This image from the video is one of the heaviest in recent days following the tragedy. It became a catalyst for enormous public outcry.

…On September 24, when news came of the deaths of servicemen during exercises on the Caspian, dozens of people – relatives and loved ones – began gathering at the morgue building in Aktau. Many sat on their haunches.

The relatives demanded to be allowed to identify the bodies, but people were not allowed onto the territory. And instead of coming out to the people to inform each family individually about the fate of their son, their brother – in a humane way, with a doctor or psychologist present – the list was simply read aloud, in the courtyard, in front of the crowd standing behind an iron fence. The names of the deceased were shouted out by a rank-and-file soldier. Not a single commander came out to the people.

A serviceman in camouflage impassively called out name after name. People learned of their son's death not in an office, not in private, but in a crowd. Behind each name on that list is a life absurdly cut short – young men who had only days left before their discharge, not years of service.

It is no wonder that the footage of the reading of the list of the dead spread across social media and sparked a wave of outrage and indignation at how living people were treated at the moment of their most terrible grief.

The public announcement of the names of the deceased in front of desperate relatives was perceived by many as a manifestation of bureaucratic indifference to human pain. The list was read out not to inform, but to report. Someone from the group of military personnel was filming, probably for the record. How the video ended up online has probably already been established, with the appropriate conclusions drawn.

The reaction to this notification procedure was almost instantaneous: people raged in the comments. They demanded that those responsible for organizing the exercises be held accountable.

Alongside this, hurried reports began to appear about the opening of a criminal case into the deaths of the servicemen, the creation of an operational-investigative group from employees of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the Ministry of Emergency Situations, and the Prosecutor's Office, and the appointment of those responsible. But for many people, it was not the investigation into the causes of the tragedy itself, but the question of why the relatives were treated in precisely this way, that provoked a wave of indignation and protest across the country. Because even for us, watching from the outside, it was impossible to bear seeing the relatives screaming and weeping frantically at the fence.

The heart-rending, agonizing cry: "Менің бауырым қайда?? Бауырымды тап!" – "Where is my brother?? Find my brother!" – became a cry of pain and despair. And all of us wept together with them. From grief and helplessness. 14 young men, қазақтың қара домалақтары – the dark-haired boys of Kazakhstan. Handsome, courageous young men, our batyrs, who stepped into the abyss, obeying a stupid order… And then they were taken away to their families. Without a farewell with honors, with dignity.

…This sea is once again washed with the tears of the mothers of dead soldiers. Just as it was 11 years ago, when the tragedy occurred in September 2015, during similar "exercises" with a naval landing. Four of six armored personnel carriers sank due to a strong gust of wind and rising high waves. Four conscripts drowned, choking on water. The servicemen had only a month left before demobilization.

Again September. Now a different, larger-scale catastrophe. 14 dead. The head of the department came to the families after some time.

He asked for forgiveness. But all of this looks belated. People demand his immediate resignation, reminding him of his own previously inappropriate and improper smile when journalists asked why soldiers are dying. The internet remembers everything.

And then came the news of his resignation.

Kazakhstanis and experts in these tragic days are openly speaking about the need for urgent reform of the army and a transition to professional contract service. So that young men of conscription age are not rounded up on the streets as they are now and forcibly delivered to military commissariats. They ask: why don't the children of officials serve in the army, and for what reasons can they still not put an end to hazing, beatings by commanders, and why do soldiers take their own lives?..

Sending their children to serve, families today are not insured against such tragic cases. And every one who returns alive is met by fathers and mothers with weeping. Why do we need an army in which there are hundreds of generals decked with orders and medals, incapable of establishing order, comfortably sitting in leather armchairs? Where did they get such an abundance of awards – in what battles did they earn them? Maybe they fight somewhere at night, and we don't know about it?

And what sea areas are our soldiers planning to seize by participating in landings on coastal territories? Why is the underwater landscape not studied before exercises, why are weather reports ignored? What are the commanders doing? Who will answer why on that fateful day there were no rescue boats or helicopters on the shore and on the water, why the soldiers were not equipped with life jackets or individual emergency radio beacons, why navigation radar systems were not used to track depth?

Where are the emergency signals for an instant response to an emergency situation – to carry out the rescue of those who went under the water, using fast rescue boats, helicopters, and other means of search and evacuation?

We have the right to ask these and other questions, even though we are not specialists in this field, because we understand: any modern army must employ organizational, technical, and digital means that make it possible to prevent the loss of human life. Because our children and grandchildren serve there. We want guarantees of their safety.

