10 years of war, recruit training and myths about service. The story of Charter's chief sergeant Volyniaka

This spring, amid the reform of the Defense Forces into a corps system, the 13th Charter Brigade was scaled up to the second corps of the NGU, and its chief sergeant Dmytro (Volyniaka) Hrytsiuk became the corps' chief sergeant.

Dmytro's pseudonym Volyniak was given to him by the brigade's former chief sergeant and fellow countryman Oleksandr (Kapa) Yushchenko. It was he who laid the "sergeant's foundation" for the Charter. In April 2024, Kapa was tragically killed while performing a combat mission. Hrytsiuk succeeded him and continued the work.

The last ten years of Volyniaka's life have been directly related to the war and the army, which he joined as a volunteer. And also with constant training and improvement of knowledge: both his own and his personnel's. Recently, Hrytsiuk became one of the heroes of the campaign "Grow up in the Charter", who motivate those who have not yet decided to join the corps.

At the request of LIGA.net, Dmytro Kuzubov, the Charter's communicator, asked Volyniak about his military career, how civilians become military, what role a sergeant plays in a modern army, and how the Charter adaptation course differs from basic military training. And also, is it true that all recruits are immediately sent to storm the landings after training.

Russian "cops" and Polish swallows

The future chief sergeant of Charter was born in the city of Kivertsi in Volyn. In 2003, he graduated from high school and entered a vocational school in Lutsk to study construction. Then there was a technical school, which Dmytro did not finish because he had no money. He got a job in his specialty at the Lutsk Motor repair plant.

He worked at the plant for a year and then decided to do his military service. Although he had a deferral because he was helping his mother raise his minor sister and brother. He believed "that it is normal for a person to give up part of his life for the state.".

He served for a year and was demobilized with the rank of junior sergeant. And he returned to civilian life: he was engaged in construction, delivered medicines to pharmacies in his native Volyn, and also went to work abroad – to Poland and "even 'over the border' to see the trash that was happening there." The soldier recalls a telling incident that happened to him in Russia in 2010 when he was returning home:

I was sitting at the station, not touching anyone, waiting for my train. With 15 minutes to go, their "cop" approached me: "Come with us, I need to be a witness." As soon as I entered the office, the person to whom I was going to be a witness immediately left. The questions began: "Who are you, what are you carrying, and how much money? Take out your wallet". I had a few thousand rubles, so I put my wallet on the table. They took almost all the money, leaving only enough for the fare: "We are people too.".

In Poland, Dmytro also had an eloquent story, but it was about something else entirely. He and his colleagues were working on a construction site and suddenly became an obstacle for local birds.

"We were insulating the facade and sewing up the ventilation holes on the roof with mesh, and there were swallows living there," he says. "The locals called the police, and the police came and said: "We have no complaints against you, but please cut out the places where the swallows are supposed to come, so that they can fly home." These are the contrasts.".

After working abroad, Dmytro returned home, was engaged in construction and worked for himself. But soon his quiet life came to an end: the Revolution of Dignity began.

"Even if I don't pass, I'll at least try."

On the night of November 30, Berkut officers beat students on the Maidan. After learning about it, Dmitry went to Kyiv and joined the protesters on December 1. He spent time on the Maidan and participated in various actions. Suddenly he fell ill – it was freezing outside – and his friends sent him home.

Therefore, Hrytsiuk watched the dispersal of Maidan by the security forces from the TV screen. However, he traveled to Lutsk to protest against the arbitrariness of the authorities.

In March 2014, Russia annexed Crimea and started a war in eastern Ukraine. These events finally convinced Dmytro that he could not stand aside. So he went to the military enlistment office.

"I realized that I had to be in the army anyway, because the war had started-although at the time it was called the ATO-and it was not for a year or two," he recalls. "The military enlistment office looked at my military ID, and I had a specialty as a signalman. They said: "There is no need for such specialties now, go home, you will be called back." I said: "I'm ready to retrain as a rifleman, a grenade launcher..." I went to the military registration and enlistment office twice, pestered them. But they told me: "Goodbye, we'll call you back.".

Dmytro had contacts of two comrades from the Maidan. One of them, Mykhailo Haydamaka, was serving in General Kulchytskyi's battalion, which consisted of volunteers. Hrytsiuk dialed Mykhailo and asked if there was an opportunity for him to join.

"He said: "Come back," the soldier recalls the words of his comrade-in-arms, who would die in the war four years later. "I traveled from Volyn to Kyiv several times, and they would say, 'Wait, come back later. In short, they were harassing me.".

