Canadian Military Trainers in Ukraine

"They are very highly motivated.What they are learning is to be inter-operable with us and the Americans and all the other partners that are here and to build their war fighting capacity and capability."
"[He has learned] a lot from the Ukrainian officers and soldiers. They are patriotic and many of them have combat experience."
Major Bruno Turmel, deputy commander, Royal 22nd Regiment, The Vandoos Company

"Within a week after graduation, they can go directly to war."
"[That experience in Afghanistan] helps me a lot here. It gives me credibility with the Ukrainians. Whether it is on the battlefield in Afghanistan or Ukraine, the body needs the same thing if it is bleeding to death. The techniques are almost the same, so we can apply what we learned in Afghanistan."
Sg. Yann Gauthier, medic, Canadian military medical trainer

"You can tell when a person already has some experience on the battlefield and has experienced that with his own blood. Looking him in the eye, you feel it and understand why such methodologies are so important."
"I have participated in other courses before and we only got basic knowledge. Here, we get practical tasks. I have crossed out what I knew beforehand and absorbed all the information like a sponge because it was so important."
Arthur Woichenko, Ukrainian instructor/soldier

May 12 2016. Starychi, Ukraine. Two members of Joint Task Force Ukraine examine the recruits at work, during a visit of the 184 training center in Starychi, Ukraine on May 12, 2016 during Operation UNIFIER. (Photo : Capt J.P. Coulombe, PAO JTF-U)

"The culture is definitely different than what we are used to working with. The decision-making is more highly concentrated in the higher echelons."
"[While the program has been] quite successful ... of course there has been some resistance. It is a new way of thinking for them [Ukrainian soldiers]."
"But we are not teaching them this as '100 percent the way to go' What we do is present them with a way to do things."
Major Jean-Francois Lamarche, Kandahar combat veteran

A Canadian Armed Forces medical technician gives a demonstration to the students for the Advanced Combat First Aid Course in Starychi, Ukraine. For the first time, instructors from the Training Center are participating in the course along with the best candidates from the 72nd Brigade which is currently undertaking the 55 day training block. (Photo: Capt J.P. Coulombe, PAO JTF-U)

In Yavoriv, Ukraine, Canadian military trainers are helping Ukrainian military recruits understand the modern fundamentals of successful warfare strategies. And just as important, the training of Ukrainian medics is going forward, to ensure that casualties have a fair chance of surviving their wounds with the knowledgeable rapid first-aid response of those who have been exposed to medical lessons learned by Canadian medics in Afghanistan.

Canadians, along with other NATO members, have signed up to helping the Ukrainian military understand NATO principles of modern warfare, along with the ethics that the West is steeped in to ensure that human rights are as much respected as possible in the theatre of war. Major Turmel, like other Canadian trainers on duty in Ukraine, served in Afghanistan. His position was military trainer to the Afghan security forces.

Before the most recent arrival of the Montreal-based Vandoos, the Ontario-based Royal Canadian Regiment had starred in the training role. Next month it will be the rotation-turn of the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry, from western Canada. Kyiv had requested that Canada provide trainers to its military, where conscripts have been taken, under Ukraine's emergency situation provoked by Russia's active support of Ukrainian rebels from ordinary life in all manner of professions outside the military.

Ukraine's regular military is small and ill-equipped in comparison to its larger, aggressive neighbour and it could use all the help that NATO members proffered. Canada has accepted seven different "lines of effort" located at various venues around Ukraine. Mostly, however, troops operate in a large Ukrainian army base outside of Yavoriv on a training ground located in hills that look similar to Canada's own wide, green spaces.

A 5-day course, the longest on offer, teaches basic fighting, skills for small-unit infantry. Leadership courses for senior non-commissioned officers are also available, as are courses for military police, along with anti-mining training. All essential exposures to military logistics and practices reflective of Canadian and Western experience in prosecuting military exercises during times of conflict are represented.

Essential medical skills focusing on battlefield emergency treatment practices are of prime importance to impart to Ukrainian medics, needed with great urgency in a brutal war ongoing in eastern Ukraine. St. Gauthier, with three combat tours as a medic in Afghanistan behind him, spoke of his pleased surprise at how swiftly some of his Ukrainian military students took to the lessons he taught, engaging them in advanced battlefield techniques to save lives.

15 March 2016 – Ukrainian Armed Forces members perform combat first aid drills under the supervision of Canadian Armed Forces members during Operation UNIFIER at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre in Starychi, Ukraine. (Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera, DND)

Three of the five Canadian medic-trainers served in Afghanistan, while 70 percent of the 200 Canadian trainers teaching specialized courses did service with the Canadian military under NATO in Afghanistan. Graduates to the medic course receive a combat first aid kit valued at $350, as an award of sorts, invaluable to them on the battlefield, and as validation that they have earned the trust that will be placed in their medical skills.

"In the Canadian Armed Forces the accent is on non-commissioned officers. In the Ukrainian army a lot of instructors still act according to the rules of the Soviet time", explained Lt. Alexei Chebutav, who has had experience fighting against the Russian-supported forces of the ethnic Russian Ukrainians rebelling against Ukraine around the city of Donetsk. "I always tell my soldiers that the experience we get with you [Canadian military trainers] can help to save our lives."

"You leave your souls here", he said in appreciation to his mentor, Major Lamarche as the Vandoos operations wind down. "Our guys appreciate it very much."

Canadian Armed Forces members demonstrate section patrol techniques to Ukrainian Armed Forces members, during Operation UNIFIER at the International Peacekeeping and Security Centre (IPSC) in Starychi on March 7, 2016. (Photo: Canadian Forces Combat Camera, DND)