Russian Military Recruiters Are Probably Not Getting Bonuses for Exceeding Quotas

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Quote of the Day

The Russian military’s “meat-grinder” tactics in Ukraine, where troops suffer ruinous losses for barely any gain, are creating a backlash.

In fact, the average life expectancy of a new recruit is about 10 days to three weeks, and once on the battlefield, their survival averages just 20-35 minutes, according to Russian military bloggers. 

Jason Ma
June 28, 2026
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If true*, that would cause a significant reduction in moral and make recruitment “challenging.”

Think about it. Promises of free medical care for life and a large pension at retirement just won’t have the same draw as it might have had a few years ago.

* It might be true for certain subgroups in the military. But it certainly is not true for the military as a whole.

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4 thoughts on “Russian Military Recruiters Are Probably Not Getting Bonuses for Exceeding Quotas”

  1. I guess you cross-posted this as humor but I feel compelled to remind you to trust nothing that the MSM puts out about this war.

    There are still people in Russia that remember when the Yeltsin government inflation reduced the military pension to effectively zero.

  2. Promises of free medical care for life and a large pension at retirement just won’t have the same draw as it might have had a few years ago.

    Probably not. Not when “life” is measured in double-digit days, and surviving to retirement not only is not guaranteed, it’s not even likely.

    This must feel like a lottery system, both in its “too good to be true” promise and its odds of payout. Except that the price of the ticket is your life.

  3. I suspect “recruiting” in Russia is a lot more akin to being “shanghaied” than an actual choice….

    • All the “recruiters shanghaiing someone by force” videos I’ve seen have been on the UKR side. May be source selection or other bias, but it’s clear to me that the losses as a percent of population are far worse on the UKR side than the RUS side.

      Will be interesting to watch what happens in the European countries as they start to impose or increase the draft in the face of ongoing if slow Russian progress, especially with the occasional talk of including females because “equality!”

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