A personal story of determination

A Personal Story Of Determination digitalbloggers.com /business/a-personal-story-of-determination Nov 27, 2016 17 views Written by Sergei VanBellinghen

Author Sergei VanBellinghen

Articles written: 75 Joined: 23 September 2016 Niche: Business Internet and Businesses Online Self Improvement

Life is not a picnic; we all have gotten our fair share of battles in our existence and some of us even more than others. It demands courage, sacrifice and determination to continue in the face of adversity, surely when everything seems lost.

On the day before beginning to serve in the armed forces, I Sergei, like any Soviet recruit, had traditionally attended an initiation ceremony in which local party communist officers and veterans gave patriotic discourses.

1/4

The next day, I was transported with others directly to the military unit in which I would serve my tour of duty, in my case, and for the navy, it would be three years. Neither of us recruits nor did our families know the location where we were going to be sent beforehand.

Duty Assignment After one month of basic training that reviews the pre-military training, I took a military oath. In this oath, I promised to guard state and military secrets, to master the craft of war, to protect state property, and to defend the homeland and government without sparing life or blood.

While in my military service duty of the Soviet army, I had been forced to become a submariner in the ‘Severniy Flot’, the Soviet Northern Fleet at the time and even today. After six months of service, I had been promoted to Petty Officer 2nd class and remained assigned to the K-206 ‘Minsky Komsomolets’, nuclear-powered cruise missile submarine, armed in 1981, and renamed ‘Murmansk’ in 1993.

It was built in secret in Severodvinsk, and assigned to the Soviet Fleet of the North, which was one of the strongest branches of the Red Army. This submarine was one of the most secret projects of the former USSR. Like all Soviet nuclear submarines, the Oscar class had two gateways or footbridges: the first was called ‘Vanna’ meaning bathtub, because of the bath one was taking when going up at the top of the kiosk, and just under it, a second footbridge that was protected from the elements.

At those times, the ‘Oscar’ class was the only Soviet submarine missile launcher able to fire his missiles without the need to surface. The typical strategy was to use attack submarines as scouts to locate the enemy fleet, and to fire all the missiles in one salve to saturate the antimissile defense of the enemy.

Far Away from Home I am glad we never had to do it. In the winter, I wore the long black overcoat of the naval personnel, the only thing I really liked. In general, Soviet naval uniforms, in cut, color, and style, and rank insignia resembled to those of foreign navies.

It was a Soviet practice to station recruits in isolated areas far away from their homes, and have a system of internal passports kept the desertion rate relatively low. This system is still up today for every citizen of any former republic of the Soviet Union.

The location of my station was in the far north of Russia, in a closed city called ‘Severomorsk’, near the Arctic Circle.

I had to have determination to be out there. I had about an hour per day of "free" time as it was called, much of which was used for eating, political training and mandatory sports activities.

2/4

I have never gotten any leave or temporary passes to see my family in Ukraine, they were not issued as a matter of course, because no one could leave. I was paid 4 rubles a month, the monthly equivalent of about $10 US or € 8.

I have been confined 18 times to the submarine jail cell for minor infractions, but many others were sent a penal battalion for more serious offenses, and time spent there did not count toward our discharge.

My unit trained 6 days every week in winter and summer, with an alternating 10 hours duty / 6 hours rest when on a mission aboard the submarine. My unit and I had limited live field exercises, but we had many days at sea.

Determination in Returning Home In addition to military training, I have often been called on to help with harvesting. On returning home, after my release and not seeing my family for three years, I had to register as a reserve with an military office called ‘Voenkomat’ and report each and every change in my residence, health, education, or family status until my reserve obligation ended at age 50, but the Soviet Union collapsed just before my 26th birthday, freeing me from all obligations.

On my arrival home, I found out that the Soviet union State had given away my vaulting horse ‘Red Square’ while doing my military duty. The Soviet system gave us the great disadvantage that anything at any time could be taken away from you, because all things were state owned.

So my horse had been taken away and given to an equestrian center as a schoolmaster. I never saw him again, I was heartbroken. After a while, the state gave me another horse to compete with but it wasn’t the same anymore, so in November 1989 I defected.

My life, as far as I recall, has been an existence of determination and persistence but today, I am more than grateful for all these experiences.

Thank you for reading.

3/4

Sergei VanBellinghen, Founder & CEO of First-Class Lifestyle and sergeivanbellinghen.com, Success & Self-Improvement Coach, Freedom entrepreneur & business partner of Stuart Ross, also counselor in East Europe-West relationships, a passionate Globetrotter and an avid audio booker

4/4