A Freeze in the Conflict? Or Just A Pause (Gonzalo Lira)

Gonzalo, go easy on the durries mate, please look after your health, we like your take on things. We certainly don’t want you dying of lung cancer before your time. As I understand it, Russia called up its Reservists in late September. Some or many of these men, may have been inactive for some years (hence problems with enlistment medicals which is understandable) and depending on their previous competency and experience, they will take longer to be declared competent in weapons handling and their specific corps speciality etc (I don’t know what sort of bench mark the Russian Army uses for this?).
If these men have now been deployed, I would suggest they have probably not been provided with suitable or ideal training, that tests their individual soldier skills and competency, and their ability to competently operate as a section, platoon, company and Battalion size group-force that might have participated in a combined arms exercise or exercises. Just over one month from being drafted, being rusty with zero training, and then deploying to the front line in just over a month, is asking for trouble and failure IMO. Some of these men may be tank, APS/IFV operators who will be required to operate their armoured vehicles etc at Platoon and Company level.
They need time i.e. preferably months to be able to learn how to effectively inter operate with each other as a fighting force at the various, Sect, Platoon, Company and Battalion levels. You cant do this stuff overnight, unless you are an operational deployment force that practices to move at say 7 days or 24 hours notice.
Deploying inadequately trained/rusty Reservists men and equipment at such short notice, you then should not expect to win a fight against a competent enemy force or expect not to take heavy and damaging losses.
I say this from my experience having served over 20 years in the Australian Infantry Corps. On the flip side, If you look at history in the Australian 2/39th Infantry Battalion (Reservists) who were inadequately trained, but were hastily deployed to New Guinea in 1941/42 (WW2) to hold back the Japanese advance, they suffered heavy casualties but were able to hold off a professional Japanese Force until the 39th could be relieved in place by Australian Regular Army Infantry units who finally drove back the advancing Japanese and routed them. The 39th suffered so much damage, that in the end, they were no longer an effective fighting force .
At the end of the battalion’s involvement in the fighting in New Guinea, 1,666 men had served in its ranks. The battalion suffered 403 combat casualties, which consisted of 118 killed in action, 13 died of wounds, five died other causes, and 266 wounded in action. Many also died from jungle type diseases like malaria etc and lack of medical treatment caused by the likes of re supply/logistical issues.
Obviously, the modern European Battlefield is different, more open terrain, longer ranged engagements with heavy armour and long range artillery etc. As a Russian soldier, you may be subject to the full suite of conventional armament and conventional warfare that NATO and Washington can throw at you, pretty horrific when you think about it. But just as bad for the Ukro Nazi Army and its western mercenaries who can be decimated by Russian conventional forces.

As we know, the action of withdrawing is a tactical manoeuvre. The ground can be retaken again in the future once i.e. Russian forces are better reorganised or the tactical situation changes where the ground no longer held, can be retaken. What the Russian Commanders did was a sensible and safe thing to do. They must make sure that these forces they have only recently drafted into service, are fit, competent and capable to fight, an that way, the battle is already half won, and morale will be high along with the will to fight.