Марія БровінськаІсторії
3 September 2026, 14:04
2026-09-03
"When a combat clerk goes to the North-Eastern Front (due to conditions or an order to transfer to the infantry), there is simply no one to replace him." Diary of a mobilized AIT soldier - about clerical work and army rituals
Today, an IT expert talks about the specifics of a clerk’s job and army rituals that mentally return soldiers to their former lives.
About office work
«What the f*ck am I doing?» Anton says once a week, staring at his monitor and holding his head in his hand in despair. Anton was also an «IT guy» in civilian life, but now he’s become a «paper guy.»
«Remember, it’s always better than being in a dugout,» I remind him.
— At least the task is clear there, but here no one knows or understands a damn thing.
Anton and I had the illusion that once we got into the battalion, we would be «not enough»: smart, quick, knowledgeable. It turned out that the opposite was true: others (those who have been in the army since 2014 or 2022) began to count on us to understand this paper maze better than they did. At the same time, we were not officially clerks (we were regularly listed in combat companies as riflemen, machine gunners, and assistant grenade launchers, while in fact we performed headquarters work).
This is because there are not that many clerk positions in the staff, and no one was going to start the process of us acquiring the rank of sergeant (especially when we were already in the process of executing a combat order). This position allowed us to be used as a clerical resource, and if necessary, we could easily be transferred to the infantry to perform tasks «according to official duties.»
Anton was in despair for a reason. The problems of office management in the battalion would be too numerous to list on two hands. But I tried to reduce them to three categories:
Too much reporting = too many documents = too many resources wasted (time, people, nerves).
Incomplete digitalization = lack of full automation = absurdly complicated operational part of their processing and logistics of document flow.
Weak training in office management among non-commissioned officers and officers.
For example: to write off one first aid kit, you need to print and process at least six different documents (1-3 pages each), and involve up to five different parties/services/units from the beginning of the process to its finale. This also includes dozens of manually signed signatures of authorized persons, and manually filled out paper journals, which are also regularly checked «for tick marks».
Digitization only duplicates some categories of documents, some of which are still printed out and stored in folders in cramped offices for years. Many documents are printed three copies for each service, and some 2-3 times simply because of errors and clarifications. When a clerk for combat troops goes to the SZCH (due to conditions or an order to transfer to the infantry), there is simply no one to replace him, so his place is taken by untrained, often illiterate people, which creates new problems and challenges.
I’m trying to persuade Antokha to my philosophy: look at it from a bird’s eye view, and it will seem small and insignificant. You have a family, worry about it. As one company officer said, someone should do the paperwork efficiently so that people who are actually fighting have fewer problems and worries, and I completely agree with that. Paperwork should serve the combat soldiers, not the other way around.
About army rituals
Soldier K. has been sweeping a small area of leaves and small branches for about 15 minutes. Smooth, long lines intersect in patterns on the sandy soil, overlapping each other.
«Enough revenge, that’s enough. You’d better go and have some tea,» the junior sergeant tells him.
«There’s still a little bit left,» he replies.
I look at this sweeping and think that it’s not about cleanliness. Everyone has their own ritual that allows them to distance themselves from the reality of army life and, at least for a few dozen minutes a day, mentally move somewhere, forget something, become this broom that sweeps the same place again and again.
A male AI announcer’s voice flies in from the kitchen. Another video story in Tik-Tok, which Anatoliyovych, another bearded sergeant in his 50s, listens carefully to. They are here. They hurried to look around and, as expected, discovered something in the nearby forest. Something was moving there.
— Run!
— We will never reach the finish line! Faced with danger, the three reacted in different ways…».
Next came an analysis of the characters' behavior and further revelation of a tense scene from an American horror film. Apparently, such videos satisfy his need to watch a full-fledged movie. This is one of his morning rituals.
I like it when their videos are interrupted by commercials from time to time: some stomach pills, mineral water, «Nova Poshta». Nothing has changed in twenty years. Advertising jingles awaken a bygone feeling of peace and comfort, when you’re ten, on Sunday the whole family is at home, you’re going somewhere, everyone has their own little worries, and on TV 1+1 or «Novyi Kanal» — first commercials, then the program for the day. What action movie will be today? «Terminator»? «Men in Black»? «Spider-Man» with Tobey Maguire? We need to be back by evening. We don’t know yet, but this is also a ritual that everyone will miss in the future.
I make myself coffee. I don’t want to drink instant coffee. I’ve made my breakfast as close to home-made as possible, but for some reason now I like to eat everything separately: a couple of types of cheese, a banana, an apple, some candy or a waffle, yogurt. You can taste each product. I turn on an entertainment show. I stretch it out for half an hour before service. By this time, I’m almost home.
And in the evening there are cats already waiting for their dinner at our place. Ks-ks-ks — and quickly others come running. I pet them while they eat. Some come hungry just to be petted. Someone purrs from scratching. This is my sweeping and forgetting. My best moments of the day.
«Instead of decompression, we had, so to speak, 'repression', or in army slang, simply 'tightening'.» Diary of a mobilized AIT soldier — about pseudo-recovery and former peaceful life
«I was almost 100% sure that very soon all this would be behind me.» Diary of a mobilized AIT soldier — about the fear of being transferred to the infantry, the SZCH plan, and the desire to escape from Ukraine
«When you’re a clerk, you don’t hear explosions, groans, last words. You don’t see blood, wounded bodies without limbs and with their insides ripped out.» Mobilization diary from an IT worker in Threads — about changes in the mentality of the army, front-line cities, and losses
«It’s Schrödinger’s military cat: until an official (or not) order comes, you’re both in the infantry and not.» A new part of the mobilization diary from an IT guy in Threads — about intimidation in the army, a grenade in the barracks, and redeployment
«Don’t worry until you join me in the infantry. I’ll tell you when you have to go to the SZCH.» We continue to publish a mobilization diary from an IT guy from Threads — about the motivation to serve in the busified, the difference in service conditions for staff and infantrymen, and weapons in a blanket
«Individuality is not needed. And the more of you there are, the lonelier you are.» Mobilization diary from an IT guy from Threads — about BZVP, «NATO lip shots» and «playing stormtroopers»
«Do you know that you are already 200? Have you already bought yourself a black package?» In Threads, a mobilized IT worker keeps a diary of his service in the army — about communication with the TCC, thoughts on the SZCH and IT experience in the non-digital system of the Armed Forces of Ukraine
«А жінок чому випустили? Несправедливо». Айтішники - про заклик секретаря РНБО не ховатися за жіночими спідницями у відповідь на петицію про виїзд чоловіків
Нещодавно у РНБО відреагували на петиції про дозвіл виїжджати чоловікам з України. Таких петицій було вже три, і остання набрала необхідну кількість голосів для розгляду президентом.
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