The views are that of the Author (Not Me, lol) but it does track with my experiences, and what I have seen of 3rd world armies it does track.
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I’ll probably make some enemies with this answer, but who cares?
Let’s start with the worst foreign fighters (and why they perform so poorly):
Colombians. It’s not that they lack experience or knowledge, but every foreigner who comes here needs to learn additional skills their home country’s military likely didn’t teach them.
These skills are mostly in the areas of drone and electronic warfare, adaptation to the battlefield environment, and TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care). Even training from “richer” Western armies isn’t enough to survive on the Ukrainian frontlines.
Even if you’been serving in your home country’s best army unit before you came to Ukraine, there’s some machinery here you haven’t learned to operate. (Picture: all rights by the author of this post)
Fortunately, the Armed Forces of Ukraine will teach you most of this—if (and that’s a big “if”) you’re willing to learn.
Unfortunately, with the Colombians (and other South Americans as well), the motivation to train and acquire new skills is rather low. Some might say they’re a bit lazy. As a result, they suffer a high number of casualties.
That said, this problem isn’t limited to South Americans. Some combat veterans from Afghanistan and Iraq came here thinking they were untouchable—that their sh*t didn’t stink and they didn’t need any “stupid” training. They quickly learned otherwise—the hard way.
On the other hand, there are many professional soldiers who recognize their limitations and are eager to learn. These individuals make up the majority of foreign volunteer fighters.
Especially among the Americans (many of them former Marines) and the Brits, the mantra is always: “Training, training, training!”
That’s the right attitude. It doesn’t matter where you’re from—an enemy artillery shell or drone doesn’t care about your passport. If you’re too lazy or too arrogant to learn new things, you’ll quickly perish.