The cadets with commanding positions sit at the sides of the auditorium. The applicants sit across the Council, the presence of the applicants’ parents is required. None of the adults – be it the director or the advisors and instructors – take part in the procedure. The decision is taken solely by the cadet commanders. After the decision has been taken, the director is invited to get acquainted and have a talk with the newcomers. The necessary things for the application are: six photos, a health certificate, annual donation (400 rubles, approximately $15 US). The Special Department Chief makes a record of a newcomer in a Council’s register, while the newcomer writes an application for admission and an autobiography. Any boy (since the club is military-aimed, with all the activities designed strictly for boys) aged 8 to 18 may become a cadet.

    An extract from Trainee’s Memo:

    You have joined Magadan club PODVIG. This is a serious man’s decision. We hope you didn’t overestimate yourself, and that you will become a worthy cadet. In order to show everybody in the club what you are made of, you must complete trainee’s minimal requirements that are marked in your Trainee Card. You have also come to the club where everything is already created for you by the others, so you are to make a contribution to improving what already exists. From this day, you are to come here for 30 days when you have free time and get an assignment from any cadet commander you find. You may be assigned to mopping the floors, water the flowers, clear away the snow, wash the windows, etc. Try fulfilling the assignment as good as you can – if you have no clue how to do it or are not able to, then ask for assistance. When you are done, find the commander and report to him. He will check the quality of work, grade it (1 to 5) and test you on pull-ups and push-ups. If you perform this every day, it’ll take you a month to become a cadet candidate and be issued a candidate ID and cadet uniform. When all the sections of your Trainee Card are filled, you are supposed to take it to the Commanders’ Council (every Sunday at 1400 hours) where you’ll be credited and promoted to cadet candidate (if you worked hard indeed).

    You came to the club to learn more, learn something new and become better. Set your priorities from the first day on, find and remember the time and schedule of the classes most interesting to you. Try to get as many new skills from the club as you can – there is no excess knowledge. The information and announcements of the upcoming events (war games, paragliding, community work, hikes, etc.) is posted on the stands. Be attentive and check if there is something new on a daily basis. Don’t be shy to ask questions. Never surrender to hardships – remember, any problem may be overcome with due effort. Can’t manage something on your own – ask older friends, commanders, the director. Now everything depends on you. You may learn nothing in five years, or become an expert in everything in a year. Look at older cadets – there are guys worth taking after. They are skilled, strong, agile, they’re interesting to talk to, the adults treat them with respect and the girls like them. Good luck! “Be the best!”

    Information for parents: your son has joined Magadan club PODVIG – this means you also are its members. You have the opportunity to continue the upbringing of your child in collaboration with the club personnel and other parents. Feel free to use the experience and the assets of the club (you hardly have a parachute, a paraglider, a motorcycle and a computer tucked under the couch at your apartment). The main thing though is that you cast sheep’s eyes at your child back home, and it’s not that easy to objectively evaluate his traits and skills. While taking part in the club’s activities you’ll have the opportunity to understand what exactly your kid is good at and where he requires some wise guidance from an adult. Here he will find a place in the team, re-evaluate his potential; here he will learn to give and take orders. Take an interest in his progress, praise him for his small victories and take part in the club’s activities.

    The information about the Commanders’ Councils and people attending is recorded in the special register. The register and documentation storage is the responsibility of the cadets of the Special Department. The cadet roster is renewed every Sunday after the Council, and then is posted on special stands.

    While the trainees compose their applications, the fresh-made pictures and a wall newspaper are being posted on yet another stand. The family and the trainee may have a look at their pictures.

    The ladder system of joining allows “odd people” to fall out during the application stage. Some hate to obey orders, wear a uniform, stand in a formation – people are different, after all. Some come to the club not knowing how or not wishing to work – such being their upbringing. So clearing the snow or dumping the trash suddenly becomes an insuperable problem for them – kids simply stop going to the club saying something like “It’s hard” or “It’s not interesting”. Or sometimes it’s the parents – “My child should not work! We brought him to the kids’ club after all!” Well, a result of such an upbringing will definitely affect not only the child, but also his would-be family. PODVIG is a great school for such children. There are a lot of examples when a complete bungler became a self-sufficient person who could look after himself. There was a case when a mother came to Valdislav Akolzin and told him her son couldn’t wash the toilets. “He would faint because of the smell – such a perceptive person he is!” Valdislav was very surprised to learn that this “perceptive” boy was performing such a delicate task equally with other trainees – and not a sign of a fainting or nausea…

    There are other cases, though – a trainee is in the club for months, but his Trainee’s Card is half-empty. Turns out he was… too shy to address the commanders with a request. Such shy boys have a great opportunity to obtain the necessary communication skills at PODVIG. Others – lacking discipline – can also get rid of their bad traits here, slowly but steadily.

    To tell the truth, the long experience of working with trainees shows that not many of the boys are accustomed to manual labor – such being the expenses of being brought up mostly by women who think any of the house chores would be done faster and more efficiently by women only. They don’t “overload” their sons and grandsons with homework and house chores, and the boys begin to enjoy things as they are. The boys lack positive masculine role models.

    So even at the initial step of getting acquainted with the club the trainees will find some good lessons for themselves.