NATO Training and Lessons from the War in Ukraine - Interview with General Ben Hodges (Ret.)

Sponsored by Ground News: Compare coverage to spot sensational content and identify the facts with Ground News How do you train an army to fight a war that is different from any you’ve ever experienced? Support for Ukraine has played a vital role in shaping the progress of the war in Ukraine to date. Ukrainian efforts have heavily leveraged munitions and systems supplied by their allies - but training has also been a key area for allied support Unlike weapon systems however, evaluating the performance of NATO’s training efforts are harder to determine. Reporting tends to focus on the quantity of troops going through these programs, but less reporting focuses on whether the training properly matches the realities of the Ukrainian battlefield To get a better understanding of NATO’s efforts to train with Ukraine in the years leading up to 2022 and since the full scale invasion, as well as some of the lessons members of the alliance might be learning from the war, today I’m welcoming back retired US Army Lieutenant General Ben Hodges. LTG Hodges (Ret.) is a former commander of US Army Europe and engaged with Ukrainian forces extensively over his time in that role. I’m very happy to welcome him back to the channel and want to stress that the opinions expressed in this interview are solely those of the individuals expressing them. Patreon: Relevant Reading/sourcing ATP Counter-Unmanned Aircraft Systems (C-UAS) August 2023 Reports referencing the wargame series leading up to the Ukrainian summer offensive: RUSI – Preliminary lessons in Conventional Warfighting from Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine: February-July 2022 RUSI – Stormbreak: Fighting through Russian Defences in Ukraine’s 2023 Offensive Example of reported feedback by Ukrainians on the limits of NATO training “Inside the secret French camp where Ukrainians prepare for war” Reuters reporting on US casualty estimate for Russian forces Featured Reports and Image Sources DPRK Shell quality Caveats & Comments: All normal caveats and comments apply. No financial consideration was paid in relation to this interview – though I did request that a charity be nominated for a donation after the interview was recorded LTG Hodges did not exercise any editorial control over this episode as a whole, including my comments or the slides that have been included Timestamps: 00:00:00 — Opening Words 00:01:35 — What Are We Talking About? 00:03:37 — Lessons From The Battlefield 00:03:56 — Q: Ensuring Training Delivers Value 00:07:44 — Q: Training For The Environment 00:12:56 — Q: Keeping Up With Adaptation 00:15:56 — Q: Observers And Lessons Learned 00:19:41 — Q: Lessons So Far? 00:22:28 — Q: Wargaming and Assumptions 00:25:32 — Q: Training Pre-2022 00:28:08 — Q: Evolution Of The Training Mission 00:34:30 — Q: Training Efforts Post 02/2022 00:37:22 — Q: Higher Level Training Requirements 00:40:47 — Q: Force Regeneration 00:43:24 — Cohesion And Training As A Unit 00:44:36 — Answer Pt.2: Force Regeneration 00:46:09 — Training Program Abbreviation 00:47:35 — Evaluating 2023 00:48:21 — Q: Outcome Vs Commitment 00:52:12 — Priorities, Resources & THAAD 00:54:01 — Q: The Path To 2025 01:02:20 — Conclusion 01:03:50 — Channel Update