Air Assault Forces cadets must repeat course if they miss over 30% of training – Commander

A cadet cannot graduate from a training center of the Air Assault Forces of Ukraine if they have missed more than 30% of the training program or failed to complete required live-fire drills and exercises.

This was stated in an interview with Ukrinform by Lt. Col. Viktor Moroz, commander of a training battalion at the 199th Training Center of the Air Assault Forces.

“If a person misses more than 30% of the training, for example, due to medical treatment or family leave, they are assigned to repeat the course. A cadet cannot leave the training center without completing live-fire drills and all required exercises. Nearly 1,000 rounds are now allocated for the shooting course, so we give cadets the opportunity to fire as much as needed to acquire the necessary skills,” Moroz said.

According to him, there are many cases when brigade combat training officers and battalion commanders call the training center saying a soldier claims they were not properly trained there. Moroz noted that this is a typical reaction driven by fear or a deliberate attempt to mislead commanders – behavior that often begins during training.

“A cadet who did not want to defend the country continues that attitude after joining a brigade. If we managed to retain them for the brigade and they did not abandon service, they then try by any means to avoid combat missions. We have various safeguards in place to independently monitor a cadet’s level of training. This includes full records of completed exercises and mandatory attendance tracking for every discipline,” the lieutenant colonel said.

He added that all documentation is transferred to brigades in both electronic and paper form, making it possible to review training records even if the soldier completed training a year earlier.

Moroz also emphasized that newly arrived soldiers are given at least two weeks for unit coordination, regardless of the direction or specialization of the brigade. This period includes familiarization with unit-specific weapons systems, operational realities related to terrain, and other factors. If additional skills are needed during this time, new arrivals receive further training from brigade instructor teams, which also operate at a very high level.

As previously reported by Ukrinform, nearly 45% of service members are satisfied with their experience of basic combined-arms training, while another 30% report partial satisfaction.

Illustrative photo: Air Assault Forces of Ukraine / Suspilne Odesa