Military Upgrade: QR Codes, Video Tokens and an “Army in Your Pocket”

The Defense Ministry and the National Guard are introducing new technologies for monitoring and control: servicemen on duty will be equipped with video tokens, parents of conscripts will be able to monitor their daily life through an app, and complaints can be sent via QR code. All this, as the Defense Ministry believes, will make military service more transparent and safer.

If now video cameras in units are installed mainly in weapons warehouses and military bases, now the Ministry of Defense wants to monitor personnel on duty, on duty, while performing official tasks. For this purpose, the army plans to introduce video tokens, which will record everything that happens in real time.

“This will ensure visibility and transparency,” said Tleukhan BASKHAZHAEV, head of the Defense Ministry’s Department of Educational and Ideological Work, at a briefing at the Central Communications Service.

Currently, there are 19,348 CCTV cameras operating in military units, of which 14,611 belong to the Ministry of Defense. True, not all of them are located in barracks, but nevertheless. To monitor the daily life of servicemen, units have created a staff of operators who watch video recordings and report any violations.

“The camera doesn’t just ‘watch’ – a special operator analyses the behaviour of the servicemen and reports all incidents to the command,” added Baskhozhaev.

Another innovation is the Armia.kz mobile application, which is planned to be launched this year. It will allow relatives of conscripts to learn about their living conditions, food and medical care.

- In real time, relatives will be able to talk to the commander or educator at any time during hours free from combat training. So to speak, “an army in your pocket” - always in touch, - explained the representative of the Ministry of Defense.

The application will be free and available on all mobile devices. It is noteworthy that, as the Defense Ministry claims, its development was carried out by conscripts themselves.

Currently, soldiers have the opportunity to contact their commanders through hotlines or anonymous complaint boxes, but the Ministry of Defense wants to soon transfer this process to a digital format.

- We are planning to implement a system of QR codes placed in convenient places. A soldier will be able to immediately send a request, attaching a photo or video, - Baskhozhaev said.

This will allow military personnel to promptly report problems and minimize the likelihood that requests will be “lost” or left unanswered.

One of the most pressing issues in the army is the death of servicemen. According to the Ministry of Defense, 90 percent of conscript deaths are not related to service. The main reasons are personal and family problems, traffic accidents outside of duty, illness, and violations of safety measures when operating equipment. At the briefing, it was reported that the army now has a “hands-free” principle: if a serviceman is on guard duty, but not currently on duty, his machine gun is in a special holder, and if a soldier takes it without permission, an alarm goes off.

Military doctors reported that annually more than 12 percent of conscripts are recognized as unfit for service, another 7 percent - temporarily unfit. The remaining conscripts are recognized as fit for military service and fit with minor restrictions. Most often, recruits are diagnosed with diseases of internal organs, pathologies of internal organs, neurological disorders and eye diseases. As the head of the department of medical flight examination and selection of specialists of the Center of the Military Medical Commission of the Ministry of Defense Kaisar DAURENBEK noted at a briefing, these indicators of "ill health" do not change from year to year. In order to identify health problems even before conscription, the Ministry of Defense plans to integrate medical databases.

The briefing again raised the issue of Yerbayan MUKHTAR, a conscript who suffered a severe craniocerebral injury in December 2023 at his military unit of the National Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs. According to the command, he hit his head either on the tiles or on the toilet in the restroom, but his parents and the public doubt this version. According to the military prosecutor's office, there are still no specific suspects. The young man has already undergone five operations, all unsuccessful.

- Currently, a set of operational and investigative measures is being carried out, examinations have been ordered. Based on the results of all the studies and collected evidence, a procedural decision will be made. There are no specific suspects yet, but there is a circle of people that is being processed by the investigation, - said the first deputy chief military prosecutor, Colonel of Justice Maksat KAZIEV at the same briefing.

The investigation is being conducted under the special supervision of the Prosecutor General's Office and the Chief Military Prosecutor.

- Erbayan Mukhtar is undergoing the second stage of treatment in Turkey, we are in touch with his parents and providing all possible assistance, - added the head of the main department of educational work of the National Guard of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Nurbay BEKTURSYNOV.

Military men are categorical: there is no classical hazing in the army.

- If we talk about traditional hazing, when senior conscripts felt superior to younger ones, then it no longer exists in the army! - Bektursynov stated.

However, interpersonal conflicts do occur, and it is precisely at their prevention that new technologies of surveillance and control are aimed.

According to Tleukhan Baskhozhaev, the atmosphere in the army improved after commanders began to perceive the activities of the soldiers’ mothers’ committee at the proper level.

- If earlier they (members of the committee - T.G.) came according to a previously agreed schedule, now the Minister of Defense has lifted all restrictions. That is, at any time a member of the committee of soldiers' mothers has the right to check all the conditions of service, food conditions, medical care, with the exception of combat training, - noted Baskhozhaev.

Togzhan GANI, photo by Vladimir ZAIKIN, Astana