Soldiers with the Ukrainian Land Forces completed the first Ukrainian Basic Instructor Course Jun. 3, 2016 at the International Peacekeeping and Security Center as part of Joint Multinational Training Group-Ukraine.
Leading the training were Soldiers from 7th Army Joint Multinational Training Command. The purpose of the week-long class was to increase the efficiency of Ukrainian instructors who are integrating into the program of instruction for JMTG-U.
“This is a modified Army Basic Instructor Course for the Ukrainians. We’re calling it UBIC or Ukrainian Basic Instructor Course. It’s a five-day course. The first three days, my instructors Staff Sgt. Meek and Staff Sgt. Schoellkopf, presented the course material to the Ukrainians on how to instruct. The last two days is practice with an evaluation on the final day,” said Capt. Ronnie Drammeh, chief of Command Training Branch for the Combined Arms Training Center, JMTC.
The instructors were selected through an assessment and in collaboration with the Ukrainian Land Forces. Upon selection, the instructors began training within the Ukrainian Instructor Academy, a program led by Soldiers of 3rd Battalion 15th Infantry Regiment, 2nd Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 3rd Infantry Division. Soldiers of the California National Guard, Canadian Armed Forces, Lithuanian Land Forces, and a series of JMTC mobile training teams also support the academy efforts.
“The Instructor Academy is a multinational effort aimed at building a core nucleus of Ukrainian instructors that can teach the rotational battalions the 55-day program of instruction. It is part of a larger effort here at the IPSC to develop a sustainable, world-class combat training center. The academy remains NATO led until December 2016 when all ten modules of the program of instruction will be successfully transferred to the Ukrainian instructors,” said Capt. Jacob Austin, commander of Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 3-15 Infantry.
The class is aligned with one of the main lines of efforts for JMTG-U’s mission, combat training center development. It’s part of the multinational commitment to help build Ukraine’s capacity for self-defense.
“We want this combat training center to be self-sustaining using a train the trainer type of program. We have twelve of their best instructors. After, they’ll go back to the CTC to be observer controllers for future rotations and also for the upcoming multinational exercise, Rapid Trident,” said Drammeh.
The training program of the Ukrainian Instructor Academy will continue throughout the rotations of JMTG-U and will consist of various training programs and subsequent iterations of the Ukrainian Basic Instructor Course.