YAVORIV, Ukraine—The Soldiers of 3rd battalion, 15th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division arrived here in the cold of winter and left here on a chilly summer evening July 9 after successfully completing nearly six months of support to the Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.
The "Can Do" battalion was tasked with training Ukrainian battalions that came through the International Peacekeeping and Security Center on a 55-day training rotation. The training is designed to reinforce defensive skills of the Ukrainian Ground Forces in order to increase their capacity for self-defense.
During the rotation the Soldiers of 3-15 helped train Ukrainian soldiers on individual tasks such as marksmanship, first aid and land navigation all the way through collective tasks such as staff exercises and platoon live-fire. The battalion was also responsible for training the trainers, enabling the Ukrainian's to assume the mission completely from U.S., Canadian and other partner forces here.
"They're (the Ukrainian soldiers) coming in to the IPSC and they are coming in and settling in here and generally they are coming right out of the ATO (Anti-Terrorist Operations) so they don't know what to expect," said Command Sgt. Maj. Tom Dow. "There's a lot of uncertainty and people are a little stand-offish at first until they see the professional excellence from the soldiers...the U.S. Soldiers, the Canadian Soldiers, the Lithuanians… everyone that's here to partner with and help them. That partnership and relationship helps open them up over time."
The "Can Do" battalion deployed with the nucleus of parts of four companies from 3-15 Infantry including Charlie, Delta, Golf and Headquarters and Headquarters Company. In addition, they were augmented with 21 engineers and four Intel Analysts from 9th Brigade Engineer Battalion, and 12 Fire Support Team members from Headquarter and Headquarters Battery, 1-9 Field Artillery.
Since their arrival in February, 3-15 Infantry has been extremely busy. Over two 55-day rotations they trained nearly 1,200 Ukrainian soldiers with the 2-25 Airborne Battalion and 1-72 Mechanized Battalion. In addition, they trained 50 Ukrainian Instructors with the Ukrainian Instructor University.
According to Captain Jacob Austin, HHC commander, the "Can Do" battalion achieved significant accomplishments in the relatively short time they have been here.
"We developed and implemented the Ukrainian Instructor University and successfully transferred six modules of the POI (program of instruction)," he said.
According to Austin, their efforts have helped prepare Ukrainian instructors to assume the responsibility of training one company during the next rotation.
The most recent rotation also marked the first time ever that a JMTG-U training rotation has been incorporated into the annual Rapid Trident Exercise. The exercise tested interoperability between 13 allied and partner nations as well as validated the training rotation that was happening concurrently.
Lt. Col. Lefran Marks, commander of 3-15 assumed command late in the rotation but was able to get a feel for the progress of 1-72 Mechanized Battalion.
"It has been very, very rewarding to see them, not only as a staff develop, organize and grow, but to see those platoons transition from being able to fight to being a truly lethal organization," said Marks. "It has been great to see that improvement across the board."
According to Dow it wasn't just the Ukrainians who were growing and learning and expanding their skills and knowledge.
"I saw the battalion grow phenomenally since we arrived here. Many of the young soldiers we brought over here were very new to teaching and instructing," he said.
For many of the veteran soldiers of 3-15 this was just as new of an experience for them as it was for the young Soldiers. For Sgt. First Class Joseph Bastanzi, a platoon sergeant with Charlie company, after six deployments to the middle east, it was nice to experience something different but just as important.
"Our soldiers and as well as myself and my platoon leader, we built a bond with the platoon we're responsible for training with and alongside of," he said. "And to hear their stories and seeing them leave and saying 'I'll never forget what you taught me', it gives you a sense of pride knowing they're going to carry that forward and they're going to become better every day."
It is a sentiment shared by the Ukrainians.
"Over these last few days of training we have realized that there will be something missing," said Ihor Andryuchov, a squad commander with Ukraine's 1-72 Mechanized battalion. "We won't be seeing our friends around the IPSC, but we will never forget what they taught us."
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