Page 33 - Bugle Spring 2023

5 RIFLES
Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) Training at Scale ROTO 4, A Coy
‘Dobryi ranok, yak Spravay?’ (Good morning, how are you?) The greetings we made to the newest members of the Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) as they arrived for their initial screening were familiar terrain to the A Company training teams. This was our third and final rotation of the AFU Training at Scale operation on Salisbury Plain, so an air of confidence was tangible. We knew our intent; increase the survivability and lethality of the Ukrainian troops. We also
knew the ground available to us; it was now our fourth month involved in this training. There was, however, an evolution to the course that we had not yet faced. The key improvement ahead of us was the length
of the training, with a couple of additional weeks added to it since our last iteration. With this, brought new training objectives to achieve.
Bugle Major Harris and his team in Assault Pioneer Platoon had created an incredible
The realities of war and the toll
it is taking
series of Russian-style trenches. A new exercise had been added which would fully utilise this resource.
There would now be an additional day’s training in the wooded environment. An exposure to this more confusing landscape would be a welcome break from the open- style section attacks that the troops would only have exercised in full a few days prior.
Arguably the most significant change in this rotation would be the addition of a far more thorough and demanding range package. AK weapon systems and their variants can be temperamental and erratic beasts, and so the requirement for a more exhaustive approach to marksmanship would be taken. With more training shoots and development before attempting the Annual Combat Marksmanship Test, the trainees would be to a standard where they would be able to take part in Live Fire Tactical Training. After all, it is one thing to fire blank ammunition next to your comrades, and a completely different thing to fire live ammunition while also applying the taught principles of fire and manoeuvre. These battle inoculation serials are vitally important, as it could be a matter of days or weeks before the Ukrainian’s are deployed to the front line.
The most poignant change in the course for the training teams was the demographic of our trainees. We began to train some significantly older recruits than we had previously been exposed to in past rotations. The realities
of war and the toll it is taking on Ukrainian society was demonstrating a concrete difference to our training in the UK.
Lt Lyman, A Coy
RIFLES The Bugle 33