Leningrad-Khabarovsk, seven hours of summer or seven days by train. I did this way and so and so. From Khabarovsk to Chegdomyn, the secret capital of the Eastern section of the BAM, on the train for another day. In Chegdomyn was in 1980 the headquarters of the First Corps of Railway Troops, where I was sent after the institute for military service. I went to serve as an officer for two years.
Chegdomyn stands slightly apart from the BAM, it is a district center, a well-off mining town. Here there is no dry law, like at BAM, and here they go for vodka and wine. But alcohol here is ugly of poor quality, even for that time. The corps in Chegdomyn manages the brigades of the railway troops scattered around the BAM itself. I fell out a brigade with a dislocation in Urgal.
Today in Chegdomyn there will be dances
Dances of the Yakuts and the Northerners
They get up there in a circle, they beat the ground with their feet
And they sing something in a wild voice
They sing about severe frosts
About how water carries water carriers
About – — – — -, about long rubles
How people die of longing
Urgal – a large (by the standards of BAM) junction. It connects the BAM and the Chegdomyn-Khabarovsk branch. Urgal consists entirely of wooden barracks, in the main, these are military buildings. The whole Eastern section of the Baikal-Amur Mainline (BAM) is built by soldiers of the railway troops. The western section of the BAM was mastered by the Komsomol members.
But I will not serve in Urgal. I will serve in a place called Dusse-Alin. There is a separate battalion zheldorvoysk. Dusse-Alin is known for being located at one of the longest tunnels of the BAM, its length is almost 2 kilometers. Actually, the battalion is also engaged in the tunnel, its restoration.
So, from Leningrad I flew to Khabarovsk. From Khabarovsk I came to Chegdomyn. From Chegdomyn I headed for the bus to Urgal. From there, take the train to Dusse-Alin. The case was in the summer of 1980, in August. The smell of burning was clearly heard in the air. The taiga was burning.
Taiga here burns every summer. This is explained simply, the climate on the BAM is continental. The sun shines all year round. Precipitation is only two months a year, a month in spring and a month in autumn. Summer heat, winter frost. And despite the relatively low latitude (51 degrees north latitude versus 60 degrees latitude of Leningrad), here is the permafrost zone. Winter is difficult to survive. Frosts over 50 degrees, I personally testify about 54. One careless movement and you are frostbitten. Going to the toilet on the street (and others are not here), you manage, of course, to unbutton your pants on your trousers. You will not be able to fasten it to you (on the street).
The train at the BAM (then called the “bichevoz”) went once a day, arriving in Dusse-Alin at night. I’m in a civilian, with a suitcase, got out of the car and went to the part, at the checkpoint (checkpoint). The whole of Dusse-Alin consisted of two parts, the territory of the military unit, located in the lowland and the officer town, located higher, across the road. At the checkpoint I was met by ensign Smal. Maybe now he reads these lines. Greetings to you, my first colleague!
At the checkpoint there is a small room with a bed, where I stopped for the night. And in the morning I went to the part, to be introduced on the occasion of my arrival. The deputy commander for the rear, Major Voznyuk, met me. It turned out that the battalion is almost in its entirety now on a business trip, in the city of Artem, Primorsky Krai. The second way is laid there on the railway line. And for the senior there is a deputy at the rear. The part is almost empty, only a platoon of security and some rear services.
Voznyuk determined me to stay (temporarily) in the medical unit. For several days I lived there. Forms of military I did not have, to serve until I could not. The post, to which I was appointed back in the Corps, was called “deputy company commander for the technical part.” And the company was technical, the fourth. That is, I was the deputy engineer of the technical company. In the company (about which I learned later) there were up to 100 personnel members, three platoons. Behind the company there is a fixed technique – electrical stations, cranes, bulldozers, various equipment. Here, at the BAM, we were on full technical self-sufficiency. In our battalion there are only 5 companies. The first three – track, the fourth – the technical, the fifth – the car. Still there were different services, I will not list them all, so as not to bore the reader.
In every company for fun
There are zamptones
So, a few days I lived in the medical unit. They fed well, the linen was clean, I was not offered pills or injections. And then Petya, I do not remember the name, zampolit my company, also an officer, a two-year-old, offered to occupy an empty apartment in his house. I took it. In this apartment I lived the first year of my service. Small house, of course, wooden, for 4 apartments. A room of 15 meters, a tiny kitchenette and a big real oven, it was my apartment. And a couple of days later I went to Urgal in the brigade, behind the uniform.