It was only in February 2015 that Dmytro was officially enlisted in the battalion. He served there for almost a year. But eventually he heard about the creation of a rapid response brigade according to NATO standards (now the Rubizh Brigade as part of the Charter Corps). He decided to join .

"Several of my comrades from Kulchytsky's battalion were selected there and said it was cool," the soldier explains. "They look at you from all sides – if you pass, you are assigned to this brigade, and if not, you go on serving where you are. I decided for myself that even if I don't pass, I will at least try.".

The selection lasted four days, and the recruits were tested physically and mentally. At any time, they were allowed to leave the "game": to do so, they had to take off their bibs and signal that they were giving up.

"We were chased around with a log, we ran, squatted, swung, the log lived on our beds, and if you put it under your feet, God forbid, you'd have to get up and get up in 30 seconds, and you'd be standing in formation with it over your head and start learning history," Hrytsiuk recalls: "In what year did a certain event take place?" If you don't answer, you have to sit down with the log again. It made me memorize dates much faster.".

It was there that Hrytsiuk met the future chief sergeant of the Charter, Kapa. Oleksandr was an instructor and tried to get Dmytro off balance.

"He's not tall, but he's such a lively guy, a serious guy. So we all thought he was at least a lieutenant colonel. And then it turned out that he was a senior sergeant," Volyniaka laughs. "The most embarrassing thing, or maybe even the opposite, was when you were standing all sweaty, lying on your back on one and a half, your arms bent to the elbows, your chest not touching the ground, and you were already having cramps, your arms and legs shaking, and Kapa was standing over me and saying: "My friend, take off your shirt, there's a woman at home, a warm bath, coffee, tea, what do you need it for? You will have this every day in this brigade!" I was silent, puffing, shaking, sweating, but I stood up and did not fall for these provocations." .

The soldier recalls that not all of the participants in this "marathon" were in good physical shape, some "were lagging behind, but they went on to the end." However, in the end, not everyone was selected: out of a group of about 70 people, only a little more than 20 were selected. And after that, they began to form a brigade, which already had a backbone of officers and sergeants. Hrytsiuk was first appointed to the position of a regulator, then a squad leader, and then a platoon sergeant major.

"Back when the Ukrainian army had no idea what a master sergeant was, we were already introducing such positions. And the level of the chief sergeant there was already several levels higher than an ordinary sergeant of the Armed Forces," explains Dmytro. "You had not only responsibilities but also rights: the sergeant had the ability to make decisions. He was a leader, he led, he trained the personnel, he watched over the observance of discipline, order, and training of his units.".

"I realized that the ATO would turn into a much bigger war"

After his training, Volyniak and his comrades went on a combat mission to Stanytsia Luhanska, and by that time he had already become the company's chief sergeant. Together with its commander, as well as battalion commander Kornet and Kapa, he began to form the third company and went with it to the Svitlodarsk bulge.

"The National Guard had already been withdrawn from the front line, and they were mostly on the second or third line," says Volyniaka. "But it was our unit, a rapid response brigade at the time, that won a place at the front thanks to our commander, because all the guys there were motivated. When we heard that we were to be placed on the second or third line, we were almost in tears: "We have been training, we want to fight for our country." Our unit occupied the defense line. I think it was 2016 or 2017. At that time, the contact line had already stabilized, there were almost no maneuvers, and there were almost trench battles. And we were defending the country in the trenches.".

Dmytro continued his service in a reconnaissance platoon as a reconnaissance instructor. The soldiers were stationed in the village of Pionerske near Mariupol, kept combat duty on the contact line where the land met the sea, and actually performed the duties of marines.

In January 2019, after returning from his rotation, Hrytsiuk's contract expired and he decided to resign. At that time, almost all of the unit's leadership had changed, and Volyniaka felt that he was "not on the same page" with some of the team members. But he was not going to give up on his military career .

"I realized that I would 100% return to the army, because the ATO/JFO would turn into a much bigger war," explains Dmytro, "So during my service I officially bought an AKM rifle and a Fort pistol – though with rubber bullets. That is, I had a weapon, helmet, armor and a backpack standing in the corner, almost assembled – in case of emergency, I was ready to move to the army.".

After his contract expired, Hrytsiuk went out on his own again. He got a job at the Nasha Ryaba factory in Kaniv. Then he went to work in Lithuania, also at a factory. He worked there for half a year and settled down at home, started building again. He got married and soon had a son .

