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Please talk about the very common "Soldier's fail". A large majority of soldiers in WW2 deliberately missed their enemies and didn't shoot them (on all sides). Same goes for every other war that was predominantly fought with long range weapons, because it is very easy to disguise unwillingness to hit the target by pretending to be a bad shot.
COME ON !!!!!!!!!!! POLICE ARE SNATCHING THEM OFF THE STREETS?????? RUSSIA's security service which includes FSB, POLICE, MP, COBO e.t.c consist of 5 million personel !!! you guys need to relax.. you know its mandatory for every Russian to serve in the military in Russia just like South Korea?? every Russian boy has operated a gun before bro! what do you mean they have no experience??? this isn't pussyland Why are Chechens the most perfect soldiers on the battlefield, cus they built a military school in Chechnya after they fought in Syria, Russia sent most of their Unit to Syria cus they were muslims, Please atleast give correct news or just ask
Sir you are a smart person. These guys are former active members. They have done their 4 years and they have been called back. we are talking about 12-18 divisions. In addition, they hate N A Zs. Ukraine had one advantage, men. Now that advantage is gone. BTW we can not compare the Russian military to our military. They are fighting for their nation. we bunch of N A Zs and NATO proxy running around in Ukraine killing Russians. So the Russians are very well motivated.
This guy has not fought in Ukraine. I have. The russians want to fight and their families are extremely proud of them. This is not an easy war like Iraq and Afghanistan. (I was in Iraq, Afghanistan, and syria) and am saying this. This guy has been wrong all the time and this is no different.
Just a small correction. There were 2 people called Helmut von Moltke. One was the genius, pioneer of the modern warfare who fought and won franco-prussian war and second was his son which was far from genius, who lead german army at the start of WW1. The one on picture is the second one. So just keep that in mind if you hear some seamingly contradictory statements that he was simultaneoselly a genius and an idiot. Its because they were 2 :D
Moltke the Younger was also an extremely good general. The Race to the Sea didn't work out for Germany but the reasons for that are complex. One of his subordinates deserves more blame than Moltke.
@@blackcatdungeonmastersfami5311 I mean thinning out forces on the west, when it was their main part of the plan was pretty bad idea. Battle of the marne was very close even dispite that but still. But okay sure, he wasnt as bad as Hotzendorf, Potiorek, or Cadorna
Kyiv civilian here. One correction, it isn't impossible to heat our homes, not at all. There are just scheduled blackouts for a few hours a day, sometimes emergency blackouts too, but that's it. No need to overestimate it.
Hey. I want to bring my career of special operations medical experience, assets and supplies. Want to help? We have been looking for someone in country for some time, if you’re on this channel you have to be at least squared away.
EU citizen here. Terror against civilians never worked. It just strengthens resolve. Check the latest World War. UA will prevail! RU is desperate. And the civilized world will continue to support UA!
@@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869 Americans are also totally reliant on the power infrastructure for heating and cooling. You won't usually find any other methods of heating in their homes. Especially any built over the last 40 or so years. same goes for food preparation and storage. Some people only buy what they need for the week and don't have any other emergency food stores at home.
"They will be permanently changed." Yeah, I've been out of Vietnam for over fifty years, and I still have those damned dreams and (sometimes) am swallowed by a darkness understood only by those who walked the walk. I feel for these young men, they are not the enemy, their government is.
My sympathies to you, but these young men definitely are the enemy. They are in Ukraine willingly killing citizens of a foreign country. Many times these citizens they kill are civilians. They also conduct a multitude of war crimes.
Yeah... They ARE victims of Putin's megalomania, too... But I am finding it DIFFICULT to keep seeing these Russian BOYS as forced to kill their own cousins because they KEEP COMMITTING HORRENDOUS WAR CRIMES!? Yes... I have empathy for the unwillingly "mobilized" Russian youths - but they are going to be regarded by the WORLD the way former Nazi soldiers were for the rest of their lives because their fellow soldiers, and obviously some of themselves, keep raping and looting and MURDERING... WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO MURDER AND RAPE IF YOU'RE MISERABLY HATEFUL OF THE WAR YOU HAVE BEEN FORCED UNDER SEVERE PENALTIES TO GO TO? Is there a cultural THING about SPREADING THE MISERY THAT PUTIN HAS INFLICTED UPON THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES? Seriously. I know that HORRIFIC behaviour is a consequence of war's utter brutality - Abu Ghraib - the Mai Lai Massacre - just for some examples of AMERICAN soldiers committing war crimes - but the RATE AND THE LEVEL OF TOTAL INHUMANITY among the Russian invaders is just at the SICKEST LEVEL... It's not a TERRIBLE, NATIONALLY SHAMEFUL, but (fortunately) SMALL group out of the total number of Russian soldiers who have been committing war crimes against civilians and soldiers alike and on a DAILY BASIS - and that is the part that I CAN'T understand.
Always appreciate your take on these issues. From a regular ground guy, who’s been there, seen it, smelled, heard it. I do feel bad for these guys. We went willingly, volunteering for war. They didn’t. They’re not trained properly, and even less equipped. Sad deal all the way around.
So what you are insinuating that Russian people are not patriotic ,only Americans ,your Government sent you not to defend America but to commit murder in the name of freedom what bull shit,The Russian are defending their country against American aggression, America are using Ukraine as a vestal state to them how meny Ukrainians dei soldiers or civilians as long Russia 🇷🇺 bleeds,your Government makes me sick 😷
@@antoniodefilippo8484 keep drinking that koolaid son 😂 I’ll be the first to say the US has done some shady shit, but Russia has been puffing up and bullying its smaller neighbors forever. Now the world has called their bluff, and they’re getting their asses handed to them 🤣 ON YOUR OWN DOORSTEP! I feel bad for the ones forced to go. For those willfully looking to dominate a smaller neighbor…I look forward to their reclassification to fertilizer.
@Cody Bailey Your country I'm assuming you are a Yankee. since the end of ww2 your country has invaded 50 or more countries killing millions of innocent men women and children,and you got the cheek to say that the Russians have done this and that. To me you sound brainwashed, you seriously need help
Despite what Russia has done to Ukraine, I also feel empathy for both sides. Not so much those who tortured, raped and kidnapped Ukrainians, but the civilians on both sides and most of the soldiers. Russia will not recover from this war for decades, and Ukraine will likewise require many years to rebuild. Tragic.
One thing that didn't get a mention is that the conscripts also consume resources. And that means tying up logistics just to transport and feed them. Which competes with logistic resources for other things you might actually need. Also, the act of putting poorly trained conscripts into armoured vehicles which are then more likely to be destroyed is a good way of increasing the rate at which you lose valuable resources. I think the recent figures back this up.
That's assuming they'll get a tank, or a tent, or even food. Prospects are bleak. Actually training, equipping and supplying them would have tied up important resources Russia can ill afford to divert, so they don't
Russian solution to supply problems, I know, don't supply them! Don't feed the conscripts!, Fukk our own troops, they can loot from the houses and their own dead for a pocket-ful of crumbs!
they are just dumping them and leaving... no support, no supply, nothing to fight for, i'm sure they'll turn it around after they hear the tsar spoke with some mothers. ))
My Russian friend of almost 6 years is being drafted. He leaves tomorrow. I feel so much for him; I cannot imagine how he feels. He was recently talking of leaving Russia, too, as he had just finished college recently.
@@fryertuck6496 With the newly "annexed" eastern Ukraine, Russia in their eyes can send conscripts to the front so they can "defend Russia." Edit: Every man is supposed to serve 1 year in the military is correct... on paper. Paper doesn't always translate well in the real world
@@fryertuck6496 He said he's being drafted. I take that as mobilization. Not conscription. Although I do see your argument, him being fresh out of college, he is now eligible for conscription again.
They experienced the horrors of trench warfare and refused to attack again. And it was not only the French also British and German troops revolted against their commanding officers. Shellshock now beter known as PTSD victims were also shot.
Eh, a different situation but still a valid point, much more justifiable to yourself to defend your country than to fight in a different country for something you don't agree with.
Yet they commit warcrimes in a systematic and large scale. As one General in Norway said; "It shows that it is not a few bad apples, when liberated city after city warcrimes is uncovered" Yeah i find it hard to feel bad for the average Russian
Russian mobilization reminds me of McNamara in the Vietnam era. McNamara came from the Detroit auto business. He had the number of bullets needed to kill a Vietnamese calculated and then figured that if just more bullets were fired, Vietnamese casualty numbers would increase proportionately. This led to a lot more bullets being fired but the Vietnamese casualties didn't rise in proportion to what essentially was just an increase wastage of bullets. Yeah, it worked some, but it didn't win the war.
I'd like to see you talk about how hard it is for troops- particularly poorly trained ones- to survive outdoors in the winter. These kids are going to suffer a lot of casualties from trench foot and frostbite.
Like any other military, Russia has trained tens of thousands recruits every year. Germny 1945 still had several hundred thousand men with weapons and artillery. Russia is calling up their reservists. 1 or 2 million soldiers. Why do you think they have to call in untrained kids?
@@Sir_Godz Big talk from someone who isn't being forced to or have children, selected to fight. They're fed misinformation and are considered expendable by the Putin regime. Be mad at the leaders, not the individuals.
Exception: IF you're supposed to be fighting Commies, in support of an independent nation that does not wish to join the Communist encroachment being imposed upon them, THEN you would be a Coward. I'm speaking about the hippies during Vietnam. If there had not been that Hippie Counter-Culture in the 60's, which the Commies actually loved, then the draft dodging would never have happened in noticeable numbers. Had it happened in the 50's, as in the Koreas, there would have been no issue. But drugged out hippies enjoying great music and free sex had no interest in removing their dirty, smelly T-shirts or cutting their ratty hair. The troops were probably better off without them by that point. But when they spit on our returning soldiers and called them baby killers, playing right into the Commie propaganda, they became shameful and shameless cowards.
@@Barefoot433 My high school history teacher is a Vietnam war veteran and he’s not really proud of being a part of that war, he’s proud of answering the call of his country but not of what he and his fellow soldiers did in the name of freedom and duty. I don’t think you can justify killing just because the people you are shooting at are communists, especially when a lot of them didn’t choose it willingly, my grandparents was born and raised in communist China and that’s all they’ve ever known, people like them didn’t choose that way of life because there were no other options
Part of keeping the RU mil-bloggers is pragmatism. It allows truth to be spoken to power and an avenue for average soldiers to voice complaints so resentment doesn't boil over into open revolt (this might be due to them actually reading history about the deprivations that caused large sections of the Tsar's army to join the 1917 Revolutions) and the mil bloggers serve as a canary in the coal mine to ensure problems don't fester untreated. The other pragmatic reason to keep them is they can give evidence that can be used to fire Russian Generals or other high level officers that may have been promoted for political reasons and would otherwise be hard to remove. The Russians do in fact want the incompetent, sycophantic, political appointees in their officer corps to be removed, if for no other reason than they want their military to actually be effective at making their irredentist imperialist goals a reality, but first they need to find them and have some kind of evidence.
There's no point in firing the incompetent, sycophantic, political appointees if you don't also fire the incompetent politician who appointed them. It isn't the officers, it's the system which appoints them, which is why the British Army stopped selling commissions two centuries ago.
The problem is, a competent military leader can easily see this is a lost cause and order their troops to be withdrawn from the conflict, something Putin can't do. Because of this, Putin will keep appointing yes men and then firing them for incompetence until he himself is removed.
Speaking as a russian, I do have a way harsher view of this conscripts. The point of "well if they refuse they will be kept in the basement" which is first of all preferable to commiting war crimes, but that aside, that's only true if you are already in the war zone and then you refuse. The point is refusing before you go. See, the thing is, they can't really do much to you back at home. Also the military recruitment office keeps all their records on paper with an address you had at birth. You can literally move next door and you're dead to them. There are currently talks about modernising this system, but as it stands now it's non existent (and considering how many IT engineers left the country probably will never exist). So yes, every single person that's in there is there by their own volition, they can save their "I only followed orders" for the Hague.
Won't they send you to prison if you refuse to go? Also, how feasible is it for the average young person to move next door (or anywhere for that matter) to avoid the draft?
@@Ignozi No they won't. They can only send you to prison if you are already considered an active personnel. And for it to happen you have to go to your military conscription office. Otherwise at worst - it's just fines, and even then it'll happen only if they have a hard proof that you're avoiding the draft. That being said, bear in mind that in Russia, if some official will get a hard on for you for some reason - you'll go down, the letter of the law does not really apply. But, majority of people are not that interesting and no one going to care that much about them. How feasible it is for anyone to just move next door - for the majority of people it is extraordinarily easy. Bear in mind that Russia is a country with a high rate of home ownership, a lot of families have multiple apartments and summer houses. And even if you don't have that - chances are someone in your family does. And if they don't, you just go outside of big cities and get a flat for a price of the pack of gum and a worn shoe. You have to be ridiculously unfortunate for it to not be an option. Even if all of that would not be true - going to prison is still preferable.
