This this this. Basic infantry skill training is important because it takes the load off of Ukraine having to do it themselves not because the US or UK or DEU have that much more to offer (at the basic rifleman level). Where you'll see major benefit from NATO military training is
at the unit level. Teaching squads to work as platoons, platoons to work as companies, companies as battalions etc etc. Specific the mention of training their staffs not just to run their own units but to interact with adjacent units, which can be hard even for highly drilled &
long standing units. The individual skills are important & good instructors in England and the continent can absolutely make the difference between life & death at the individual level. But for *units* to succeed they need well drilled staff & officers who understand how to lead
groups of troops. This was encouraging to read & what we've gotten hints about before.
Beyond the fact the staffs are training together is the fact the entire battalions & brigades are being stood up & trained from start to finish. Knowing each other's SOPs and Traps will allow
for greater cohesion in combat, and ideally, if those brigades share a common battlespace, facilitate faster communication between them on the battlefield too.
Godspeed Ukraine.
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Further thoughts on this, and something that @MarkHertling has hammered on multiple times now.
I know many of you disagree with me & think Bradleys/Challengers et all should have been sent last year, and I won't relitigate beyond the highlights. Which consist of the following:
1) Ukraine was either on the defense or recovering a month of rapid fire offensive action for pretty much all but September and parts of October of last year. 2) the provision of artillery & ammo was far more important but several HUNDRED Soviet pattern tanks were sent. 3) they
lacked the time or spare manpower to send thousands of people out of country to take several months learning new systems. 4) there were not new units built around the new equipment so these would just been individual replacements with disparate supply chains& replacement training
The AK-12 (6P70) is the Russian answer to decades of lagging behind rifle development. The core rifle is still a Kalashnikov concept, but is not *the* Kalashnikov concept that made the company famous. The AK-74M (what the AK-12 is to replace) is a perfectly acceptable service
rifle; it will kill threats equally as capably as US 5.56 rifles or Chinese 5.8 rifles (with variation based on ammo for armor penetration). It has sufficient range for most battlefield environments. It is reasonably accurate. I own 4 AK-74 based firearms, it's a very enjoyable
round to shoot. But what the AK-74M (M being for Modernized) is not ... Is modern. When it was updated it was fine but that change was in 1991. That change was replacing wood furniture with plastic, lightening & hardening the weapon, adding a side folding stock among a few others
It's that time. You have all been slacking. Do me a favor & follow @GirlSecurity_ the account working to promote woman's access to security, defense, & diplomacy. American or not, this is the org that is pushing women to careers that enhance all of our collective lives. 60k+ of
you follow me, if 1/60th follows them they'd hit 10k followers. This is an organization that doesn't seek recognize, isn't asking for your money (though it helps), just wants opportunity to show young girls and women that they are a valued part of our collective security
infrastructure & that the jobs are (of should be) just as available to them. I've spent the vast majority of my life working in this field, and even when I worked a mission not common to women (like small arms), my job was always made easier by intelligent hard working women who
Y'all if you're wondering how a person could possibly have access to information they shouldn't have, just assume they're lying.
Am I subtweeting @noclador? No, I'm directly saying he's lying and doesn't know what he's talking about. Dude is consistently making shit up
This is not a "we disagree analytically" this is "liars should always be called out, regardless of whether they support Ukraine of not". Fucking Igor Strelkov is a more honest actor than Thomas. Internet clout is a hell of a drug & he's gotten used to an audience that loves his
wild claims underpinned by vague technical expertise (which is often wrong) so he continues to spew fairy tales. The reality is Ukraine faces an opponent who is often incompetent but still very deadly and even the dumbest conscript behind a rifle or howitzer can cause tremendous
Anyway 800 of you followed me this week, probably because @MarkHertling retweeted my thread on defensive obstacles & difficulties breaching them. So we can get the "oh wow actually I hate you" unfollows and blocks out of the way, here's a "this is me" thread.
I live on small
acreage with my wife I don't deserve & (nearly adult) children who are amazing despite their lackluster father. We are *not* farmers (our mortgage gets paid regardless of whether the pigs sell or the produce comes in) it's a hobby for us. We raise pigs, goats, horses, chickens,
ducks, geese, bees, and have farm dogs and cats. We slaughter a portion of our livestock for meat (pigs/poultry), and I sometimes post videos & pics of that. I'll always warn before hand so you don't inadvertently click.
I am pretty centrist with guns & foreign policy leaning
To clarify something. My account largely talks about tactical issues from the squad to Battalion level because that's where my experience lays. When I offer a criticism or a comment about the situation in Ukraine I am not suggesting that Ukraine is doomed or that Russia will
Prevail. Every military makes mistakes, Russia seems to make the lion share of mistakes, but Ukraine makes them too. Offering commentary on challenges they will face or mistakes that they have made is not me slamming Ukraine. I will gladly admit that I both underestimated
Ukraine's capacity to fight, although not there will, and the international capacity to support them. Anyone who knows me well knows that I was very depressed in the first few months of conflict even after Russia withdrew from Kyiv. Summer of last year was the point where I