Military Science Associations

(VNO), voluntary independent organizations in the USSR armed forces. The first military science association was formed in October 1920 at the Military Academy of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army to study the experience of the Civil War and military intervention of 1918-20. From 1925 the Military Science Association switched to working primarily among the civilian population and in March 1926 was renamed the USSR Association for Assistance to Defense (OSO). In 1927 the OSO merged with the Association for Assistance to the Aviation and Chemical Construction of the USSR (Aviakhim), forming the Osoaviakhim. In November 1956 military science associations were again formed in the USSR armed forces. They are found in units, on ships, at military educational institutions, in the directorates of large units, in the staff headquarters and directorates of military districts (and fleets) and of the central administrative apparatus of the USSR Ministry of Defense, and in district (fleet) and garrison Houses of Officers. Any general, admiral, or officer who ex-presses a desire to participate in the work of a military science association may be a member. The highest governing body of a military science association is the general meeting of members, which elects a council consisting of a chairman, his deputy, a secretary, and several members. The military science associations assist in the study of questions of military theory, domestic and foreign war materiel, and the combat experience gained from past wars; in the improvement of troop armament and organization; and in the development and introduction of new, progressive methods of troop education and training and new procedures for waging combat operations. Depending on the number of members and their specializations, sections (circles) for corresponding specializations or sectors of military affairs may be formed within the military science association.