One Soldiers war In Chechnya Is a great book that presents all the complaints of the current war in Ukraine eerily similar to the complaints he gave about his time In Chechnya It's extradionary how similar these both correlate nearly 30 years apart the book mentions things which are currently listed in Ukriane: -Tractors stealing armoured vehicles -Lacking supplies and needing to rob or even in one chapter eat a dog or a cow " -and many complaints about officers and corruption I am surprised no one has spoke about this yet (to what i know of)
Interesting... it's almost as if the same mistakes are being made *by the same head of state who shouldn't have started either conflict and even be in power no more...*
@@Anino_Makata this how cleptocracy works. Those who are the best at convincing that problems are solved got promoted, not those ones, who actually goos at solving problems. So even when there is time to solve problem, the chain of liars is already established, so you are not able to even get problem known by meant for that means. Everything's fine 24/7.
@@micaheiber1419 Yep, i agree - it is a USA Police all the way. Bcs in Russia - you can't be arrested by "watching on Police's faces". If you believe this myth - then you are more idiot, to believe such lies from russian libtards. Want real truth - from your people? "EXPAT American" Channel, "Travelling with Russell" (NZ guy, living 1 year already in Russia). Factchecking all myths - you dum-dum. Even Railways in Russia - are better, than USA, AND EVEN Ukraine (i am not shitting on them - it is a real fact.)
The empathy you show for these individuals speaks very highly of your character. Here's hoping they're all able to recover enough to be able to emotionally move past this circus and show the same kind of compassion to others.
Yep, empathy to people who can break their leg or arm, or simply go to jail to avoid killing ukrainians and stay alive :) Genious parallels from those, who know 0 about russian society - 90% of them support the war since 2014, it's really bad to percept Russia using Western paradigm of it being a healthy society with sane people. Again - no fighting with the police, no powerful protests, as in Iran, everyone is ok with everything, yep, very good society, that instead of fighting with their dictator, goes to war as a herd. I have sooo much empathy to these "good people")
@@mezmerya5130 they are proud of their country, blame the concept of a "country which kills millions because they idolize imaginary borders and a flag.
@@mezmerya5130 well, there are some sanctions, but not really fearsome. You see, the problem is that most of Russians doesn't know their rights and how laws work in Russia. So, they listen to their common sense which says that if they refuse to mobilize they will be punished by jail or even death sentence. And actually there are unofficial punishments for those who refuse to participate in war, but I am not sure that they are used for mobilized. But it's enough to make rumors too.
If you’ve slung a rifle for any army you can feel for the guys on either sides . Politics are politics and we’ve all been sent out to do the governments work, on the governments terms . Saying goodbye to our family and friends is the one thing we’ve all felt and can identify with. This was some seriously good work , I’m sharing the hell out of this .
Yep! Sucks to be mobilized. Got to be worse when you didn’t even know it could happen. Got to be even worse when you see hear & know most of the guys before got killed or maimed. I do feel sorry for the common Russian conscript. He’s got no reason to even get motivated! Too bad Putin won’t announce Ukraine is free of NAZIs, declare patriotic victory and bring all forces home, including Crimea.
I've talked and assisted many bright Ukrainian and Russian young men who were escaping war and mobilization (most of whom I met personally were engineers and IT specialists) since the invasion. Most Russians were saying that they'd understand and probably accept the mobilization should someone else invaded Russia. But in fact since it's their government that is invading ( not just another country but a "brotherly" Ukraine), they want have no affiliation with the stupidity of their government and Putin. It's sad to see them leaving their homes and dear ones in a hurry hoping for the best in new country. A big "brain drain" for Russia. Also, many Ukrainians despite expressing their hate towards Putin and Russian government, also acknowledged the stupidity and corruption of their own government. Just a sad moment for both side as I see.
Nope, one thing is feeling bad for the average troop (example Armenian or Azerbaijani soldier) the fact is it’s well documented what the average russian soldier is doing to Ukrainian civilians. Not a single ounce of sympathy for them. Fuck the russian troops.
It's always important to see the person behind the soldier. The father, the brother, the friend, the neighbour, the son. If we could see our self in all human kind no matter were we were born, the world would be spared a lot suffering. Thank you for sharing this!
All that goes out the window the moment your survival instincts kicks in. It’s either them or you. Regardless of the circumstances. That’s war for you.
on many of those videos with conscripts they rebel not because Russia is sending them to kill Ukrainians but because they did not receive pay or proper equipment. It is hard to make any empathy with that. Ukrainians know that. So for them every 200 russian is a good one. And what will be with all that soldiers during/after the war? As modern day proverb say - Motherland will leave you, son. always.
As member of IT which are excluded from mobilization we're still have plenty of example of our brother being taken into mobilization pool. I still arguing with my family about relocation into foreign country, but number of variants are quite limited.
Dude get out of there before your regime realises their conventional military is not enough and uses the unconventional ones in which case at least Ukrain and Russia and most parts of the world are dust. In case you decide to stay to overthrow the regime, then I will be the first person to fund a Guillotine for Putin and his friends :)
maybe you guys should stop being serfs to oligarchs and actually protest, Iranian school girls have more balls than you, funny how none of you cared about russian forces completely destroying Ukrainians cities but when faced with your own dangers it now becomes real. the rest of the world doesnt want you stay where you are
The main difference between your military service and anyone drafted or conscripted is that you volunteered to join the military. I am Vietnam Era USAF veteran. I joined the USAF 3 months before my 18th birthday. i received my draft notice while in my first tech. school. I was fortunate and did not go to Vietnam. If I had waited to be drafted that would likely have been in the cards for me.
@@dambigfoot6844I was an Aerospace Medical Tech. working in the Flight Surgeons' office. I was a first responder to "Broken Arrows", i.e., in-flight emergencies and crashes. Later I was at Vandenberg AFB where the deadliest weapons in any military were tested. So yeah I was in the air patrol for 4 years. I wasn't in the army for 2 years as a clerk typist.
Thank you for your service. I hope after DEROS, that coming home wasn't as bad as movies like to picture it. If it was I'm sorry about that but being Canadian, not much I could of done except thank you now. Americans have kept Canadians from speaking Russian for a long time.
My uncle joined the US army and did go to Vietnam, but he was able to get a guaranteed no infantry, and worked in Intelligence working on sending leaflets to the VC and NVA. His office did get mortored and destroyed one day, fortunately he was out of the office that day, he was blessed and returned from Vietnam to the states and led a blessed life after his service.
thanks, I can understand that a lot of people won't agree with how I see it but I feel like it needs to be said. If you're a ukranian soldier you can't have sympathy for the Russian conscripts. I get that. But I can at least point it out.
@@Taskandpurpose In all fairness, I think there is a certain degree of sympathy for Russian conscripts in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian military. Fnctionally speaking, they're victims of this conflict, too; they wouldn't be in this difficult situation, and risking death and injury, if it wasn't for the bad decisions of Putin and his clique. And the fact that Ukraine has taken great pains to offer multiple avenues of surrender to Russian troops indicates that they view this war very differently than the Russians do. While it is a very practical thing to do, as it draws troop strength away from the Russians, it's very telling when one of the sweeteners offered in surrender is essentially offering to protect these conscripts from their own country.
As a Ukrainian, I cannot relate to this. What I understand is: the more of those mobilised untrained soldiers die, the smaller is the chance for my son to die to their children in the future, so this is exactly what I wish for them.
@@Taskandpurpose perhaps your next video could be about the difficulty the ruzz FSB agents face in Ukraine. I mean all that rape and torture they dole out, it must be exhausting to those orcs
@@Taskandpurpose sorry, Cappy, but i don't agree that this is some vital information that needs pointing out. As a Ukranian, the only conclusion I can come to from this video, is that even in such great numbers and with free weapons, these conscripts are still just spineless ruzzky monkeys, that can't even wipe their own ass, let alone stand up for their own lives and country.
I was faced with that decision, to leave or face conscription, in ‘68. I wondered how many Americans left for Canada 🇨🇦 or elsewhere. I’m surprised, 60,000 is far less than 700,000.
I remember my father talking about how his university dorm in Edmonton had become an unofficial halfway house for Americans fleeing the draft. Lots of Canadian students hotbunking with American draft dodgers. Turned into a bit of a confrontation with university admin apparently.
I remember reading somewhere that besides the dead, the biggest losers in any war are those who lose their humanity. I think that goes for both winners and losers. There's nothing that says you can't be more humane than your enemy, and when it comes to sticking knives and bullets into each other, it's really the main thing that'll set you apart.
The biggest loser are the civilians who didn't ask to be in the middle of a war between East and West. The civilians always lose in war which is why the sooner it needs the better and everyone should be working towards that end instead of trying to one up the other side.
@@sumduma55 Hey Sergei, you've been hitting the vodka a bit too hard? Took a few too many punches in the head during Nashi camp? You just said a Russian invasion into Ukraine is somehow an 'internal war'.
I have friends in Russia, it's difficult because I want to know that they are safe but they've been practically silent on social media since this whole thing started.
Thank you for staying human and showing empathy. We shouldn't forget that people living in authoritarian states and dictatorships to a certain degree hostages - knowingly or unknowingly.
For sure dude these people have been battered for generations by bolshevik terrorists and now being thrown into a war they probably don't even believe in.
It's all flowers and empathy untill it's your country that's being destroyed. When every day you read news about bombed maternity wards, killed newborn babies, people who died slowly under collapsed buildings, death, destruction, death, destruction. All those photos of blood and pain. When you wake up to the sounds of sirens and multiple explosions and then stay with no light, water and heat for two days, because your whole country in a total blackouts after another massive attack on infrastructure facilities...Yeah, I have zero sympathy left for any ruZzian soldiers on our land.
It is a shame what's happening to these conscripts. I'm old enough to remember my mom's friends coming back from Southeast Asia. And yeah they were changed forever
I’m so glad I came across this channel @Task & Purpose and me and my wife speak about this all the time. And I’m glad that you were able to come out and explain it the way I wish I could. The whole world basically not only hates the Russian government but also the Russian citizens. And anyone who knows any history on the USSR or Russia knows how much corruption and how little bit of say so the Russian citizens have. I know a lot of Russian people and the majority of them are very cultured, warm, and welcoming people. And the Russians, who didn’t have money to just get up and leave everything behind had only two choices if they got that mobilization letter, 1 go out and fight their neighbors/friends/family because the Russian government tells them to or 2 go to prison for refusing the mobilization. And I think by now we all know how harsh the Russian judicial system can be. It really is a sad situation. Praying for peace for both sides. 🙏🏽🙏🏽❤❤
I remember seeing my parents before my first deployment with the 82nd 1st/504th. My family was so proud of me, my mom who was a teacher for a class of developmentally disabled middle schoolers actually had me come in during Christmas time in my Class A’s and answer questions and what not but in all reality she just wanted to show me off. It felt good, I mean I volunteered and here I was about 9 months out of high school about to deploy. By my last deployment a lot of who I was had changed but the one constant was that regardless of how many times we rotated in it was just as hard on my parents as it was the first time. I’m empathetic to a degree to the Russians as I can’t imagine having some college freshman thrown into our unit that had established solid cohesion and for many wasn’t their first deployment. We also had TRAINING and more importantly trained as a unit.
I want to ask your opinion on something that felt right to me... I can't accept that Russia can't take Ukraine... To me, that is so outlandish. It would be the equivalent of someone forcing you to believe they have seen a flock of flying pigs. If I had to guess, it would take Russia no more than two weeks to have total control over Ukraine, preferably one. This entire experience clarifies the term "theatre of war."
@Tin Watchman I didn't mean like betting on a football game I meant , It feels like Putin Joey and Ukraine's Installed screen guild card holder collaborated in the largest atm transfer in History
@@philobetto5106 I think its a new country the old ones are trying to build. Imagine all the people who ran from war going to one new up and coming country protected by all the biggest nations.
I spent 4 months in Russia in 2016. _Everybody_ said war with Ukraine was just fratricide. Everyone was sad about the conflict as it was back then. There was one old lady who was originally from Balaklava, Crimea, who was very happy that Crimea was back in Russia, but even she was still sad that there was fighting against Ukrainians.
