G Rinchak Valery Ivanovich - 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 (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 of Ukraine, into a peasant family. Ukrainian. In 1972 he graduated from the Chemerpol eight-year school, and in 1974 from the Sabatinov 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 Double Red Banner School named after M.V. Frunze, specialty - command, tactical motorized rifle troops.
In 1978-1982 - commander of an air assault platoon; assistant chief of staff of the battalion; commander of the air assault company of the 620th separate air assault battalion of the 13th separate air assault brigade of the Far Eastern Military District;
1982-1983 - commander of the reconnaissance landing 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 rifle regiment.
July 19, 1984 Captain Grinchak 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 have time to accept the post ...
He remained in the 682nd Motorized Rifle Regiment (108th Nevelskaya Red Banner Motorized Rifle Division), in which on July 14, 1984 he took the battle. The brave officer was seriously wounded in both legs, but having independently provided first aid to himself, overcoming pain, maintaining restraint and composure, did not leave the battlefield, but continued to skillfully manage the actions of the company ...
Despite the amputation of his legs, the courageous officer achieved a return to the army system ...
At By order of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of February 18, 1985, for the courage and heroism shown in providing 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 All-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 Kyiv, where he received a specialty - jurisprudence, state-legal specialization.
1995-2006 - Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of CJSC "Heliotrope" - 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 People, and since 2002 has been simultaneously the Chairman of the Control and Audit Commission of the National Assembly of Disabled People of Ukraine. Lives in the hero city of Kyiv.
He was awarded the Order of Lenin (02/18/1985), the Order of the Red Star (06/13/1984), a medal.
By the Decree of the President of Ukraine dated February 15, 1999, he was awarded the Order "For Courage" of the 3rd degree, the distinction "Order "For Courage" of the Commissioner 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. Grinchak (hero city Kyiv), for changes and additions to his biography!
REMAINS IN SERVICE
In the award list of Valery Grinchak there are lines:
“The commanding qualities of Captain Grinchak V.I. are especially bright. appeared in a clash with the rebels on July 14, 1984. The company entered into battle with a numerically superior band of rebels and led it for several hours. During the fierce battle, the officer was in the chain of the company, while showing courage and composure. He was severely injured in both legs. Overcoming severe pain, he independently provided medical assistance. Showing an example of courage and courage, he did not leave the battlefield, he continued to control 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 battle for the commander, Captain Grinchak, did not end with the last shots. The wounds were too serious.
Doctors warned: "You will live, but amputation of the legs is necessary." The painful days of treatment dragged on. First in a medical battalion, then in a military hospital. But neither the doctors nor the sisters ever heard from him either groans or complaints.
The thought tormented Valery more than the 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 transferred to the Central Research Institute of Prosthetics and Prosthetics. At the first inspection, 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 most acute pain pierced my whole body again. But he took a step, then another. 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 went 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 a little lower: “Report”. He outlined his short biography and asked to remain in the Armed Forces. I did not believe in success, but I hoped very much.
Now he is back in the army - Hero of the Soviet Union Captain Valery Ivanovich Grinchak.
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: Grinchak Valery Ivanovich was born on June 21, 1957. In 1978 he graduated from the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School named after M.V. Frunze twice. He 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 MSD.
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? Did your parents want this or was it an independent choice, maybe a childhood dream?
I dreamed of becoming a military man from early childhood. I just could not decide in what form, type of troops to serve: either I wanted to be a sailor, or a pilot. But fate always sent some signs. The test pilot in our family was my mother's cousin's husband, he died in the line of duty during an aircraft test. Of course, after that, my possible profession as a pilot would immediately become a psychological burden for my parents. And the fact that the service in Morflot was ordered to me became clear after one incident. Somehow, while relaxing on the sea, I decided to ride a boat, and I was “sick”. Therefore, at the end of 10 classes, it was decided to enter the Kiev Higher Combined Arms Command School. I studied well (there were only 2 fours in the certificate, the rest were fives), at school I went in for sports a lot: athletics, independently studied sambo, karate from the books that I could find then, so I didn’t doubt myself and didn’t worry. My mother was skeptical of my choice. From our village (the village of Chemerpil, Gaivoronsky district, Kirovograd region) and even from the region, few people managed to enter a military school. Yes, and in Kyiv! And I did. 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 is called upon to ensure the peaceful life of the friendly Afghan people." In fact, from the conversations of the guys who returned from Afghanistan, I already had an idea of what I would actually have to do.
