Why did the members of the Russian Armed Forces support the ultranationalist Liberal Democratic Party of Vladimir Zhirinovsky in the December 1993 Russian elections, abandoning Boris Yeltsin at the polls and confounding observers who had until then assumed that the army was under firm political control? This article examines the depth of military support for Zhirinovsky, and explains that support as (1) a result of residual "Sovietism" in the military that resulted in strong affinity for Zhirinovsky's calls for a Soviet/Imperial restoration; (2) a reaction against being used by Yeltsin against the Parliament in October 1993; and (3) general military agreement with the tone and substance of Zhirinovsky's attacks on the Russian political establishment. The article suggests that the Russian military has already emerged as an independent political force, and there is little hope in the near future that Yeltsin will be able to reestablish full political control.