@@TmackSD184 You misread what I said. She was born in Crimea, she was living in Russia. She was an ethnic Cossack and had spent most of her life in Rostov-on-Don where she had worked as an engineer before she retired. She probably moved to Rostov before Crimea was transferred to Ukraine. She definitely identified as Cossack first, then Russian, then Crimean. But the point is that even she, the closest I got to encountering someone who was an exception, while happy that Crimea was back to being Russian territory, was sad that Russia was fighting Ukraine, and viewed war between the two as nothing but fratricide. And I got a lot of people's opinions about it. _Every single time_ I got out of a taxi the driver would grab me by the ankle and plead with me "when you go back to the West, tell everyone: we never wanted the war". The only time I got out of a taxi and that didn't happen, the driver had already told me 5 minutes into the journey. And I took a lot of taxis - the premium tier taxis on Yandex Taxi were cheaper than buses are in England. The point is that what he said about these young Russians being ripped away from their lives and sent to fight in a war they don't want to be in is exactly right. It's exactly like the old Cossack lady's grandfather who fought in the civil war for the Red Army and the White Army and the Red Army. He didn't want any part of it, most of them didn't. Most of what most of the people who were conscripted to fight the civil war did was just shoot their own brothers and cousins purely because they lived in the next town over, and they didn't have a choice. The state their morale will be in it's amazing the Russian military has done as well as it has.
@@blackcatdungeonmastersfami5311 and before that it was ukrainian. thats like me stealing your shit, givjng it back to you and then 5 years later show up and steal it again and when people complain i tell them i gave it to you in the first place. absolutely fucking disgusting that people keep regurgitating this revisionist propaganda.
You can not compare Russian draftees with 2 weeks training and thrown into combat with some not even that. With American Vietnam era draftees with 6 weeks basic training and additional infantry or specialized training
As a Vet.. from New Zealand Army.. I feel for the grunts at the forward areas on both sides. These young men have been put in a position, that will impact not only their own live's but the family the country etc. I had 17 years of training being in Artillery I know the destruction that is at hand .... no winners
This what we used to call "broadcast level" journalism/commentary, well done. You've taken a very nuanced and unbiased approach that seems to be in short supply these days.
Wouldn't call this unbiased. For example, the alleged message from 155th has long been proven to be untrue. Members themselves stated that they had sustained losses but nowhere near as much as there was in the initial message. Additionally, the video of rusty AK proved to be fake. However, I am surprised not to see the video of radio specialists complaining about shitty old radios they were issued and ordered to bring into working order, which turned out to be true and was immediately rectified by a man with big stars personally delivering a fresh batch.
@@MrJohnTripperson There are a lot of reports of different sources about the lack of equipment that conscripts get. They get lists about what items they should bring with them - nothing new here, that is the case in every military. However, that you are supposed to provide your own medical supplies, body armor and helmet is just insane. And impossible for most consrcipts. The lack of training / bad quality training is another thing. And again, we do not need to rely on foreign sources. Just check the footage that was shown in Russias television. Footage they recorced themselves and chose to be shown to the russian people. What we can see there is very sub-par. And somehow I doubt they chose the worst example to sho won TV. Don't you agree that they probably chose some of the best to show on TV? If what we see there is sub-par, what do you think the rest will look like in average? Right, much worse. There are way too many sources to dismiss them all as fake. And what we see in official russian TV reinforces the view that there is a lot of stuff seriously wrong in the mobilisation, the equipment and the training of the conscripts.
@@wedgeantilles8575 by no means I said that all of it was fake. However, the rusty AK and the huge losses in 115th, for example, were. However, you are correct about the body armour and other equipment situation. It is a tragic situation when one is going back to active duty (not being conscripted) and is rolling the dice on the armour plates. As for poor training, that is a bit of an exaggeration. Firstly, check the criteria for this mobilization. The mobilised are the ones who have a military specialisation and/or combat experience. That criteria excludes those who peeled potatoes, trained in pen-lifting and piloted in paper plane airforce. As for the sources of fakes: as you may be aware, there is a lawyer of society who is against Putin. Those are very active in social media and being the opposition, they try to get more people on their side. The easiest way for them to do it is by showing and exaggerating the worst of things, painting the picture that everything is bad. There is a term for them and the things they say, roughly translated as "everythingisdoomed". For example, some rich kid hits someone with a car. If police arrest and detain him in prison, those people will criticise Putin's police for being heavy-handed. If that person will not be detained in custody until court date, the same people will criticise Putin's police for being lenient to the rich kid. So, if someone from that layer of society is ordered back to active duty, they will do what they usually do. Their videos (sometimes fake, sometimes exaggerated, something absolutely correct and sometimes something that should have been addressed through the chain of command and easily fixed) usually find their way to Western commentantators (like this TH-cam channel). However, the proof of the issues raised in the videos being rectified does not find it's way to the same Western commentantators, neither does proof that the videos were fake. It is understandable why, as Western commentantators prefer to stick with "Russia is about to fall apart" line of thought.
Great Videos, but TH-cam just messes your videos up. Thank you for actually handing out this info because I am actually interested in this topic and your videos help a lot with all my topics that interest me, And thank you for your service in iraq.
it's unfortunately something I have to deal with all the time. I'm trying to get better at staying friendly to a wide audience. I appreciate your support thank you for watching .
@@Taskandpurpose Another Great Video! You should Really watch this video, it explains a LOT behind Russia Blaffing Decisions in this War, why they Keep making the same mistakes and explains it's entire Military really and exactly how their army were so Completely unprepared for the Ukraine Wa and everyone in their Military kind of always knew that: th-cam.com/video/Fz59GWeTIik/w-d-xo.html
the shot of you behind putin has got to be the best editing in any youtube channel. not sure if you covered it but in addition to focusing on low income civilians for "recruitment" other Russian subcultures that aren't the mainstream "Russian" are also more heavily recruited. We think of European and Asian nations as monocultures, but in reality there's plenty of secondary groups. Chinese Huighers is a great example, but both Russian and China have several subgroups within their borders, including discrete languages
Cappy, this was an exceptional video essay on Russia's war efforts, and the heartfelt preamble about war changing a person truly hit home. Thank you for your veteran's effort to make this particular war comprehensible (although I will never fathom how Putin is using every trope in Hitler's playbook to conduct a war against "Nazism" ---Putin's own words).
The "Nazism" claim is as big a lie as the more recent Russian claims about Ukraine being ruled by Satanists, and this being a war against Satanism. NOTHING Russia says should be taken seriously whatsoever, as they have used blatant lies as a tactic to confuse Westeners about their intentions for decades. You are right about them following Hitler's example though.
I like your videos, very sharp analysis and I think they are thorough and well put together. Looking back on your previous videos they also seem very accurate. I doubt Russia will pay all their troops.
You can't compare the surrender of a voluntary enlistment to the unwillingness of participants called up by this mobilization. Two completely different situations. But I'm really happy that you're discussing the conscription practices that's taking place in Russia.
@@0816M3RC good luck "fighting back" against an authoritarian regime. There's a reason why they stay in power for so long, and it's not because they take kindly to people fighting back.
For russians it's not tragedy because of relatives. They DO NOT give a F about that. But when they realize they are going to die, that's when they start to hate this mobilization.
I love your compassion with all the people. Not just your allies. Hope this demonetised video does not do you any harm and that you will continue with commenting on this situation with your personal view and experience ❤️
What can I say? War is hell. Forced to fight your relatives and friends. To be dragged away to a death sentence or worse insanity and terror. You would just have to except the situation in the end. Then you have to work out who is your enemy and give your best to destroy that enemy; whomever you decide is your enemy. What a thing to say!
I was speaking to a Russian a few days ago and he told me something interesting, he said to me that fatal casualty numbers from the Soviet War in Afghanistan were completely falsified. He told me that in Eastern Europe, former Soviet countries, there are monuments to the war in Afghanistan everywhere and there is a shit ton of veterans. So he basically made the case to me that the War in Afghanistan most likely had somewhere around 250 thousand fatal casualties for the Red Army from all over the USSR, and the officially divulged numbers were just doctored for propaganda. Given that now we're seeing that Russia has learned nothing from both wars in Chechnya, I find it plausible to also theorize that they have learned no useful lessons from the War in Afghanistan and that would explain why they're fighting with such outdated doctrines.
I see, so yeah, the 14k numbers are completely fabricated and the number is actually higher, and based on Russian math on the invasion of Ukraine, they may not have reached the numbers of actual casualties yet.
@@hewhohasnoidentity4377 Not that actual troop numbers are divulged in any larger conflict - I do not recall US doing that during their major wars. No one does that. It was even identified that reporting about deaths of friendlies during Vietnam was decreasing morale - just showing the dead. Why would anyone say how many troops we have and where - are you insane? We know that Russia has at most 200k Russian troops in Ukraine right now. Plus all allies. Maybe at the very top that is 300k but I feel its less. That number may increase to maybe 500k as more mobilized troops are sent. Depends on the will in Moscow.
How the amount of veterans corresponds to casualties? Of course, there are a lot of veterans, officially more than 600k people (500k+ soldiers) were in Afghanistan during 10 years of war There are multiple independent researches in 1990-2010 in Russia and I have never seen such a number as 250k causalities, it doesn't look realistic
Russia was arresting the protesters that is against the "special military exercise" a.k.a. war, forcing them to fight in the "special military exercise" that they are against in the first place. That is the most scary tactic that I've heard of so far.
Napoleon's soldiers could and did complain directly to him. He frequently heard the complaints of his average Infantrymen and addressed them saying "Hide nothing from me. I always take the part of (the enlisted man) against the (officers)." See "Napoleon: A Life" by Andrew Roberts
Excellent as always. I found you with gun reviews, but since the war in Ukraine started, I'm always checking your channel for a knowledgeable take on it. Just wanted to drop a line and say thanks for what you do. 🍻
I thought the first version was very good. Not sure why it got pulled (?) The reboot is better though. As always your research and analysis are thought provoking and pretty much spot-on. Keep up the good work.
Even those forced often still believe in the "russian cause". They just don't want to do the job themselves. Majority of russians support putin and his "special operation".
Some support it some don't but it has also something to do with the mentality of duty, brotherhood and self sacrifice also of you get shot at you will most likely shoot back. I feel some pity for the younger generation, there is an obvious answer to capitulate but its probably not obvious in the situation that they are in as this could lead to severe consequences. I am half Russian and moved in 08 there is a small hope that the people will rise up but most likely not.
@@equos5060 Considering that Ukraine has been threatening to cut off Water to Russian Farmlands unless Russia gives them Money, or whatever else they were demanding; Ukraine brought this War upon themselves, and I have ZERO sympathy for them. Let's not also forget that Ukraine has been using B.S. claims trying to get NATO and other Countries to come and fight it's war for them. Ukraine should rot.
Thank you with one remark: They are not poor Russian men, the WAR acceptance rate in Russia is 75% according to the latest poll. In addition there was a possibility to avoid the WAR (only 1 person was jailed for not showing up).
Hey Chris I can tell this was a tough topic for you to talk about. I hope you're doing well my friend! Remember to always reach out to people around you and take a break when you need to. I'll always come back to watch your videos!
Thank you for the update. Much appreciated. It's both sad and infuriating to watch all the cruelty the Russians are doing to innocent people who just want to live their lives in freedom. I hope the day will come when Putin pays for his crimes, and there are too many to count at this point.
I really like that you are showing sympathy towards the Russian conscripts, who are not likely to want a war in the first place and are literally forced into it. Its important to keep in mimd that the other sides soldiers are also just people. People with a life as complex and rich as yours, people who do not deserve to die for some megalomaniac, no matter what they are currently forced to do.
@@0816M3RCIt’s easier said then done. What’s more likely to happen is that police come with batons and beat you up and drag you to prison to rot. Russia is not the west. They’ve another mentality there compared to here. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is how I think the quote goes.
What I really appreciate about this channel is that it never alienates me politically. It's a general neutral ground for the left and right that I think a lot of us are sharing no mater of our political positions. I know it's generally anti-Russian government and pro-Russian people which I think is hard to argue against at this point.
@@sumduma55 dude Russia has all of its neighbors in fear of them for a reason Putin personal networth is 12% of Russia gdp, now how does that make sense That’s like if a u.s president had 2 trillion
@@sumduma55 lol Finland and Sweden just joined nato because of how Russia behaves Ukraine wasn’t even joining nato they got rejected in 2008 by quite a few members 2016-2020 the u.s was trying to disband nato Russia is its own worst enemy
25% of fighting force made up of conscripts and making up 30% of casualties, barely unswers to the term: canon fodder. There are multiple possibilities for this slight discrepancy in numbers. For one: a conscript probably is less trained/experienced in a combat situation than a professional soldier.
it seems that when trolls report videos, youtube puts the burden of proof on the victims. even when there is a history of spam troll reports. this is not surprising at all, as many authoritarian governments are making use of the system to harass youtubers telling the truth. and they will continue to do it for as long as it bears fruit. some youtubers upon challenging the demonetizations are getting told their video has been thoroughly re-revied, and the call stands... even if they are responding ~7 minutes after the request for review over a 30+ min video. china uncensored (a channel about the abuses of power of the chinese communist party) would have been entirely killed but for patreon, since it's youtube revenue has been eviscerated. every video now tells you when the commercial breaks are, so you can track if trolls have been successful at demonitizing it.
