... Ukraine's soldiers now mirror their Western counterparts who teach, for example, that all soldiers require first-aid training, not just the medics, to improve their chances of surviving a firefight. The trainers here also try to instill authority in these front-line troops, empowering experienced sergeants and young officers to take command and adapt to problems, not simply accept the orders of faraway generals as Soviet tradition dictated.
The change is tough, and not always accepted. Four out of 5 soldiers here have some sort of combat experience, and some, such as the Ukrainian army airborne troops in the last class of trainees, believe their elite status doesn't require further instruction from Western teachers. Others see the need for reforming their fighting doctrine, particularly younger troops who did not grow up during the height of Soviet control of Ukraine.
U.S. Army instructors on this day focus on new techniques to teach new maneuvers that won't make Ukrainian formations as vulnerable to the kinds of Russian-style attacks they've faced since fighting began in 2014. They're learning not to bunch up behind the armored fighting vehicle their officers command when taking enemy fire, but instead to spread out and employ coordinated maneuvers to cover one another as they move closer to the enemy targets and destroy them ...
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