By Arto Manoukian
Special to the Mirror-Spectator/Abaka
YEREVAN — Some people gather and organize rallies. Others respond to the call for the defense of their endangered homeland, where the enemy is standing armed and ready at the borders to advance further. One army, one nation is the motto for many of these groups of volunteers preparing for civil defense. They are training young people, and sometimes adults.
Among these groups are Vova Vartanov’s Voghch Mnalou Arvest [The Art of Survival], Haykakan Legeon [Armenian Legion], and POGA (Betakanutyune Vorpes Geragoyn Arzhek, or Statehood as the Supreme Value]. This correspondent attended one of POGA’s training sessions in the Davitashen district. There were 8 people participating that day over a period of three hours, divided into sections devoted to first aid, war strategy and theoretical strategy. This particular group was enrolled in a 10-day-long program, but there are others that follow a more intensive three-month course.
The first aid training in this POGA session covered methods of intervention to stabilize bodily injuries, primarily broken bones. The well-versed instructor demonstrated how to use any available means for this purpose on a volunteer.
The second hour consisted of physically demanding and difficult field training in an adjacent school yard. The participants, equipped with knee and elbow guards as well as mock combat machine guns, went through field strategies, defense and attack positioning, protective positions against grenades, and advancing formations.