@@Mwwwwwwwwe it's even worse than that MA youtube completely stops promoting the video as well, and it completely kills the view count from then forward. and it's even worse than that. having your videos age restricted makes your entire account look worse, because there are fewer views and interaction on your account, so they promote your other videos less too. and even if you win, you lose, because if you video is un-agerestricted, it's too late, as the critical watch period has passed, and you won't get the views you were going to get, just later. your reach is eviscerated by the trolls, even if you win. but if you download videos, youtube assumes you watched the whole thing, so you can go download and delete and redownload a bunch of his videos to help offset the scumbags
I appreciate your cogent & lucid analysis! You have an excellent ability to pull together many divergent threads to make an understandable story! Thanks
I know the feeling -- not wanting to be cannon fodder but looking in the mirror and seeing yourself that way, anyway. For me it was 1967 - 68. When I finished high school, my parents never once -- then or earlier -- asked me what my "plans" were after high school. My father did not want me in the house ("shut up and eat up!") any longer. I was working part-time and trying to stay in junior college (no clue as to what I wanted to do). My boss at the part-time job had been a Navy cook during WWII and now had his own fast food place, where I worked in the evenings. He suggested I look into the Navy, rather than let the Army draft my ass and send me to Vietnam. I happened to visit the USS New Jersey (BB-62) in spring 1968 and came away very impressed with the ship, the crew, and opportunities for getting the hell out of the house and see something of the world (and avoiding ground-pounder duty in Vietnam). I enlisted in the Navy, served a year-and-a-half in Hawaii and then was assigned to the Seabees -- with duty, you guessed it -- in Vietnam! But the Seabees' civic action teams that mostly were in the Mekong Delta at that time and which I supported, were a great bunch of hard-working sailors. My 18-month tour was split between the Seabee assignment and duty in and out of Cam Ranh Bay at a U.S. and Vietnamese navy support facility. Met and worked with many lovely men and women (U.S. and Vietnamese) and never fired a shot, except on the training range. The difference I saw and felt between the Army and Navy personnel in Vietnam was startling. I retired from the Navy and Naval Reserve in September 1994, with more than 26 years of total service. I had some great career guidance by my Navy supervisors, especially my first one, a Filipino, PN1 Guinto, while I was in Navy Fleet Tactical Support Squadron VR-21 (the "Pineapple Airlines"). Best decision I made in early 1968, listening to that former Navy cook.
Couldnt agree more with your opening about the young men being forced into these incredibly dangerous situations that are completely out of their control. Thank you for saying this... Truly it needs to be said a bit more often than it is.
@@marianak7721 YES!! YES!! EVERY POLIT. IS TRAINED AS ACTOR, LIAR, DEVIENT/lbgtq+ & skull/bones or masonic satanists!!!! Damned Competing Prez, p.m., kings; & their High Paid Serfs & Sex slaves!!! WHOLE GLOBE NEEDS TO HEAR/SEE SUCH AS THIS SO SEND IT VIRILE!!!!
@@marianak7721 can't build it in a dictatorship. It has to either fall apart itself or be brought down first, which usually happens from mainly external action (internal protest may happen but in general they happen at later stages when the dictatorship is already falling apart). It is kind of like fighting a tank without weapons. It's suicide generally; one has some chances if there's a lot of people trained and/or guided by a leader (a problem under a dictatorship as leaders are targeted first by the state); if one gains access to some, even improvised, weapons (requires training and external assistance as a rule) chances grow further still; but when the tank is damaged, e.g. gun is down or it's immobile, taking it down becomes much easier, and that can also happen mainly by external action.
What sucks is many of these men are sent as cannon fodder or speed bumps so they can pull exhausted and depleted regular units off the front to rest and refit. They are sacrificing these men to preserve their regular units.
The Russians haven’t been fighting that way. They pulled back from relatively unimportant or undefendable ground rather than grind their men up. The Ukranians on the other hand have been doing the Wermacht trick of wasting precious men to defend every inch. I don’t think the west knows dick about Russia. We are still laboring under the propaganda that paints them as USSR 2.0. Public support for prosecution of the war is far far higher than most of the western governments for their leadership. In the US our so-called leaders pole worse than used car salesmen and the mafia.
"It's so obvious what Putin has to do." "I agree. It will be hard, but pulling back to the original borders makes sense-" "No, I meant take everyone's phones away." "I don't know how I talk to you." "You've been talking into the mirror this whole time." "..."
I understand horror of being drafted. Still, I hope every single soldier from Wagner's group as well as Khadyrov's TikTok Commando will get wasted. Let's just remember that most of these guys were pro war. They just didn't want to be there themselves. Watch channel 1420 with street interviews with regular russians. It's insane how regular russians think.
Exactly. The russians are not innocent, and they are not moral. They are just worried for themselves because they might not get away with the horrors they want to inflict. Every russian is guilty, unless their actions prove otherwise.
My dad's good friend moved to Canada in 1970 because he was drafted to go to Vietnam. He made a good living here in Canada and just passed away recently rest in peace uncle Terry.
@@expat-riot yeah, for a war that did nothing but kill 58000 plus Americans for zero reason. Let alone the amount of Vietnamese killed. The weird romanticism around the Vietnam War serves no purpose
My mobilization orders for the 1st Gulf War was 2 years + 6 months or the duration of the war. After going all the way to Safwan as member of a APSYOP tactical team I was mobilized foremost 4 months.
I remember going to a "update ion the war " stream from different youtuber. The chat were calling for the death of Russian civilians , it was pretty fucking disturbing and digesting.
Great piece Cappy, thanks to you and your team - I'm an old subscriber. Australia had similar problems during the Viet Nam/American war (no offence, in Viet Nam it was the American War). Go visit their War Memorial - it's an eye opener; apart from the 'killer bees' piece which is a false and cheesy display; although, goodness knows what the CIA were up to at times. What is not well known is that Australian draftees had to volunteer to fight overseas (draftees were chosen by birthdate in a Ballot, similar to Powerball). Many men were faced with not deploying with their mates and chose to go, but many chose not to deploy. In the 1950s, Australia had "National Service"; and proudly, my father was one of them. He joined the Taree Battalion (mid-North coast of NSW) which is now known as 41 Battalion RNSWR (Royal New South Wales Regiment). He served in their Vickers MG company. I'm in my 41st year in the Australian Army and proud of it. Stu, from Down Under, living in Australia's Bush Capital.
I added a lot of NEW information that I wanted in there on the original upload. Huge thanks to Raycon for sponsoring today’s video.
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Could you do a video on the Ukraine navy please
Please talk about the very common "Soldier's fail". A large majority of soldiers in WW2 deliberately missed their enemies and didn't shoot them (on all sides). Same goes for every other war that was predominantly fought with long range weapons, because it is very easy to disguise unwillingness to hit the target by pretending to be a bad shot.
COME ON !!!!!!!!!!! POLICE ARE SNATCHING THEM OFF THE STREETS?????? RUSSIA's security service which includes FSB, POLICE, MP, COBO e.t.c consist of 5 million personel !!! you guys need to relax.. you know its mandatory for every Russian to serve in the military in Russia just like South Korea?? every Russian boy has operated a gun before bro! what do you mean they have no experience??? this isn't pussyland
Why are Chechens the most perfect soldiers on the battlefield, cus they built a military school in Chechnya after they fought in Syria, Russia sent most of their Unit to Syria cus they were muslims, Please atleast give correct news or just ask
Sir you are a smart person. These guys are former active members. They have done their 4 years and they have been called back. we are talking about 12-18 divisions. In addition, they hate N A Zs. Ukraine had one advantage, men. Now that advantage is gone. BTW we can not compare the Russian military to our military. They are fighting for their nation. we bunch of N A Zs and NATO proxy running around in Ukraine killing Russians. So the Russians are very well motivated.
This guy has not fought in Ukraine. I have. The russians want to fight and their families are extremely proud of them.
This is not an easy war like Iraq and Afghanistan. (I was in Iraq, Afghanistan, and syria) and am saying this. This guy has been wrong all the time and this is no different.
Just a small correction. There were 2 people called Helmut von Moltke. One was the genius, pioneer of the modern warfare who fought and won franco-prussian war and second was his son which was far from genius, who lead german army at the start of WW1. The one on picture is the second one. So just keep that in mind if you hear some seamingly contradictory statements that he was simultaneoselly a genius and an idiot. Its because they were 2 :D
Thank you for the information
Moltke the Younger was also an extremely good general. The Race to the Sea didn't work out for Germany but the reasons for that are complex. One of his subordinates deserves more blame than Moltke.
a nephew ;)
@@blackcatdungeonmastersfami5311 I mean thinning out forces on the west, when it was their main part of the plan was pretty bad idea. Battle of the marne was very close even dispite that but still. But okay sure, he wasnt as bad as Hotzendorf, Potiorek, or Cadorna
@@sixtheninth yeah you are right, idk why I thought it was his son
Kyiv civilian here.
One correction, it isn't impossible to heat our homes, not at all. There are just scheduled blackouts for a few hours a day, sometimes emergency blackouts too, but that's it.
No need to overestimate it.
Hey. I want to bring my career of special operations medical experience, assets and supplies. Want to help? We have been looking for someone in country for some time, if you’re on this channel you have to be at least squared away.
Americans are great at exaggeration. He is speaking to people with the luxury of a constant heating fuel supply so exaggeration helps them understand.
EU citizen here. Terror against civilians never worked. It just strengthens resolve. Check the latest World War. UA will prevail! RU is desperate. And the civilized world will continue to support UA!
@@ChipmunkRapidsMadMan1869 Americans are also totally reliant on the power infrastructure for heating and cooling. You won't usually find any other methods of heating in their homes. Especially any built over the last 40 or so years. same goes for food preparation and storage. Some people only buy what they need for the week and don't have any other emergency food stores at home.
That’s how Western Europe dose it
I got a full freezer and 3+ shelf’s of food,
60 days?
It’s cat food and things like milk buy weekly
"They will be permanently changed." Yeah, I've been out of Vietnam for over fifty years, and I still have those damned dreams and (sometimes) am swallowed by a darkness understood only by those who walked the walk. I feel for these young men, they are not the enemy, their government is.
My sympathies to you, but these young men definitely are the enemy. They are in Ukraine willingly killing citizens of a foreign country. Many times these citizens they kill are civilians. They also conduct a multitude of war crimes.
"I was only 19...."
Try visiting, it's a nice place n0w. People are very friendly.
Yeah... They ARE victims of Putin's megalomania, too... But I am finding it DIFFICULT to keep seeing these Russian BOYS as forced to kill their own cousins because they KEEP COMMITTING HORRENDOUS WAR CRIMES!?
Yes... I have empathy for the unwillingly "mobilized" Russian youths - but they are going to be regarded by the WORLD the way former Nazi soldiers were for the rest of their lives because their fellow soldiers, and obviously some of themselves, keep raping and looting and MURDERING... WHY WOULD YOU WANT TO MURDER AND RAPE IF YOU'RE MISERABLY HATEFUL OF THE WAR YOU HAVE BEEN FORCED UNDER SEVERE PENALTIES TO GO TO? Is there a cultural THING about SPREADING THE MISERY THAT PUTIN HAS INFLICTED UPON THEM AND THEIR FAMILIES? Seriously. I know that HORRIFIC behaviour is a consequence of war's utter brutality - Abu Ghraib - the Mai Lai Massacre - just for some examples of AMERICAN soldiers committing war crimes - but the RATE AND THE LEVEL OF TOTAL INHUMANITY among the Russian invaders is just at the SICKEST LEVEL... It's not a TERRIBLE, NATIONALLY SHAMEFUL, but (fortunately) SMALL group out of the total number of Russian soldiers who have been committing war crimes against civilians and soldiers alike and on a DAILY BASIS - and that is the part that I CAN'T understand.
Welcome home, L M.
Always appreciate your take on these issues. From a regular ground guy, who’s been there, seen it, smelled, heard it. I do feel bad for these guys. We went willingly, volunteering for war. They didn’t. They’re not trained properly, and even less equipped. Sad deal all the way around.
Don't worry, most of the mobilized have passed the hotspots, they just need a little training.