"Wagner's were standing against us, climbing like zombies"

on February 24, 2022, Dmytro was visiting his mother. His family was at home in a town near the border with Belarus. In the morning, the Russians started firing missiles at the airfield nearby.

"I realized that a full-scale invasion had begun," recalls Hrytsiuk. "I immediately called my wife, told her that I was coming to them and to pack my things – the radio was saying that the invaders were coming from Belarus, and I didn't know if they would go to the border with Volyn Oblast. I was driving towards the Belarusian border, doubting whether I would have time to reach my family or whether I would meet a tank. I arrived, picked them up, brought them to a conditionally safe place, took my backpack, armor, helmet, weapons and went to the military commissariat.".

But there were already queues at the military registration and enlistment office, so there were no vacancies for Dmytro again. Then a fellow soldier offered him to join the TRO, where there was still room.

"I jumped into the last carriage because there were so many volunteers," says Dmytro. "One of the officers came out and shouted: "Those who have certificates of combatants, raise your hands!" We raised our hands, and our group was taken to the territory of the military unit.".

So Hrytsiuk began his service in the second company of the 53rd Battalion of the 100th Brigade of the TRO in Volyn: first as a squad leader, and later as a platoon sergeant major. The defenders stood at checkpoints, patrolled, then set up shelters and mined the border areas on the border with Belarus. On occasion, Dmytro also trained personnel.

"85-90% of them were civilians, some of them had never used a weapon before: we were constantly training, practicing shooting, tactics, tactical medicine, certain scenarios," he says. "We were on full combat duty – fortunately, no one got hurt.".

In February 2023, the battalion was redeployed to the Bakhmut area. The soldiers took up positions on the left "pincer" that the enemy wanted to use to encircle Bakhmut and cut off logistics routes.

"We were facing Wagner's, who were attacking us like zombies. We held back the attack in that direction," says Volyniaka. "We did not surrender any positions within the battalion, on the contrary, our guys motivated some units of the Armed Forces to go forward, not to retreat, because there were very heavy battles for the Chasiv Yar – Khromove – Bakhmut road, which the Wagner wanted to cut. We suffered losses there, there were many wounded, unfortunately, and some killed.".

Despite the losses, Volyniaka's battalion managed to hold the area. And then his comrades even launched a counteroffensive and recaptured part of the territory on the same claw.

"The Charter, the new army and the post of chief sergeant

In May 2023, Hrytsiuk transferred from the 100th Brigade to the Charter Brigade. The key motivation for this was that he already knew the team, led by Brigade Commander Kornet and Chief Sergeant Kapa, with whom he had previously worked in the Rapid Response Brigade.

"This was enough for me to realize that I wanted to be in this brigade, to build a new army with these people," Volyniaka says, and when asked what he meant by this concept, he explains:

"First of all, it's the attitude towards the personnel. I'm not saying that you have to run after them, wipe your drool. The attitude is primarily about preparation and training. If you send personnel to perform a combat mission, you have to give them maximum knowledge, provide them with everything they need to keep them safe and fulfill the task. This is the approach we have in the brigade.".

At that time, the Charter was still very small: perhaps the size of a battalion, or even smaller. So the commanders began to staff it, create, train and equip units.

In November 2023, the Charter, as the 13th Brigade of the National Guard, went to perform its first combat missions in the Lyman area, in the Serebrianka Forest. Instead, Volyniaka was engaged in training personnel in the rear.

In May 2024, the Russians opened a new front in the Kharkiv region, and the Charter was deployed to the Kharkiv direction within a day. Hrytsiuk went there as well.

A month earlier, a tragedy hit the brigade hard: Kapa died in the Dnipro region.

"He said: "Don't be afraid to be uncomfortable, harsh, demanding. Now you are giving the soldiers the knowledge and skills that can save their lives," Volyniaka recalls his comrade's words, which are now engraved on a banner in his honor in one of the brigade's training centers.

" As a person, Sashko was a good man, although many of his subordinates who experienced his "kindness" will disagree with me," says Dmytro. "He was very strict but fair in the service. He did not repeat himself several times. If he gave an order and it was not fulfilled, the whole team suffered because of their inattention or indifference. But after that, everyone immediately started doing what was needed. Once, at the training center, Kapa told the unit to wear long-sleeved uniforms. It was hot outside, and the "smartest" ones decided: "I'll work out in a T-shirt". They started practicing the tasks. And when they reached the road with gravel, Kapa gave a command: "Take a prone position and crawl over the area." And those who were wearing T-shirts experienced what long sleeves were for.".

