Back! 2011 Summer Camp Report Card: Fill & Download for Free

I’ve served in 2011–12 in Air Force in Central Russia as a soldier.General life:You basically get up at six o'clock, have 1 hour to get ready for breakfast, i.e. to make a bed, to exercise (was cancelled in winter, but still we did run for 20–30 minutes in T-shirts and pants only during +5C). Then we wash up. Breakfast at seven o'clock, usually some kind of salads, porridge, salami, omelette. Breakfast ends at 7:40 a.m., followed by marching to the main square to run up the flag and listen to the commander of aerodrome at eight o'clock. Then we march back to the barracks. Some go to work on the aerodrome, such as cutting grass, painting something, fixing wire fences. Some may do something for other units, like digging rows, helping with demolishing old buildings on the aerodrome’s territory, working at the supply depot recounting food items, restocking it from new supply, throwing something out. Kind ladies who manage the depots always gave us juices, apples, oranges, or something delicious to cheer us up in our work.Work outdoors was my favorite during summer, actually! Not a lot of things to do after very quickly cutting grass or painting walls — no one watches you. Sometimes we just did some kind of that work and waited until dinner at 1 p.m. — leaning in the grass (in a zone not marked to be cut that day). Back in the barrack we did report to officer on duty upon returning back. It was always like "Oh, we worked so hard there! Almost got late for a dinner!” Aerodrome territory was huge. Some places, I believe, haven't seen a man since the `80s. No one bothered to come and see what we do. Sometimes it took 20 minutes by car to get to the place we were working — or one hour of walking back to barracks, if not more.Dinner: soup of the day, mashed potato/pasta with meat or chicken, salad, boiled eggs sometimes. And a one hour sleeping time then. I was lazy to go to bed and to make it back in perfect formation back after just one hour. But with nothing to do, everyone needs to lie down with closed eyes in bed. A preparation for 24-hours duty with AK-47M then — reading manual on guard duty, answering officer’s question related to it, filling out documents, tests at the open- air Guard plot.Then there was a changing of the guard procedure at six o'clock in the evening at the main square. A 24-hour guard of the armory rotated in groups of three. One is on duty with calls to the position every 15 minutes (point 1 without interruptions); the second guard mans the emergency phone for reports every 15 minutes; the third sleeps for an hour. The guards change every hour: The third, who was sleeping, gets up and goes with a driver to the armory with his AK, the second warrior waits for the first one to return from the armory because he, the second, goes to sleep, and the first one changes with the third, closes him, wishes him a nice sleep (and good luck, of course) and returns with the driver back to the guard’s position. That position is like a fortified area with a house in the middle, and equipped with a kitchen (food is delivered from the canteen; a driver picks it up between his “guard deliveries” to the armory, equipped with a satellite TV (ha-ha!), toilet, wardrobe, sleeping room with a few bed-like sleeping places, and our guard officer is with us, watches TV, talks to us, sleeps at night, whatever. The atmosphere is like, you know, a summer camp, but with AKs and some restrictions on using phone or going outside.24-hour duties are very exhausting. You basically sleep in snatches. Sometimes they organize a Terror attack emergency, a Red alert, whatever. Half night is spent to guard the position in an inside court. I wish, that duties would be switched to 12-h long to increase productivity and shorten recovering time (you are 24 h free of work enjoying your time in barrack after your duty is ended). On a third day after previous Guard duty, you go to the armory again.If soldiers are not on duty, we watch TV in a special room in the barrack, or read some book, or chat with each other. When the time comes to 7 pm, we go to canteen for a supper. In all army, a fish in many varieties is served. A free time in the barrack till 21:30 then. We got a superb gym in the barrack, with all the equipment, with a ping pong table, with a martial arts room, most of free times was spent there. Phones to give a call and check the web were distributed for one hour. They were kept at squadron commander office. Those who were detected with second phones kept in secret needed to nail it to special “cellphone” tree in a yard. There were plenty of phones nailed. Haha. 21:30 - an evening soldiers checklist. Who is on hospital, who is on barrack. A shower for those who didn't get it in a free time then, and other hygienic preparations. Bedtime is 22:00.Maneuvers:Gunfire maneuvers were held every f*****g week. In any weather, in mud with snow, in rain, in fog you get your AK held in your barrack’s arms room and run in your helmets, belly, fire blanks on another groups while getting to your shooting area. When there, you fire on targets. Check your targets then, get points. I was firing well, but other guys with worse physics couldn't get points, what was disturbing for them