Posted on 09/04/2022 5:38:28 PM PDT by Timber Rattler
The UK is significantly expanding a training programme in Britain to turn potentially tens of thousands of Ukrainian recruits into frontline soldiers to fight Russia, Sky News has learnt.
The combat course is being extended in length to five weeks from three weeks, keeping more of the training in the UK, away from the threat of Russian missile strikes - a hazard for anyone learning how to become a soldier at sites inside Ukraine, it is understood.
Some 4,700 personnel have already been through the training at military bases in the north, southwest and southeast of England since it began in June, with commanders intending to continue the support for as long as Ukraine needs new troops to fight Russia's invasion.
Military instructors from eight other countries, including New Zealand, Sweden and the Netherlands, have joined with their British counterparts to provide the expanded training mission.
Ben Wallace, the defence secretary, said it demonstrated "our shared resolve to support the Armed Forces of Ukraine".
(Excerpt) Read more at news.sky.com ...
Yes, they avoided closing with British regulars in accepted European military fashion until the Continental regulars had enough battle experience over years to attempt it.
Even so, 5 weeks is only training cannon fodder.
Is anyone really contesting or arguing otherwise, really?
No. It’s just that you don’t agree with it. You think the shopkeepers and whoever else is being trained in the UK are going go back to Ukraine and turn the tide.
I think a good number of them will die.
I’m not pro-Russia or pro-Putin.
But I do know that this entire thing has been drawn out solely because of the, support Ukraine has received from the US and NATO, in a ‘no longer a proxy war-we’re full fledge participants. At the end of the day, it’s the Joe 6Pack of Ukraine paying the price. Not Biden or Zelensky.
And there’s absolutely ZERO accountability as to where any of our money is going. If you’re ok with all of that, that’s on you.
So, where does it end? When the 82nd and 2nd Marine Div has boots on the ground and American kids are dying?
It all depends on what they are going to be doing in the military and how much follow-up training they receive when integrated into the army.
As post 15 pointed out we were taking trainees with 8 weeks of basic and then integrating them into our combat-ready division by giving them OJT (on the job training).
Don’t tell posters what they think.
If you don’t want our more than 100,000 kids in NATO to have to fight Russia, then join them in watching the Russian military threat to them bleed out.
Russia will be many years recovering from this invasion of Ukraine, and our kids in uniform find comfort in that.
14 years as a US AF PJ and this still baffles me as to their overall effectiveness once they hit the actual battlefield.
Even so, I suppose one has to do what one has to do. But I don’t see this ending well for many of them, at all.
Russia is making money more than before selling its oil to India and other countries that aren’t paying any attention to Schwab, the EU and Biden.
Pretty soon Europe, as it descends into deep freeze will be begging for Russian natural gas.
You may have missed the story about Germans chopping down every tree they can so they can get their hands on firewood for the winter.
The Russians are being back by the Chinese
Yes the Russians have suffered losses.
But they aren’t the only ones bleeding resources.
Biden has no problem sending Ukraine billions in unaccounted for money. He had no problem depleting out military’s supply of Stinger missiles and seriously depleting out stores of javelins. Those things aren’t rounds for an M4 that can be mass produced.
But I guess the bleeding of our money and military gear is no big deal.
Asymmetric warfare does not mean non-soldier civilian.
We don’t know enough details to make a big deal out of it.
Agreed.
Of interest?
These are already trained soldiers giving their experiences:
‘Canadian “Super Soldier” Wali Goes Home - Tells Tale of Ukraine Losing War’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kz0qkS6aT5c
This story confirms the one linked above:
‘Canadian fighting in Ukraine describes the ‘hell’ he witnessed’
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zN2NdiFJFh0
5 weeks = cannon fodder; walking dead.
Sorry, but that is my take based upon my experiences in various theaters/operations.
Again, we don’t know for sure how this 5-weeks training will play out, but yeah.
I’ve seen too many versions of people and their wildly different interpretations of the same things and activities to pay attention to these kind of stories, no matter which side they are from, especially from soldiers, and especially in the field, a lot of whiners and negative and weak personalities are exposed in long term field living, under harsh conditions.
With something like this war and its coverage I don’t try to figure out the minutia and conflicting claims, day to day events and such, I just mainly focus on the long-range concerns I have for the distant future.
Understood.
Appreciate your feedback and thoughts.
For me, it was 13 weeks with no passes except for one pass between the two phases (after 8 weeks). Total control all the way. It was as bad as it gets. ;)
I was an instructor in an NCO leadership school and will paraphrase something from the accompanying study. Don’t remember the exact words (long ago). A Roman commander said that fresh, well trained soldiers without combat experience were the best, because to them, the first battle was like a “bloody exercise.” They were less inhibited than those with combat experience.
No it isn’t. I know two Ukrainians on one of the bases personally. I’ve actually been to that base twice and spoken to Ukrainians there.
Granted they’re not happy to be going to war but their prevailing opinion is that they’re defending their country and they wouldn’t be in this pickle at all if Russia hadn’t invaded.
I also know a lot of the Ukrainian community in the UK is in regular contact with the soldiers, and they are able to talk to their families still... unlike many Russian conscripts bussed off to who knows where and have little if any contact with their families.
The 9th Infantry Division was reactivated in May of 1972 and was an experimental Division trying a lot of new things such as the OJT training after basic instead of AIT, Aviation officers having commands outside of aviation, new enlistment rules for the locals of the North West region, new technology testing of dune buggies and such, the Rangers were brought back, no KP and all kinds of odd stuff.
Some activities were fun such as the mountain stuff and snow skiing but marching in parades in Seattle was a hassle, the 9th was OK.
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