Commanders are responsible for the lives of their people and must know the cost of wrong decisions. This is how the commander of the Third Army Corps, Brigadier General Andriy Biletsky, commented on the decision of the new brigade commander of the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade to transfer incompetent officers to the infantry, UNN reports.
It should be recalled that a few months ago, relatives of servicemen of the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade reported dozens of missing persons in battles in the Zaporizhzhia direction, and it was reported that unprepared soldiers were sent to combat positions.
Biletsky appointed a new brigade commander — Volodymyr Fokin, who previously commanded one of the assault battalions of the Third Assault Brigade. On December 19, Fokin reported on the first reforms: systematic work with servicemen's relatives, launching a hotline, and assessing the knowledge of officers.
Within a month, officers had the opportunity to demonstrate their professional level. I gave them practical tasks, monitored their discipline, initiative, and readiness to work on themselves. At the end of this period, we re-evaluated them to see the real dynamics. The results were mixed. Some officers showed a high level of training and responsibility, but there were also those who treated their service carelessly, did not strive to improve, and did not perform their duties properly.
From these, officer patrols were formed and sent to the Kupyansk area, where there was a need for additional reinforcement due to the difficult situation, low morale of personnel, and the need to organize defense effectively.
Blogger Naumovych called this case a practical implementation of the reforms that Biletsky emphasized in an article for The Economist. Among them was the need to replace inefficient "paper generals" with capable young officers with combat experience.
"Perhaps [the personnel of the 125th Separate Territorial Defense Brigade] for the first time saw justice and responsibility in their brigade. If you can't handle an officer's position, don't want to learn, demand from soldiers what you have no idea about, then you go to the infantry and show how it should be done. A very good idea! Otherwise, how can you understand practice if you are only a theorist? And how else can you combine theory and practice? Perfect!" — wrote Naumovych.
He called this decision a precedent for the Ukrainian army, where there should be no untouchable officers of the Soviet mold, but only effective, intelligent, and proactive ones. "It's elementary to do the same at the general level. If only there was a desire to replace old idlers and fools with capable youth," the blogger added.