“All my life I wanted to wear epaulettes”: 21-year-old sergeant - about rescuing colleagues during the NWO and dreams of becoming a firefighter

For several months of participation in the special operation, 21-year-old junior sergeant Artur Galeev formulated for himself three basic rules of behavior in a hot spot: “First, watch your weapons and yourself.

Second, if you hear a whistle, immediately fall to the ground, no matter what you do.

The whistle means that an artillery shell is already landing somewhere near you.

Third - never leave your comrade, otherwise you will doom him to death or captivity.

Galeev himself saved several colleagues.

But he had to stop serving in the army.

The young man came under tank fire and was seriously wounded.

He almost died from blood loss, but he was able to put a tourniquet on his broken arm and crawl to the doctors.  

“I knew that I would complete the task”

“All my life I wanted to wear shoulder straps, because I looked at my father - he was a state traffic inspector in Bashkiria.

I have always been very proud of them.

Over time, I realized that I wanted to save people, and went to the fire department, ”says Galeev RT.

After graduating from the Ufa college with a degree in fire safety, Artur went to serve in the army on a contract basis, bypassing military service.

According to him, he was confident that he "could cope with any task that was set." 

• Artur Galeev (left) during a special operation.

• © Personal archive

Before being sent to a special operation, Galeev went through training and became deputy commander of an infantry fighting vehicle (BMP), and when he found out that they needed grenade launchers in the unit, he himself approached the commander and said that he was ready to master a new specialty.

“I imagined that everything would be like in a movie: 10,000 Russians against 10,000 nationalists on the battlefield, a direct clash, like during the Great Patriotic War.

But everything I expected was wrong,” says Galeev. 

According to the soldier, it turned out that most often they die from shrapnel, so the ability to quickly dig in is the main survival skill.

Arthur received his first wound during a mortar attack.

“The mine lay down at about 20 meters. I managed to duck down, but a fragment pierced the helmet and hit my face - it got stuck in soft tissues,” he says. 

The soldier did not stay long in the hospital.

After the doctors removed the fragment, he wrote a report that he refused further treatment, and again went to the front line.

"All my friends met me"

During the liberation of one of the Donetsk towns, a colleague Galeev was wounded in the leg.

The soldier began to bleed heavily.

“I bandaged him, but I realized that he needed urgently to the doctors.

He took off his armor, all pouches, weapons, threw him on his back and dragged him.

I stopped twice, then went on, ”recalls Galeev.

On that day, Artur walked 15 km with a wounded comrade on his back to the location of Russian military doctors, and then returned to the front line. 

“My colleague survived.

He later promised me that he would name his son after me.

I told him: “Are you out of your mind?

Call it what you want.

You would have done the same."

• Arthur Galeev received his first combat wound during shelling.

• © Personal archive

According to Arthur, it's scary when a friend dies in your arms.

He recalls how one day he, along with a colleague, took up defense - they were waiting for the approach of an enemy sabotage group. 

“We dug a trench, sat down to rest, and began to eat dry rations.

An hour later we were covered with mines and Grads.

My comrade Shurik (name changed.

) was hit in the head with a shrapnel, and I was shell-shocked.

When he recovered, he began to pull him out of the trench.

It didn't take long for me to realize that he was gone.

Five minutes ago they ate dry rations, and now he is dead, ”recalls the young man.

In early May, Galeev eliminated two officers of the Armed Forces of Ukraine in battle, obtained important documents, and also provided medical assistance to wounded colleagues and saved the commander.

For this, Arthur was presented to the Order of Courage.

And two weeks later, he nearly died.

A projectile fired from a Ukrainian Armed Forces tank exploded just a couple of meters away.

Galeev was stunned, his arm was broken. 

“The right hand literally dangled from the arteries,” recalls the soldier.

He was able to apply a tourniquet and get to the doctors.

In the hospital, Arthur was operated on, but his arm had to be amputated.

After that, Arthur was treated in Moscow, where the bride flew to him.

“We had not seen each other for almost six months, when we met, she told me that she would never leave, no matter what happened.

And in Ufa at the airport I was already met by all relatives and friends with the flag of Russia.

Everyone hugged, kissed, cried,” Arthur smiles.

"My enemies bite elbows"

Now he continues to receive wages as a military man and is preparing for prosthetics.

Ukrainian nationalists on social networks posted a photo of Galeev after amputation with mocking comments about Russian soldiers.

Arthur didn't care.

“They are trying to laugh at the fact that I don’t have a hand, but when I saw this, I thought that now I’m popular in Ukraine,” Artur laughs.

- This is great: my enemies bite their elbows and think why I didn’t die.

We still took that inhabitant - we completed the task.

After returning to his native Ufa, Artur continues to help the military participating in the NMD - together with the residents of Bashkiria, he collects humanitarian aid for our soldiers.

Galeev himself donated about 100 thousand rubles for clothing and funds for military personnel.

In the volunteer group, he is the only participant in the hostilities, so he knows from his own experience what exactly needs to be sent to the military.

During the conversation, Artur specifically asks to mention the female volunteers who administer the group, as well as local residents who sew clothes for Russian fighters.

“These are real sewing troops!

I am proud that I live with them in the same city.

You have no idea how selfless women they are: they use their own money to sew hats, jackets, underwear and thermal underwear for our guys.

All this in my spare time from work.

They are masters of their craft,” says junior sergeant.

• © Personal archive

Arthur will still fulfill his dream of working as a firefighter, despite the loss of his arm.

After he receives and masters the prosthesis, the young man plans to get a job as a fire prevention engineer at the Ufa Fire Department.

Galeev would like to work with low-income families, who are often forced to live in unsafe buildings.

“I want to work to reduce the risk of fires in such premises.

It is poor families who, as a rule, have poor wiring, unsafe stoves.

Such buildings often burn, entire families, including children, die in fires, and I cannot allow this to happen in our republic,” says Artur.