After Kapa's death, the commander appointed Volyniak to the position of brigade sergeant major. He was then responsible for organizing and controlling the training and education of personnel, as well as for improving this process.

"The better prepared a person is, the more likely he or she is to survive."

In the Charter, NCOs play a key role in the training of the military. At times, it may even seem that they are superior to officers in terms of authority. Volyniaka refutes this and says that the question of who is in charge – a sergeant or an officer – is not even discussed in the corps: everyone fulfills their duties.

"Sergeants are an intermediate link between soldiers and officers," emphasizes Dmytro. "A sergeant should not be a competitor to an officer, but his right hand. An officer has enough responsibilities related to planning and documentation. A sergeant is not born a sergeant, he comes from the same soldiers. And he knows what a soldier needs, what to emphasize – in training, in ideology, in moral and psychological attitude. Sergeants must know the situation in the team and what is happening in each soldier's family. Because if there are problems in his family, sooner or later it will affect the performance of combat missions. The job of a sergeant is to identify and solve this problem. To be a mentor for the personnel, to feel them, to teach them, to be a father and mother.".

After completing two months of basic general training at one of the National Guard's centers, Charter recruits continue their training at a two-week adaptation course provided by the corps. During this course, their mentors are drill sergeants who perform exactly the functions described by Hrytsiuk above.

Drill sergeant is a position borrowed from NATO armies but adapted to Ukrainian realities. First of all, in the context of martial law, less funding and a short timeframe for training recruits.

"Instructors who teach a particular discipline are usually also drill sergeants. But it's the drill sergeant who deals with the personnel's everyday life and discipline," explains Volyniaka. "He controls all the processes – from timekeeping to making sure that the personnel are not late, so that they can wash and eat on time. Also, to arrive at classes on time and leave them on time. This is the organism that keeps the personnel in good shape and helps civilians understand that they have already become military.".

All charter drill sergeants and instructors have participated in combat operations and are periodically deployed to perform combat missions to understand what is happening on the front line and to record the transformations of war. From there, they bring back new experience and hone it with recruits.

"It is clear that the war is constantly changing," says Volyniaka. "We cannot focus on any one stage of the war and constantly organize training based on that stage. We need to keep up with it, constantly change, improve, maybe even go one step ahead, if we have the opportunity.".

In the management and training of noncommissioned officers, Charter also cooperates and exchanges experience with the Third Attack Force.

"I believe that competition should be healthy, and healthy competition means sharing experiences," says Volyniaka. "We are not alone in this war. We also have brothers from other units to the right and left of us. We will not take a conditional section of the front and say that we are so cool there, and you do what you want to the right and left – we will be outflanked and surrounded. So we are only in favor of the army developing in all units.".

One of the important components of the charter course of adaptation is ideological training, which is led by "not just specialists appointed by someone, but fanatics of history and ideas of statehood" who share knowledge and talk about the background and course of Russia's eternal war against Ukraine.

"You can make a Rambo, a Terminator out of any civilian, but unless he has an understanding of what he is doing here and here," Volyniaka points to his head and heart and continues, "an understanding of why he is doing it, sooner or later he will break. And a strong-minded, motivated person may not be physically tough, but he or she will not break down .

And it is a myth that those who have been mobilized will not fight properly. There is a certain percentage of CWS – not only among those mobilized, but also among volunteers. But the bottom line is that any fighter who comes to us receives the same knowledge and skills, the same understanding of why he is here. And then they perform their tasks much more effectively. Those mobilized undergo a training course and go to their units completely different.".

The adaptation course ends with a race for the Charter chevron, which cannot be bought in a store but must be earned through your own efforts and work on yourself. Receiving the chevron, Volyniaka says, allows recruits to feel "part of the family, part of the victory, the very piece of the puzzle without which the country cannot survive," and thus instills in them understanding and motivation. After the adaptation course, the charter members go back to their units and continue their training directly in the sectors.

"I never forbid the units in the field to improve their skills, to take something new, to apply it in training and maybe even in practice," says Volyniaka, "but the fighters can try something new only after they know the general base 100%, when this knowledge is bouncing off their teeth. Because if they don't know the basics and we throw them in from above, from the side, their minds are just a mess and they don't understand what's going on.".

