So Vladimir Putin wants to deploy at least 300,000 reservists for the war in Ukraine. Allegedly, the Kremlin is even considering sending a million into battle.
Well, these aren’t professional soldiers, they’re ex-conscripts who lack practice and practice. The enthusiasm of the Russians is accordingly limited.
And now there are reports that the protests are getting louder, especially from the women who are staying behind. The well-known publicist and Putin critic Anne Applebaum for example posted this video from Dagestan:
And colleague Zita Affentranger has thought about it in a podcast.
The protests against partial mobilization are one thing. Putin’s henchmen can simply bludgeon them. On the other hand, the much bigger problem, namely the partial mobilization itself, cannot be beaten down.
Anyone who has ever taken part in a Swiss Army refresher course as part of a mobilization exercise can tell you a thing or two about it: things are often chaotic, lots of things have to be improvised, and every now and then even a capable soldier gets forgotten in a barn. And that applies to an exercise in Switzerland, with its short distances and decentralized mobilization sites.
Mobilization is one of the most difficult and complex military operations, an army is never as vulnerable as in this phase, you also learn that in the WK.
This applies even more to Russia, in contrast to Switzerland, an empire that extends over 11 time zones. For geographical reasons alone, it would be difficult to round up 300,000 soldiers.
Retired US General Mark Hertling’s jaw dropped when he heard about Putin’s announcement, as he writes on Twitter. He analyzes the announcement of the Russian partial mobilization in an interesting thread. And he knows what he’s talking about.
Because General Hertling last commanded the US land forces in Europe before he left the army at the end of 2012. From 2007 to 2009 he led the 28,000 members of the US task force in northern Iraq.
Most importantly, Hertling was responsible for training in the US Army from 2009 to 2011, with training taking place at more than two dozen locations. That makes Hertling an interesting source when it comes to the Russian partial mobilization.
In his Twitter post, he first reported on his work and how military training is organized in the US Army: During his time as commander in Europe, around “150,000 new soldiers per year were at 5 locations for basic training and at 21 locations for the extended training».
Accordingly, most new US soldiers receive ten weeks of basic training, although it may take longer depending on the branch of service, such as infantry, artillery or the military police. This is followed by a specialization, for example in the field of logistics.
During this time, the soldiers are “trained by very professional drill sergeants”. The film “Full Metal Jacket” with the character of drill sergeant Hartman offers an exaggerated picture of such an American trainer. (By the way, actor Ronald Lee Ermey was himself a former US Marine.) After their training, the US soldiers report to their unit and assume their assigned role.
General Hertling reminds that the US has 344 million inhabitants and the Army trains 150,000 people a year. In contrast, Russia has a population of 144 million.
According to Hertling, all Russian conscripts undergo their basic training in Labinsk in the Krasnodar region of southern Russia. Some soldiers also receive special training, but most receive training in their unit.
And with regard to the war in Ukraine, Hertling writes: “The Russian soldiers received only a few days of basic training before they were sent to Belarus in November last year”, where the Russian armed forces were partly located before the invasion marched up.
During his playing days, when relations between the West and Moscow were more relaxed, Hertling traveled to Russia twice. He visited Russian armed forces that were being trained, first in the basic course and then in their units.
The US general described the basic military training as “terrible”: “Getting used to the guns instead of qualifications, rudimentary first aid, very few simulations to save resources.” Above all, the leadership by the drill sergeants was “terrible”. Worse than “Full Metal Jacket”?
US General Mark P. Hertling was deployed in Iraq: the picture shows him speaking to the media in Baghdad in 2007.
Photo: Wathiq Khuzaie (AP Photo/Keystone)
Apparently, special training is also poor, depending on how a unit is equipped. Hertling reports: “Members of a tank unit that I visited near Moscow proudly told me that every tank crew could fire one shot a year.” One per year!
“US units,” Hertling continues, “spend hours in simulators, and crews fire live ammunition dozens of times a year.” This also applies to the Swiss WK soldiers once they have survived the mobilization exercise.
In contrast to the training of Russian soldiers, that of their Ukrainian opponents has been modernized after the illegal annexation of Crimea in 2014. Form since then American instructors Ukrainians from.
Hertling summarizes at the end of his thread: «The Russian army is poorly managed and poorly trained. It starts with basic training and doesn’t get any better during the time the Russian soldiers spend in uniform.”
Therefore, the mobilization of 300,000 reservists will be “extremely difficult”. Especially since the conventional armed forces, the motley militias and the use of paramilitaries such as the Wagner group, including the recruitment of prisoners, have not brought any success. With “newcomers” at the front, General Hertling expects “another disaster” from the Russians. His jaw is still down.
Christof Münger, September 27, 2022