At first, after arriving in Kabul, the real situation was guessed by external, visible signs: an ambulance aircraft was standing at the airport, into which the wounded were brought on a stretcher, and blown up military equipment was in some places on the way.
In Kabul, at the airfield, there was a so-called transit point, and in it, from those who returned to their homeland (who were replaced, who were on vacation), I already found out exactly where and on what scale the hostilities were taking place. Here I was also informed that the division, in which, according to the order, I arrived for the subsequent service, is 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 called up 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 Afghanistan, you served as commander of an airborne 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? Did 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, and I had already had to perform similar tasks in the Far East.
Another thing is that the involvement in the performance of combat missions happened somehow rapidly. After arriving in Afghanistan, for 5 days I assumed the position of commander of the reconnaissance company of the 285th tank regiment of the 108th motorized rifle division. On the 6th day, we already received the task to provide protection for the division commander, who also took up 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 for 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 23, accepted the post on October 28, and on November 14, with my company, I took part in a large-scale military operation (with shelling of militants, using artillery). And here we already had to remember everything that we were taught in the classroom at the school. In memory, even training tables popped up. In general, in extreme conditions, everything that you once taught, and everything new that can help you, is remembered and absorbed very quickly. For example: as a rule, during combat operations, scouts are given an artilleryman and an air controller in order to correctly determine the coordinates of the target, adjust artillery fire and air strikes, taking into account the terrain. 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 most difficult thing was to decide who to send on this or that combat mission. There is a rule that the commander does not have the right to go first during the advance of the reconnaissance body on foot. And here the success of the operation depends on how competently the commander selects the composition of the sentinel squad. It is impossible to send only newcomers, but at the same time, newcomers must be taught, therefore, there must be one newcomer in the sentinel 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 settlements from where the Mujahideen fired. But life has proven the need for this to save the lives of their subordinates.
How did peaceful Afghan residents treat our contingent?
Every 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 who had power at a certain moment. There were cases when the inhabitants of the villages located near our division, trying to thank us for humanitarian assistance (usually, 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, who were under the control of Islamic parties, for them we have always been enemies and strangers.
Under what circumstances did those events take place that, without exaggeration, radically changed your life, tested your character? I mean a serious injury and awarding you the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.
In the 20th of June 1984, a reinforced reconnaissance detachment under my command went on independent reconnaissance and search operations. Two days later, a group of Mujahideen was destroyed from an ambush, the commander was taken prisoner. According to his testimony, verified with radio interception data, two more battalions arrived in our mountains, we fought our way to the so-called “base area” of the Mujahideen group. Warehouses with ammunition, food and material assets were captured and destroyed there.
On July 14, 1984, we were returning from a successfully completed combat mission when a well-camouflaged 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 for everyone to remain in their places, and a sapper cautiously approached me (there are cases when comrades rush to a mine that has been blown up and also explode on nearby mines). The sanitary instructor came up behind the sapper, then the rest, and I gave instructions on what they needed to do (call a helicopter, how to transport me, and so on). Every second was important, since one leg was immediately torn off by a mine, and the second (already amputated in the hospital) was very badly damaged: it shattered the joint, tore the blood vessels, and even severely cut my face with fragments of bone. But the guys worked quickly and smoothly and did not allow me to die from blood loss.
And then a number of hospitals, operations, rehabilitations stretched. Resuscitation in the Bagram medical battalion, a hospital in Kabul, Tashkent, a hospital named after. Burdenko in Moscow, where I had the main operations. From November 1984 to May 1985 - Central Research Institute of Prosthetics. Semashko, where, in fact, they put prostheses. Here I was caught by the news of the submission to the highest state award. I remember that at that moment it occurred to me: “Well, even if I die, now it will not be so insulting.”
