FELL INTO A DUGOUT — praised the soldiers. How to explain an ASSAULT in SOCKS? | Vasyl Zakharets
Längd 6:09
Speaker 1
Where were you? What were you doing? Crawled to the bastard's dugout with a robot, there, this terminator. And you just look, and you're like, woo, yeah, what is it doing? Either arms, or legs, who flies off first? Yeah, one, two, and three. The little man had no parachute, basically. I'm sure the wife will somehow manage,
Speaker 2
when he/she does not hear.
Speaker 1
And
Speaker 2
Can I be put on the list of those unfit for military service now, who exactly is that? Checked the position, fell into a dugout, praised for camouflage.
Speaker 1
Yes, go ahead and get me. No, really, it was near Maryinka, the month of May, I remember. Well, it was normal there, the fighters were camouflaged, that's all. I came there too at the time, I liked to wander around the positions. Honestly, they were so well camouflaged, and for me, I say, at that time, they were so well camouflaged, I was like…
Speaker 2
Basically, there was no little man's parachute, but the feeling of freefall was there. This is a case where your commander was born for war.
Speaker 1
Simply no one, he says, knows where the brigade commander was back when he was still a battalion commander. Where, I say, I was crawling, what I was doing. I was at the Butivka mine, there, with my sergeants, with two TM mines, we'd go to the Pidarskyi dugout to throw the TM mines in and, like, blow up the dugout. Then the battalion commander shouts at me, I came out, "where were you? What were you doing?" "Yeah," I say, "I was right here." "But we saw everything on the cameras." This is probably, well, for everyone who served with us, again in the 25th Brigade, this is one of those cases that everyone knows about. I love fighting. I like it when everything is burning, everything is smoking, and the enemy is as uncomfortable as possible. I'll say, for example, when I was a commander, agreed, it was easier for me, for example, to take assault rifles, SPGs, go, and put them in the field. To bash them, take them apart, I mean, directly. Then I grew into a different role, something like battalion chief of staff, and then mortars appeared, and other things. And then, it wasn't that I was uninterested in working with an SPG or a machine gun, but if there's a mortar, you can properly dismantle the enemy with some wunderwaffe. And as for the connection with the brigade commander, well, honestly, I like it too, why? Because while one enemy is running across the field, the artillery, bombers, and FPVs are firing at him, and you just watch, like, who's first? And now, either arms or legs, who'll be blown off first? Simply for me, the question of war, the question of combat operations, is probably something that I unfortunately put in first place, even above family. Oh, maybe my wife will eventually lose her mind, when she finds out. She'll say, "you've lost your mind." But I can't leave those moments behind, in service; I want to have an influence, I want everything to be under control, even while on leave. If you work, if you are demanding of yourself, then the personnel will be the same.
Speaker 2
He can explain a complex attack plan using matches, three socks, and canisters.
Speaker 1
Everything is simple. One, two, and three. And everything is clear, everything is simple. The simpler the task, the easier it is to perform. The main thing, I say, don't freeze up, I say. If it's not working, if you can't, say so. That's it, I say. The main thing is not to freeze up. And everything else will work out for us, we will manage.
Speaker 2
Commander as an artist. Artist in a beret.
Speaker 1
I still wear a maroon beret. Once it was presented, put on. Probably one of the symbols of resilience. Probably, if I hadn't been, perhaps, a paratrooper. Those problems, those challenges that were set before me, I probably, perhaps, wouldn't have survived them. Or perhaps my life wouldn't have turned out the way it did; the airborne tempered me. We were always taught to be creative. Taught to always, you know, look for unconventional solutions. Such that the task could be completed with minimal losses. You completed the task, you're in the beret, you look good. Everything is on point.
Speaker 2
I
Speaker 1
I just remember, I arrived at the brigade like this. I had one stack, a second stack of papers. And I'm like, "What is this?" "This," he says, "is daily documentation." I'm like, "Ooo," I say, "guys, that's it, let's simplify—digitalization." "Army Plus, SEDO," I say. "Everything as much as possible," I say, "so they don't bring me all these papers." A crowd, I say, of officers flooded toward me. I'm not looking for a reason to poke fun at anyone. I'm just sharing, they are all such sleepheads there, it's hard for them, everything, they are tired. And then, after two minutes, we start laughing. On the other hand, everyone is immediately motivated, cheered up. There should always be a smile on the face, and a clear mind.
Speaker 2
Calm down,
Speaker 1
without screaming, without panic, they laughed
Speaker 2
and off we go. I would really like all commanders to be this decent.
Speaker 1
One must be honest, well, again, with oneself and with people. No matter what the task was, or what the circumstances were, you should always tell the truth to someone's face. If you lie once, if you deceive, you won't be believed afterwards, and no one will trust you. This is, in principle, what everything should be built upon.
Speaker 2
The commander always sees a person in you, not a combat unit.
Speaker 1
That's the main thing. We are communicating with a person. We aren't communicating, you know, with a combat vehicle, a robot, a terminator; everyone we have is human. If you can, first of all, calm a person down and support them, then that person will always be with you. They will carry out the mission; they will be afraid to let you down. Not just out of fear, but because they respect you. They know that you support them, will help, and if necessary, you will pull them out. I always try not to panic, saying that it's all over, we're all dead, we're screwed. No, on the contrary. To support, to calm down—that's all the noise that sometimes happens at the brigade CP, or even in the battalion, that it's over, the commander is breaking down. "Yes, calm down, everything will work out now." I joke around, I say, "What about you, did you think you're dying or something?" I say, then everyone is like that. "No, we won't die, we are ready to keep fighting, that's it." First of all, the soldiers see that the commander is not afraid. For them, these are the things that mean everything will work out. If the commander hasn't given up, hasn't given up in any situation, no matter how sad, difficult, the losses, if the commander hasn't given up, everything will definitely work out. And as long as we hold on,
Speaker 2
we are laughing, everything will be fine.
Speaker 1
If we don't joke about ourselves and our screw-ups, well, it will be hard for him. Anyway, I would have been hurt. Like, this is me, well, okay, everything there, I lost a leg. So, what to do? Well, basically, what, yeah, here-here-here-here-here. Yeah, I won't be running, well, whatever, I say. But on the other hand, I say, I'll be able to walk faster, like, one-two-three-four-five and off I go.