and officers. There was a joke about them - these soldiers must be good in a close knive combat. Haha!I remember my very first shootings. It was hot as hell in August, we were in forest learning different poses for shootings from 10 a.m. till 3 p.m. Ate true field ration from the those card-boxes, drank from a massive bowel we took with us. I loved that experience.When officers were in a specially bad mood, all the shootings from the beginning were done in a chemical and radiation protection suit, with goggles, respirator etc. This was disgusting, haha!Many fatties lost so much kilos during first months, they needed a new set of clothes. Both huge physical work and a day-to-day menu (each variation for every day) on a special time contribute to that. We rarely went to shops, on duty officers weren't happy to escort us. May be, we went there once in two weeks to stock our personal items, buy some sweets, send/get letters or package in a post office. Some bought cigarettes blocks, some bought goods for gym, or gainers, or some items from chemistry.If someone got ill, there is a hospital in aerodrome. I got there for a month with a quite hard cold. Got frozen on duty during one of those -25C nights. There are other ill soldiers, there is a canteen, a large club room with books and tv, phones were allowed. Each has a room for two. Almost like a club. A summer camp, but everyone is sorta ill. A night nurse went to sleep to her special room circa midnight and we could walk from ward to ward, laugh, chat as much as we wanted It was a relief after standardized life in barrack. There were “serial ill” soldiers who were escaping the service being in the hospital. They could return from there, spend 3–5 days in barrack and say “I feel so awful, I got to get to a hospital!” They weren't treated well in soldiers community either. Stay brave, young man.Bonus track:A unit based near us specializes in cars and everything four wheeled. Those guys were kindly called “masut men” among us, almost white collars. Those fuels, oils were impossible to wash out from hands, nails, clothes, it even occurred on faces, like a tan. What I really liked is their almost freedom of movement - they went to smoke in a yard whenever wanted, returned to barrack after official bedtime, didn't come to main square every morning to hear from commander, didn't report to an officer on duty where they were going (because they were going either to garage or to canteen), didn't need to maintain an official army attire - a jacket tuck in your pants, not hang open, a pants tuck in your boots, not free etc. Overall, those guys knew how to fix anything in four-wheelers and enjoyed that freedom as an appreciation for that knowledge. And everyone of them knew how to swear like a sailor.

No.Your source is bad.Crockford is not an expert on climate nor polar bears. If you want to know something about a topic, you have to ask the experts, like you ask a dentist on dental matters, not a used car salesman.Climate Change Denialists Say Polar Bears Are Fine. Scientists Are Pushing BackThe researchers also singled out Polar Bear Science, a blog run by Susan J. Crockford, a Canadian zoologist, as a primary source of dubious information about the status of polar bears. About 80 percent of the contrarian websites that the researchers studied referred to Dr. Crockford’s blog as a primary source, they said.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/...Internet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy | BioScience | Oxford Academichttps://academic.oup.com/bioscie...There’s a myth that polar bear populations are thriving because they’ve grown since the 1970s.That growth has nothing to do with the climate – it was due to the introduction of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears in 1973, which restricted and in some circumstances banned the hunting of polar bears, which had caused their populations to dwindle.Global warming – specifically the rapid decline in the Arctic sea ice they need to hunt – has caused polar bear populations to decline in recent years.The situation is serious for them, being on the red list of threatened species. (Vulnerable).Some populations are still hunted quite heavily, and their status is uncertain.By 2040, scientists predict that only a fringe of ice will remain in Northeast Canada and Northern Greenland when all other large areas of summer ice are gone. This "Last Ice Area" is likely to become important for polar bears and other life that depends on ice. A projection of sea ice in the archipelago, supported by WWF, shows that much of the region is facing significant ice loss in the coming decades - with potentially serious consequences for polar bears.WHAT THE PEER REVIEWED SCIENCE SAYS:Projected Polar Bear Sea Ice Habitat in the Canadian Arctic ArchipelagoAbstractBackgroundSea ice across the Arctic is declining and altering physical characteristics of marine ecosystems. