There was fog, visibility – a few meters. I took charge at 16:00 and it was already 10-15 minutes, that me, private Hayk Hakobyan, was responsible for the section of the border zone. It was not the first time for me on the positions, internally I was calm, admiring the beauty of nature and making observations. And suddenly in the fog I noticed three moving points. Using the fog, they were trying to quietly move closer to our positions. What to do? It is necessary to make the right decision.

From a distance, I notice the heroes of my essay – teacher of the Department of physical training and sports of the Military Institute after Vazgen Sargsyan, Lieutenant Colonel Armen Hovhannisyan, his middle son – Lieutenant Arthur, a former student of the higher military school of the Russian Federation and the youngest of the family – 5-year-old Artyom. Elder son of Armen Hovhannisyan, Ara, is a platoon commander, carrying out combat duty at a military unit, the son of his brother David, volunteered to serve on the front line.

I graduated with Honors from the Faculty of Economics and Management of companies in the communications sector of the Yerevan Polytechnic Institute, then did 1-year officers’ training courses at the Military Aviation Institute after Armenak Khanperyants, and in 2013 I was appointed to serve in the military unit under the command of Lieutenant Colonel K.Darbinyan.
I have already served 2 years, the last year remains, but I have already decided to extend my contract. I made this decision because of the battalion command, warm situation, and finally, the conditions of service.

Sometimes, there are opinions from the “experts and reliable sources” of different levels that our society is not given complete information about the armed forces of Armenia, is not informed of all incidents, emergencies, hiding the real number of dead and wounded.

On September 11, at Armenian Defense Ministry training ground “Marshal Baghramyan” took place the active phase of the strategic command and staff exercises “Shant-2015.” Head of Staff of the exercise is head of the RA President’s Administration Vigen Sargsyan.
They were involved infantry, mechanized infantry, tank, artillery units, air force.

Three soldiers are sitting in front of me. Are they brothers? They are completely different. Khoren, the Senior, has a peaceful look, eyes are honest, thinking. Hovik is the youngest, is a handsome guy with a mischievous twinkle in the eyes. Hayk is in between, with strong muscles, you feel a rebel in him. And he starts talking: “So we have come from Russia. We came to defend our homeland.”
The Mkrtchyan brothers grew up in the city Sarapul, Udmurtia, Russian Federation. Recently they have come to Armenia, and became the soldiers of mandatory military service.

Today Armenian armourers are preparing rockets, bombs, mortars, grenades and are arming the army. Armenia is preparing parts of all the weapons used in the army and due to them the military equipment is always safeguarded and that increases the life of the weapon. Through innovation Armenian armourers change specifications of weapons that surprises even Russians, i.e. weapons are upgraded and enhanced.