Des officiers soviétiques dans la Russie en changement. Détours personnels et attachements en commun

This study of the occupational and social trajectories of a few Soviet officers since the start of their careers helps us see how the events of 1991 affected their social and professional itineraries. Biographical interviews show the complexity of the everyday situation of Soviet officers before 1991, which involved attachments of various sorts: professional, family, friends, identity…. Although these officers clearly identified political changes in 1991, changes in their careers occurred in the years preceding or following this date, whereas a longer period of time was needed to rework the aforementioned attachments. For military officers, work, politics, family or friendship were no longer synchronized, and tension arose among these aspects of their lives. Veteran organizations helped them handle individual difficulties and provided them with a place for reworking their feelings of shared attachments in relation not only to professional factors but also to friendships, which, in turn, cultivated a shared political outlook.