History in the spirit of the times: becoming a sapper with a diploma in psychology and English teaching

This story is similar to many stories of our other heroes. And at the same time, she is unique, because every person who is capable of self-denial for the sake of others is unique. His brothers told about the sapper Serhiy Mysyura, who is celebrating his birthday today. The junior sergeant, who went to the front in the ranks of the first volunteers back in February 2022, he was guided by a natural patriotic impulse, never once during his entire service did he doubt the correctness of the choice made.

First a few weeks at the training school. Then a year on the front line, guarding an object of strategic importance, where the task was to prevent the movement of the enemy both under it and along it and to make demining impossible. In any weather, in complete darkness, with a thermal imager in hand, Serhiy and his comrades conducted round-the-clock observation of the panorama of the reservoir.

At the end of the first year of service, our hero and his comrades were transferred to a village of which only ruins remained. Mykola Morarash, demining driver, Serhiy’s comrade-in-arms, remembers how the boys made ends meet in the basements of destroyed buildings: they made bunk beds for themselves, got a cat that caught countless mice (ubiquitous rodents even got to edible supplies suspended in bags under the ceiling).

Animals accompany servicemen everywhere. Cats catch mice in the house, dogs tamed by our military, thanks to their sensitive hearing, catch the approach of strangers, helping the guys who are on guard in the dark to quickly react to the appearance of strangers. What’s more, with their presence and the need to take care of them, the animals create an atmosphere of family coziness, which the boys, who have been separated from their homes for the third year, lack so much.

How a hobby from peaceful life can be useful when choosing a military profession

After wintering in the basements – again training and distribution of operational demining to sappers. In a certain sense, the choice of a military profession was dictated by a passion for peaceful life – a metal detector has long been Serhiy’s favorite tool. And now the skill acquired in a peaceful life has come in handy in mastering a profession so necessary for the country.

Another third of the territory of Ukraine needs demining

Since the start of the aggressor’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine, specialists of the State Emergency Service and the National Police have seized about half a million shells and explosive objects. Despite this, communities in at least 10 regions of the country need demining, and about a third of the entire territory remains contaminated with explosive objects.

According to Mykola Morarash, the land is most polluted by such types of submunitions as 9n210, 9n235, NAR S-8 KOM, MLRS (HAIL, HURRICANE, SMERCH), artillery ammunition (120-155mm). A lot of anti-tank mines of the TM-62 type, as well as anti-personnel mines of the PMN type.

Humanitarian vs operational demining

Recently, humanitarian demining has gained special relevance as one of the main components of mine action. In a broad sense, it includes the survey, mapping and marking of minefields, as well as the actual demining of the land. Responding sensitively to the request for time, Serhii and his comrades in arms underwent retraining in this direction.

Humanitarian differs from operational in that all metal is removed from the ground – fragments, explosive objects. This is very painstaking work that lasts longer than operational. However, after such cleaning, there are no remains from artillery fire and other projectiles.

An untrained sapper is a one-time sapper

The profession of a sapper is very dangerous and requires special knowledge and maximum concentration (among sappers there is a black joke like “an inexperienced sapper is a one-time sapper”). But it is impossible to predict everything. There is a certain safe distance to which you need to be able to leave before detonating explosive objects. Sometimes, for technical reasons (for example, the length of the detonation cord is not enough), it is not possible to run away to a safe distance, and then you have to hastily hide in an improvised shelter and feel the blast wave.

He is a good sapper and commander

Yuri Mohylyov, Serhiy’s brother, admires Serhiy’s organizational and human qualities: “As a commander, he should not go out into the field. His task, when explosive objects are found, is to decide how exactly to neutralize them.

But in order to speed up the work and support his comrades, he comes out on an equal footing with everyone. He is a good commander and really dedicated to his job, knows it and wants to do it right.

If you do not remove the metal residues from the MLRS, the tractor drivers who go out to plow the field can damage harrows, cultivators, and skid steers on tractors. If we surrender the field, the tractor drivers can work calmly – the fields are cleared of explosive objects almost one hundred percent.”

Recently, Serhiy had to teach newbies the business of sappers. The command was delighted with his teaching abilities (which is not surprising with such a background – he graduated from school with a gold medal, received a diploma in psychology with the right to teach English, has many years of experience in the field of foreign economic activity, rich experience in business communication) and offered to fully join the of teaching.

But Serhii does not want to leave the field work. “When you go out into the fields every day, make them safe, so that people can return to a peaceful life, even despite the risk and responsibility associated with demining, it is difficult to change this atmosphere to an office atmosphere”, – this is how comrade Mykola explains the choice.

Tatyana Morarash