"You create organism that has to work as whole." How "Charter" relies on sergeants
Recently, the 13th Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine "Charter" showed how its soldiers stormed the occupiers in Kharkiv region. "Behind every minute of a successful assault are dozens of hours of planning and preparation," the brigade said.
Along with repelling enemy attacks and assaults on Russian positions, the unit is building training and planning processes based on the standards of NATO armed forces.
One of those involved in training at "Charter" is the brigade's chief sergeant, Dmytro Hrytsiuk, alias Volyniaka.
We asked him what role sergeants play in "Charter", how they train soldiers and what can increase their motivation.
"Learning the history of Ukraine at night in the rain"
Volyniaka is from the Volyn region, from the village of Klepachiv, Kivertsi district. His call sign was given to him by his fellow countryman Kapa, Oleksandr Yushchenko. Kapa was one of the founders of the 4th Operational Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine, which is now called "Rubizh". At that time, it was formed according to NATO standards. They met when Hrytsiuk was selected for the brigade in 2015.
Later, they would meet at "Charter", where Kapa would be the brigade's chief sergeant, and after his death on 23 April 2024, Dmytro Hrytsiuk would be appointed to form the non-commissioned officer corps at "Charter".
In civilian life before the war, Dmytro Hrytsiuk tried his hand at various professions. He worked as a freight forwarder, was engaged in construction, and travelled abroad to work. When the Revolution of Dignity began in autumn 2013, he went to Kyiv to the Maidan.
In the spring of 2014, Russia attacked Ukraine, so he immediately went to the military enlistment office.
"At the military enlistment office, they opened my military ID card and looked at my speciality. They said: 'Well, mate, go for a walk, you're a communications specialist, we'll call you back,'" says Dmytro. But they never called back.
So he volunteered to join Kulchytskyi's battalion, and when he learned about the formation of the 4th Special Response Brigade of the National Guard in late 2015, he decided to join. It was not easy to get in.
"Day and night we ran and jumped with logs. I could say that we also rested with logs. God forbid, someone would put a log on the ground - that's it, they would run out and, for example, go to study the history of Ukraine. In the rain at night with lanterns and a log on their shoulders. In the end, they had to go through a swamp, march with their belongings, and run an obstacle course. Well, I decided to try. I tried, and I came."
The brigade has already started the YSC (Young Soldier Course), training, formation of the first company, the second, etc. Later, we went to Stanytsia Luhanska and the Svitlodarsk bulge.
"For us, NATO standards are something super-duper cool that we have never seen, never known, only heard on TV. In all the media, the NATO army is one of the most powerful armies in the world. That's why I wanted to become an effective soldier," Dmytro explains his motivation.
The 4th Operational Brigade of the NGU was created as part of an experimental programme. It was supposed to be based on NATO standards, in particular, the model used by US military formations.
"At that time, the Armed Forces of Ukraine did not even have a sergeant corps. There was a petty officer and everything was standard. In this brigade, where I joined, they put a lot of emphasis on the non-commissioned officer corps," Hrytsiuk says. "I was promoted to junior sergeant while still in regular service. I have already held various positions here as a sergeant."
"A sergeant is like a father and mother"
Volyniaka says that they had high hopes for sergeants here. "The sergeant was a leader who was followed, listened to, went along with the unit, performed tasks, showed by his own example how to do things. The sergeant was never behind, he was always in front. He worked with the personnel, led them everywhere - both in exercises and in positions."
He says that in the armed forces of NATO countries, sergeants are practically in charge of the personnel. Officers are engaged in planning, they have a lot of work. They plan their tasks. And a sergeant is like a dad and mum. Two in one. A sergeant is engaged in training soldiers, educating personnel, discipline, and order. The sergeant looks after his subordinate personnel, listens to them, and must understand the problems of his subordinates.
"We are all human beings, we all have problems. If you ignore someone's problems, sooner or later it will result in some unpleasant thing. You have to work with people in any case. People are different. You need to have an approach to everyone. You create one backbone, one organism that has to work as a whole. When there is no unity, no understanding of the needs of your subordinate soldiers, what kind of unity can we talk about?" Volyniaka says.
In 2019, Hrytsiuk's contract expired and he resigned from the army. "I left the army knowing that I would return 100%. I understood that the ATO and SOF would not end simply. That sooner or later, our neighbour would attack with renewed vigour. I bought at least two weapons, all officially. I always kept my armour, helmet and bag packed, and periodically checked to see if any mice had got in."
On 24 February 2022, like many volunteers, Dmytro rejoined the army. He took his wife and children to Lutsk, and joined the Volyn 100th Territorial Defence Brigade of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
At first, the 100th Brigade guarded the border with Belarus. And around the end of February 2023, Volyniak, as the company's chief sergeant, went to perform combat missions in the Bakhmut direction with his TRO unit.
"We were in the area of Bohdanivka-Khromove near Bakhmut. There were quite fierce battles there, but during our stay we did not move a single metre from our positions. The guys performed well, they all fought like lions. Unfortunately, we had some losses. Some Cossack guys in my company were also killed, no one retreated, everyone fought to the last. Many were wounded".
He was concerned about the approach, tasks, and supply in the unit. "After this experience, I realised that I wanted to return to this unit, which we formed according to NATO standards." Later, Volyniaka was transferred to the 13th Brigade of the National Guard of Ukraine's "Charter".
By this time, the "Charter's" fighters had already taken part in the Slobozhansk counter-offensive and fought in Bakhmut. Since the spring of 2024, Dmytro has been building up the brigade's sergeant corps.
A sergeant of any rank is a teacher, an organiser
First and foremost, the brigade's chief sergeant is responsible for combat training," he emphasises.
