Ukraine's strong military - and its ties to California's National Guard

[Craig234]

I recently learned of this - California's National Guard has provided a key role in training Ukraine's military for many years, helping it be capable of this strong defense against Russia.

Jump to 1993 when Ukraine became a charter member of the U.S. National Guard Bureau’s State Partnership Program along with Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, North Macedonia, Poland, Romania, Slovakia and Slovenia. Each country was paired with a state, and Ukraine paired with California.

The program was based on an American suggestion to NATO. It began as an effort to help former Soviet and Warsaw Pact nations reform their militaries along Western lines, National Guard Bureau officials said on background. The program had many objectives, including helping the nations become more interoperable with NATO forces, helping the partners become more transparent in military affairs and, perhaps most importantly, helping the nations know how a military works in a democracy...

Now, I have plenty of reservations about this.

Today, there are 93 nations partnered with Guard organizations from all 50 states, three territories and the District of Columbia.

Talk about global projection of military power.

Trust was further cemented when partners fought alongside U.S. service members in Afghanistan and Iraq.

Yes, that sounds like Putin calling on allies from Belarus, Syria and who knows where to help his war in Ukraine. Not to mention that the political regimes in Ukraine in 2019 we were helping were very corrupt. Of course, perhaps some good came from the partnership - they did have two successful resolutions and vote in Zelensky in 2019.

But in this case, it seems very welcome that all this was done that has helped Ukraine do so well defending against Russia.

There are questions about this - how would we feel about China or Russia working with 93 militaries in the world developing loyalties towards those countries, creating forces to help them in their foreign wars - but it's hard to argue about the benefits here.

More on the training in the next post.

Ukraine-California ties show worth of National Guard program

WASHINGTON – When Russia invaded Ukraine with more than 150,000 troops Feb. 24, most people — especially Russian President Vladimir Putin — expected a Russian cakewalk.The men and women of the

www.nationalguard.mil

 

[Craig234]

Baldwin said the effort to train the Ukrainian military is really a team effort. California Guardsmen worked alongside NATO trainers and trainers from the active-duty forces — especially after Russia first invaded Ukraine in 2014 and illegally annexed Crimea.

Ukraine’s government turned decisively to the West, and the training took on new importance. Ukrainians were very receptive. Before 2014, the California Guard would send a few dozen trainers at a time to Ukraine. After the Russian invasion, this commitment numbered in the hundreds and training accelerated...

In training areas in Ukraine and California, the Army Guard and Air Guard in California worked to develop Ukrainian capabilities. If they didn’t have the capability, Baldwin worked with National Guard units around the United States to make sure Ukrainian service members got the training they needed.

It was more than small unit tactics, he said. The Guardsmen worked in logistics and sustainment — the lifeblood of any military. They worked to establish and build a Ukrainian NCO corps. They helped train staff officers in defending against and launching cyber operations.

Guardsmen even worked in the headquarters of the Ukrainian military to establish command and control procedures and help build a Joint Operations Center modeled on what the U.S. military would have. Guardsmen helped them “reorganize the way that their staffs are organized at the general staff and at the Ministry of Defense,” he said. “We even embedded (Ukrainian) staff officers as members of our staff.”

Baldwin went to Ukraine in November and discussed with Ukrainian military leaders the disturbing buildup of Russian troops on Ukraine’s borders. “At the time, they kind of knew that it was coming, but they didn’t want to believe it,” he said. “It wasn’t until January that the most senior Ukrainian leaders started [to] recognize that this could be a possibility.”

Ukrainian leaders then began talking about specific needs they would have if Russia invaded. “They came within a day or two of predicting when the invasion was going to come,” he said. “But because of that partnership, and our ability to have frank discussions about what they needed in the eleventh hour to get ready, I [hope] it very much helped them prepare and to do so well in the opening hours of the invasion.”

Baldwin said that within half an hour of the Russian invasion, he began getting calls from senior Ukrainian leaders. “The first calls were, ‘Hey, we’re under attack,’ and then the calls through that night were, ‘Here’s the help that we desperately need,’” he said.

The first calls were for more Stingers, Javelins and other anti-tank weapons, he said.

“Within 24 hours, we had a pretty comprehensive list of all of their requirements for military equipment — both lethal and non-lethal,” the general said.

The California Guard stood up their Joint Operations Center and they were seeing the same things their Ukrainian partners were posting in Kyiv. Baldwin passed the request to U.S. European Command and the Joint Staff in the Pentagon.

 

[Antiwar]

The sooner humans destroy the environment beyond disbelief, the sooner humanity will seriously try to take care of the only habitable planet. Go stupid humans!

 

[Rexedgar]

Isn’t the US National Guard that one weekend a month and two week of summer camp?


I was talking to someone about the Afghan refugees at Ft. Pickett in VA and they have deployed a unit to Somalia. Anyone have any idea how much of the National Guard is deployed somewhere longer than a weekend?


EDIT: the National Guard has deployed, not the refugees, there was a story that the refugees had taken the billets and the Guardsmen had to use tents.

 

[Rexedgar]

The sooner humans destroy the environment beyond disbelief, the sooner humanity will seriously try to take care of the only habitable planet.

How is this relevant to the thread?

 

[Antiwar]

How is this relevant to the thread?

Warring (and just your everyday militarism) is one of the most environmentally destructive things on the planet.

 

[Rexedgar]

Warring (and just your everyday militarism) are one of the most destructive things on the planet.

✌️,❤️ &☘️

 

[Antiwar]

✌️,❤️ &☘️

Wisdom doesn't always come with age.

 

[Rexedgar]

Wisdom doesn't always come with age.

Proving that ignorance is bliss…….

 

[Antiwar]

Proving that ignorance is bliss…….

I get it. You were in the US armed forces, you're retired, you're bored, you're trolling, you lack wisdom regarding the environment, and you're afraid to engage my commentary directly. You're probably not unlike the older gentleman at the library yesterday that I politely said "Excuse me please" to twice because his stuff was blocking the computer I was assigned. I should've tried to log in on another of the several open computers, especially since he wasn't wearing a mask, and because I didn't want to bother him.

 

[Rexedgar]

I get it. You were in the US armed forces, you're retired, you're bored, you're trolling, you lack wisdom regarding the environment, and you're afraid to engage my commentary directly. You're probably not unlike the older gentleman at the library yesterday that I politely said "Excuse me please" to twice because his stuff was blocking the computer I was assigned. I should've tried to log in on another of the several open computers, especially since he wasn't wearing a mask, and because I didn't want to bother him.

You have no idea. Just calling balls and strikes.

You have a substantive post on the thread topic?