THE FIRST OUTFIT - THE LAST ... UNLIMITED ...

Whether a warm spring breeze blows, an evil dry wind blows in gusts - the leaves on the poplars that were planted at the site of the death of border guard Yerlan Niyazov will rustle. It happened on the banks of the Keles River, which separates the two republics - Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan.

There is a border patrol - he will definitely stop here. The guys in green caps will stand silently at the memorial obelisk; they will listen attentively to the silence of the sentinel path - they will certainly hear the whisper of foliage.           

And at that moment someone will hear: «Be faithful to the oath!» And these words penetrate into the soul of a soldier more faithfully and deeper than a long lecture of political studies...

For a long time, spies have not walked across the border line - there is no need for that. Certain foreign citizens come to us quite legally with their documents straightened out in full form and ... become spies, secretly finding out our secrets. And more and more those who are called smugglers are crossing the border.

By underground promotion - in large and small lots - of consumer goods, foodstuffs, industrial goods, withdrawn from the general legal trade, and, consequently, economic planning to improve the well-being of the people, illegal salespeople undermine the foundations of the state. And this is what the guards of Kazakhstani borders are fighting against with all their might, as the oath dictates - «not sparing blood and life itself».

***

 

 

From childhood, the hero of this essay dreamed of serving on the border. Where is in him, a native of the Aktobe region, love for a green cap and a sentinel path, remains unknown to us - now you will not ask. But he made his dream come true - in the spring of 2007 he begged the military commissars to send him to serve at the border.

Already being in the training unit, through which all those called into the ranks of the Border Service of the KNB of the Republic of Kazakhstan pass, the commanders drew attention to the guy, or rather to his desire to master military affairs and border science as quickly and fully as possible.

- Well, Private Niyazov, you showed excellent results in the exams, we can leave you for another couple of months, learn commanding skills - you will become a sergeant, you will teach recruits, - he was offered at the training center.

- I would like to get to the outpost! - Yerlan said firmly and decisively. - Please grant my request!

In those few seconds that the commander needed to make a decision, the young soldier experienced a real shock: “What if they refuse?!”

But fate already then led the guy to a heroic deed.

- Which outpost would you like to be sent to? How do I allow an excellent student to choose: rear or front line?

- To the one where the service is real!

- Well, I didn’t expect another answer from you. Well done! Get ready to ship...

***

The border post «Saryagash» is deployed not only on the first line, but, as can be determined by the rhythm of the combat activities of the personnel, at the very edge of the real direction of the aspirations of border violators. The very people who, for the sake of their own ambitions and profit, risk themselves, at least behind bars, and the border guards are jeopardized, that is sometimes fatal.

Dozens of alarms are sent daily from the state border of the Republic of Kazakhstan to the duty room of the next shift of the guards of our sovereign borders. More than once or twice it was noted by the command of the border detachment that the border guards entering the state border line at the section of the border department (this is the name of the outpost) «Saryagash» show restraint, courage and dedication, firmly and consistently suppress violations of the state border, detain illegal immigrants and smugglers.

If in other directions the border guards take part in one or two detentions during their entire service life, the guys feel like heroes - they have something to boast about when they arrive home. And for Saryagash residents, their heroic deeds are everyday life. It was this tense situation, into which Private Niyazov had to grow in upon arrival at his new duty station, that he liked the most.

He dreamed of being in all types of frontier attire - «Patrol», «Secret», «Sentry at the border section» - to stand on the tower, peering intently at the adjacent side, to be an orderly at the outpost ... But what about? A real border guard should be able to do everything!

***

On August 31, 2007, the Head of the outpost confirmed the composition of the border guard with great care.

“Put Niyazov in there,” he ordered his deputy. - The fighter is eager to fight; you can rely on the guy. In addition, let him run in, gain experience in real business.

That was why they decided, especially since the situation at the section of the outpost was every day, there was no particular tension. Therefore, the command considered it appropriate to send several recruits from the outpost to escort the previously detained border violator for an internship. Private Yerlan Niyazov was among them.

Returning to the outpost, border guards found smugglers near the Keles River, loading cargo from carts onto a makeshift raft. The senior of the detachment ordered the border guards to detain the intruders.

Niyazov was the first to cover the distance from the patrol path to the intruders noticed.

He was seized by a real battle excitement; the training he received during the training period at the training center clearly almost automatically executed the commands sent from his head.

- Stop! I will shoot! - as we were taught, Yerlan shouted loudly and clearly to the violators.

He was already reaching for the automatic belt to take the weapon at the ready, but at that moment the smugglers’ accomplices, who were on the other side of the river, in Uzbekistan, began to pull the raft in their direction with the help of ropes. Two more border guards ran up to the shore. Without hesitation, Niyazov was the first to jump into the water and managed to grab the raft. It seemed to everyone that in a few seconds the smugglers would stop the movement and surrender. They were all targeted. But the experienced violators knew that the border guards would not shoot, so as not to accidentally hit their comrade. The confrontation lasted for several minutes...

...When the raft was in the middle of the river, the border guard, along with weapons and ammunition, went under the water. Attempts by colleagues to save Yerlan’s life were unsuccessful.

“The river in this place is deep,” said Ilyasov, who was then the Head of the Omirkeldy frontier post. “In addition, an excavator worked on the Uzbek side, taking out gravel from the bottom of the river and thereby deepening it. At this point, the depth has reached four meters. Considering that the fighter was armed with weapons and ammunition, the tragedy was inevitable.

The entire outpost was raised in alarm, experienced contractors and athletes, insuring each other, examined the entire bottom of the river at the site of the accident, but could only find a Kalashnikov assault rifle - a weapon with which the soldier left for his last outfit. The body itself was carried away by the current.

The border guards asked for help from professional rescuers - divers. About a hundred soldiers, sergeants and officers who can dive well, swim, navigate under water, arrived at the scene of the tragedy. Every meter of the river bottom was examined...

...The sentry, standing at the lock a few kilometers from the scene found the deceased, but remained faithful to the oath until the end.

 

 

“The death of a soldier is a difficult, tragic event not only for relatives and friends, it is an irreparable loss for his comrades in service,” the commander said addressing the personnel and relatives who arrived at the military unit. - But Private Yerlan Niyazov died at his post - he carried out the order, showed heroism, did not step back from the warrior’s oath of allegiance to the Motherland. This is what the real guards of the State Border of the Republic of Kazakhstan do.

At all times, the border guards of Kazakhstan have sacredly preserved and fulfilled the traditions of loyalty to duty, love for the Fatherland, the inviolability of its borders. Yerlan Niyazov, who has gone on an eternal vigil, became the hero of the border guards of the past and the present, those who, at the cost of their own lives, did not allow the valiant green caps fanned by the glory of many generations to be tarnished.

The border guard who fell in a fight with smugglers was awarded the medal «For excellence in guarding the State Border» (posthumously) and was forever enlisted in the lists of the «Saryagash» frontier post.

What a pity that he did not have a chance to serve at this first line outpost for very long...

***

Trees were planted at the site of Yerlan Niyazov’s death, and an obelisk was erected. At home, a monument was also erected to the soldier. He stands on the street, which now bears the name of the valiant border guard and our colleague Yerlan Niyazov, who gave his life to the protection of the State Border of the Republic of Kazakhstan.