larry johnson speaks about current events in our various wars including a video on the subject;

To explain the dire plight confronting Ukraine, I will plagiarize James Carville’s slogan from Clinton’s 1992 Presidential Run — It is the training, stupid. As someone who trains instructors and average citizens on how to properly and safely use a firearm, I know that the best way to learn is by doing. But learning involves more than just acquiring knowledge, you must be able to apply that knowledge while under great stress. The same applies to military training.

I believe one of the major contributing factors to the dramatic increase in Ukrainian casualties is the lack of trained personnel. In sharp contrast to the Russian approach, the Ukrainians are grabbing guys off the streets, shoving them into vans, hauling them to a collection point where they are issued essential military equipment and then sending them to the front. Ukraine is circumventing the normal process of conducting at least three-months of basic training, followed by an additional three to six-months of advanced individual training — e.g., learning how to operate an artillery piece, a drone or a tank. Once that training is complete, the new soldier is still green, inexperienced. Ukraine is not doing that for its new recruits.

Once a newbie arrives at the front — in an ideal world — he would be surrounded by grizzled veterans, seasoned non-commissioned officers (NCOs) who would show the new guy how to stay alive on the battlefield. But that is not happening for the Ukrainians. Most of their seasoned NCOs are dead or wounded and their places have been filled with inexperienced sergeants, who also have little formal training. While there are some exceptions, I am talking about the majority.

The Ukrainian soldiers now fighting who have had some formal training are also at a disadvantage because the training has not been uniform. Some have been trained in Poland, some in Romania, some in Germany and some in the United Kingdom. That is the problem. While all the countries are NATO members, there is no guarantee of standardized training. Each country has a tendency to do things their on way..........more.........