WHAT LESSONS MUST BE LEARNED FROM THIS TRAGEDY?

Today, when we boast of comprehensive digitalization, why is it not felt in the holy of holies – the sphere of defense, which in these troubled times must be strengthened, restructured, modernized, and kept abreast of the times? After all, modern armed conflicts show that the character of war is changing rapidly. If in the past the main attention was paid to the number of personnel, armored vehicles, artillery, and other traditional means of warfare, today unmanned systems and digital technologies, information, and the speed of its processing are acquiring ever greater importance.

The experience of the war in Ukraine shows that combat operations have moved into the sky. Star Wars are underway now. This clearly demonstrates how important unmanned aerial vehicles, surveillance means, satellite data, digital communications, and precision guidance systems have become.

The digitalization of the army is not a matter of the distant future, but one of the key components of modern defense. We must be ready and take real steps toward a deep transformation of the entire system: from reconnaissance and communications to logistics, training, management, and the saving of human lives. A digital army must be able to quickly receive information, verify its reliability, transmit it to the necessary units, and use it for decision-making.

New approaches are needed – a transition not to naval infantry, as we have, but to unmanned aerial vehicles – UAVs, which allow surveillance of the terrain, detection of changes in the situation, and obtaining information without the direct presence of a person in a dangerous zone.

We see these methods in the combat operations in Iran as well.

All these modern conflicts show that drones are becoming not a separate type of equipment, but part of a unified digital system that combines reconnaissance, communications, navigation, and control. The army must be capable not only of using UAVs but also of countering them, detecting them, and protecting its own systems from interference and cyberattacks. We must learn from the example of others by developing a whole complex of technologies: detection means, secure communications, electronic protection, cybersecurity, and much more.

Equally important is the question of communications, on which security and mobility depend. In conditions where the situation can change in a matter of minutes, an outdated, Soviet-style information transmission system becomes a serious limitation. Servicemen and command need up-to-date data, including a secure digital system, to prevent its hacking or disruption.

And how important it is to learn to extend digitalization for the safety of servicemen themselves, using the capabilities of technology to monitor the location of people, automatically transmit a distress signal, and organize search-and-rescue operations – in any emergency situation, it is precisely a digital system that should help faster determine who is in danger and where help is needed. And this is not only about increasing the army's effectiveness but also about preserving human lives.

This also means the army's maneuverability: to know precisely where equipment, fuel, medical supplies, and other necessary resources are located. No longer the radios of former times, but digital systems are capable of responding faster to changes, reducing loss of time, and forecasting risks. Not old army protocols and training manuals, but a new complex technological organization – that is what an army is. With a new quality of management.

And, of course, the serviceman is at the center of this digitalization – knowledgeable and proficient in automated systems. To achieve this, it is necessary to train specialists capable of understanding their capabilities and limitations – servicemen who possess not only physical fitness but also digital literacy, who can understand communications equipment and modern technical systems, and who can combine digital solutions with simpler means of communication, navigation, and control.

Times are changing. They dictate new trends in the modern army as well. It is no longer merely a collection of soldiers, tanks, ships, and aircraft, but a complex mechanism in which people, equipment, unmanned vehicles, surveillance means, communications, software, artificial intelligence, and much more must interact.

And at the same time, of course, the human factor is important. Any technology must be evaluated not only from the point of view of effectiveness but must also ensure the safety of people and of the servicemen themselves.

The experience of recent years in the global context shows that the army of the future will be increasingly digital, intelligently distributed, and high-tech. Drones have already changed the idea of it, and the further development of artificial intelligence and robotic systems on land, in the air, and in water will continue this process.

However, the most modern army is not necessarily the one with the most technology. It is an army that knows how to use technology safely, sustainably, and responsibly, while preserving the main thing – the ability to protect people and make balanced decisions in conditions of uncertainty. An army must have a human face, authority, so that young men have the desire to serve, and so that fulfilling one's duty to the Motherland is an honor.

Our 14 departed young men did not live to see this time, having become victims of the thoughtless decisions, negligence, and irresponsibility of their commanders, who did not protect them but abandoned them to their fate. Smart changes are needed so that this tragedy never happens again – when relatives stand vigil at the morgue, hoping that the name of their loved one will not be uttered from soulless lips, and they will not have to shout into their empty eyes – "Менің бауырым қайда??!"…

Akmaral ABDULOVA