October 28, 2020
After completing days-long military and expert marksmanship training, more Armenian Revolutionary Federation volunteers headed for the frontline this week.
The new volunteers were joined by the several dozen soldiers who were on the frontlines for three weeks but were in Yerevan for a few days, most of whom are members of the ARF Youth Organization of Armenia.
Since Azerbaijan began aggressively attacking Artsakh with the help of the Turkish military and Ankara-backed terrorists on September 27, the ARF has sent several groups of volunteers to the frontlines. The ARF Volunteer Reserver Brigade was established in 2017, and in conjunction with Armenia’s Defense Ministry trains volunteers for combat.
“I imagine since we have two neighbors who view us as enemies, this war will not cease, so we must always be ready to be soldiers of the homeland at any given time,” said Hayk Manoukyan a volunteer who left for the frontlines earlier this month. “If it’s not today, if it’s 10 years later—100 years later—we must always be ready to fight.”
The ARF volunteer units include new recruits, as well as those who fought valiantly during the Artsakh Liberation War in the 1990s.
“I was a member of the ARF battalion from 1990 to 1994,” said Ararat Igityan, who left for the frontlines a few weeks ago. “Artsakh is our ancestral home and it must stay that way.”
The ARF volunteers go through intensive training at the Byurakan campground. When one group heads to the frontlines, another group of volunteers begins training for the war.