In the decision to submit to the rank, not only my injury played a role, but also the fact that during the year of my command 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 my main merit, because it is impossible to carry out any military operations without losses, the commander’s task is to organize the execution of a combat mission in such a way that the number of these losses is minimized. When I sent the guys on a combat mission, I always remembered that a mother was waiting for each of them at home.
Have any of your comrades become your friend for life? How often do you meet with fighting friends, and what does February 15 mean to you?
First of all, February 15 is, of course, a day of remembrance. The day when we meet with colleagues, commemorate the fallen comrades.
We keep in touch with a lot of people, but after Afghanistan we communicate most closely with Yura Ismagilov. He was a platoon commander, and after my injury he became a company commander. He continued his military career, now retired. We often call each other on the phone, we meet once or twice a year. From time to time I see sergeants and soldiers of the company - Romanik Alexander, Peresunko Leonid, Dolgy Nikolai, Taran Sergey, the medical instructor who bandaged my wounds.
Any stage in a person's life leaves in memory both bad and good memories. Did your service in Afghanistan leave something good in your soul?
I can say with confidence that in Afghanistan for the first time I saw and realized the essence of true male friendship. I know it sounds trite, but it's true. War is like a litmus test for revealing in a person his real features - both noble and insignificant.
Today it is fashionable to discuss whether a war in Afghanistan was necessary. What do you think about this?
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, fighting officers and soldiers, had thought about this issue at that time, I think many of us would have gone crazy in the literal sense of the word. We fulfilled our civil and military duty, 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 believe that the war was unfair, and the other half sincerely believe that they defended the ideals of democracy. According to my personal impressions, most of the participants in the Afghan war of 1979-1989 are inclined to the point of view that we fought against Islamic terrorism, then only gaining strength. I consider myself to be a minority who believe that neither the Afghan people nor the peoples of the USSR needed that war. We, on the one hand, fought against this terrorism, and, on the other hand, by our actions we nurtured and increased it to modern scales. I also doubt the need for further expansion of 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 choose the profession of a military man today?
If you choose the military profession, you must fully 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.
Meeting with students
Kiev gymnasium No. 19,
2011
GOROSHKO
YAROSLAV PAVLOVICH
Company Commander, Capt. Born on October 4, 1957 in Ukraine, in the Ternopil region, in the family of a teacher. In 1981 he graduated from the Khmelnitsky Higher Military Command Artillery School. From September 1981 to November 1983, he took part in the fighting in Afghanistan: he was the commander of a mortar platoon and an air assault company.
In 1986 he was sent on a second trip to the Afghan war. In the 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 Onischuk O.P. surrounded by the enemy.
... At dawn we received a radio transmission: “We are waiting for reinforcements. We are under attack from all sides." Kishlak Duri did not miss. "Zelenka" around him was spitting shells like crazy. Helicopters "evaded" volleys at a minimum altitude, changing course and speed. And yet, once again, 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 is, with a grenade in one hand, with a knife in the other, shouting: “Let's show the bastards how Russians die!” - rushed at the enemies.
But then, on the approach to Duri, Goroshko did not know all this. He was carrying five letters to Oleg Onishchuk 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 high-rise building, littered with the corpses of dushmans. Onischuk's group was nowhere to be seen. But hope flickered.
- Comrade captain, isn't it ours? - The machine gunner sitting at the open door touched him on the shoulder.
Now Goroshko also noticed a dense line of people dressed in paratroopers' jackets, hurrying towards the spooks with suspicious openness. I noticed ... and burned myself about a guess: they removed, bastards, the uniform from the dead.
- Grenades to battle! Attach bayonets!
With this command of Captain Goroshko, the time count for his subordinates went to seconds. The grenade explosions in the ravine, where the rebels had taken refuge, had not yet subsided, and the guys were already jumping on the move from a helicopter. Towards hand-to-hand combat.
The battle, in which Senior Lieutenant Onishchuk died a heroic death, nevertheless ended in a complete victory, which brought the glory of the Hero to his friend, Captain Goroshko.
The most difficult thing in this war for the captain was yet to come. The first thing he was going to do when he returned to his homeland was to visit his friend's wife. And his little girls...
