More than anything, the Canadian training mission, which began last summer near the Slovak and Polish borders, tries to instil NATO fighting principles and western ethics. Turmel, who served twice as a military trainer to Afghan security forces, said he had learned “a lot from the Ukrainian officers and soldiers. One of the goals of the 13 NATO nations training Ukrainian forces is to wean them from their top-down Soviet-style leadership and delegate more decisions to junior officers and sergeants. “In the Canadian Armed Forces the accent is on non-commissioned officers,” he said. But most of the troops work in a sprawling Ukrainian army base outside Yavoriv, where the training ground is nestled in green hills reminiscent of Quebec’s Eastern Townships.

Source: National Post July 05, 2016 18:11 UTC