It also includes organising training, sending soldiers for exercises, and selecting non-commissioned officers who will effectively perform tasks in their positions - from the squad leader to the chief sergeants of companies and battalions.
"The main thing is to build this pyramid from the squad leader to the brigade sergeant major. From top to bottom and bottom to top. There must be constant communication between everyone. We work, communicate, give each other suggestions, help and teach," Volyniaka explains.
When asked what character traits and skills a serviceman must have to be a successful sergeant, Hrytsiuk says that a person must have leadership and organisational skills.
"In general, the personnel practically depend on the squad leaders. Squad commanders are the NCOs who are with their soldiers all the time and everywhere. Whether in training or in combat. He manages his personnel and leads the battle. A sergeant of any rank is a teacher, an organiser. His task is to do and prepare everything so that the soldiers complete the task and remain as safe and sound as possible. He has to work out all the nuances in all areas during training. This includes firearms training, tactics, tactical medicine, communications, engineering. Accordingly, he must know it himself. What his men don't know, he has to teach them. And organise this training."
NCOs have to be patient," Dmytro says. "The sergeant is the link between the soldier and the commander, the officer. A lot of information passes through the sergeant, so patience is one of the fundamentals. And, again, you need to constantly develop and move forward."
Sergeants' Council
For Volyniaka, it is important to create a sergeants' council in the brigade. He explains that it should be a council of sergeants where they solve problematic issues, share their experience and approach to certain tasks.
"Each division works in its own direction, and technology is not standing still. We need to share experience between people, between units. To do this, I gather all the sergeants to talk to each other. When sergeants not only hear but also see each other, it greatly improves their interaction," he emphasises.
The sergeants' council should be held at the level of chief sergeants at least once a month. But it is not always possible, because the brigade is performing combat missions and it is not always possible to pull the chief sergeants out of the combat zone to hold a meeting.
"We communicate not only in person, but also on the phone and in chats, so we can solve problems and share experiences there," Volyniaka says.
How long does the training take?
Hrytsiuk believes that the Charter is making a great contribution to ensuring that not only the brigade, but the entire Ukrainian army in general, moves towards NATO standards as soon as possible: "The brigade is developing quite strongly in this direction, training both officers and NCOs. Our soldiers go abroad for training."
Dmytro himself was trained in the UK. During this training, he decided to take on the role of an ordinary soldier to give junior commanders the opportunity to prove themselves and gain experience in managing personnel. "Even when they understood that I was a senior commander, it's the same in life - you have different subordinates, older and more senior."
Volyniaka says that it is important for him that the soldiers are trained. As soon as a person is mobilised to join "Charter", he or she must first undergo basic military training.
"No one storms the landings at once. There are some horror stories, but fortunately, we don't have that here. When a person returns from the combat zone, he comes to us for training. This takes at least another month. Here we give them the basics. We polish all the skills and knowledge, test them. And this is exactly what sergeants and instructors do.
We have a fairly powerful instructor corps. Almost all of the instructors are combatants who know what war is like from their own experience and know how to train a soldier to become the most powerful unit that will perform tasks and destroy enemies."
After that, if a serviceman goes on to become a UAV operator, sapper, artilleryman or a stormtrooper, he continues to take classes in his speciality. In fact, Volyniaka says, a soldier's training lasts from two to three months. "I won't say it's enough time to train a super-duper-cool fighter, but it's a long period of time in which you can train fighters. Especially compared to what it was in 2022."
In between missions, the sergeants also organise training sessions.
"Every fighter, no matter how good he is at his job, needs training. If he stops training, he loses his effectiveness and skills. Training must be constant. And even when we are performing combat missions and have free time, we give the soldiers a rest and do not forget about training. Tactical medicine, evacuation, setting up turnstiles, evacuation. All the nuances are worked out."
Commander can motivate soldiers
As for how to establish effective work in the unit, Dmytro Hrytsiuk says that first of all, you need to be in touch and communicate constantly.
"If you stop communicating, hearing your subordinates and drop out of some link in some process, this leads to problems. When there is constant interaction, constant communication, then the whole system works."
He emphasises that the values and principles of "Charter" are primarily trust and respect. The second principle is education and training. And the third component is the supply of the unit.
"If you have trust in your commander, you know that the commander cares about you, he does everything to ensure that you as a combat unit, as a person, are trained to the maximum, do your job and come back alive and healthy - this is a great motivator. Constant training. People come from civilian life and get quite good training. At the end of each training session, we started conducting anonymous testing to ask people to evaluate the quality of training."
About his motivation, he says that he is motivated by the path to victory.
"In any case, we need to defeat the enemy who came to our land. We did not come, but they came to us. They came to kill us. Everyone needs to understand that no truce, no conditional concessions on our part will bring peace to our country. This enemy has been destroying and killing us for centuries. He destroyed our faith, our language, culture, traditions. He killed us with famines, conquered us by all means possible. And there should be no illusions here. Either we will defeat them, and there are no other options. Because when they defeat us, it will be bad."
Volyniaka stresses that the Ukrainian army must be motivated.
"Everyone should understand why they are in the army. Not against what, but for what. If a person understands that he is going to serve in the army to protect his homeland, his future, his children, the existence of the Ukrainian state and its history and culture, then this is a powerful army.
The army must be supplied. If there is no provision, if there is no funding, we will get the same story as in early 2014. A soldier must receive a decent salary. When he knows that he can provide for his family, he will do his best.
However, motivation is the most important thing. The military must know their history. Ignorance of history leads to its repetition."
Interviewed by Ivanna Kobielieva
