«Sorcerer» is a system administration technician of a telecommunications network group. In simple terms, this is a sysadmin «Azov». His job is to maintain the unit’s computers, networks, and servers. The ITC editorial team tells the story of a cadet who promised himself he would never return to the army and now serves in the 12th Special Forces Brigade «Azov».
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I was born into a military family — my father was an officer in the Soviet army. My parents are from a village in Kirovohrad region, but as a military family, we were constantly moving around. I was born in Moldova and lived there until the collapse of the USSR and the formation of Transnistria when we returned to Ukraine.
Since childhood, my older brother and I were trained as future military men — my father wanted to start a dynasty. At the age of 4, I was already shooting an assault rifle at the training ground, I was the cool kid in the yard, handing out shell casings to my friends.
My older brother entered the military school of the Air Defense Command, and I followed his example and entered the Kyiv Military Institute of Management and Communications, which was formed because of the school.
If you have the desire and motivation, but no experience, Azov will teach you everything you need for further service. Fill out the application form at the link.
Cadet life — fence, barracks, formation. Everything is on schedule.
Our life was very different from that of ordinary students. We could not rely on our parents or go out into the city freely. In a military school, you quickly learn to rely only on yourself and your comrades. This helps you grow up, and the difference with civilian students is very noticeable.
The cadets were trained as future engineers, with an emphasis on research rather than military service. This radically distinguished the institute from other military universities in Ukraine.
In fact, the institute was «a forge for RTV engineering personnel». Academicians, professors, and doctors of science worked as teachers at the institute. The cadets were actively involved in research and development, and their theses were used to improve existing weapons and develop fundamentally new ones.
The emphasis on learning rather than «military» created its own atmosphere. Even one of the humorous decipherments of the institute’s acronym contained «semi-military» («air defense» in translation). Most officers were graduates of the institute themselves, so they cared about its values and traditions.
Before military school, I was in love with a girl, but after taking the oath, we broke up. I lived with a broken heart for more than 8 months, didn’t talk to girls and had no desire to meet them, so I almost never went on leave.
In my first year, on the day the school was founded, we organized a disco and traditionally invited girls from the medical college. As before, I had no desire to communicate with the girls, but the disco at the school, like the formation, was on schedule.
That night I didn’t invite anyone and didn’t dance slow dances. The final tune of the evening is playing. My comrades began to encourage me to invite one of the girls, even chose which one, as they say, they took it on the chin.
I approached her. I asked her out. The girl refused, but we started talking, and I walked her to the trolleybus stop and took her phone number, which she wrote down in pencil on her military ID card.
When I returned to the barracks, the guys were looking at me with square eyes. They said «we were thinking of playing a joke on you — she had dumped six guys before you and we wanted you to be the next one, and you fell for her and then went somewhere with her».
That’s right, I found the love of my life.
I studied at the Institute in the 1990s, during the collapse of the Soviet Union and significant reductions in the Ukrainian army. According to the European model, it was planned to withdraw all military institutes from large cities and reduce the number of troops from 1.3 million to 300,000. Equipment and weapons were to be destroyed or transferred to third countries.
The cuts also affected our school. It was merged with the School of Communications to form an institute. The next step was to completely disband it, and the cadets were transferred to the territory of the former communications school.
Such events in the country and at the institute affected the current and future military — a mood of uselessness prevailed.
At the same time, the institute’s leadership changed, rejecting the values and traditions of the school and instead of educating «engineers — the elite of the radio engineering troops» they introduced «military in its most negative sense.
In January, in my fifth year, my wife, and son were hospitalized with an infection. It so happened that my son had to be discharged, and my wife had to stay in the hospital for another day. I had to take my son out of the hospital and stay with him for a day.
I approached the head of the course and asked to be released. They refused to let me go.