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have been identified as vulnerable to changes in sea ice conditions. We use sea ice projections for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from 2006 – 2100 to gain insight into the conservation challenges for polar bears with respect to habitat loss using metrics developed from polar bear energetics modeling.Principal FindingsShifts away from multiyear ice to annual ice cover throughout the region, as well as lengthening ice-free periods, may become critical for polar bearsbefore the end of the 21st century with projected warming. Each polar bearpopulation in the Archipelago may undergo 2–5 months of ice-free conditions, where no such conditions exist presently. We identify spatially and temporally explicit ice-free periods that extend beyond what polar bears require for nutritional and reproductive demands.Conclusions/SignificanceUnder business-as-usual climate projections, polar bears may face starvation and reproductive failure across the entire Archipelago by the year 2100.Climate change discussions on social media are very influential. A new study in BioScience shows that when it comes to iconic topics such as polar bears and retreating sea ice, climate blogs fall into two distinct camps with little or no overlap between deniers and the available scientific facts. The study's first author, NIOO-KNAW researcher Jeff Harvey says, "It's time for scientists to counter the misinformation and engage directly with the public far more."Polar bears and retreating sea ice have become iconic symbols of the polarised climate change debate. By focusing on these subjects, deniers of human-caused global warming cast doubt among the public about the entire body of climate change knowledge. But a new study of the underlying science used in the debatecould well melt down the trustworthiness of these deniers on social media.Here are ca 20 more studies confirming CC and decreasing sea ice as their major threats:Arctic sea ice loss has thus far progressed faster than most climate models have predicted [...] Arctic sea ice extent is linearly related to global mean temperature, which in turn, is directly related to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (Amstrup et al. 2010). Population and habitat models predict substantial declines in the distribution and abundance of Polar Bears in the future.Anthropogenic and natural changes in Arctic environments, as well as recognition of the shortcomings of our knowledge of Polar Bear ecology, are increasing the challenges for Polar Bear conservation and management. Higher ambient temperatures and erratic weather fluctuations, symptoms of anthropogenic climate change, are increasing across the range of polar bears. Polar Bears are dependent upon Arctic sea ice for access to their prey. Their dependence on an ephemeral habitat that exists as a function of sea surface and atmospheric temperatures means that climate warming poses the single most important threat to the long-term persistence of Polar Bears (Obbard et al. 2010). Arctic sea ice loss has thus far progressed faster than most climate models have predicted (Stroeve et al. 2007) with September sea extent declining at a linear rate of 14% per decade from 1979 through 2011 (Stroeve et al. 2012, Stroeve et al. 2014). Because changes in sea-ice are known to alter Polar Bear abundance, productivity, body condition, and distribution (Stirling et al. 1999, Fischbach et al. 2007, Schleibe et al. 2008, Durner et al. 2009, Regehr et al. 2010, Rode et al. 2010a, 2012, 2014b, Bromaghin et al. 2015), continued climate warming will increase future uncertainty and pose severe risks to the welfare of Polar Bear subpopulations (Stirling and Derocher 2012, Derocher et al. 2013). Arctic sea ice extent is linearly related to global mean temperature, which in turn, is directly related to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (Amstrup et al. 2010). Population and habitat models predict substantial declines in the distribution and abundance of Polar Bears in the future (Durner et al. 2009, Amstrup et al. 2008, Hunter et al. 2010, Castro de la Guardia et al. 2013, Hamilton et al. 2014)ARTIC SEA ICE:Arctic Sea Ice News and AnalysisPIOMAS Arctic Sea Ice Volume Reanalysishttps://journals.ametsoc.org/doi...From NOAA's December 12, 2017 Arctic Report Card:: Sea ice loss "is beyond the range of natural variability, implying a human component to the drastic decrease observed in the records.""This time series shows the Arctic sea ice extent in millions of square kilometers over the past roughly 1,500 years. Scientists use climate proxies like sediment/ice cores, tree rings, and fossilized shells of ocean creatures to extend the sea ice extent records back in time. These records show that while there have been several periods over the past 1,450 years when sea ice extents expanded and contracted, the decrease during the modern era is unrivaled. And just as importantly, it is beyond the range of natural variability, implying a human component to the drastic decrease observed in the records."The minimum sea ice extent, which occurs each summer, is influenced by the atmospheric circulation, air temperature, and variations in the amount of warm water that flows into the Arctic. Since 1900, waters that enter the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait have increased by 2 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit). Meanwhile, proxy records show that the current warming trend in surface air temperatures has not been observed in the Arctic over at least the last 2,000 years."

