Soviet Group to Sr. Lt. Nikolay Nikitovich Tretyak - Afghanistan

[Digger Doug]

Senior Lieutenant Tretyak was an onboard aviation technician / aerial gunner during the soviet campaigns in Afghanistan. he received a Red Star and a "Crab" 3rd class for his activities while there. He received a separate award card for each of these orders - one in 1983 and the other in 1985. Here is the front of the first one:

[attachmentid=13518]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the back of the first award card. Note the award of the Red Star.

[attachmentid=13519]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the front of the second award:

[attachmentid=13520]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the back of his second award card for the "Crab":

[attachmentid=13521]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the top half of the front of the citation for his Red Star:

[attachmentid=13522]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the bottom half of the first page of his Red Star citation:

[attachmentid=13523]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the top of the back side of the Red Star citation:

[attachmentid=13524]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the bottom half of the back of his Red Star citation:

[attachmentid=13525]

[Digger Doug]

I'll scan the citation for the crab tomorrow and add my draft translations.

[Ed_Haynes]

A nice group. I await more, anxiously.

To complete the eye-candy, could you add a scan of the awards? Sure., we know what they look like, but . . . .

I have sought such a group for some time, with no joy. Lucky you!

No PDRA awards?

Lovely, thanks for sharing.

[Guest Rick Research]

Did you get his personnel records too? Because Tretnyak (born 1944, Red Army since 1962) must have gone up through the enlisted ranks-- a very, very small cadre of professional NCOs, to arrive at Senior Lieutenant of Technical Services only (and was still IN GRADE 12 YEARS LATER) in 1973-- the "glass ceiling" rank for those without career command officer educational requirements.

This could be quite

The individual, separate Award Record Cards suggests "sneakery" to me. When my Vozhachenko group came through, there was nothing in there on Afghan awards and he as a divisional commander. Nor was there anything on his North Vietnamese Feat of Arms Order. I suspect this "compartmentalized" record keeping was/is to HIDE still-classified things.

GREAT detailed combat citation for the Red Star!!!!!

And this ODD notation on his ARC between the name of his OSH3 and issue authority/date

[attachmentid=13902]

seems to suggest that he received THAT "for wounds!"

[Digger Doug]

Here's a picture of the group. According to the citation for the OSH 3, as of 1984, besides the Red Star and OSH 3, he also received the medal "for rendering international aid in the DRA", 3 length of service medals (I assume the irreproachable service medals for 20, 15, and 10 years), and three jubilee medals (I assume 3 of four of the following: the 50 Years Armed Forces 1968, 60 Years Armed Forces 1978, 20th Anniversary of Victory in the GPW 1965, or the 30th Anniversary of Victory in the GPW 1975). I'm still working on putting up the citation for the OSH 3. It is a bit light and doesn't show up too well in my earlier scanning attempts.

[attachmentid=13803]

[NavyFCO]

Here are a couple better photos of the group. In case you're wondering, yes, I am kicking myself for selling it! Of course, at the time modern awards were unresearchable... It wasn't till later that year that I was able to research my first Homeland; probably six months after this group was already out the door...

Dave

[NavyFCO]

Another... For some reason, I never scanned this group (or I lost the scans of it...)

[Guest Rick Research]

Oh nooooooooooooo!!!! It's GONE!!!! Do you know where it is now, or "some guy at a show" kind of sale! WAAAAHHH!!!!!

The mention of "medals" is interesting, because my Vozhachenko group has no 1970 Lenin Jubilee Medal, military version, and I just assumed it was missing. I THOUGHT (Dave, how about your modern groups?) that everybody career military got it, despite all the pomposity about "military valor" and that shuck on the medals and in the statutes.

If Tretyak got "three jubilees" those would have been: 1965 (career active non-first term duty then), and the 1968 and 1978. The other WW2 jubilees (1975 etc) went ONLY to actual WW2 Veterans and not, like the 1965, to everybody on career military duty on the jubilee day.

Which means HE didn't get the 1970 Lenin Military Jubilee EITHER!

It had always been my belief, based on uniforms with original ribbon bars, that NOBODY on non-draftee active duty in 1970 did NOT get the 1970 Lenin. On the other hand, maybe some of the "retired veteran" ribbon bars that I have and have seen were actually these "passed over" career military types!

[NavyFCO]

Oh nooooooooooooo!!!! It's GONE!!!! Do you know where it is now, or "some guy at a show" kind of sale! WAAAAHHH!!!!!

Rick-

Doug is the one that bought it... It's just that I was the one who sold it initially after getting it from a dealer here in the US.

Dave

[Guest Rick Research]

Wups... ran my eyes over the "same" scans and didn't notice posted by different peeeebles.

We have got to start playing that Kevin Bacon game with YOU, and how many removes "everything" is from you!

Sleepless nights here waiting for that OSH3 citation to verify that it WAS given for wounds in action-- something not dreamed of in the statutes!

Imagine where the prices on late ones will go if there's the possibility any of those COULD be "Afghan wound badges?"

Where HAVE all the OSH3s gone, anyway? I remember when they were everywhere, always without documentation. Now... TRY and find one, let alone documented, let alone RESEARCHED.

I think Dave, sitting at the center of his web of Sinister Connections, is the ONLY one who CAN get recent research out of the Former 'Union.