This became a trigger. I realized that a person who has power over you simply because of the stars on his shoulder straps can ruin your life because of a bad mood. It was at that moment that I realized that such an attitude contradicts my essence, and I would rather not be a part of it. I wrote a letter of resignation from the institute, gave it to the head of the course and went to the hospital to get my son.
Then there was the guardhouse, conversations with superiors of all levels, and the mother’s tears. A cadet who decided to leave the institute two months before his master’s degree defense was an extraordinary event.
At that moment, I firmly decided that I would never, under any circumstances, return to the army.
After I was fired, I started seeking employment, but it was not easy without experience. I was lucky and found a job with a good salary through an agency: a small company with 8-10 computers and a server. The main advantage of the job was the need to travel all over Ukraine on business trips and train the company’s clients on how to work with specialized software. I visited more than 100 cities in a year.
Then I worked at UkrNet as a server administrator. This was his first responsible and challenging job, as the project’s servers had to work around the clock without interruption.
Thereafter, in 2003, I joined Bayadera Group. It was my first job in a large corporate network with offices all over Ukraine.
It was here that I gained invaluable experience. My boss taught me not only to implement solutions but also to analyze all related aspects. Why are we doing this? Who will do the day-to-day maintenance and how? What if it breaks down?
This approach to work had a result: systems and networks worked stably, and all «abnormal» situations had solutions before they occurred. A little later, I became the head of the IT department and conducted quite a few interviews with system administrators. Unfortunately, there were a lot of inexperienced admins on the labor market at the time who wanted a decent salary and «guru» units that the company couldn’t afford.
One day, I thought: «there are many small companies that cannot afford to hire a highly qualified administrator and are forced to either train people without experience or to get by with the services of students. What if you offer them professional services at a price lower than the average salary of an administrator? And additionally reduce the tax burden as a bonus».
In 2006, this idea was formalized into our own company. The price of our services was slightly less than the salary of a full-time sysadmin.
If you have decided join «Azov» — you will receive full support: from the application form to the start of service.
There is a saying: a good administrator is a lazy administrator. A good system administrator does his job so that everything works, and he doesn’t have to intervene every day.
You have to do everything efficiently and automated from the very beginning. A sysadmin’s work, if done well, is done once.
In the company, we have developed protocols and rules that are suitable for 90% of offices. Thanks to this, client networks work stably and do not require constant attention. For example, do you remember the «Petya» virus that seriously affected the work of many well-known corporations? Our clients did not have these problems on any of their computers, and we prevented its spread.
At the beginning of 2022, we were servicing more than 200 servers and 1500 computers. Among the clients were 2 companies with branches in all regions of Ukraine. There were three technical specialists who set up all this. These people have not changed since the company was founded.
Our company still exists — now I just work there and get paid according to the current legislation. But my colleagues continue to work and run the business without my involvement.
On February 24, I was woken up by my brother’s call: «Wake up — it’s started!». I took the dog and went for a walk. Everything was like in a dream: a siren was howling, people were panicking everywhere.
I returned home, put my wife and children and her parents in the car and sent them to a safe place. And he joined the newly formed defense forces.
We were given weapons, put on checkpoints and mobile air defense posts.
Then came September 2022. Then some guys from «Azov» were released from captivity. My friend was among them, the guys were in a terrible condition. They were starved, tortured, and some of them were immediately taken to intensive care. So I was able to meet with my friend no sooner than a month after his release.
We talked, I told him about my activities in the DFTG hunting for «Shaked», and then he said: «Lekha, you are an intelligent specialist. “Azov needs such people». I started arguing, recalling my past in the army and stood my ground that I did not want to go back there. In addition, I had health problems and was not sure that I could pass the preliminary physical examination «Azov». And he kept saying that there are the Armed Forces, the National Guard, and then there is «Azov». «Azov» — is completely different.
I had my doubts, but his words stuck with me.
In December 2022, my eldest son, who mobilized in the first days of the full-scale invasion, was transferred to a combat unit and began preparing to be sent to the front.
