@skillissuer @timkmak @ukraine @WarInTheFuture
The cultural divide between professional Ukrainian troops and their younger conscript counterparts was stark.
Junior soldiers always gripe, but this was different. They felt like they were in a different caste, and were glad for it. Dodging tour in the Donbas was a perk to them.
The real volunteer Ukrainian troops of any age were often better than their western trainers. In the late GWOT era, the west learned from Ukraine.
@skillissuer @timkmak @ukraine @WarInTheFuture
I trained them.
Tons of the guys are dead now.
You're right, there were two tiers of Ukrainian troops. We partnered with some units long term. Their contact soldiers would go fight in the ATO, then return to train on repeat. The контрактники had terrible morale and motivation, so they learned less.
The brave and skilled who remain in the fray typically die off early in war. All indicators are that a core cadre of experts has dwindled.
@skillissuer Hey man, I'm not disagreeing. I only said that the more one relies on lesser trained troops with eastern doctrine, one increasingly uses artillery. We're on the same page.
Artillery is indispensable in large scale combat operations.
@skillissuer Increasingly so, I'd say. The cadre of highly proficient troops we trained in maneuver warfare has been attrited. The conscripts, and the Soviet-tactic pensioners leading them, need artillery.
@barsoap @ukraine@sopuli.xyz @ukraine@mastodon.world @ukraine@lemmy.ml
Guaranteeing compensation for an order of artillery shells seems like it should be a trivial concept. Leave it to government to complicate simple business and ignore incentive.
Yes, the west has a security interest in negating the combat power of one of their largest geopolitical rivals. Will shells alone win the war? I'm not that optimistic. However, regardless of additional artillery shells' impact on the war, the US has a duty to be prepared for China.
@Ooops @LaFinlandia The paint will certainly make detection harder. Night vision is impressive, yet still is worse than daylight in every way.
A narrower field of view, loss of colors, need to manually focus, loss of depth perception*, and increased difficulty in using weapons are all downsides. Black paint against a night sky won't make any of those better.
(*can vary based on the device/number of tubes)