Georgy Shpak
Georgy Ivanovich Shpak is a retired Russian Airborne Forces colonel general. He finished his military career as the commander of the Russian Airborne Forces from 1996 to 2003, and afterwards he was the governor of Ryazan Oblast, Russia from 2004 to 2008.
Biography
Early life
Born September 8, 1943, in Osipovichi, Mogilev region USSR to Ivan Antonovich, who worked the railroad during his lifetime, and Anna Akimovna, who worked as an accountant.He enrolled and graduated from the Minsk Railway School majoring in locomotive engineering, locksmithing and as an electrician for locomotives.
Military career
Shpak served as a soldier for six months in the 137th Guards Airborne Regiment in Ryazan, then entered the Ryazan Higher Airborne Command School, from which he graduated with honors in 1966 and was appointed commander of the cadet platoon.In 1970 he became a company commander of cadets at the school, and in 1973 he became lecturer at the department of tactics. Six months later he was appointed battalion commander in the 44th Airborne Training Division in the Baltic area.
After graduating in 1978 from the M. V. Frunze Military Academy. Shpak commanded the famous 350th Guards Airborne Regiment and deployed with it to Afghanistan on December 25, 1979.
He participated in combat operations in the Republic of Afghanistan, Yugoslavia and Chechnya.
After graduating in 1988 from the Military Academy of the General Staff, he became the first deputy commander of a Combined Arms Army in the Odessa Military District.