The Captains Course launched in Ukraine

The Command of the Territorial Defense Forces and the Come Back Alive Foundation are launching a new Captains Course training program.

This is reported by the Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces on their social networks.

Recently, the Command of the Ukraine Territorial Defense Forces has launched the first Captains Course, a 6-week training program for company commanders. 60 territorial defense officers have started the course to master Troop Leading Procedures, which are theoretical and practical skills according to the NATO MDMP (Military Decision Making Process) standards.

The launch of the project was implemented with the support of the US non-governmental organization Spirit of America, the Come Back Alive Foundation and the Ministry of Defense of the United Kingdom.

According to the Command, this is a first step in creating the next generation of military leaders within the Territorial Defense Forces, one of the youngest but largest branches of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, which consists of highly motivated and dedicated Ukrainian citizens who voluntarily went to serve their country.

The Captains Course is taught by veterans of the Russian-Ukrainian war. These are the best leaders who have proven themselves in combat operations in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. To become professional instructors, they were trained in Ukraine and Great Britain and now share their knowledge and skills with other colleagues from the Armed Forces.

According to Taras Chmut, one of the organizers of the project and Head of the Come Back Alive Foundation, the plan is to create an educational center based on a full-fledged military unit. There they will train captains who plan to become company commanders, officers of the combat management of the battalion headquarters.

“The company commander is an officer who is still fighting in the field with people, while the battalion commander is the one fighting with a map and a radio station in the headquarters. This is the commander who already commands a sufficient number of men in order to make some tangible impact on the battlefield, because the company is the main combat unit on the battlefield and is, in fact, the weak link in the army on which the effectiveness of the conduct of hostilities depends,” Taras Chmut says.

He emphasizes that the situation on the battlefield often depends on the expertise of company commanders:

“I would say that the line of battle is held by the commander of the division and company, and if the commander of the division, platoon, or company, is well trained, then everything is fine in the division, he is properly equipped, he fights correctly, he gives the right result.”

Currently, the first course consists of 60 cadets. They will be trained very quickly, only 5 weeks. According to Taras Chmut, this is the most simplified course, because it is not easy to call officers from the front for the sake of training.

“All the instructors have combat experience and have received additional training in Great Britain. At the school, they will study battle orders, terrain reconnaissance, and the doctrinal architecture of the defense sector: who, what and how. All this is to expand the worldview of the commanders. The course is adapted to our realities, but based on the American one,” the Head of the Foundation adds.

Also, according to him, the course is planned to be expanded in January. The number of people will almost double, and training will last longer – at least an hour will be added to every week. In the future, one of the Ukrainian cities will have a modern training center of a new model, where training will last about 9 months. From there, the officers will leave trained company commanders. In the long term, the Captain’s School will be expanded to train officers from all the Armed Forces of Ukraine, including the Marines and Air Assault Forces.

“The courses have very strict discipline, not all students will pass the new course. Exemptions will be uncompromising, this will not be training for a check mark. If, as a result, 10 officers reach the end of the course, then only 10 will graduate, regardless of how many were admitted. But these 10 officers will be as efficient and high-quality as possible. Any amount of the graduates will already be a significant reinforcement at the current stage for the territorial defense forces,” the Head of the Come Back Alive Foundation said.