Upon returning from Afghanistan, Goroshko Ya.P. became a student of the Military Academy named after M.V. Frunze, served as 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 the footsteps of their father and became officers.
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| GOROSHKO Ya.P. | Grinchak V.I. |
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 All-Arms Command School, specializing in command, tactical motorized rifle troops. He served in various command positions in the Airborne Forces in the Far Eastern Military District, in Czechoslovakia. In 1983 he was sent to Afghanistan.
On July 19, 1984, Captain Grinchak 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 participant in the battle with a rebel gang that outnumbered his company. During the fierce battle, which lasted several hours, the officer was in the chain of the company, while showing courage and composure. Having received a severe wound in both legs and overcoming severe pain, he independently provided medical assistance to himself. Showing an example of courage and courage, he did not leave the battlefield, he continued to control the actions of the company. The personnel, shocked by the heroism of their commander, took all measures to achieve victory. And she took place.
But the battle for the commander, Captain Grinchak, did not end with the last shots. The wounds were too serious. Doctors warned: "You will live, but amputation of the legs is necessary." The painful days of treatment dragged on. First in a medical battalion, then in a military hospital. But neither the doctors nor the sisters ever heard from him either groans or complaints. The thought tormented Valery more than the pain: how to live on? Yes, he admired the feat of Alexei Maresyev at school. But can he be like Maresiev - as strong, stubborn, so inflexible?
When the wounds healed, Valery Grinchak was transferred to the Central Research Institute of Prosthetics and Prosthetics. At the first inspection, 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, my whole body was again pierced by a sharp pain. But he took a step, then another. 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 went 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 a little lower: “Report”. He outlined his short biography and asked to remain in the Armed Forces. I did not believe in success, but I hoped very much.
Now he is back in the army - Hero of the Soviet Union Captain Valery Ivanovich Grinchak, 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 FIELD
Source: Heroes of the Country website (http://www.warheroes.ru)
To be continued
Cossack dictionary-reference book
Continuation. See the beginning in No. 1 (1).
LINES(the ending). In 1841, the Labinsk regiment was formed from the villages of Labinskaya, Chamlykskaya, Voznesenskaya and Urupskaya with a certain number of retired soldiers of the Caucasian army. In 1858, the Urupskaya brigade was formed during the fortification of Maykop, which included the villages of Spokoynaya, Podgornaya, Convenient, Peredovaya, Serviceable and Storozhevaya. They made up the New Line, now stretching along the Labe River. As in the Staraya Liniya, the linears settled here in small villages, surrounded by a wattle fence, a moat and thickets of prickly thorns. They lived in constant combat readiness, putting up “deposits” at batteries, posts, bikets, intermediate between the villages, sending patrols. On Novaya Liniya, the life of the local stanitsa developed especially disturbingly. 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 Army, but the Cossacks here retained their former name of the lineians, 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 Pyatigorsk people merged, they ceased to be called linemen.
LIENC- a small city in Austria, located in a deep alpine valley on the low left bank of the mountain river Drava.
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 resulted in mass executions and the imprisonment of Cossacks in concentration camps. All these measures had the main goal either to humble the rebellious, or to destroy them physically. Part 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 to fight. And when Hitler's troops entered Russia, this small handful immediately began to form their own military units, which joined the ranks of the Nazi fascists. Cossack emigrants also joined them. Thus, Cossack regiments and battalions appeared in the German army, which eventually grew into divisions and corps. They were guided by the principle: "Though with the devil, only against the Reds," and this was their mistake.
Meanwhile, the Cossacks were not the most oppressed class in Soviet Russia. The Orthodox clergy and believers of the Russian Orthodox Church suffered the most from the Bolsheviks. But, despite this, when the war began, the new martyrs and confessors of Russia forgot their personal grievances and stood up in defense of their homeland. Many elders prayed for the victory of the Soviet army. For example, St. Seraphim Vyritsky prayed on a stone for 1000 nights, asking the Lord to grant Russia victory over Nazi fascism. Saint Luke of Crimea at that time worked in the hospital, healing Soviet soldiers from wounds. Also, most of the Cossacks who remained in Russia joined the nationwide feat of fighting the fascist invaders. Of these, cavalry units were formed.
