Red Square, Channel One Russia and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation present a joint project Special Mission where participants find themselves in perfectly real life conditions of a Russian military unit.

Their goal is, under the leadership of real combat officers, in several weeks to turn from civilians who are infinitely remote from the army into hard as nails and disciplined troopers ready to fulfil special battle tasks. In fact, this is more of a real army experiment than a TV show.

From the moment of starting the project, each of the new recruits comes at command of active officers of the Russian army, settles in the barrack, takes an oath and commences the military service. From now on the lives of new recruits, all their actions and consequences of such actions are governed by the Regulations of the Russian Federation Armed Forces.

The project does not have decorations as such. Everything here is real — the military unit, the commanders, combat training, weapons, hardware and uniform. Such closeness to reality simulates the life of the unit, shows current methods of personnel training, and reveals the lifestyle and combat traditions of the Armed Forces. New recruits master the skills of marching drill and guard duties, knowledge of different kinds of small arms and camouflage security, alarm calls and fulfilment of battle tasks on the ground, on the water and in the air, as well as many other qualities and techniques necessary for a real soldier.