Ryazan Guards Higher Airborne Command School

In July 1918, mobilization into the ranks of the Red Army began. Almost weekly, a mobilized reserve was sent from Ryazan to the fronts of the civil war. Many residents of Ryazan fought on the fronts on the side of the White Army. The 1st Ryazan Soviet Infantry Courses took part in combat operations by separate units in the suppression of counter-revolutionary uprisings within the Ryazan province (October - November 1918).[1]

The courses deployed in full force on the Southern Front in the Donetsk region to suppress the uprisings of the Cossacks, becoming part of the 1st Separate Brigade of Cadets of the 8th Division of the SF and, together with the Tambov cadets, formed a "Detachment of Ryazan and Tambov Cadets." As part of the 2nd Moscow Brigade, cadets took part in hostilities on the Caucasian Front in Dagestan from August 1920 to March 1921. As part of the 3rd Moscow Brigade of Cadets - on the Southern Front against Pyotr Wrangel from October to November 1920. In the same year, the courses took part in full force in the suppression of the Antonov uprising in the Tambov province in the districts of the Kirsanovsky district.

By order of the RVSR No. 1227 of June 29, 1920, the 1st Ryazan Soviet Infantry Courses were renamed "30th Soviet Infantry Courses". By order of the RVSR No. 2900 of December 31, 1920, the 30th Soviet infantry course was renamed into the 15th Ryazan Infantry School (normal type).[1] The Tambov Infantry School combined with the Ryazan school on 1 October 1924, from which the banner of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee was transferred (presented to a detachment of Ryazan and Tambov cadets, and kept in Tambov). The Ryazan school was renamed the Ryazan Infantry School on 9 October. On 12 January 1926, the Ryazan Infantry School was granted the honorific title "Kliment Voroshilov", becoming the “Ryazan Infantry School Comrade Voroshilov".[1]

On 16 March 1931, by Order of the Revolutionary Military Council of the USSR No. 023, the school became part of the building of the Moscow Military District.[1] On 16 March 1937, by order of the People's Commissariat of Defense of the Soviet Union No. 36, the Ryazan Infantry School Comrade Voroshilov was renamed "Ryazan Infantry School named after Comrade Voroshilov". On 26 March 1938, by order of the same comissariat No. 81, the school was removed from the structure of the university.

General Vasiliy Filippovich Margelov, Hero of the Soviet Union and father of the Soviet Airborne Forces.

On 24 September 1947, 7 lieutenants who completed the 3-year course were sent to the military parachute school in Frunze. Later, a number of graduates were sent to the Airborne Forces: on 7 October 1948, 61 out of 194 lieutenants; on 21 September 1949, 26 out 103 lieutenants; on 20 February 1950, 22 out of 191 lieutenants, and later on 21 September, 22 out of 180 lieutenants; on 5 September 1951, 22 out of 218 lieutenants; and on 9 September 1952, 3 lieutenants out of 350 graduates were sent to the paratroops.[1]

On 18 March 1954 the school was renamed again, now as the Ryazan Red Banner School "Marshal K.E. Voroshilov". The school became the Ryazan Red Banner Higher Military Command School on 17 August 1958. The airborne school, formerly located in Alma Ata, merged with the Ryazan Higher Military Command School on 4 March 1959; the school then began to prepare officers to replace the commanders of airborne platoons. In August 1959, Deputy Commander of the Airborne Forces, Lieutenant-General Vasily F. Margelov was appointed chairman of the final examination commission and, on graduation, out of 129 new officers, 119 lieutenants were sent to the VDV. With the majority of graduates being posted to the Airborne Troops, the school was renamed as the Ryazan Order of the Red Banner Higher Airborne School on 23 March 1964.[1]

With the increased Soviet support for North Vietnam, on the basis of the General Staff Directive, a special department for the training of People's Army of Vietnam officers and NCOs was established on 1 February 1965.[1] Already on February 26, said department was renamed into a special department for the training of military personnel of the armies of non-socialist countries.[1]

On 18 September 1971, a special department for the training of military personnel of foreign armies was included in the school.

On February 22, 1968, the school was awarded its second Order of the Red Banner and renamed the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command twice Red Banner School (Order of the USSR Ministry of Defense No. 23 dated 02.22.68).[1]

On August 29 of the same year, the school was named after the Leninist Komsomol. The school then became known as the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command Twice Red Banner School named after the Lenin Komsomol (Order of the USSR Ministry of Defense No. 213 of 08.29.68).[1] In 1969, on the basis of the Directive of the General Staff, a company of special purpose cadets (9th company) was formed at the school.[1] On 20 March 1969, the Airborne Forces Museum was added in the service units of the school, and on 28 July 1972, the grand opening of the Museum of the History of the Airborne Forces and the School took place. The museum became the center of military-patriotic education of cadets and youth of Ryazan.[1]

Since 1985, 4th year cadets mountain field trips; first on the basis of the 104th Airborne Division, stationed in the Azerbaijan Soviet Socialist Republic, and since 1993, on the basis of the 7th Airborne Division in Novorossiysk.[1]

On 18 February 2018, to mark both the centennial Defenders of the Fatherland Day and the centennial of the modern Russian Armed Forces, as well as the centennial year of the foundation of the school, the Prime Minister of Russia Dmitry Medvedev, acting on behalf of President Vladimir Putin, in his capacity as Supreme Commander of the Russian Armed Forces and in the name of the Government of Russia, granted the school and its Regiment of Cadets a singular privilege among all educational institutions of the Armed Forces as the first ever school to be granted guards unit status, in honor of the sacrifices of the men and women of the academy and its thousands of graduate alumni in service as part of the Airborne Forces of the former Soviet Union and of the current Russian Federation for over six decades.[4]

The guard of honor of cadets of the school represent the school and the Airborne Forces at celebrations. Many cadets in the guard are master of sports in military-applied sports. In 2020, it took part in the virtual Spasskaya Tower Military Music Festival and Tattoo at the Main Cathedral of the Russian Armed Forces for the first time.[5][6]