There are much disinformation about polar bears these days, and climate deniers , as usual, have their own alternative reality on them.Polar bears never were the “poster child” for global warming. They might be the poster child of animal activists, but that’s a another story.Here is the real story behind that gut-wrenching image that went viral in 2018. An image heartless climate deniers misused to claim “polar bears are the poster child of global warming”.PHOTOGRAPH BY CRISTINA MITTERMEIER.“Perhaps we made a mistake not telling the full story—that we were looking for a picture that foretold the future.”Starving-Polar-Bear Photographer Recalls What Went Wrong“But taking a closer look at the video reveals something different about the polar bears’ food supply and its connection to climate change. Andrew Derocher, a polar bear scientist at the University of Alberta in Edmonton, notes that while the video was released as the first snows drifted across the Northeast this December, the footage was shot in the summertime. And during that season, he sees bears that look like this all the time.”The Polar Bear, Climate Change’s Poster Child, Ignites ControversySTATUS OF THE POLAR BEARS:There’s a myth that polar bear populations are thriving because they’ve grown since the 1970s.That growth has nothing to do with the climate – it was due to the introduction of the International Agreement on the Conservation of Polar Bears in 1973, which restricted and in some circumstances banned the hunting of polar bears, which had caused their populations to dwindle.Global warming – specifically the rapid decline in the Arctic sea ice they need to hunt – has caused polar bear populations to decline in recent years.The situation is serious for them, being on the red list of threatened species. (Vulnerable).LATEST : COULD GO EXTINCT BEFORE 2100."If global carbon emissions continue at their current rate, only a handful of polar bear populations — located in very far north Arctic island regions that are expected to hold the last year-round sea ice — will still survive by the end of the century, a new study asserts.The study, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, is the first to project long-term survival rates for all 19 of the world’s polar bear populations. It calculates the rate of ice melt and open-water expansion, the length of time that bears can go without food while waiting for winter’s return and the effects on reproduction and cub survival.The fate of the cubs ultimately determines the fate of all polar bears, said co-author Steve Amstrup, chief scientist for the nonprofit Polar Bears International.“We know that if there are no cubs being brought into the population, then ultimately the population will collapse,” said Amstrup, who moved to the Montana-based nonprofit after heading the polar bear research program at the U.S. Geological Survey in Alaska.After cubs, the death spiral will reach yearlings, followed by adult males and adult maternal females. Solitary adult females without cubs will the last to succumb, according to the study’s calculation.At current rates of emissions, two of the polar bear populations are virtually certain to have complete reproductive failure by 2080, and six are very likely to have complete reproductive failure by then, according go the calculations.If carbon emissions are moderately curtailed, keeping global temperatures at 2.4 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, the outcome for polar bears is marginally better.A polar bear dries off after taking a swim in the Chukchi Sea in Alaska, June 15, 2014. Chukchi Sea bears will far better than other populations in the short term, but also face long-term challenges to their survival because of climate change. (Brian Battaile / U.S. Geological Survey)""Our model captures demographic trends observed during 1979–2016, showing that recruitment and survival impact thresholds may already have been exceeded in some subpopulations. It also suggests that, with high greenhouse gas emissions, steeply declining reproduction and survival will jeopardize the persistence of all but a few high-Arctic subpopulations by 2100. Moderate emissions mitigation prolongs persistence but is unlikely to prevent some subpopulation extirpations within this century."Polar bear assessment brings both good and troubling newsFasting season length sets temporal limits for global polar bear persistenceWHAT THE PEER REVIEWED SCIENCE SAYS:Projected Polar Bear Sea Ice Habitat in the Canadian Arctic ArchipelagoAbstractBackgroundSea ice across the Arctic is declining and altering physical characteristics of marine ecosystems. