Badge "Class Specialist Of The Soviet Army".

[vikingraider1]

Can anybody tell me what the Criteria for awarding the officer qualification badges that were worn from the 1950s onwards and also the Criteria for conscripts M, 1, 2, and 3 badges. Was there an exam that had to be sat, a series of task or was it just awarded on the soldiers overall attitude and performance during training?
Thanks

[otlichnik]

Ciaran,

I have often wondered about this. It is clearly for achieving certain standing in a speciality - and not just combined arms. The badge is given for achieving status in any speciality including signals, tank, artillery, combined arms, etc.

What I am not sure of is whether there were tests or one just had to fulfil traning and experience requirements - although most training had tests involved. I understand that the very rare docs sometimes give more detail.

Shawn

[vikingraider1]

Does anybody have any of these award books they could post up? might shed some light on this interesting subject.

[vikingraider1]

I had a chat with a dealer today about these awards and he said that these awards were given after an exam was taken. Not sure what this exam entailed but he said that another exam could be taken after a period of time in order to gain a higher grade.

[k3rvmfusa]

Unfortunately, I am not familiar with the process by which officer's qualified for the specialist badges. I do have, however, an issue booklet for the 1950s precursor to combined arms specialist badge.

Below is the cover to the award booklet, in this case awarded to lieutenant for radio-technical proficiency.

The frontspiece of the booklet. The wording on both the cover and the frontspiece suggest the same booklet was used for all varieties of specialist badges.

Page 2 is for identification data. It lists both the holder and his specialty -- in this case, radiotechnical stations.

Page 3 is for listing the specific qualifications. It looks like subsequent awards of higher classifications would be recorded in the same book.

The columns are:
Date qualified - Specific Classification - by order # - Unit Commander signature.

Page 4 lists what appear to be extensions to original classification designations.

Page 5 lists the qualification held when discharged to the reserves.

Page 6 is a continuation page for reserve activity. My Russian is getting rusty, but it appears to be for listing attempts at maintaining certifications once in the reserves.

Page 7 is for notes.

The last page appears to be an almost obligatory page similar to those in Ordenskiye Knizhki listing the rights and regulations pertinent to this award.