"The shouting of commands may sound stern, but in our business seconds decide success.” Name: Nikolay Alexandrovich Timoshenko
Rank/Position: Lieutenant Colonel, Battalion Commander
Description: Square-jawed, short blonde hair, about six feet tall. Through a combination of logistical issues and pride, wears
An M88 'Afghanka' uniform with 'Butan' camouflage with the trademark sky blue beret and 'telnyashka' of the VDV as status symbols. In hot weather, he may wear a
matching 'Panama' hat instead.
Whether it is because of vanity, nostalgia for the 'good old days', or to underline his status, Timoshenko generally wears his full collection of awards and decorations on his uniform. Prominently they include his Order of Lenin, two Orders of the Red Banner, and two Orders of the Red Star, in addition to campaign and proficiency medals.
Personality: As one of the few professional officers and veterans running around, feels like the only sane man in the Battalion. Spares no effort whipping the “Red Army” he was handed into a capable battalion up to pre-war army standard and greased enough palms to get enough functioning equipment to arm it to standards.
Biography: Born September 14th 1960 in Tashkent, capital of Uzbek SSR. (age 44) Served in the Soviet Airborne Forces and Special Forces in Afghanistan for a cumulative total of three and a half years, reaching the rank of Captain and being awarded the Order of Lenin and twice the Order of the Red Banner for gallantry. In 1991, he was attached to the 35th Guards Airborne Brigade which was transferred to newly-independent Kazakhstan after the collapse of the USSR. He served with that unit in Tajikistan in 1992 and 1993, before leaving the service and moving to family in Kharkov, Ukraine. He worked as whatever he could during the economically decrepit 1990s – As a taxi driver, policeman, and eventually rose to managing functions at a Donetsk steel plant.
He remained disillusioned and discontent, and as the country tore in half in 2004 and a provisional government was proclaimed in Kharkov he was one of the ringleaders of the uprising in Donetsk. Instrumental in ensuring the entire province’s alignment with the ‘Blue’ side, he then took to organising the Miners and Labourers of the area into the ‘77th Infantry Regiment’ which defeated Orange forces in and around Dnipropetrovsk in the bitter February cold of 2005. During those days, Lt Col Timoshenko’s reputation as a successful commander was cemented, earning him the nickname ‘Kolya Khan’ -a nod to his birthplace- and the 77th similarly being named the ‘Basmachi’, after the Central Asian rebels that fought the Red Army in the 1920s.
With pride in the achievements of the Basmachi and their
esprit de corps, Timoshenko continued to regularise and train the unit, acquiring the necessary weapons, refreshing their military skills, and organising the logistical support to the best of his ability. For example, he took special care to organise the medical section, improvising ambulances out of ‘Bukhanka’ vans for casualty evacuation and recruiting (civilian) medical personnel to staff the field hospital at the expense of other units.
The Kharkov Government assigned him to reinforce the remnants of the 34th Motorised Rifle Regiment, with the Basmachi becoming the 2nd Battalion of the 34th.
Vision/Outlook: Timoshenko is eager to participate in the upcoming effects, to showcase the effectiveness of the unit he fathered to friend, foe, and in no small part himself. He has reservations about its capabilities, still, when going up against a regularised army, and hopes an upcoming success will take that away and provide a morale boost to the men.
Ookawa