I thought I couldn’t stay at home when my child was going to the trenches. So I applied to «Azov».
Protect your future in 12th Special Forces Brigade «Azov».
I was scheduled for an interview with the head of the communication center. Immediately afterwards, on March 1, 2023, I joined the 12th Special Forces Brigade «Azov».
I expected to join the army. I was expecting an ordinary military service, which was simply publicized and called «Azov». But it didn’t turn out that way at all.
I was given the task of developing software to automate certain processes, some tasks on infrastructure solutions. In fact, I started working in my specialty from the very first days and did not see any «military jokes» at all. I still don’t even know who has what ranks when I talk to some of my colleagues.
In «Azov» there is respect for everyone and everyone communicates on an equal footing. You know that certain people are commanders and, of course, this is considered. Commanders’ orders are carried out clearly and on time, but there is no such thing as a «commander being higher than a» commander.
I remember once working at one of the headquarters in a room equipped as a smoking room, and I was working on some communications. My friend «Tavr», who was acting brigade commander at the time, came into the room and asked: «friend, will you be okay with the smoke if I smoke? In what other military unit or brigade would a brigade commander ask a soldier’s opinion?
The first and foremost challenge in the service is that we need competent specialists, and there is a shortage of them. System administrators, network engineers, electronics engineers, radio communication specialists.
The second challenge is logistics. For example, for two months in a row, enemy FPVs flew into our communication positions and damaged equipment and communications. Each time, new cables, connectors, fasteners, and other consumables are needed to repair them.
Cable is not fashionable, it will not destroy anyone. But it is cables, connectors, masts, and other consumables that are in constant short supply for both UAVs and communications specialists. Local councils are reluctant to allocate funds (subventions) for the purchase of cables, connectors, and other communication consumables in general. After all, saying «we provided funds for UAVs» is cool, and the phrase «we provided the purchase of X kilometers of cable» is trite.
Unfortunately, it is the «trivial» things that save the lives of our fighters and destroy the enemy. The cable is a radio link. The soldier will receive/transmit the necessary information in time. The cable is the connection with the UAV. No communication with the board means no intelligence or FPV does not work. If there is no intelligence, the art does not work. Everything is connected. That’s why we need «banal» things in large quantities.
Currently, there is an insufficient amount of state subventions (funds from local budgets) because of the unpopularity of communication means. The need for supplies is covered by unit meetings or volunteers. I would like to work without thinking about where to get those XXX meters of cable or YYY type connector that are damaged every day.
I would advise IT professionals to mobilize, but to do so in a balanced way. I can say for sure that it makes sense to mobilize to «Azov».
Firstly, «Azov» treats a soldier as a person, a specialist, a fighter. A soldier is not a devalued «human resource» intended to perform tasks.
Secondly, we are at war. There will be dangerous situations, combat missions and other tasks, but commanders will do everything to ensure that soldiers can fulfill their tasks, stay alive and unharmed, and have everything they need. A soldier will never be face to face with a problem. If necessary, the entire brigade will work to save a soldier’s life.
Thirdly, the soldier has the right to vote. You can always address the command, suggest an idea or discuss your vision (solution) to a problem. They will listen to you and take your suggestions into account. This is not «discussing orders» it is more like «informed decision-making».
«Azov» – not a TCC. Only motivated volunteers are accepted to join the brigade. Fill out the application form at the link and join the unit.
If you have been interviewed for a certain position, you will definitely get that position and perform the work discussed.
Now I can confidently say that «Azov» is «Azov». We have mutual respect, balanced decision-making and performance evaluation. There are no people in «Azov» who were mobilized by the «TCC» or appointed by the «above» — everyone who serves here is a volunteer, people with similar motivation. Everyone understands that the person you are communicating with came to the unit voluntarily. And the fact that you serve together is a conscious choice of both of you.
Actions are important, not slogans.