So what you are insinuating that Russian people are not patriotic ,only Americans ,your Government sent you not to defend America but to commit murder in the name of freedom what bull shit,The Russian are defending their country against American aggression, America are using Ukraine as a vestal state to them how meny Ukrainians dei soldiers or civilians as long Russia 🇷🇺 bleeds,your Government makes me sick 😷
@@antoniodefilippo8484 keep drinking that koolaid son 😂 I’ll be the first to say the US has done some shady shit, but Russia has been puffing up and bullying its smaller neighbors forever.
Now the world has called their bluff, and they’re getting their asses handed to them 🤣 ON YOUR OWN DOORSTEP!
I feel bad for the ones forced to go. For those willfully looking to dominate a smaller neighbor…I look forward to their reclassification to fertilizer.
@Cody Bailey Your country I'm assuming you are a Yankee. since the end of ww2 your country has invaded 50 or more countries killing millions of innocent men women and children,and you got the cheek to say that the Russians have done this and that. To me you sound brainwashed, you seriously need help
Despite what Russia has done to Ukraine, I also feel empathy for both sides. Not so much those who tortured, raped and kidnapped Ukrainians, but the civilians on both sides and most of the soldiers. Russia will not recover from this war for decades, and Ukraine will likewise require many years to rebuild. Tragic.
One thing that didn't get a mention is that the conscripts also consume resources. And that means tying up logistics just to transport and feed them. Which competes with logistic resources for other things you might actually need. Also, the act of putting poorly trained conscripts into armoured vehicles which are then more likely to be destroyed is a good way of increasing the rate at which you lose valuable resources. I think the recent figures back this up.
That's assuming they'll get a tank, or a tent, or even food. Prospects are bleak. Actually training, equipping and supplying them would have tied up important resources Russia can ill afford to divert, so they don't
On top of that, they actually have to feed and supply the civillians in the occupied territories
Russian solution to supply problems, I know, don't supply them! Don't feed the conscripts!, Fukk our own troops, they can loot from the houses and their own dead for a pocket-ful of crumbs!
Exactly
they are just dumping them and leaving... no support, no supply, nothing to fight for, i'm sure they'll turn it around after they hear the tsar spoke with some mothers. ))
My Russian friend of almost 6 years is being drafted. He leaves tomorrow. I feel so much for him; I cannot imagine how he feels. He was recently talking of leaving Russia, too, as he had just finished college recently.
I hope your friend gets to go home after this, and perhaps even keep to any plans of leaving Russia.
@@fryertuck6496 With the newly "annexed" eastern Ukraine, Russia in their eyes can send conscripts to the front so they can "defend Russia."
Edit: Every man is supposed to serve 1 year in the military is correct... on paper. Paper doesn't always translate well in the real world
@@fryertuck6496 He said he's being drafted. I take that as mobilization. Not conscription. Although I do see your argument, him being fresh out of college, he is now eligible for conscription again.
@@fryertuck6496 Not sure if I believe you, I have a suspicion you are a troll.
tell him to surrender to Ukraine lmao, he can communicate with Ukrainians on telegram to organize him surrendering more safely.
There is a precedent in that in WWI the French after Somme and Verdun refused to attack (but only to defend) and some regiments revolted.
And a lot executed and jailed
They experienced the horrors of trench warfare and refused to attack again.
And it was not only the French also British and German troops revolted against their commanding officers.
Shellshock now beter known as PTSD victims were also shot.
Eh, a different situation but still a valid point, much more justifiable to yourself to defend your country than to fight in a different country for something you don't agree with.
Putin took a lesson from Genghis Khan; force newly conquered people to storm the walls first and use them as human shields...
And they got shot !
Task&purpose... unbiased, understanding mental health, entertaining. You're a champion bro. High. High quality content.
Yet they commit warcrimes in a systematic and large scale. As one General in Norway said; "It shows that it is not a few bad apples, when liberated city after city warcrimes is uncovered"
Yeah i find it hard to feel bad for the average Russian
Demonetised, now you are a real TH-camr.
youtube has it out for me lately it's like every 5th video get suppressed and yellow dollar signed
he can always run a “fundraiser “ for Ukraine to get a cut
@@Taskandpurpose Keep up the good job.
@@Taskandpurpose it like a signal from youtube that dosnt like the content you make bro i have the same issue
@@Taskandpurpose props to a fake business conconnoisseur.
Russian mobilization reminds me of McNamara in the Vietnam era. McNamara came from the Detroit auto business. He had the number of bullets needed to kill a Vietnamese calculated and then figured that if just more bullets were fired, Vietnamese casualty numbers would increase proportionately. This led to a lot more bullets being fired but the Vietnamese casualties didn't rise in proportion to what essentially was just an increase wastage of bullets. Yeah, it worked some, but it didn't win the war.
He also was responsible for tons of intellectually disabled people being hoodwinked into service.
Relax, US didn't lost a single major fight in Vietnam, this was that rock and pop era that destroyed the support for it. BTW, I am a rock fan :)
Vietnam was a chess move to check the Soviet Union. Eventually, China and Russia split, which, made the Vietnam War a no longer needed move.
@@petrumoldovan2598 just lost the war.
The McNamara fallacy is named after him.
I just love the fact that Chris is feeling empathy for his fellow average infantry men 👍
There civilians who where litteraly draged and forced to the front line some of them are 18 years old
I'd like to see you talk about how hard it is for troops- particularly poorly trained ones- to survive outdoors in the winter. These kids are going to suffer a lot of casualties from trench foot and frostbite.
good
Kids? The majority of them are oldheads
Like any other military, Russia has trained tens of thousands recruits every year. Germny 1945 still had several hundred thousand men with weapons and artillery. Russia is calling up their reservists. 1 or 2 million soldiers. Why do you think they have to call in untrained kids?
yeah the winter will be a bitch to those poorly equipped and trained russians.
@@Sir_Godz Big talk from someone who isn't being forced to or have children, selected to fight. They're fed misinformation and are considered expendable by the Putin regime. Be mad at the leaders, not the individuals.
Sometimes refusing to fight for an unjust cause is the bravest thing a person can do.
Exception: IF you're supposed to be fighting Commies, in support of an independent nation that does not wish to join the Communist encroachment being imposed upon them, THEN you would be a Coward. I'm speaking about the hippies during Vietnam. If there had not been that Hippie Counter-Culture in the 60's, which the Commies actually loved, then the draft dodging would never have happened in noticeable numbers. Had it happened in the 50's, as in the Koreas, there would have been no issue. But drugged out hippies enjoying great music and free sex had no interest in removing their dirty, smelly T-shirts or cutting their ratty hair. The troops were probably better off without them by that point. But when they spit on our returning soldiers and called them baby killers, playing right into the Commie propaganda, they became shameful and shameless cowards.
Not tht you got any chance of knowing what is going on in Russia.
@@Barefoot433 My high school history teacher is a Vietnam war veteran and he’s not really proud of being a part of that war, he’s proud of answering the call of his country but not of what he and his fellow soldiers did in the name of freedom and duty. I don’t think you can justify killing just because the people you are shooting at are communists, especially when a lot of them didn’t choose it willingly, my grandparents was born and raised in communist China and that’s all they’ve ever known, people like them didn’t choose that way of life because there were no other options
@@mastergecko1178 When you grow up you will understand
and then the whole world will hate you anyway, because if you're Russian, you're cursed. I can say that out of my experience.
Part of keeping the RU mil-bloggers is pragmatism.
It allows truth to be spoken to power and an avenue for average soldiers to voice complaints so resentment doesn't boil over into open revolt (this might be due to them actually reading history about the deprivations that caused large sections of the Tsar's army to join the 1917 Revolutions) and the mil bloggers serve as a canary in the coal mine to ensure problems don't fester untreated.
The other pragmatic reason to keep them is they can give evidence that can be used to fire Russian Generals or other high level officers that may have been promoted for political reasons and would otherwise be hard to remove.
The Russians do in fact want the incompetent, sycophantic, political appointees in their officer corps to be removed, if for no other reason than they want their military to actually be effective at making their irredentist imperialist goals a reality, but first they need to find them and have some kind of evidence.
Hard to change culture of lying and corruption in the army as long as the upper echelons of the government are leading by example.
There's no point in firing the incompetent, sycophantic, political appointees if you don't also fire the incompetent politician who appointed them. It isn't the officers, it's the system which appoints them, which is why the British Army stopped selling commissions two centuries ago.
Where can I find links to these Russian Military bloggers?
The problem is, a competent military leader can easily see this is a lost cause and order their troops to be withdrawn from the conflict, something Putin can't do. Because of this, Putin will keep appointing yes men and then firing them for incompetence until he himself is removed.
or to show Russia is open and criticism is possible, while in reality its tightly controlled.
Speaking as a russian, I do have a way harsher view of this conscripts. The point of "well if they refuse they will be kept in the basement" which is first of all preferable to commiting war crimes, but that aside, that's only true if you are already in the war zone and then you refuse. The point is refusing before you go. See, the thing is, they can't really do much to you back at home. Also the military recruitment office keeps all their records on paper with an address you had at birth. You can literally move next door and you're dead to them. There are currently talks about modernising this system, but as it stands now it's non existent (and considering how many IT engineers left the country probably will never exist). So yes, every single person that's in there is there by their own volition, they can save their "I only followed orders" for the Hague.
Won't they send you to prison if you refuse to go?
Also, how feasible is it for the average young person to move next door (or anywhere for that matter) to avoid the draft?
@@Ignozi No they won't. They can only send you to prison if you are already considered an active personnel. And for it to happen you have to go to your military conscription office. Otherwise at worst - it's just fines, and even then it'll happen only if they have a hard proof that you're avoiding the draft. That being said, bear in mind that in Russia, if some official will get a hard on for you for some reason - you'll go down, the letter of the law does not really apply. But, majority of people are not that interesting and no one going to care that much about them.
How feasible it is for anyone to just move next door - for the majority of people it is extraordinarily easy. Bear in mind that Russia is a country with a high rate of home ownership, a lot of families have multiple apartments and summer houses. And even if you don't have that - chances are someone in your family does. And if they don't, you just go outside of big cities and get a flat for a price of the pack of gum and a worn shoe. You have to be ridiculously unfortunate for it to not be an option.
Even if all of that would not be true - going to prison is still preferable.
One Soldiers war In Chechnya Is a great book that presents all the complaints of the current war in Ukraine eerily similar to the complaints he gave about his time In Chechnya It's extradionary how similar these both correlate nearly 30 years apart the book mentions things which are currently listed in Ukriane:
-Tractors stealing armoured vehicles
-Lacking supplies and needing to rob or even in one chapter eat a dog or a cow "
-and many complaints about officers and corruption
I am surprised no one has spoke about this yet (to what i know of)
Interesting... it's almost as if the same mistakes are being made *by the same head of state who shouldn't have started either conflict and even be in power no more...*
Perun’s YT video on “how corruption destroys armies” covers this very well.
@@Anino_Makata Yeah, i agree - Korean and Vietnam wars was a mistake...
@@Anino_Makata this how cleptocracy works. Those who are the best at convincing that problems are solved got promoted, not those ones, who actually goos at solving problems. So even when there is time to solve problem, the chain of liars is already established, so you are not able to even get problem known by meant for that means. Everything's fine 24/7.
@@micaheiber1419 Yep, i agree - it is a USA Police all the way.
Bcs in Russia - you can't be arrested by "watching on Police's faces". If you believe this myth - then you are more idiot, to believe such lies from russian libtards.
Want real truth - from your people? "EXPAT American" Channel, "Travelling with Russell" (NZ guy, living 1 year already in Russia).
Factchecking all myths - you dum-dum.
Even Railways in Russia - are better, than USA, AND EVEN Ukraine (i am not shitting on them - it is a real fact.)
The empathy you show for these individuals speaks very highly of your character. Here's hoping they're all able to recover enough to be able to emotionally move past this circus and show the same kind of compassion to others.
Yep, empathy to people who can break their leg or arm, or simply go to jail to avoid killing ukrainians and stay alive :)
Genious parallels from those, who know 0 about russian society - 90% of them support the war since 2014, it's really bad to percept Russia using Western paradigm of it being a healthy society with sane people. Again - no fighting with the police, no powerful protests, as in Iran, everyone is ok with everything, yep, very good society, that instead of fighting with their dictator, goes to war as a herd.
I have sooo much empathy to these "good people")
there is no sanctions for evading mobilization. those individuals effectively volunteered to murder and plunder. so yeh, compassion.
@@mezmerya5130 they are proud of their country, blame the concept of a "country which kills millions because they idolize imaginary borders and a flag.
