A True Colonel
The Ukrainian media carried the news that Emergency Management Minister Vasyl Durdynets promoted an officer to colonel at a special ceremony on the ministerial premises. What made an otherwise routine occurrence special was that the officer promoted was a woman, Liubov Levchenko. After the formalities, The Day asked her to tell about a military woman’s everyday life.
Her colleagues jocularly say that she has a wicked tongue, soberly adding that she is tough and has an iron will, more than many of the ostensibly stronger half. The new colonel is in charge of the radiation and chemical safety department at the Donetsk Oblast State Administration. The way she performs in the line of duty, men tend to forget that she belongs to the fair sex; she is just a colleague, and a very good one at that.
As for Liubov Levchenko, she certainly never forgets about being a woman, rank and position notwithstanding. She is perfectly convinced that she must always remember that. The Emergency Management Ministry is not just her work. It is also her life. “People and circumstance turned me into a phenomenon of sorts,” she says, “yet I’m above all a loving and beloved wife and mother.” Her road to the civil defense troops was a long one. First she enrolled in a medical institute, her most cherished dream since childhood. Later she took a course in sewing, still later she studied at Dnipropetrovsk’s chemical-technological institute where she took a very keen interest in the military, so much so she eventually decided to serve in the troops. A contest for the best chemist-radiologist helped her second professional dream come true. Liubov Omelchenko won it, entered the civil defense, and stationed in Donetsk. “So I’m a colonel,” she is genuinely surprised; “history also knows women generals. The main thing is that I like my job and can do it well.” She thinks that one can achieve anything if one is really determined and knows how to go about it. “It was just that I set myself a goal and spent a long time and worked hard moving toward it. Honestly, I’d never even imagined being promoted to colonel, perhaps because insignia doesn’t mean all that much to me.” Col. Levchenko admits, however, that a military career is especially difficult for a woman. If she wants to perform on a par with men, she must have them acknowledge her abilities. That is why she has never taken advantage of her gender with its inherent weak points. Over the years in the army she has been around. She is still pained to recall the accident at the Kirov Mine. She took part in the search and rescue operations and getting the miners out took seven days and nights. It was the first time the Emergency Management Ministry used specially trained dogs.
Fond as she is of her job, Liubov Levchenko loves telling about her family. She has two Oleksandrs, her husband and son. Oleksandr pere, a lieutenant colonel, is with the criminal investigation department; their 16-year- old son studies at a college of mathematics. And she does not agree with what the hero of a popular movie said about the family — that it can’t be happy if the woman holds a post higher than her man’s. “At home, I’m just a wife, one of many; I have to get up early to see my son off to college, in the evening I wash, tidy up, and cook. What makes me different from any other woman? The problem is that my husband and I are born leaders, but that’s probably where my strength is; I can suppress that leader in me while at home. I can be just a wife and frail woman. Also, my strength helps me leave all my worries and negative emotions in the office, and not to take them out on my family. Well, that just about says it,” she smiles. True, she doesn’t always succeed in keeping work and home separate. Oleksandr suffered from his parents’ work when a small boy; often he had to stay the night at the day care center or after classes at school. Once, when Liubov was on one of her business trips and Oleksandr, Sr. was summoned to the office in an emergency, the five year-old boy spent 48 hours in his father’s car. Col. Liubov Levchenko is sorry she has spent so little time with her son. When he asked to play with him she would say, “Why don’t you play on your own, you’re a big boy now.” Well, he is big now and she likes what she sees. She believes that her son has grown into an independent and resourceful young man; at 16, he can find a way out of any situation. He is not afraid to make decisions and answer for what he does. “I’m not sure I can offer any recommendations to young parents, because I don’t know if I acted the right way with my own son. I think that parents should treat their children the way they feel deep in their hearts. Of one thing I’m convinced. The methods favored by our grandparents will not produce a truly harmonious individual.”
Colonel Liubov Levchenko’s philosophy of life is quite simple. A woman must always remember that she is a woman, even when wearing a uniform and being an officer. This is probably why she is always anxious to look her best on and off duty. “I keep track of fashion and can afford to dress in a somewhat bold style now and then — I mean short skirts and tops. But I like my uniform too; I think it can make anyone look better. But I can’t live without fashionable clothes. I love good perfumes and makeup. Walking outside without makeup is out of the question,” she says. Of late she has practically had no time to go to the theater, although she is a theatergoer and tries not to miss a premiere. She believes that a woman is born to conquer everyone and everything. And that there is no man’s or woman’s work. Women can be second to men only in terms of physical strength. Even then all they need to get even is learning to use their potential. Everybody is innately strong, except that he or she does not admit it, for it is often more interesting to play weak and vulnerable.