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 linked their fate with Hitler's fascism, which made 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 Taras Shevchenko State University, where he received the specialty "jurisprudence", state-legal specialization.
1995-2006 - Assistant to the Chairman of the Board of CJSC "Heliotrope" - 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 Pensioners, Veterans and the Disabled, and since 2002 he has simultaneously been the chairman of the control and audit commission of the National Assembly of Disabled People of Ukraine. Lives in the hero city of Kyiv.
Feat
From the award sheet on conferring the title of Hero of the Soviet Union:
On July 14, 1984, he took the fight, in which he was seriously wounded in both legs, but independently provided himself with first aid, overcoming pain, maintaining restraint and composure, did not leave the battlefield, but continued to skillfully manage 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 Mary; but besides, since each person needs his own personal hopes, Princess Marya had in the deepest secret of her soul a hidden dream and hope, 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 she was surprised by the short-sightedness of people who are looking for pleasure and happiness here on earth; working, suffering, fighting and doing evil to each other, in order to achieve this impossible, illusory and vicious happiness. “Prince Andrei loved his wife, she died, this is not enough for him, he wants to connect his happiness with another woman. The father does not want this, because he wants Andrei to have a more noble and rich marriage. And they all struggle and suffer, and torment, and spoil their soul, their eternal soul, in order to achieve blessings, for which the term is a moment. Not only do we know this ourselves, but Christ, the son of God, came down to earth and told us that this life is an instantaneous life, a test, but we still cling to it and think to find happiness in it. How did no one understand this? thought Princess Mary. No one except these despicable people of God who, with bags over their shoulders, come to me from the back porch, afraid to catch the eyes of the prince, and not in order not to suffer from him, but in order not to lead him into sin. To leave the family, the homeland, all worries about worldly goods in order not to cling to anything, to walk in a linen rags, under a false name from place to place, without harming people, and praying for them, praying for those who are persecuted and for those who patronize: higher than this truth and life there is no truth and life!”There was one wanderer, Fedosyushka, 50 years old, a small, quiet, pockmarked woman, who had been walking barefoot and in chains for more than 30 years. Princess Mary was especially fond of her. Once, when in a dark room, by the light of one lamp, Fedosyushka was talking about her life, Princess Mary suddenly had such a strong idea that Fedosyushka alone had found the right path of life, that she decided to go on a journey herself. When Fedosyushka went to bed, Princess Mary thought about this 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 Akinfiy, and the confessor approved her intention. Under the pretext of a gift to the wanderers, Princess Marya stocked up for herself the complete attire of a 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 already come to carry out her intention.
Often listening to the stories of wanderers, she was aroused by their simple, mechanical speeches for them, but for her full of deep meaning, so that she was several times ready to give up everything and run away from home. In her imagination, she already saw herself with Fedosyushka in coarse rags, walking with a stick and a knapsack along a dusty road, directing her journey without envy, without human love, without desires from saints to saints, and in the end, to where there is not a single sadness. , no sighing, but eternal joy and bliss.
“I will come to one place, I will pray; if I don’t have time to get used to it, to love it, I’ll move on. And I will walk until my legs give way, and I will lie down and die somewhere, and I will finally come to that eternal, quiet harbor, where there is neither sadness nor sighing! ... ”thought Princess Marya.
But then, seeing her father and especially little Koko, she weakened in her intention, wept quietly and felt that she was a sinner: she loved her father and nephew more than God.
Biblical tradition says that the absence of labor - idleness was the condition of the bliss of the first man before his fall. The love of idleness has remained the same in fallen man, but the curse still weighs on man, and not only because we must earn our bread by the sweat of our brow, but because, due to our moral qualities, we cannot be idle and calm. A secret voice says that we must be guilty of being idle. If a person could find a state in which, being idle, he would feel useful and fulfilling his duty, he would find one side of primeval bliss. And such a state of obligatory and impeccable idleness is used by a whole estate - the military estate. This obligatory and impeccable idleness has been and will 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 hardened, kind fellow, whom 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 satisfied with his life. Recently, in 1809, in letters from home, he more often found his mother's complaints that things were getting worse and worse, and that it was time for him to come home, please and reassure old parents.