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have been identified as vulnerable to changes in sea ice conditions. We use sea ice projections for the Canadian Arctic Archipelago from 2006 – 2100 to gain insight into the conservation challenges for polar bears with respect to habitat loss using metrics developed from polar bear energetics modeling.Principal FindingsShifts away from multiyear ice to annual ice cover throughout the region, as well as lengthening ice-free periods, may become critical for polar bearsbefore the end of the 21st century with projected warming. Each polar bearpopulation in the Archipelago may undergo 2–5 months of ice-free conditions, where no such conditions exist presently. We identify spatially and temporally explicit ice-free periods that extend beyond what polar bears require for nutritional and reproductive demands.Conclusions/SignificanceUnder business-as-usual climate projections, polar bears may face starvation and reproductive failure across the entire Archipelago by the year 2100.Climate change discussions on social media are very influential. A new study in BioScience shows that when it comes to iconic topics such as polar bears and retreating sea ice, climate blogs fall into two distinct camps with little or no overlap between deniers and the available scientific facts. The study's first author, NIOO-KNAW researcher Jeff Harvey says, "It's time for scientists to counter the misinformation and engage directly with the public far more."Polar bears and retreating sea ice have become iconic symbols of the polarised climate change debate. By focusing on these subjects, deniers of human-caused global warming cast doubt among the public about the entire body of climate change knowledge. But a new study of the underlying science used in the debatecould well melt down the trustworthiness of these deniers on social media.The evidence is clear that there has been great change in the climate, and the bear population is showing it.Biologist Nick Lunn has been studying the bears for some 30 years. He says the population is on a long,slow, steady decline. More.Report bitterly contested by scientists who say threat comes from climate change, which has pushed bears closer to humans – not because the population is growingPolar bear numbers in Canadian Arctic pose threat to Inuit, controversial report saysPolar bears are getting thinner and having fewer cubs. Melting sea ice is to blameInterrelated ecological impacts of climate change on an apex predatorHere are ca 20 more studies confirming CC and decreasing sea ice as their major threats:Arctic sea ice loss has thus far progressed faster than most climate models have predicted [...] Arctic sea ice extent is linearly related to global mean temperature, which in turn, is directly related to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (Amstrup et al. 2010). Population and habitat models predict substantial declines in the distribution and abundance of Polar Bears in the future.Anthropogenic and natural changes in Arctic environments, as well as recognition of the shortcomings of our knowledge of Polar Bear ecology, are increasing the challenges for Polar Bear conservation and management. Higher ambient temperatures and erratic weather fluctuations, symptoms of anthropogenic climate change, are increasing across the range of polar bears. Polar Bears are dependent upon Arctic sea ice for access to their prey. Their dependence on an ephemeral habitat that exists as a function of sea surface and atmospheric temperatures means that climate warming poses the single most important threat to the long-term persistence of Polar Bears (Obbard et al. 2010). Arctic sea ice loss has thus far progressed faster than most climate models have predicted (Stroeve et al. 2007) with September sea extent declining at a linear rate of 14% per decade from 1979 through 2011 (Stroeve et al. 2012, Stroeve et al. 2014). Because changes in sea-ice are known to alter Polar Bear abundance, productivity, body condition, and distribution (Stirling et al. 1999, Fischbach et al. 2007, Schleibe et al. 2008, Durner et al. 2009, Regehr et al. 2010, Rode et al. 2010a, 2012, 2014b, Bromaghin et al. 2015), continued climate warming will increase future uncertainty and pose severe risks to the welfare of Polar Bear subpopulations (Stirling and Derocher 2012, Derocher et al. 2013). Arctic sea ice extent is linearly related to global mean temperature, which in turn, is directly related to atmospheric greenhouse gas