Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR"

Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR"
The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", also known as the Order "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", was a Soviet military order awarded in three classes for excellence to military personnel.
Award history
The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" was created on October 28, 1974 by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR, making it the first military order created after the end of World War II.
Award statute
The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" was awarded to soldiers of the Soviet Army, Navy, of Border or Internal Troops: for achievements in combat and political training, for maintaining high combat readiness and developing new military equipment; for high performance in service; for the successful fulfillment of special command tasks; for courage and dedication displayed during the performance of military duties; for other services to the nation while serving in the Armed Forces.
The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" was divided into three classes, first, second and third, the first class being the highest. Each class was awarded sequentially from the third to the first.
Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" of any class had the right to:
priority in the choice of living quarters;
yearly free round trip personal travel by rail (express or passenger trains), by ship (in first class cabins, express or passenger lines), by air or by long-distance road transport;
free personal use of all types of urban passenger transport in rural areas within the limits of the Republic (except for taxis);
free vouchers to a sanatorium or rest home (once a year on the recommendation of a medical institution);
extraordinary availability to community services provided by domestic enterprises, cultural or educational institutions; and,
a 15% increase in pension.
The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" is worn on the right side of the chest after the Order of the Red Star and in order of class seniority. When worn with Orders of the Russian Federation, the latter have precedence.
Award description
The Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" consisted of two 58mm by 58mm four pointed stars crossed at a 90° angle, the top star having the vertical and horizontal points. The rear star was enamelled light blue with gilt edges and two crossed convex oxidised silver rockets pointing towards the upper left and upper right. The rockets' nose cones and tail sections were gilded. The top star was made up of diverging rays, at its center, a circular medallion containing a convex five pointed star within an oak wreath on a blue background, surrounded by a white enamelled ribbon with the inscription: "For Service to the Motherland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" on the sides and top, and the image of the hammer and sickle at the bottom. The central medallion was superimposed over an oxidized silver anchor and wings protruding from the top, bottom and both sides. The Order weighed 64,5 grams.
The main differences between the three classes of the Order:
1st class - top four pointed star and central five pointed star were gilded;
2nd class - top four pointed star was silver and the central five pointed star was gilded;
3rd class - top four pointed star and central five pointed star were silver.
The ribbons to be worn on the uniform in the ribbon bar when the Order wasn't worn were:
1st class - blue with a 6mm wide yellow central stripe;
2nd class - blue with two 3mm wide yellow central stripes 1mm apart;
3rd class - blue with three 2mm wide yellow central stripes 1mm apart.
Recipients
The first investiture of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR" 3rd class took place on February 17, 1975, the first orders 2nd class were awarded on July 30, 1976 and the first awards 1st class in 1982. From 1975 to the disestablishment of the order following the 1991 dissolution of the Soviet Union, 69,576 orders 3rd class, 589 2nd class and only 13 1st class (Full Cavaliers) were awarded. Below are (incomplete) lists of the recipients:
Full cavaliers (complete list)
Major General Vasily Shcherbakov (11 February 1982)
Lieutenant General Ivan Kolodyazhny (11 February 1982)
Colonel General Ivan Zavyalov (16 February 1982)
Captain 1st class Vasily Poroshin (16 February 1982)
Colonel Genady Loshkarev (17 May 1982)
Lieutenant General Albert Bobrovsky (27 December 1982)
Captain 1st grade Aleksandr Kazakov (27 December 1982)
Colonel Yuri Orlov (27 December 1982)
Major General of Internal Troops Aleksandr Verevkin (1 March 1989)
Admiral Valery Sergeev (5 May 1989)
Colonel Boris Agapov (24 May 1989)
Colonel General Georgy Baydukov (25 May 1987)
Colonel General Vladislav Achalov (22 February 1990)
Cavaliers of the 2nd and 3rd classes (partial list)
Army General Igor Nikolayevich Rodionov
Lieutenant General Anatoliy Grigoryevich Funtikov
Admiral Vladimir Grigoryevich Yegorov
Admiral of the Fleet Feliks Nikolayevich Gromov
Marshal of Aviation Yevgeniy Yakovlevich Savitskiy
Army General Viktor Petrovich Dubynin
Former Colonel and 3rd President of the Chechen Republic of Ichkeria Aslan (Khalid) Aliyevich Maskhadov
Lieutenant General and politician Alexander Ivanovich Lebed
Cavaliers of the 3rd class (partial list)
Army General Nikolay Yegorovich Makarov
Lieutenant Colonel Anatoly Vyacheslavovich Lebed
Lieutenant General Vladimir Anatolyevich Shamanov
Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergei Leonidovich Sokolov
Marshal of Aviation Alexander Ivanovich Pokryshkin
Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Ignatyevich Yakubovsky
Marshal of the Soviet Union Sergey Fyodorovich Akhromeyev
Admiral of the Fleet Vladimir Vasilyevich Masorin
Colonel General Gennady Nikolayevich Troshev
Army General Anatoly Vasiliyevich Kvashnin
Cosmonaut Major General Andriyan Grigoryevich Nikolayev
Cosmonaut Major General Alexey Arkhipovich Leonov
Cosmonaut Lieutenant General Georgy Timofeyevich Beregovoy
Cosmonaut Major General Vladimir Aleksandrovich Shatalov
Cosmonaut Colonel Boris Valentinovich Volynov
Cosmonaut Colonel General Pyotr Ilyich Klimuk
Lieutenant General and Military Conductor Valery Mikhaylovich Khalilov
Cosmonaut Major General Vladimir Aleksandrovich Dzhanibekov
Cosmonaut Major General Vladimir Vasiliyevich Kovalyonok
Test Cosmonaut Colonel Viktor Mikhailovich Afanasyev
Marshal of the Soviet Union Aleksandr Mikhaylovich Vasilevsky
Cosmonaut Colonel Anatoly Nikolayevich Berezovoy
Cosmonaut Colonel Valery Ilyich Rozhdestvensky
Marshal of the Soviet Union Kirill Semyonovich Moskalenko
Lieutenant General and politician Ruslan Sultanovich Aushev
Captain 3rd Rank Valery Mikhailovich Sablin
Admiral of the Fleet of the Soviet Union Sergey Georgiyevich Gorshkov
Hero of Belarus Uładzimir Mikałajevič Karvat
Marshal of the Soviet Union Viktor Georgiyevich Kulikov
See also
:Category:Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 1st class
:Category:Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 2nd class
:Category:Recipients of the Order "For Service to the Homeland in the Armed Forces of the USSR", 3rd class
References
Great Soviet Encyclopedia, entry on "Orders of the USSR"
External links
Legal Library of the USSR
1974 establishments in the Soviet Union
1991 disestablishments in the Soviet Union
Awards disestablished in 1991
Awards established in 1974
Military awards and decorations of the Soviet Union