Having blown up on a mine and having lost both legs at the age of 27, the officer did not break down and, contrary to the forecasts of pessimists, returned to the army
Before serving in Afghanistan, his service 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, to a "warm" place abroad (in the same GDR or Hungary), Grinchak preferred to serve in the 13th separate airborne assault brigade of the Far Eastern Military District. And only four years later he was sent to the Central Group of Forces (Czechoslovakia) to the post of commander of a reconnaissance landing company. A year later, the order came to the division: send one reconnaissance company commander and two reconnaissance platoon commanders to the Democratic Republic of Afghanistan
On the eve of the Day of the Disabled, which was celebrated yesterday in Ukraine, a freelance correspondent for FACTOV met with 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 then directly told me: “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, I had dozens of parachute jumps behind me, and, finally, out of seven reconnaissance commanders in the division, I was the only ... bachelor.
Upon arrival in Afghanistan, I spent the first night in Kabul. A movie was shown for our soldiers on the “peredvizhka”, and for some reason I remembered very well the phrase said by the German general: “The civil war can go on endlessly” ... But, by the way, we already understood very well: Afghanistan is for a long time. So, soon I was appointed to the post of commander of a reconnaissance company of the 285th tank regiment of the 108th motorized rifle division (one of the most fighting in the 40th Army). During 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 escorted convoys, conducted reconnaissance and the so-called implementation of intelligence (“cleansing” the villages taken in 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 by creating the illusion that a convoy of Soviet cars set off on a flight without proper escort. And dushmans pecked on this hook
The Mujahideen successfully used our miscalculations, especially when people who had no experience of fighting in the mountains were involved in the operations. How, for example, not to recall the tragedy that broke 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). At that time, of course, it could not have done without organizational conclusions - the regiment commander and the divisional commander were removed from their posts. Although the lion's share of the blame lies with the conscience of the battalion commander ... Only in the morning, when I and my subordinates finished evacuating the wounded and carrying out the bodies of the dead from the mountain gorges, a terrible picture opened up before my eyes: the Panjshir Valley seemed to me a valley of death! ..
And what were the losses of your company?
Three killed and 12 wounded. And this is for a year, while I commanded a reconnaissance company! .. By the way, this fact played an important role when I was introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union
“Glancing at what was left of my legs, I thought: “Well, that’s it. Reclaimed. »
At the end of June of the 84th, we went on alert to the next combat mission, successfully completed it, and already when we returned ... It happened on July 14th. I remember very well the moment when the earth trembled under my feet and fire flared in my face. I still managed to shout to my subordinates: “Everybody back! Minesweeper, to me! Fortunately, there were no more mines. I called the medical instructor, and he injected me with a portion of promedol, removing the pain shock. He glanced at his feet, or rather at what was left of them, and the thought flashed through his head: “Well, that’s it, I fought back.” The blast wave tore off the right leg, the left - crushed. (Later, due to a highly progressive Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection, which put Valery's life on the verge between life and death, doctors were forced to amputate his left leg as well. - Auth.). In addition, during the explosion, the face was very badly damaged: it was cut with 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 has not been removed so far, was “imprinted” under my left eyebrow.
The commander of the regiment was immediately informed about my injury by radio, and he immediately sent a helicopter for me. If the departure car had been delayed for at least half an hour, the question of whether I would survive or not would no longer be before the doctors. While we were flying to Bagram, I fainted several times. I don’t remember how I was taken to the local medical battalion, how I was operated on (the operation lasted all day!). He finally regained consciousness in the intensive care unit.
The next day after the operation, the platoon commander visited me and brought boiled chicken with him. Where he got it, I don't know. But I ate that chicken the same day. The surgeon who operated on me was only amazed: they say, how many years in medicine, but I have never seen anything like it in my practice.
