After obtaining graduation from Kharkov Higher Military Aviation School of Pilots in 1983, he was enlisted in the Kazakh Air Defense Forces as a pilot and later flight commander of an aviation regiment until 1987. He was later transferred to Poland where he served in the Northern Group of Forces as a commander of an air regiment and deputy squadron commander at the military unit #21751 until he joined Order of the Red Banner Kutuzov Academy in 1993. In the same year he became deputy commander of the military unit #65229 for flight training and then unit #65229 in 1996, and unit #21751 in 2000. Two years later in 2002, he became commander of the air force base unit #21751.
