Turbin graduated from the Cadet Corps on August 13, 1852, having been appointed to the Jaegersky E. I. V. Grand Duke Mikhail Nikolayevich Regiment.

In 1853, the Grenadier Regiment was transferred as ensign in the Life Guards and in 1854 he began to study at the Nikolayev Academy of the General Staff, from which he graduated in 1856.

He was assigned to the General Staff and appointed to the service of the Governor-General and Commander of the troops of Eastern Siberia.

During the Polish uprising, he was part of the forces of the Vilna Military District (Russian Empire).

From May 30, 1867, he was commander of the 61st Vladimir Infantry Regiment (until January 1877); in 1870 he was given the role of a director of the Mogilev Prison Guardianship Committee.

During the campaign of 1877–1878, he was a member of the Commission for the preliminary censorship of telegrams received from the war before they were placed in Moscow newspapers.

[3][4] Subsequently, Turbin successfully engaged in the excavation of mounds near the village of Dymovo of the Senno district on the border of the Dregovichi and Polotsk Krivichi.