@@mezmerya5130 well, there are some sanctions, but not really fearsome. You see, the problem is that most of Russians doesn't know their rights and how laws work in Russia. So, they listen to their common sense which says that if they refuse to mobilize they will be punished by jail or even death sentence. And actually there are unofficial punishments for those who refuse to participate in war, but I am not sure that they are used for mobilized. But it's enough to make rumors too.
Most in Russia want to Ukraine destroyed they just don't want to do it themselves or want better equipemnt to do it with
If you’ve slung a rifle for any army you can feel for the guys on either sides . Politics are politics and we’ve all been sent out to do the governments work, on the governments terms . Saying goodbye to our family and friends is the one thing we’ve all felt and can identify with. This was some seriously good work , I’m sharing the hell out of this .
Yep! Sucks to be mobilized. Got to be worse when you didn’t even know it could happen. Got to be even worse when you see hear & know most of the guys before got killed or maimed. I do feel sorry for the common Russian conscript. He’s got no reason to even get motivated!
Too bad Putin won’t announce Ukraine is free of NAZIs, declare patriotic victory and bring all forces home, including Crimea.
Well said.
DOUG out
I've talked and assisted many bright Ukrainian and Russian young men who were escaping war and mobilization (most of whom I met personally were engineers and IT specialists) since the invasion.
Most Russians were saying that they'd understand and probably accept the mobilization should someone else invaded Russia.
But in fact since it's their government that is invading ( not just another country but a "brotherly" Ukraine), they want have no affiliation with the stupidity of their government and Putin.
It's sad to see them leaving their homes and dear ones in a hurry hoping for the best in new country.
A big "brain drain" for Russia.
Also, many Ukrainians despite expressing their hate towards Putin and Russian government, also acknowledged the stupidity and corruption of their own government.
Just a sad moment for both side as I see.
Nope, one thing is feeling bad for the average troop (example Armenian or Azerbaijani soldier) the fact is it’s well documented what the average russian soldier is doing to Ukrainian civilians. Not a single ounce of sympathy for them. Fuck the russian troops.
@@Сергій-щ3б ok? that's just your opinion.
I like that Task & Purpose has become decidedly more serious.
It's always important to see the person behind the soldier. The father, the brother, the friend, the neighbour, the son. If we could see our self in all human kind no matter were we were born, the world would be spared a lot suffering. Thank you for sharing this!
“One death is a tragedy, a million is a statistic.” -Joseph Stalin.
Oddly enough looks like nothing has changed in 100 years.
@@reboundrides8132 yes, it's sad 😔
All that goes out the window the moment your survival instincts kicks in. It’s either them or you. Regardless of the circumstances. That’s war for you.
on many of those videos with conscripts they rebel not because Russia is sending them to kill Ukrainians but because they did not receive pay or proper equipment. It is hard to make any empathy with that. Ukrainians know that. So for them every 200 russian is a good one. And what will be with all that soldiers during/after the war? As modern day proverb say - Motherland will leave you, son. always.
@@reboundrides8132 такого Сталин не говорил
As member of IT which are excluded from mobilization we're still have plenty of example of our brother being taken into mobilization pool. I still arguing with my family about relocation into foreign country, but number of variants are quite limited.
do you really believe that if Russia lost this war, the Russian people would magically receive a good outcome?
Dude get out of there before your regime realises their conventional military is not enough and uses the unconventional ones in which case at least Ukrain and Russia and most parts of the world are dust. In case you decide to stay to overthrow the regime, then I will be the first person to fund a Guillotine for Putin and his friends :)
Just stay where you are, and protest or stop paying your taxes.
@@penultimateh766 Then they go to jail and get forcefully mobilized.
maybe you guys should stop being serfs to oligarchs and actually protest, Iranian school girls have more balls than you, funny how none of you cared about russian forces completely destroying Ukrainians cities but when faced with your own dangers it now becomes real. the rest of the world doesnt want you stay where you are
The main difference between your military service and anyone drafted or conscripted is that you volunteered to join the military. I am Vietnam Era USAF veteran. I joined the USAF 3 months before my 18th birthday. i received my draft notice while in my first tech. school. I was fortunate and did not go to Vietnam. If I had waited to be drafted that would likely have been in the cards for me.
Aka you draft dodged by joining the air patrol? 😂
@@dambigfoot6844I was an Aerospace Medical Tech. working in the Flight Surgeons' office. I was a first responder to "Broken Arrows", i.e., in-flight emergencies and crashes. Later I was at Vandenberg AFB where the deadliest weapons in any military were tested. So yeah I was in the air patrol for 4 years. I wasn't in the army for 2 years as a clerk typist.
Haha at first I've read it as you were vietnamese and somehow draft-dodged joining the Vietcong and joined their MiG airforce instead XD
Thank you for your service. I hope after DEROS, that coming home wasn't as bad as movies like to picture it.
If it was I'm sorry about that but being Canadian, not much I could of done except thank you now.
Americans have kept Canadians from speaking Russian for a long time.
My uncle joined the US army and did go to Vietnam, but he was able to get a guaranteed no infantry, and worked in Intelligence working on sending leaflets to the VC and NVA. His office did get mortored and destroyed one day, fortunately he was out of the office that day, he was blessed and returned from Vietnam to the states and led a blessed life after his service.
Very good analysis.
I really enjoyed the balanced approach to empathizing with the conscripts.
thanks, I can understand that a lot of people won't agree with how I see it but I feel like it needs to be said. If you're a ukranian soldier you can't have sympathy for the Russian conscripts. I get that. But I can at least point it out.
@@Taskandpurpose In all fairness, I think there is a certain degree of sympathy for Russian conscripts in Ukraine, and the Ukrainian military. Fnctionally speaking, they're victims of this conflict, too; they wouldn't be in this difficult situation, and risking death and injury, if it wasn't for the bad decisions of Putin and his clique. And the fact that Ukraine has taken great pains to offer multiple avenues of surrender to Russian troops indicates that they view this war very differently than the Russians do. While it is a very practical thing to do, as it draws troop strength away from the Russians, it's very telling when one of the sweeteners offered in surrender is essentially offering to protect these conscripts from their own country.
As a Ukrainian, I cannot relate to this. What I understand is: the more of those mobilised untrained soldiers die, the smaller is the chance for my son to die to their children in the future, so this is exactly what I wish for them.
@@Taskandpurpose perhaps your next video could be about the difficulty the ruzz FSB agents face in Ukraine. I mean all that rape and torture they dole out, it must be exhausting to those orcs
@@Taskandpurpose sorry, Cappy, but i don't agree that this is some vital information that needs pointing out.
As a Ukranian, the only conclusion I can come to from this video, is that even in such great numbers and with free weapons, these conscripts are still just spineless ruzzky monkeys, that can't even wipe their own ass, let alone stand up for their own lives and country.
As a native speaker who follows this war 24/7 ,.. I have to say that you got very correct information .. amazing for english channel
I was faced with that decision, to leave or face conscription, in ‘68. I wondered how many Americans left for Canada 🇨🇦 or elsewhere. I’m surprised, 60,000 is far less than 700,000.
What did you do?
I remember my father talking about how his university dorm in Edmonton had become an unofficial halfway house for Americans fleeing the draft. Lots of Canadian students hotbunking with American draft dodgers. Turned into a bit of a confrontation with university admin apparently.
Finally someone that understands the situation on both sides.
I remember reading somewhere that besides the dead, the biggest losers in any war are those who lose their humanity. I think that goes for both winners and losers. There's nothing that says you can't be more humane than your enemy, and when it comes to sticking knives and bullets into each other, it's really the main thing that'll set you apart.
The biggest loser are the civilians who didn't ask to be in the middle of a war between East and West. The civilians always lose in war which is why the sooner it needs the better and everyone should be working towards that end instead of trying to one up the other side.
If you havent seen it check out documentary of Tony Vaccaro
@@shadowreaver1851
What are you even talking about? This is Putin's regime versus the whole world. There is no 'east', there is only Putin's regime.
@@sumduma55
Hey Sergei, you've been hitting the vodka a bit too hard? Took a few too many punches in the head during Nashi camp? You just said a Russian invasion into Ukraine is somehow an 'internal war'.
@@nvelsen1975 Typical troll-comment (of Shadow Reaver)
I have friends in Russia, it's difficult because I want to know that they are safe but they've been practically silent on social media since this whole thing started.
Why didn't you help them? A friend gives refuge to friends, posting on Twitter and TH-cam won't help
@@Roccinante because they've been silent on social media, the primary method of world wide communication
I like how you don’t live in Russia and you know like everything we feel! Magician....
Thank you for staying human and showing empathy. We shouldn't forget that people living in authoritarian states and dictatorships to a certain degree hostages - knowingly or unknowingly.
This is the only reason not to nuke USA.
For sure dude these people have been battered for generations by bolshevik terrorists and now being thrown into a war they probably don't even believe in.
Issue is many Russians’ don’t have a problem with the war.
@@alexsilent5603 You realise that in the case of a nuke dropped on the U.S, they would retaliate back and strike just as hard?
It's all flowers and empathy untill it's your country that's being destroyed. When every day you read news about bombed maternity wards, killed newborn babies, people who died slowly under collapsed buildings, death, destruction, death, destruction. All those photos of blood and pain. When you wake up to the sounds of sirens and multiple explosions and then stay with no light, water and heat for two days, because your whole country in a total blackouts after another massive attack on infrastructure facilities...Yeah, I have zero sympathy left for any ruZzian soldiers on our land.
You are a true professional... even if you keep trying to convince us you aren't.
Thank you for your balanced and HUMANIZING insights.
Lest we forget.
It is a shame what's happening to these conscripts. I'm old enough to remember my mom's friends coming back from Southeast Asia. And yeah they were changed forever
I’m so glad I came across this channel @Task & Purpose and me and my wife speak about this all the time. And I’m glad that you were able to come out and explain it the way I wish I could. The whole world basically not only hates the Russian government but also the Russian citizens. And anyone who knows any history on the USSR or Russia knows how much corruption and how little bit of say so the Russian citizens have. I know a lot of Russian people and the majority of them are very cultured, warm, and welcoming people. And the Russians, who didn’t have money to just get up and leave everything behind had only two choices if they got that mobilization letter, 1 go out and fight their neighbors/friends/family because the Russian government tells them to or 2 go to prison for refusing the mobilization. And I think by now we all know how harsh the Russian judicial system can be. It really is a sad situation. Praying for peace for both sides. 🙏🏽🙏🏽❤❤
I remember seeing my parents before my first deployment with the 82nd 1st/504th. My family was so proud of me, my mom who was a teacher for a class of developmentally disabled middle schoolers actually had me come in during Christmas time in my Class A’s and answer questions and what not but in all reality she just wanted to show me off. It felt good, I mean I volunteered and here I was about 9 months out of high school about to deploy. By my last deployment a lot of who I was had changed but the one constant was that regardless of how many times we rotated in it was just as hard on my parents as it was the first time. I’m empathetic to a degree to the Russians as I can’t imagine having some college freshman thrown into our unit that had established solid cohesion and for many wasn’t their first deployment. We also had TRAINING and more importantly trained as a unit.
I want to ask your opinion on something that felt right to me...
I can't accept that Russia can't take Ukraine... To me, that is so outlandish.
It would be the equivalent of someone forcing you to believe they have seen a flock of flying pigs.
If I had to guess, it would take Russia no more than two weeks to have total control over Ukraine, preferably one.
This entire experience clarifies the term "theatre of war."
There is always a rabbit hole in every major war
@Tin Watchman I didn't mean like betting on a football game I meant
, It feels like Putin Joey and Ukraine's Installed screen guild card holder collaborated in the largest atm transfer
in History
@@philobetto5106 I think its a new country the old ones are trying to build. Imagine all the people who ran from war going to one new up and coming country protected by all the biggest nations.
@@philobetto5106 I think that this only seems strange to you because you have a massively overinflated opinion of the Russian military to begin with.
I spent 4 months in Russia in 2016. _Everybody_ said war with Ukraine was just fratricide. Everyone was sad about the conflict as it was back then. There was one old lady who was originally from Balaklava, Crimea, who was very happy that Crimea was back in Russia, but even she was still sad that there was fighting against Ukrainians.
Bingo. There's the problem. That lady identifies as Russian. Maybe she should go to Russia
I expected that he would annex those regions and that would be it but not the war itself.
@@TmackSD184 Crimea was Russia before it was gifted by Khrushchev to Ukraine.
