Weblog 2012-Oct-30th wrote:20-60% of Russia's teenagers, male and female, are unfit for military duty because of reproductive illnesses, stemming from harmful habits, abortions, serious illnesses, and communicable diseases.
The Jamestown Foundation wrote: On October 5, Olga Kovtun, a member of the Russian Union of Pediatricians, told a medical conference in Moscow that more than half of Russia’s teenagers are unfit for military service. “Sixty percent of teenagers are not subject to military service for medical reasons,” Kovtun said adding that 46 percent of all teenage boys and 60 percent of all teenage girls have reproductive illnesses. The Union of Pediatricians also expressed concern about the death rate among teenagers, which in some parts of the country exceeds the infant mortality rate. (Interfax, October 5).
For instance, the 2012 spring draft in Sverdlovsk oblast revealed that 23 percent of draftees had psycho-neurological disorders. Around 20 percent suffered from illnesses in the bone-muscular system
HEALTHY RUSSIA FOUNDATION wrote: 107031, Moscow, Kuznetskiy most 19, b.1.Today, according to the Ministry of Health’s head child and adolescent gynecology specialist Elena Uvarova, approximately 20% of adolescent girls have disorders that may lead to serious reproductive problems later in life. This may, in turn, decrease the reproductive potential of a generation of Russian women.
The 20% of bone-muscular system disqualifications is probably not far off from what the U.S. military recruiting system finds among those who express an interest and then either self-eliminate, due to known physical problems such as one leg short than the other, or improperly healed bone fractures; or fail the military induction physical.
The 23% mental psycho-neurological disorders category probably includes those who avoid conscription by using bribes or political influence in a corrupt conscription system to obtain a subjective determination of mental unsuitable from corrupt conscription officials.
Statistics in the U.S. indicate over 50% of U.S. youth are ineligible for military service due to physical health, mental health, or criminal record disqualification. Russia has the added burden of low paid conscription military service which makes the vast majority of candidates want to avoid being conscripted.
The military has always wanted more physically fit soldiers than the general population; those that are color blind, are asthmatic, have one leg shorter than the other, poor hearing, poor eye sight, can not walk straight, etc. simply do not provide the most bang for the body. The military is about survival of a nation and low maintenance, low downtime, high physical capability, mentally capable, psychologically compliant, smart soldiers give the military one type of edge over their opponents.
Comparisons of the U.S. military to other Military based on cost, often ignore how much more in salary, active duty benefits, and retirement benefits the U.S. pays it's voluntary military as compared to China and Russia. As one of the quoted articles states - conscription armies are much cheaper than volunteer armies. The Russian limitation of just a single year of conscription service, plus corruption in the conscription process, probably has as much to do with the Russian's not meeting their goals for a professional military as much as the health problems with the conscription candidates.