15 opinions on training of mobilised infantrymen

Author: Yurii Butusov

1. Those mobilised to combat units should be immediately enrolled in a specific corps or brigade regiment and receive training under the leadership of their future military unit, only then will they receive adequate attention and interest.

2. The training should be carried out as part of regular companies or platoons or squads that are withdrawn for replenishment and training, with their commanders, so that after training they can fight together. Each training group is one squad of up to 10 soldiers. The units are trained in a competitive game form. This way, there will be real cohesion and exchange of experience from day one.

3. The training period should be extended to 3 months. In the first month, a person should get quality physical training to preserve their main working tools - the spine, lower back and knees. People need to pump the right muscles, stretch, and breathe. They need to properly fit their equipment, eat, take vitamins and take care of themselves in the field so as not to lose their health and morale during the combat training.

4. "Corsair" body armour with standard armour plates should be decommissioned, as they are dangerous due to their excessive weight. I am sure that none of the leaders who buy heavy "Corsairs" have ever dug a trench or made a marching throw with the wounded in such a vest, which is a guaranteed microhernia or knee injury for most of the mobilised. The protection should allow an ordinary mobilised person to work in it all day and stay healthy every day, and not want to take it off at the first opportunity.

5. Metal folding MPL shovels should be phased out of service due to their clumsy design and poor metal quality. Again, those who buy them should be forced to dig trenches according to the standards somewhere on clay soil under the roots of trees, wearing body armour, and filmed shamefully failing the task. We need ordinary quality shovels with wooden handles.

6. The infantryman should be equipped with collimator sights, which allow fast, accurate shooting even by novice shooters with assault rifles and semi-automatic shotguns. It is inexpensive and saves ammunition and training time. Live fire on the ground should be carried out exclusively as part of a specific tactical scenario, with movement and communication between soldiers.

7. Tactical medicine - one of the key stages of training should be practised daily, blindfolded, to the point of automaticity. Each fire team commander, squad and platoon leader, must complete the CLS rescue training cycle.

8. All training should be conducted from the outset with the use of live-fire simulators. Airsoft, laser, paintball devices are needed at all stages of training, and they are absolutely affordable. During the final tactical exit, it is justified to use expensive simulation kits from Simulation, as this will ensure realism and quality of training.

9. Each squad should be trained with at least one drone operator - either a mavic or fibre optic fpv - for close reconnaissance. Infantry must move behind and with drones - this is modern warfare. Infantry units are trained simultaneously with aerial reconnaissance and strike UAV units, and jointly perform training tasks on camouflage, marching, search and kill. The threat of drones must be felt constantly, and training ammunition must be allocated for this purpose. Half of the live firing should be at aerial targets, saucers, balloons that tow drones, and at the drones themselves.

10. Each infantryman should be trained at night with night vision equipment, an anti-thermal cloak, camouflage, hiding and see how it looks on drone video.

11. Command training should be conducted in accordance with TLP standards, and commanders should be able to give an order in accordance with the scenario. Preparation of giving order by commanders, starting with the fire team commander, is carried out on terrain mock-ups. The commander must practice communication with subordinates so that he can set tasks and receive feedback.

12. People need to have adequate rest and be fresh during theoretical classes to absorb information well. Instructors who train soldiers should have days to prepare classes and not be deployed on a daily basis.

13. People should be given time for self-study, with specific tasks to study specific materials together in a group:

- studying the combat path of their military unit through watching specific videos and interviews;

- watching training videos of combat operations of our war;

- watching training videos about equipment, everyday life - I really like the Alex Saint and Panterivets channels, they have almost everything a soldier needs to know at a basic level.

- I advise commanders to read Ernest Swinton's little book "Defence of the Fool's Ford" to improve their thinking, we have made a Ukrainian version, although it would be good if a professional translator from English did it.

14. Each training session and each working day ends with a joint meeting of the training group and instructors, where an after-action analysis is carried out, strengths and weaknesses are analysed, and conclusions for tomorrow are drawn.

15. All combat training programmes should be tied to the final exam - a tactical exit, where everything that has been taught should be practiced in three to four days - giving a combat order, marching, fighting drones, fire contact, ambushes, guarding, assault, defence, transfer of command, orientation, position equipment, loading and exiting vehicles, camouflage, tactical medicine in various scenarios.

Yurii Butusov, Censor. NET.