concentrations (Amstrup et al. 2010). Population and habitat models predict substantial declines in the distribution and abundance of Polar Bears in the future (Durner et al. 2009, Amstrup et al. 2008, Hunter et al. 2010, Castro de la Guardia et al. 2013, Hamilton et al. 2014)ARTIC SEA ICE:Arctic Sea Ice News and Analysishttps://journals.ametsoc.org/doi/abs/10.1175/JCLI-D-17-0552.1From NOAA's December 12, 2017 Arctic Report Card:: Sea ice loss "is beyond the range of natural variability, implying a human component to the drastic decrease observed in the records.""This time series shows the Arctic sea ice extent in millions of square kilometers over the past roughly 1,500 years. Scientists use climate proxies like sediment/ice cores, tree rings, and fossilized shells of ocean creatures to extend the sea ice extent records back in time. These records show that while there have been several periods over the past 1,450 years when sea ice extents expanded and contracted, the decrease during the modern era is unrivaled. And just as importantly, it is beyond the range of natural variability, implying a human component to the drastic decrease observed in the records."The minimum sea ice extent, which occurs each summer, is influenced by the atmospheric circulation, air temperature, and variations in the amount of warm water that flows into the Arctic. Since 1900, waters that enter the Arctic Ocean through the Fram Strait have increased by 2 degrees Celsius (4 degrees Fahrenheit). Meanwhile, proxy records show that the current warming trend in surface air temperatures has not been observed in the Arctic over at least the last 2,000 years."BONUS:Polar bears and retreating sea ice have become iconic symbols of the polarised climate change debate. By focusing on these subjects, deniers of human-caused global warming cast doubt among the public about the entire body of climate change knowledge. But a new study of the underlying science used in the debate could well melt down the trustworthiness of these deniers on social media.AbstractIncreasing surface temperatures, Arctic sea-ice loss, and other evidence of anthropogenic global warming (AGW) are acknowledged by every major scientific organization in the world. However, there is a wide gap between this broad scientific consensus and public opinion. Internet blogs have strongly contributed to this consensus gap by fomenting misunderstandings of AGW causes and consequences. Polar bears (Ursus maritimus) have become a “poster species” for AGW, making them a target of those denying AGW evidence. Here, focusing on Arctic sea ice and polar bears, we show that blogs that deny or downplay AGW disregard the overwhelming scientific evidence of Arctic sea-ice loss and polar bear vulnerability. By denying the impacts of AGW on polar bears, bloggers aim to cast doubt on other established ecological consequences of AGW, aggravating the consensus gap. To counter misinformation and reduce this gap, scientists should directly engage the public in the media and blogosphere.DENIERS FAVORITE BLOGGER ON POLAR BEARS IS LYING THROUGH HER TEETH ON BEHALF OF FOSSIL FUEL FUNDED THINK TANKS:How climate denial blogs misinform so many people with such poor scientific arguments.New study uncovers the 'keystone domino' strategy of climate denial | Dana NuccitelliSusan Crockford writes a lot about polar bears, but does so mostly on her own website and for anti-mitigation thinktanks such as the Heartland Institute and the Global Warming Policy Foundation (GWPF); not in the scientific literature.Climate Change Denialists Say Polar Bears Are Fine. Scientists Are Pushing BackThe researchers also singled out Polar Bear Science, a blog run by Susan J. Crockford, a Canadian zoologist, as a primary source of dubious information about the status of polar bears. About 80 percent of the contrarian websites that the researchers studied referred to Dr. Crockford’s blog as a primary source, they said.https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/...Analysis of "Polar bears keep thriving even as global warming alarmists keep pretending they’re dying"Published in Financial Post, by Susan Crockford on 27 Feb 2018Three scientists analyzed the article and estimate its overall scientific credibility to be 'very low'. A majority of reviewers tagged the article as: Biased, Cherry-picking, Misleading.Financial Post publishes misleading opinion that misrepresents science of polar bears’ plightInternet Blogs, Polar Bears, and Climate-Change Denial by Proxy | BioScience | Oxford Academichttps://academic.oup.com/bioscie...