles. So, I really got my money. True, already in Moscow. They were given to me by my colleagues. They often came to visit me and supported me in every possible way. Moreover, both officers and generals. In particular, the head of the political department of the 40th Army Nikolai Remez.
And one of the first who supported me was my regiment commander, Lieutenant Colonel Adam Chikal (by the way, now he is the Deputy Chairman of the Committee of the Supreme Soviet of Ukraine on Defense and National Security. - Auth.). Violating the charter, Adam Vasilyevich left Bagram for Kabul, where the army hospital was located, and for a long time begged the doctors to save my life. Having achieved a meeting with me, he said: “Valera, hold on! You will be back in service! I believe in you!".
Later, my mother said that exactly a week before I was blown up by a mine, she had a dream. It is as if a helicopter that has come from nowhere is circling over our hut for a long time, then, like a huge dragonfly, it hovers over it and just as rapidly disappears. Who knows, maybe that night she dreamed exactly that helicopter on which I, the wounded, was taken to the Bagram Medical Battalion ... For a long time I did not dare to write to her about what had happened. And the first family member who learned about the tragedy was my brother.
"Lev Yashin came to congratulate me with a high award"
And when did you become aware of the awarding of the title of Hero of the Soviet Union?
Already in Moscow, at the hospital. Burdenko. I remember that I also thought: “Well, if I die, then at least it will not be so offensive” ... Although at first I did not really believe that the decree on my awarding would be signed. (For the entire Afghan campaign, only 86 people were awarded the highest award of the Motherland in the USSR, 27 of them posthumously. - Author). However, on February 18, 1985, the General Secretary of the CPSU Central Committee Konstantin Chernenko signed a decree. He died soon after, and the awards ceremony was postponed to April 8, 1985. Fate, as it were, gave me a reprieve so that I could learn to walk on prostheses.
My parents, fellow villagers (I myself come from the Gaivoronsky district of the Kirovograd region), fellow soldiers in Afghanistan, in particular, Hero of the Soviet Union Ruslan Aushev, came to congratulate me on the Hero's star. But what was especially pleasant for me was the arrival of Lev Yashin. The fact is that when I was transferred to the Central Research Institute of Prosthetics in Moscow, the legendary goalkeeper had already amputated his right leg, and a rehabilitation course awaited him ahead of him. Lev Ivanovich bravely endured what had happened, did not fall into depression. “Guys, the main thing is to tune in to win,” Yashin loved to repeat. So, Lev Ivanovich responded to the invitation and came to congratulate me on the award. On that day, Yashin was, as they say, in full dress (Lev Ivanovich had the military rank of colonel of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, but, being a modest man, he rarely wore a uniform). By the way, domestic medical officials were categorically against Yashin mastering imported prostheses: they say, why are ours worse? But the last word was for Lev Ivanovich, and he nevertheless gave preference to a prosthesis made in Finland. What can we say about mere mortals: until the end of the 80s, we carried extremely uncomfortable domestic prostheses.
But this did not stop you from writing a report addressed to the Minister of Defense of the USSR with a request to leave you in military service, and now you are a reserve colonel
Yes, my report was satisfied, and in April 1985 I was appointed senior assistant to the head of the combat department of the Kiev Higher Combined Arms School, and three years later I was transferred to teaching at the same university. In the 92nd school was disbanded, and I decided to resign from the army and enter the correspondence department of the law faculty of Kiev State University. Shevchenko. All these years, with pain in my heart, I thought about the former "Afghans" who, upon returning home, could not find themselves. This, in fact, pushed me and my comrades in misfortune to create the Kiev Society of Disabled Local Wars - veterans of military intelligence, military operations in Afghanistan and other countries.
The "skirmish" between Sakharov and Chervonopisk at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR was provoked by ... Glavpur SA and the Navy "
Today we provide all possible assistance to many of those who need it. From time to time we pay a one-time cash allowance to the families of children who died in Afghanistan. We help disabled people with food rations, gasoline ... Of course, this is very little. True, it is easier for Kiev invalids. Alexander Omelchenko, our mayor (who passed through Afghanistan himself), treats the problems of disabled people with understanding. But Kiev is not all of Ukraine yet. On the periphery, things are much worse. I declare to you as a consultant of the Committee for Pensioners, Veterans and Disabled People of the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine
Valery Ivanovich, returning to the topic of the Afghan war, tell me: is it true that our pilots in Afghanistan, as Sakharov claimed, shot their own people so that they would not be taken prisoner by the spooks?
I have not come across a single documentary evidence of this. The prerequisite for this sensational story throughout the Union was an interview that Sakharov gave to one foreign publication. Andrei Dmitrievich referred only to the testimonies of ordinary soldiers, participants in the Afghan war ... (There is reason to assert that this "misinformation" was planted on Sakharov at the direction of the leadership of the Main Military-Political Directorate of the SA and the Navy). It was not hard to imagine how the "Afghans" would react to Sakharov's statement. The same Chervonopisky - a military officer, a paratrooper ... You had to be a brilliant provocateur in order to manage to embroil the democrats with the "Afghans" in the late 80s - early 90s. With Chervonopisky's speech at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR, the GlavPur pursued its own interests: by pushing the democrats' heads against the "Afghans", he hoped to improve his fairly shaken authority in the troops. This is just one example of how much dirt, intrigue and gossip was associated with the war in Afghanistan…. Much later it became known to me how some crooks bought orders and medals for themselves, and I sincerely regretted that I had so little idea for the awards of my subordinates, who really deserved it.
Having never met his soul mate before serving in Afghanistan, upon returning from there, Valery believed that his status as a "convinced bachelor" would remain unchanged. He was in his forty-second year when he met Tatiana. By that time, the girl had already finished medical school and went to work at the Feofania clinical hospital. Their romance lasted three months, after which Valery made the girl an offer, which Tanya accepted. For Valery, who did not suffer from an inferiority complex, the girl's consent to marry him was still a complete surprise.
Valera is a strong personality. Behind him, like behind a stone wall, - Tatiana admitted. - Neither Valeria's mother, nor my parents were against our marriage. On the contrary, his mother now does not call me anything other than "sweetheart" ... Before the wedding, Valera lived in this apartment with his brother, and when I first went to their house, I did not know what to expect: bachelors, after all. But the cleanliness and order that I found here just amazed me. Although the absence of a woman's hand affected. Now we are equipping our family hearth, this summer we finished repairs in the apartment.
Is the replenishment expected in the Grinchak family? Tatyana smiled in response: "We are working on it."