(written at the very start of the conflict, but not posted)
Uk civilians on the radio phone-in shows talking about going to Ukraine to participate. I think they mean well for sure but without previous experience and training may be volunteering to become a casualty, a logistical burden, and possibly a threat to the very people they are intending to help. Infantry soldiers have a range of skills that don’t occur in normal lives, they are autonomically disciplined for action without thought, can understand and follow fire orders, know how to locate where they are, can identify their enemy, perform battlefield first aid, provide effective cover to retreating colleagues, endure often harsh conditions, operate on low amounts of sleep, know how to use many weapons, manage ammunition, set an ambush, and much much more… Ukraine has mandatory military service (national service), so does Russia, this means every adult able bodied citizen of those countries is to some degree a trained soldier, bear in mind that our citizens don’t even have mandatory PE in school.
Movies have us believing an upturned kitchen table or a sofa or an internal plasterboard wall will stop bullets, that the bad guys just can’t shoot that well, that a blast knocks you off your feet but you’ll get up unscathed if a little dusty, but none of this is actually true. A NATO round can travel at over 1000 meters per second and penetrate a low density house block or 3mm steel with very little deflection of it’s trajectory, and is effective and accurate even beyond 600 meters when fired from a mass produced combat weapon in professional hands such as an M16 or an SA80A2. I was a marksman in the forces and I could state with a high degree of confidence that within 500 meters if I didn’t get you with the first release I’d get you with the second, or at least pin you down if you had cover to hide in, and I’m not exceptional, just a very good shot.
Volunteer combatants will not know the language, will not know the geography, will not have the passion that comes with defending ones own territory against incursion. Theirs is a righteous concern for people in an unjust conflict, or it’s a feeling of wanting to participate for the correct reasons, or a struggle with the helplessness of having to sit back and watch. Sometimes it’s for the worst reasons they want to be a part of this, the need to get a gun off to feel powerful, the bragging rights of it, their chance to be John J Rambo and save the day. I feel that these folks will do more harm than good, the professional soldiers that go will enable Russia to have a spectacle to parade if they are caught, the amateurs will add to the Ukrainian death toll, armchair shouters like MP Liz Truss will engage in badly thought out sabre rattling rhetoric that will force the UK either have to participate with troops (thus breaking international law), or back down in the face of Russia’s response rhetoric making us look like we lacked the courage of her convictions (the bravery of MPs at range), or maybe worse she could goad the bad guys into doubling their efforts, or boost the morale of the enemy combatants.
We either get in there as a nation, or we leave it alone and use diplomacy as our weapon, but it would be unwise to go there yourself..
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