He portrays the military as an institution in which everything is subordinated to maintaining the communist regime's dominance, thus explaining the rationale behind Soviet strategic planning.

He notes that at the time, three forces were always at work with the military: the Party, through the Politburo; the KGB; and the Soviet Army officers and hierarchy.

[1] Suvorov concludes with descriptions of the daily life inside the Soviet Army for the soldier and the officer, including the bullying and the hazing known as dedovshchina.

In "An Insider's Warning to the West", published in 1983, Lt. Col. Gregory Varhall and Major Kenneth M. Currie note that in this second book, Suvorov "regards the Soviet military as a formidable adversary despite its shortcomings.

"[1] They describe this book as one of the most important in its field published in the previous decade (1970s-to early 1980s), and say that it gave the "first comprehensive look inside the Soviet military since The Penkovsky Papers."