Captain Jordan Corke on Salisbury Plain, where NZ Army soldiers have been training Ukrainians in infantry skills. Photo / Peter Livingstone Photography
Captain Jordan Corke on Salisbury Plain, where NZ Army soldiers have been training Ukrainians in infantry skills. Photo / Peter Livingstone Photography
A Hawke’s Bay man tasked with teaching Ukrainians how to defend their homeland says their massive motivation to fight meant they turned quickly from trainees to soldiers.
Captain Jordan Corke was one of 120 NZ Army personnel who spent three months in the United Kingdom as part of an internationalmission training Ukrainians at British Army Camps so they could return to fight the Russian invasion.
Basic training in the NZ Army takes 16 weeks, but the New Zealanders had only five weeks on Salisbury Plain to teach the Ukrainians basic infantry skills, such as shooting marksmanship, working as a team, combat first aid and surviving on the battlefield.
Because of the nature of the conflict, there was also limited screening of the trainees, which resulted in a wide range of individuals from across society.
Ukrainian recruits take instruction from NZ Army soldiers in basic infantry skills such as shooting, combat first aid and fighting in various environments. Photo / Peter Livingstone Photography
They were mostly men and ranged in age from 19 through to 65, Corke said.
However, their inexperience didn’t matter, as they absorbed the training like sponges, he said.
“They were extremely attentive. They lapped up all the training delivered by Kiwi forces. They really tried to make the most of the time they had training. They were highly-motivated individuals.”
“We were teaching them key basic infantry skills… we weren’t teaching them to be team leaders, but effective team members who were disciplined and could complete the basics to a high standard.
“The learning curve is exponential. The difference between when they walk off the bus on day one versus when they leave in week five is massive.”
Corke said New Zealand and Ukraine’s cultures were similar, which extended to soldiering.
“You had some very capable individuals by the end of it, and I would say the majority would take the fight to the opposition.
Captain Jordan Corke backs the Ukrainian recruits who will take the fight to the Russians after five weeks of training. Photo / Peter Livingstone Photography
“I really do think they will perform well. The contrast in training from what the Russians are receiving, from what the international partners are delivering to Ukrainians, is massive.”
He said their “can-do attitude” was reminiscent of Kiwis, and extended to the Ukrainian interpreters who helped out.
“It’s cognitively quite tiring for them. Sometimes they’ll be translating for 12 hours a day, so the Kiwi trainers had to be very conscious about managing the interpreters.”
Corke said the deployment was a satisfying one to be part of, as it would have an immediate impact.
“On any deployment, you generally have a ‘why?’. And the ‘why’ on this mission I think is very different to any previous New Zealand Defence Force deployment.