@@TmackSD184 You misread what I said. She was born in Crimea, she was living in Russia. She was an ethnic Cossack and had spent most of her life in Rostov-on-Don where she had worked as an engineer before she retired. She probably moved to Rostov before Crimea was transferred to Ukraine. She definitely identified as Cossack first, then Russian, then Crimean. But the point is that even she, the closest I got to encountering someone who was an exception, while happy that Crimea was back to being Russian territory, was sad that Russia was fighting Ukraine, and viewed war between the two as nothing but fratricide. And I got a lot of people's opinions about it. _Every single time_ I got out of a taxi the driver would grab me by the ankle and plead with me "when you go back to the West, tell everyone: we never wanted the war". The only time I got out of a taxi and that didn't happen, the driver had already told me 5 minutes into the journey. And I took a lot of taxis - the premium tier taxis on Yandex Taxi were cheaper than buses are in England.
The point is that what he said about these young Russians being ripped away from their lives and sent to fight in a war they don't want to be in is exactly right. It's exactly like the old Cossack lady's grandfather who fought in the civil war for the Red Army and the White Army and the Red Army. He didn't want any part of it, most of them didn't. Most of what most of the people who were conscripted to fight the civil war did was just shoot their own brothers and cousins purely because they lived in the next town over, and they didn't have a choice. The state their morale will be in it's amazing the Russian military has done as well as it has.
@@blackcatdungeonmastersfami5311 and before that it was ukrainian.
thats like me stealing your shit, givjng it back to you and then 5 years later show up and steal it again and when people complain i tell them i gave it to you in the first place.
absolutely fucking disgusting that people keep regurgitating this revisionist propaganda.
My late brother had his all expenses paid one year Army action filled vacation in Vietnam. He definitely didn’t return the same
"No surrender, if you fail do not return" fuck that!
Your initial comments on conscripts are spot on. EVERY ONE is a casualty.
Wow! Awesome you added that intro (: It really helps change the viewers mindset going in, especially with a lot of the younger adults
When Russia says they are only drafted 300000 troops and then they say it again and again you know the numbers is going to be a lot higher.
You can not compare Russian draftees with 2 weeks training and thrown into combat with some not even that. With American Vietnam era draftees with 6 weeks basic training and additional infantry or specialized training
As a Vet.. from New Zealand Army.. I feel for the grunts at the forward areas on both sides. These young men have been put in a position, that will impact not only their own live's but the family the country etc. I had 17 years of training being in Artillery I know the destruction that is at hand .... no winners
😎😎😎
Except... if one side stops, they get killed, the other just goes home. So please dont put equal sign between the two sides.
This what we used to call "broadcast level" journalism/commentary, well done. You've taken a very nuanced and unbiased approach that seems to be in short supply these days.
thanks I really appreciate that, I'm trying my best to present different points of view
@@Taskandpurpose Keep it up, You are doing really well with these posts. Thanks for this content.
Wouldn't call this unbiased. For example, the alleged message from 155th has long been proven to be untrue. Members themselves stated that they had sustained losses but nowhere near as much as there was in the initial message.
Additionally, the video of rusty AK proved to be fake.
However, I am surprised not to see the video of radio specialists complaining about shitty old radios they were issued and ordered to bring into working order, which turned out to be true and was immediately rectified by a man with big stars personally delivering a fresh batch.
@@MrJohnTripperson There are a lot of reports of different sources about the lack of equipment that conscripts get.
They get lists about what items they should bring with them - nothing new here, that is the case in every military.
However, that you are supposed to provide your own medical supplies, body armor and helmet is just insane. And impossible for most consrcipts.
The lack of training / bad quality training is another thing.
And again, we do not need to rely on foreign sources. Just check the footage that was shown in Russias television. Footage they recorced themselves and chose to be shown to the russian people. What we can see there is very sub-par.
And somehow I doubt they chose the worst example to sho won TV. Don't you agree that they probably chose some of the best to show on TV?
If what we see there is sub-par, what do you think the rest will look like in average?
Right, much worse.
There are way too many sources to dismiss them all as fake. And what we see in official russian TV reinforces the view that there is a lot of stuff seriously wrong in the mobilisation, the equipment and the training of the conscripts.
@@wedgeantilles8575 by no means I said that all of it was fake. However, the rusty AK and the huge losses in 115th, for example, were. However, you are correct about the body armour and other equipment situation. It is a tragic situation when one is going back to active duty (not being conscripted) and is rolling the dice on the armour plates.
As for poor training, that is a bit of an exaggeration. Firstly, check the criteria for this mobilization. The mobilised are the ones who have a military specialisation and/or combat experience. That criteria excludes those who peeled potatoes, trained in pen-lifting and piloted in paper plane airforce.
As for the sources of fakes: as you may be aware, there is a lawyer of society who is against Putin. Those are very active in social media and being the opposition, they try to get more people on their side. The easiest way for them to do it is by showing and exaggerating the worst of things, painting the picture that everything is bad. There is a term for them and the things they say, roughly translated as "everythingisdoomed". For example, some rich kid hits someone with a car. If police arrest and detain him in prison, those people will criticise Putin's police for being heavy-handed. If that person will not be detained in custody until court date, the same people will criticise Putin's police for being lenient to the rich kid. So, if someone from that layer of society is ordered back to active duty, they will do what they usually do. Their videos (sometimes fake, sometimes exaggerated, something absolutely correct and sometimes something that should have been addressed through the chain of command and easily fixed) usually find their way to Western commentantators (like this TH-cam channel). However, the proof of the issues raised in the videos being rectified does not find it's way to the same Western commentantators, neither does proof that the videos were fake. It is understandable why, as Western commentantators prefer to stick with "Russia is about to fall apart" line of thought.
100% changed. Nobody comes back from war the same.
Great Videos, but TH-cam just messes your videos up. Thank you for actually handing out this info because I am actually interested in this topic and your videos help a lot with all my topics that interest me, And thank you for your service in iraq.
it's unfortunately something I have to deal with all the time. I'm trying to get better at staying friendly to a wide audience. I appreciate your support thank you for watching .
@@Taskandpurpose Another Great Video! You should Really watch this video, it explains a LOT behind Russia Blaffing Decisions in this War, why they Keep making the same mistakes and explains it's entire Military really and exactly how their army were so Completely unprepared for the Ukraine Wa and everyone in their Military kind of always knew that: th-cam.com/video/Fz59GWeTIik/w-d-xo.html
@@Taskandpurpose You are welcome! Keep up the good content man!
the shot of you behind putin has got to be the best editing in any youtube channel.
not sure if you covered it but in addition to focusing on low income civilians for "recruitment" other Russian subcultures that aren't the mainstream "Russian" are also more heavily recruited. We think of European and Asian nations as monocultures, but in reality there's plenty of secondary groups. Chinese Huighers is a great example, but both Russian and China have several subgroups within their borders, including discrete languages
Cappy, this was an exceptional video essay on Russia's war efforts, and the heartfelt preamble about war changing a person truly hit home. Thank you for your veteran's effort to make this particular war comprehensible (although I will never fathom how Putin is using every trope in Hitler's playbook to conduct a war against "Nazism" ---Putin's own words).
The "Nazism" claim is as big a lie as the more recent Russian claims about Ukraine being ruled by Satanists, and this being a war against Satanism.
NOTHING Russia says should be taken seriously whatsoever, as they have used blatant lies as a tactic to confuse Westeners about their intentions for decades.
You are right about them following Hitler's example though.
Vodka Hitler taking cues from OG Hitler
Cool. Now do biden.
@@newagain9964 yawn…
@@jessehachey2732 yeah. In the brink of Nuclear war is a real bore. Stay woke 🤤
A superb analysis of the Russian, Ukraine war. This is why I listen to TH-cam and only take with a grain of salt the regular media. Thank you, Chris
I like your videos, very sharp analysis and I think they are thorough and well put together. Looking back on your previous videos they also seem very accurate.
I doubt Russia will pay all their troops.
You can't compare the surrender of a voluntary enlistment to the unwillingness of participants called up by this mobilization. Two completely different situations. But I'm really happy that you're discussing the conscription practices that's taking place in Russia.
I heard that 120,00 volunteers signed up
@@anthonyhowrard526 Good for them, i'm referring to the people who didn't
@@theterminaldave Those people should have fought back. Oh well.. they are doomed now.
@@0816M3RC good luck "fighting back" against an authoritarian regime. There's a reason why they stay in power for so long, and it's not because they take kindly to people fighting back.
So good to see the video redone, couldnt stop thinking about this while watching the prior version
For russians it's not tragedy because of relatives. They DO NOT give a F about that. But when they realize they are going to die, that's when they start to hate this mobilization.
Do you realize that you are not immortal, and are going to die too?
P.S. Santa doesn't exist. (just in case...)
You kidding? You really think the average Russian soldier doesn't give a damn about killing their own relatives?
Wonderful opening. This needed to be said and you approach the issue with sensitivity and authenticity. Thank you, Cappie.
I agree. Ahmad; Salaam; Cappie is LIVING WITH 2 TARGETS ON HIS BACK !!! THE GLOBAL LETTERED AGENTS ARE AFTER HIM & SUCH Guys (SNITCHES RATS etc.!! )
I love your compassion with all the people. Not just your allies. Hope this demonetised video does not do you any harm and that you will continue with commenting on this situation with your personal view and experience ❤️
What can I say? War is hell. Forced to fight your relatives and friends. To be dragged away to a death sentence or worse insanity and terror. You would just have to except the situation in the end. Then you have to work out who is your enemy and give your best to destroy that enemy; whomever you decide is your enemy. What a thing to say!
Just wanted to take a moment to appreciate your editing. I love how you put yourself into certain images. It make it so much more fun 🙏😁
I was speaking to a Russian a few days ago and he told me something interesting, he said to me that fatal casualty numbers from the Soviet War in Afghanistan were completely falsified. He told me that in Eastern Europe, former Soviet countries, there are monuments to the war in Afghanistan everywhere and there is a shit ton of veterans. So he basically made the case to me that the War in Afghanistan most likely had somewhere around 250 thousand fatal casualties for the Red Army from all over the USSR, and the officially divulged numbers were just doctored for propaganda. Given that now we're seeing that Russia has learned nothing from both wars in Chechnya, I find it plausible to also theorize that they have learned no useful lessons from the War in Afghanistan and that would explain why they're fighting with such outdated doctrines.
LOL ;)
Over here in South Africa TV program states that The Top 3 militaries are British Red Coats 💂🏻💩 French and Germany for 30 mins and no one else.
I see, so yeah, the 14k numbers are completely fabricated and the number is actually higher, and based on Russian math on the invasion of Ukraine, they may not have reached the numbers of actual casualties yet.
@@hewhohasnoidentity4377 Not that actual troop numbers are divulged in any larger conflict - I do not recall US doing that during their major wars.
No one does that. It was even identified that reporting about deaths of friendlies during Vietnam was decreasing morale - just showing the dead.
Why would anyone say how many troops we have and where - are you insane?
We know that Russia has at most 200k Russian troops in Ukraine right now. Plus all allies. Maybe at the very top that is 300k but I feel its less.
That number may increase to maybe 500k as more mobilized troops are sent. Depends on the will in Moscow.
How the amount of veterans corresponds to casualties? Of course, there are a lot of veterans, officially more than 600k people (500k+ soldiers) were in Afghanistan during 10 years of war
There are multiple independent researches in 1990-2010 in Russia and I have never seen such a number as 250k causalities, it doesn't look realistic
It's good that he is critical of his own strategic interpretations.
Russia was arresting the protesters that is against the "special military exercise" a.k.a. war, forcing them to fight in the "special military exercise" that they are against in the first place. That is the most scary tactic that I've heard of so far.
Napoleon's soldiers could and did complain directly to him. He frequently heard the complaints of his average Infantrymen and addressed them saying "Hide nothing from me. I always take the part of (the enlisted man) against the (officers)." See "Napoleon: A Life" by Andrew Roberts
I often wonder if this was accurate, there are very varied reports, also there's the whole African campaign
Excellent as always. I found you with gun reviews, but since the war in Ukraine started, I'm always checking your channel for a knowledgeable take on it. Just wanted to drop a line and say thanks for what you do. 🍻
thanks for sticking through the content transition ! I'll still be doing gun information but covering stories like this is important
@@Taskandpurpose bruh u seriously believed W ha t he said
@@cliffordnyarko8164 well that's because I meant it sincerely.
Cappy, you are living proof of just how much Fuckery a single soldier can do with a phone and connection to the Internet. 😂
Love you brother!
Totally off topic but I really like the District 9 shirt.
This was one of your best videos so far, thank you 👍🏻
I thought the first version was very good. Not sure why it got pulled (?) The reboot is better though. As always your research and analysis are thought provoking and pretty much spot-on. Keep up the good work.
This channel has really come into its own. Top quality information and analysis.
good thing to spread typical US propoganda, which US government needs.
typical.
You are the most professional TH-cam presenter i have seen. I would be embarrassed to tell you how much time i spend on youtube.
i feel for the guys on the ground. one side fights for its life. while the other side fights because its being forced....