[Digger Doug]

OK, I've tried scanning it as a photo this time in order to darken it up a bit. Here's the top half of the front page of the citation for the OSH 3:

[attachmentid=13968]

Edited October 25, 2005 by Digger Doug

[Digger Doug]

Darker but now not as crisp. I've got a lot to learn about posting images. Here's the bottom half of the front of the OSH 3 Citation:

[attachmentid=13967]

[Digger Doug]

Here's the top of the back side of the OSH 3 Citation:

[attachmentid=13969]

[Digger Doug]

Finally, the bottom half of the back of the OSH 3 citation. Not quite clear how it was changed from a Red Star to an OSH 3. I'll try to get my translations for these typed in sometime this weekend.

[attachmentid=13970]

[Guest Rick Research]

Aha. The short teaser version is there is NO mention of wounds in the OSH3 citation BUT-- it was a straightforward, combat actions/operations award, put in as a Red Star and approved as a Red Star right up to 40th Army level. I don't see HOW it was approved as an OSH3 from that either. But SOMEBODY back in Moscow downgraded this (and it reads like a Red Star to ME!) to an OSH3--

given here as a COMBAT award.

This must have been a "quota issue" with the bureaucracy deciding to fuzz things up for political reasons: "too many combat decorations" blah blah blah.

Perhaps the ARC on this was sloppiness and somebody made the "on account of wounds" entry THERE because they skimmed over the citation and saw an entry in the "wounds OR distinctions" line and didn't read there that it was awards and not wounds.

This guy had a terrific record...

and we now have documented evidence that this WAS given as a COMBAT decoration-- even when it should NOT have been!

[Digger Doug]

Sorry for the delay in getting to these translations. I had some business out of town and got sick when I got back. Then I had my deer hunt, and then.......

Anyway, here are the award cards from posts 1 &2:

Award Card

KVO (Kiev Military District)

Date and place of delivery of an awarded medal Republic, Krai, Oblast, City, Area

1) Tretyak / listed (or filed as) Tret'yak

2) Nikolay Nikitovich

3) Ukrainian

4) Male

5) Born 1944

6) City of Babaykovka, Tsarichanskogo R-H Dnepropetrovskoy Oblast

7) Member of Communist Party

8) Mid level ? education

9) Senior Lieutenant Technical Services

10) In the Red Army since August 1, 1962

11) Service at time of award :Onboard aviation technician assigned to a helicopter squadron flying MI-8T & MI-9's Unit pp 97978, A 014803

12) Present service: Onboard aviation technician - aerial gunner on a MI 8T helicopter uniy 01094

13) Home address: City of Aleksandriya, Kirovogradskoy Oblast Kremenchugskaya St. 23 Apt. 9

14) Order of the Red Star #3741353 Award Document: 015361 Basis: Ukaz February 4, 1982

Signed by Chief of Staff of Unit 01094 (his unit at that time) Guards Lt. Colonel V. Skryabin June 2, 1983

[Digger Doug]

Here's the second award card from posts 3 & 4:

Award Card

August 16, 1985 Unit pp 25687

Date and place of delivery of an awarded medal Republic, Krai, Oblast, City, Area

1) Tretyak

2) Nikolay Nikitovich

3) Ukrainian

4) Male

5) Born 1944

6) City of Babaykovka, Tsarichanskogo R-H Dnepropetrovskoy Oblast

7) Member of Communist Party since 1965

8) Mid level ? education

9) Senior Lieutenant

10) In the Red Army since 1962

11) Service at time of award :Onboard aviation technician - aerial gunner assigned to a helicopter squadron Unit pp 84242

12) Present service: Onboard aviation technician - aerial gunner assigned to a helicopter squadron Unit pp 84242

13) Home address: Unit pp 84242

14) Order For Service to the Homeland 3rd Class # 58651 Award Document: On account of wounds Basis: Ukaz February 18, 1985

Signed by "Temporarily executing the duties of Chief of Staff of Unit pp25687 (perhaps a hospital since it wasn't his duty unit at that time???) Lt. Colonel V. Davydov August 16, 1985

[Digger Doug]

Here's my amature translation of the Red Star citation. Native speakers, please let me know if I made errors. As some words were incomplete in my copy, I had to guess in a couple areas.

Senior Lieutenant of Technical Services Tretyak N.N., has carried out his international duty in the protection of the gains of the April Revolution since 10 March 1980. He has made 622 combat sorties destroying gangs of rebels, their strong points, warehouses containing weapons and ammunition, has provided covering escort to our columns, airborne reconnaissance, and transported troops and supplies. He has destroyed 128 members of the enemy forces, 12 strong points, 7 firing positions, and 8 storage areas containing weapons and ammunition. During this period of service, he has flown 1810 hours of which 800 were flown in the DRA (Peoples Republic of Afghanistan).

On 26 June 1981, while performing the combat task of evacuating wounded men from a combat area, while making a landing approach on an exposed helicopter pad, rebels engaged them with heavy small arms fire. Returning fire from his weapon, Senior Lieutenant of Technical Services Tretyak N.N. provided for the protection of the helicopter. After landing, still under fire from the rebels, his accurate fire destroyed 1 firing position allowing the helicopter to take off.

Conclusion: For courage and courage shown during the execution of military duty, deserves to be awarded governmental order "Red Star".

50th Independent Mixed Aviation Regiment

Colonel V. Pavlov