With the transition to the corps system, the training system is also changing. Other units have now joined the Charter, and the corps aims to unify the methods and approaches used to train personnel, both soldiers and non-commissioned officers. Later, the recruits will undergo not only an adaptation course, but also the CPE at the Charter bases.

"We will not have two weeks in our camp, but two and a half months of training by our instructors, the staff of our training unit, with our ideology and our approach," explains Hrytsiuk. "Moreover, we are interested in ensuring that a person who gets into a combat unit after our CMB and our BZVP does not go straight into combat, but also undergoes adaptation for two more weeks. So in total, it is actually three months of training.".

The new plan for training recruits in the corps is already in place. However, there are no exact dates when training will begin under this scheme. Volyniaka believes that this will happen in the near future .

"No one guarantees 100% survival in war due to your training," he says. "War is war, but in any case, the better prepared a person is, the more chances he has to destroy the enemy and stay alive.".

"Let the children of deputies go to war" – these are Russian narratives"

Many people believe that after attending the training center, all recruits are immediately taken to "zero" and each of them becomes an assault pilot. Volyniaka calls this opinion a myth.

"After a person has been met by a CCC worker, he or she will not find himself or herself in a landing zone with a shovel tomorrow, storming Russian positions. Each soldier will undergo training that will last up to three months before performing combat missions," he reiterates. "Also, to provide for one infantryman or assault rifleman, we need a lot of people: to ensure that he has weapons, equipment, a quality first aid kit, quality turnstiles, food, so that he can eat, drink, stop somewhere after completing the task and wash, shave, and rest. If there is no rear, no logistics, no support, these infantrymen are doomed. So our task is also to set up the rear.".

Virtually all areas of the army are in need of replenishment, Volyniaka says. There is also a shortage of personnel in the rear.

"People get worn out and tired," explains Hrytsiuk. "A fighter who came in 2022, or perhaps back in 2014, will eventually get out of service and need to rest. Someone is written off after being wounded, someone is written off for family reasons, someone just breaks down. They constantly need replacements.".

The habit of shifting responsibility to others along with Russian IPSOs, according to the Chief Sergeant of the Charter, only deepens the personnel shortage.

"Everyone wants to blame someone, send them away, and not get involved," he explains. "There are people who watch the war on TV. Or they try to abstract themselves and pretend that it does not concern them. Or they say, "Let the children of MPs, prosecutors, and police officers go to war." These are all Russian narratives. God forbid, the enemy will come to the territory of Ukraine in full. First of all, he will destroy the most active ones. And then he will definitely take on those who thought that the war would not affect them and that they were "not born for war." He will dress them in his stinking Russian uniform and send them to fight with conventional Kazakhstan, Poland, the Baltic states, etc.".

The Evolution of War and the Volynians

Over the decade he has been in the army, Volyniaka says, the war has changed dramatically: not only compared to the ATO, but also since the beginning of the full-scale invasion. And it continues to change all the time.

"It's a war of technology, a war of drones, you could say the Terminator, 'Sarah Connor, hello!" Dmytro smiles, "If I could drive a pickup truck almost into a trench while performing tasks in the Bakhmut sector, pick up and drop off soldiers, bring provisions and building materials, now I can't drive closer than 20 kilometers to the LBZ because fpv and fiber optics are already in operation. Robotization is going on in almost all areas: weapons, intelligence, and logistics. If Ukraine and Russia move in the same direction, this conflict will always be in limbo. Whoever is the first to scale up this area will win the war.".

Volyniak does not undertake to assess his personal changes over these ten years. He says that they can be better noticed by the people around him. But he says he has become more conscious:

When I was participating in the ATO, I had Russian-language content in my phone playlist – Ukrainian-made, but in Russian. I am sure that even such content should not be in our country: any narratives of this neighbor, its culture – or rather, its lack of culture.

Dmytro also believes that the proposal to cede territory in exchange for an illusory peace is wrong. He cites an example from recent history:

"We've heard myths before during the ATO: 'Why do we need a war? If we give them Crimea and Donbas, they will calm down!" Did they calm down? I don't think so. This is a completely different mentality, completely different people who want to simply destroy Ukraine: its language, church, culture, people. First of all, this is a war for values. Anyone who does not want to know or does not know and does not want to know their history will sooner or later become victims of their ignorance. If you step on a rake, it hits you on the forehead, and the next day you forget what it does and step on it again, sooner or later it will smash your head and you will die. The situation is similar here: you need to know history to survive. And you need to adhere to these values. Ukrainian Values.