For the rest of my life, I remembered the face of a nurse from the sanitarium of the Tashkent district hospital. Shaving me baldly (the hair with gore was tangled, and there was nothing else to do but cut it off), she suddenly leaned over and whispered in my ear: “Son, do you have checks? ..” It was easy to read her face: now you don't need them. Upon returning from Afghanistan, these were the first words that I heard in my homeland ... True, trying not to betray my indignation, I only squeezed out: “Don’t rush to bury me ... Checks will still come in handy for me myself” ... For those who do not know what checks are, I will explain: we received one third of our monthly officer salary in foreign currency. On average, this amount was 230-250 checks, which was equivalent to 500 Soviet rubles. So, I actually got my money. True, already in Moscow. They were given to me by my colleagues. They often came to visit me, supported me in every possible way. And 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 Council 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 action! 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 circles over our hut for a long time, then, like a huge dragonfly, hovering over it and just as quickly disappears. Who knows, maybe that night she dreamed of exactly the helicopter on which I, 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 of the relatives 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, in the hospital. Burdenko. I remember that I also thought: “Well, if I die, then at least it won’t be so insulting” ... Although at first I didn’t really believe that the decree on my award 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. - Auth.). However, on February 18, 1985, Konstantin Chernenko, General Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU, signed the decree. He died soon after, and the awards ceremony was moved to April 8, 1985. Fate, as it were, gave me a delay so that I could learn to walk on prostheses.
My parents, fellow villagers (I myself am from the Gaivoronsky district of the Kirovograd region), brother-soldiers in Afghanistan, in particular, Hero of the Soviet Union Ruslan Aushev, came to congratulate me on the star of the Hero. 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 had his right leg amputated, and a rehabilitation course awaited him ahead. What happened, Lev Ivanovich endured courageously, did not fall into depression. “Guys, the main thing is to tune in to win,” Yashin liked 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 officials from medicine were categorically against Yashin mastering an imported prosthesis: 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 ordinary mortals: until the end of the 80s, we carried extremely uncomfortable domestic prostheses.
But this did not prevent 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 to the position of 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, it was disbanded, and I decided to quit the army and enter the correspondence department of the law faculty of the 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, prompted me and my comrades in misfortune to create the Kiev Society of Invalids of Local Wars - veterans of military intelligence, military operations in Afghanistan and other countries.
Sakharov's "skirmish" with Chervonopisky at the Congress of People's Deputies of the USSR provoked ... 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 the children who died in Afghanistan. We help the disabled with food rations, gasoline... Of course, this is very little. True, it is easier for the disabled in Kiev. Alexander Omelchenko, our mayor (he himself went through Afghanistan), treats the problems of the disabled with understanding. But Kyiv is not the whole 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 Persons 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 shot, as Sakharov claimed, their own people so that they would not be taken prisoner by dushmans?
I have not seen any documentary evidence to support this. The prerequisite for this sensational story throughout the Union was an interview that Sakharov gave to a foreign publication. Andrei Dmitrievich referred only to the testimonies of ordinary soldiers, participants in the Afghan war ... (There is reason to believe 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 difficult 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 quarrel 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, GlavPur pursued its own interests: by pushing the democrats against the "Afghans" with their foreheads, he thereby hoped to improve his rather shattered authority in the troops. This is just one example of how much dirt, intrigue and gossip has been associated with the war in Afghanistan…. Much later, I became aware of how individual crooks bought orders and medals for themselves, and I sincerely regretted that I had so little presented my subordinates for awards, 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 Tatyana. By that time, the girl had already managed to graduate from medical school and went to work at the Feofaniya Clinical Hospital. Their romance lasted three months, after which Valery made an offer to the girl, 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, Tatyana admitted. - Neither Valeria's mother, nor my parents were against our marriage. On the contrary, his mother now doesn’t call me anything other than “donka” ... Before the wedding, Valera lived in this apartment with his brother, and when I first went to their house, I didn’t know what to expect: bachelors after all. But the cleanliness and order that I found here simply amazed me. Although the absence of a female hand affected. Now we are equipping our family hearth, this summer we completed repairs in the apartment.
Is replenishment expected in the Grinchak family? Tatyana smiled in response: “We are working on it.”