Even those forced often still believe in the "russian cause". They just don't want to do the job themselves. Majority of russians support putin and his "special operation".
Some support it some don't but it has also something to do with the mentality of duty, brotherhood and self sacrifice also of you get shot at you will most likely shoot back. I feel some pity for the younger generation, there is an obvious answer to capitulate but its probably not obvious in the situation that they are in as this could lead to severe consequences. I am half Russian and moved in 08 there is a small hope that the people will rise up but most likely not.
@@equos5060 Considering that Ukraine has been threatening to cut off Water to Russian Farmlands unless Russia gives them Money, or whatever else they were demanding; Ukraine brought this War upon themselves, and I have ZERO sympathy for them. Let's not also forget that Ukraine has been using B.S. claims trying to get NATO and other Countries to come and fight it's war for them. Ukraine should rot.
They both are fighting for their life when it comes to a firefight
Thank you with one remark:
They are not poor Russian men, the WAR acceptance rate in Russia is 75% according to the latest poll. In addition there was a possibility to avoid the WAR (only 1 person was jailed for not showing up).
Hey Chris I can tell this was a tough topic for you to talk about. I hope you're doing well my friend! Remember to always reach out to people around you and take a break when you need to. I'll always come back to watch your videos!
Thank you for the update. Much appreciated. It's both sad and infuriating to watch all the cruelty the Russians are doing to innocent people who just want to live their lives in freedom. I hope the day will come when Putin pays for his crimes, and there are too many to count at this point.
I really like that you are showing sympathy towards the Russian conscripts, who are not likely to want a war in the first place and are literally forced into it. Its important to keep in mimd that the other sides soldiers are also just people. People with a life as complex and rich as yours, people who do not deserve to die for some megalomaniac, no matter what they are currently forced to do.
Then they should fight back against the people mobilizing them.
Those same "people" cheered as Ukrainian women and children were bombed.
Don't feel any sympathy for the disgusting pigs.
@@0816M3RCIt’s easier said then done. What’s more likely to happen is that police come with batons and beat you up and drag you to prison to rot. Russia is not the west. They’ve another mentality there compared to here. “Don’t bite the hand that feeds you” is how I think the quote goes.
Screw Russian troops. They are all brainwashed, and pro war, until the bullets start flying
@@0816M3RC ..Easy for you to say in the comfort of your own home. You try doing that if you're in their shoes.
What I really appreciate about this channel is that it never alienates me politically. It's a general neutral ground for the left and right that I think a lot of us are sharing no mater of our political positions. I know it's generally anti-Russian government and pro-Russian people which I think is hard to argue against at this point.
Yeah I feel bad for the Russians
They basically have a super villain in control of their country and they’re all hostages
@@sumduma55 dude Russia has all of its neighbors in fear of them for a reason
Putin personal networth is 12% of Russia gdp, now how does that make sense
That’s like if a u.s president had 2 trillion
@@sumduma55 lol Finland and Sweden just joined nato because of how Russia behaves
Ukraine wasn’t even joining nato they got rejected in 2008 by quite a few members
2016-2020 the u.s was trying to disband nato
Russia is its own worst enemy
@@sumduma55 lol deleting your comments huh?
@@sumduma55 guess you’re getting mad thumbs down then 🤣
25% of fighting force made up of conscripts and making up 30% of casualties, barely unswers to the term: canon fodder.
There are multiple possibilities for this slight discrepancy in numbers. For one: a conscript probably is less trained/experienced in a combat situation than a professional soldier.
As a Marine Vet and former grunt your feet is the most valuable part of yourself and we took good care of our feet
Can’t believe your video got demonetised, just keep on pressing forward your content is always 10/10
The channel is pro-Ukraine and therefore pro-democrat money laundering also, not sure why GOOGLE would demonetise this...🤔
Lots of pro putin biden democrats
it seems that when trolls report videos, youtube puts the burden of proof on the victims.
even when there is a history of spam troll reports.
this is not surprising at all, as many authoritarian governments are making use of the system to harass youtubers telling the truth.
and they will continue to do it for as long as it bears fruit.
some youtubers upon challenging the demonetizations are getting told their video has been thoroughly re-revied, and the call stands... even if they are responding ~7 minutes after the request for review over a 30+ min video.
china uncensored (a channel about the abuses of power of the chinese communist party) would have been entirely killed but for patreon, since it's youtube revenue has been eviscerated.
every video now tells you when the commercial breaks are, so you can track if trolls have been successful at demonitizing it.
Russian bots flag unflattering videos on mass which causes age restriction - end result you need a YT account to watch the video
@@Mwwwwwwwwe it's even worse than that MA
youtube completely stops promoting the video as well, and it completely kills the view count from then forward.
and it's even worse than that.
having your videos age restricted makes your entire account look worse, because there are fewer views and interaction on your account, so they promote your other videos less too.
and even if you win, you lose, because if you video is un-agerestricted, it's too late, as the critical watch period has passed, and you won't get the views you were going to get, just later. your reach is eviscerated by the trolls, even if you win.
but if you download videos, youtube assumes you watched the whole thing, so you can go download and delete and redownload a bunch of his videos to help offset the scumbags
I appreciate your cogent & lucid analysis! You have an excellent ability to pull together many divergent threads to make an understandable story! Thanks
Did you swallow a dictionary?😬
I love the historical context that contrasts the individual level weapons/gear review! Great balance and very timely.
I know the feeling -- not wanting to be cannon fodder but looking in the mirror and seeing yourself that way, anyway. For me it was 1967 - 68. When I finished high school, my parents never once -- then or earlier -- asked me what my "plans" were after high school. My father did not want me in the house ("shut up and eat up!") any longer. I was working part-time and trying to stay in junior college (no clue as to what I wanted to do). My boss at the part-time job had been a Navy cook during WWII and now had his own fast food place, where I worked in the evenings. He suggested I look into the Navy, rather than let the Army draft my ass and send me to Vietnam. I happened to visit the USS New Jersey (BB-62) in spring 1968 and came away very impressed with the ship, the crew, and opportunities for getting the hell out of the house and see something of the world (and avoiding ground-pounder duty in Vietnam). I enlisted in the Navy, served a year-and-a-half in Hawaii and then was assigned to the Seabees -- with duty, you guessed it -- in Vietnam! But the Seabees' civic action teams that mostly were in the Mekong Delta at that time and which I supported, were a great bunch of hard-working sailors. My 18-month tour was split between the Seabee assignment and duty in and out of Cam Ranh Bay at a U.S. and Vietnamese navy support facility. Met and worked with many lovely men and women (U.S. and Vietnamese) and never fired a shot, except on the training range. The difference I saw and felt between the Army and Navy personnel in Vietnam was startling. I retired from the Navy and Naval Reserve in September 1994, with more than 26 years of total service. I had some great career guidance by my Navy supervisors, especially my first one, a Filipino, PN1 Guinto, while I was in Navy Fleet Tactical Support Squadron VR-21 (the "Pineapple Airlines"). Best decision I made in early 1968, listening to that former Navy cook.
So glad I found this channel. Thank you. incredible coverage
This is one of the best videos I've seen from this channel. I realize there was a lot of thought put into it.
Couldnt agree more with your opening about the young men being forced into these incredibly dangerous situations that are completely out of their control. Thank you for saying this... Truly it needs to be said a bit more often than it is.
Out of control..... Why then USA withdrew from Vietnam? :)
@@marianak7721 'cause it is, even if somewhat flawed, a democracy?
@@BoraHorzaGobuchul yeap! Build it - get control! Do not say it is out of their control if they haven't tried
@@marianak7721 YES!! YES!! EVERY POLIT. IS TRAINED AS ACTOR, LIAR, DEVIENT/lbgtq+ & skull/bones or masonic satanists!!!!
Damned Competing Prez, p.m., kings; & their High Paid Serfs & Sex slaves!!! WHOLE GLOBE NEEDS TO HEAR/SEE SUCH AS THIS SO SEND IT VIRILE!!!!
@@marianak7721 can't build it in a dictatorship. It has to either fall apart itself or be brought down first, which usually happens from mainly external action (internal protest may happen but in general they happen at later stages when the dictatorship is already falling apart).
It is kind of like fighting a tank without weapons. It's suicide generally; one has some chances if there's a lot of people trained and/or guided by a leader (a problem under a dictatorship as leaders are targeted first by the state); if one gains access to some, even improvised, weapons (requires training and external assistance as a rule) chances grow further still; but when the tank is damaged, e.g. gun is down or it's immobile, taking it down becomes much easier, and that can also happen mainly by external action.
Had the USA simply opposed Ukraine's entry into NATO none of this would be happening.
Hard to feel anything for the aggressor, plenty of new Sun flowers growing from what I hear
That's how hundreds of millions of people around the world feel about the American soldiers who have destroyed their countries too.
What sucks is many of these men are sent as cannon fodder or speed bumps so they can pull exhausted and depleted regular units off the front to rest and refit. They are sacrificing these men to preserve their regular units.
The Russians haven’t been fighting that way. They pulled back from relatively unimportant or undefendable ground rather than grind their men up. The Ukranians on the other hand have been doing the Wermacht trick of wasting precious men to defend every inch. I don’t think the west knows dick about Russia. We are still laboring under the propaganda that paints them as USSR 2.0. Public support for prosecution of the war is far far higher than most of the western governments for their leadership. In the US our so-called leaders pole worse than used car salesmen and the mafia.
Sad
Yes in both sides. It's very sad that regular people die Bc of some dickheads who control superpowers (USA and Russia etc..)
"It's so obvious what Putin has to do."
"I agree. It will be hard, but pulling back to the original borders makes sense-"
"No, I meant take everyone's phones away."
"I don't know how I talk to you."
"You've been talking into the mirror this whole time."
"..."
I suspect if the US ever did a draft again, the numbers of those who flee or outright deny service would be astronomical.
Our politicians have zero credibility. Untrustable.
You have to flee since you cannot refuse that is the whole point of it once youre cought thats it
I understand horror of being drafted. Still, I hope every single soldier from Wagner's group as well as Khadyrov's TikTok Commando will get wasted. Let's just remember that most of these guys were pro war. They just didn't want to be there themselves. Watch channel 1420 with street interviews with regular russians. It's insane how regular russians think.
Exactly. The russians are not innocent, and they are not moral. They are just worried for themselves because they might not get away with the horrors they want to inflict. Every russian is guilty, unless their actions prove otherwise.
Putin- this isn't a war. It's a special military thing! *Starts draft*
My dad's good friend moved to Canada in 1970 because he was drafted to go to Vietnam. He made a good living here in Canada and just passed away recently rest in peace uncle Terry.
Draft dodgers aren't cool.
A draft Dodger ....
@@expat-riot yeah, for a war that did nothing but kill 58000 plus Americans for zero reason. Let alone the amount of Vietnamese killed. The weird romanticism around the Vietnam War serves no purpose
Thank you for the nuance and knowledgeable analysis. Some of the best coverage around
based on what? not trying to be rude here but how do you assume hes correct?
My mobilization orders for the 1st Gulf War was 2 years + 6 months or the duration of the war. After going all the way to Safwan as member of a APSYOP tactical team I was mobilized foremost 4 months.
I remember going to a "update ion the war " stream from different youtuber. The chat were calling for the death of Russian civilians , it was pretty fucking disturbing and digesting.
Hell yeah bro happy this was reupload didn't get a chance to watch it 👍🏼
this version is much much better glad you got to see the correct one !
Great piece Cappy, thanks to you and your team - I'm an old subscriber.
Australia had similar problems during the Viet Nam/American war (no offence, in Viet Nam it was the American War). Go visit their War Memorial - it's an eye opener; apart from the 'killer bees' piece which is a false and cheesy display; although, goodness knows what the CIA were up to at times.
What is not well known is that Australian draftees had to volunteer to fight overseas (draftees were chosen by birthdate in a Ballot, similar to Powerball). Many men were faced with not deploying with their mates and chose to go, but many chose not to deploy.
In the 1950s, Australia had "National Service"; and proudly, my father was one of them. He joined the Taree Battalion (mid-North coast of NSW) which is now known as 41 Battalion RNSWR (Royal New South Wales Regiment). He served in their Vickers MG company.
I'm in my 41st year in the Australian Army and proud of it.
Stu, from Down Under, living in Australia's Bush Capital.
Thank you for your thoughts!
Imagine getting drafted and the things you get equipped with are ww2 gear and cardboard
"This a airsoft battle bruh?"
Especially as you only just dropped down for a cheeseburger at the former MacDonalds.Before being shanghaied, to the Ukrainian frontline.
Lol you got the same name as me