[Event] Ukraine – Socialist State of Timor Joint exercises

The 8th Spetsnaz & 73rd Special Naval Regiments were flown to Dili in early July and traveled to the small mining town of Aituto, just north of a large tract of woodland. The 73rd Special Naval engineering unit then deployed an FOB and temporary barracks in the town. The 2 battalions of Timorese soldiers arrived the following day and exercises began. The exercises were planned to run for 4 weeks but ran overtime by a week due to the amount of time Ukrainian units spent training Timorese men in some of the basic fundamentals of modern warfare.

The armoured units of both the 8th & 73rd spent the first two weeks on navigating through thickly foliaged terrain, then the second two weeks on guerrilla warfare tactics, contained in this was camouflage of their vehicles, entrenchment for both infantry and vehicles (in tandem with the 73rds engineering unit) and the more challenging task of evading detection in a place where armoured vehicles leave a very obvious trail of movement. The final week of the exercises was spent training with the RPG equipped Timorese soldiers, showing examples of typical armoured tactics and threat evasion strategies.

The 73rd Special Naval regiment spent the first 3 weeks of the exercise training the 2 Timorese engineers in some of the basics of entrenching a position and making serviceable roads, the second 2 weeks were spent practicing entrenching positions in the different environment 1 week of this time was spent on entrenching positions for vehicles with the armoured units.

The 8th Spetsnaz split into two parts training and instruction, the first training division worked with Timorese forces on firstly small arms target practice, secondly auxiliary combat practice (grenades, melee, anti-tank etc) and thirdly acclimatising to many of the side effects of fighting in a more tropical environment. The instructional part worked on drilling simple tactics & formation, the laws of war and weapon maintenance & upkeep. The two sides swapped after the second week, and spent the fifth week doing a full regiment campaign on a set of imaginary targets.

Officially the 73rd Special Naval Regiment accompanied the 8th Spetsnaz in all of these exercises, unofficially they worked closely with the SSoT’s new special operations unit the EIEV.

[S] The 73rd Special Naval spent the first 2 weeks working with the EIEV on Various tactics where the 73rd were startled at the EIEV’s competence compared to the regular Timorese force. They proceeded to do practice firefights with low powered rubber rounds where the 73rd barley edged out the EIEV. It can be easily concluded the EIEV is a force to be reckoned with. For the second week, the 73rd spent their time training in guerrilla tactics & camouflage with some help from the EIEV, who have much learnable experience on the matter. The 73rd then travelled north with the EIEV to the city of Maubisse, where they practiced moving an in-combat force from a densely wooded area into a very urban environment, they also practiced strategies for breaching and clearing large buildings while they had the opportunity, these are 2 areas the EIEV does lack experience and training in. In summary:

• Ukrainian 8th and 72nd have experience in jungle environments and guerrilla warfare in thickly wooded environments.

• The armour units of the above regiments have also received a lot of experience in guerrilla warfare and fortification, especially in a tropical environment

• the engineer unit of the 72nd received practice and a better understanding of how to fortify positions in a forested or tropical environment

• The Timorese army, at least the 1st & 2nd battalion have received training and experience with modern warfare. Which is not to be understated, their capability to fight has increased from a rough group armed farmers to something resembling a cohesive military

• The EIEV special operations unit has trained with the Ukrainians but received little benefit in conventional warfare, however their capability in overall strategy & tactics along with urban warfare have been improved.

• Ukraine hopes that joint exercises between it and the SSoT can become a regular occurrence going forward, and thanks the people of the SSoT for being so accommodating

*It is to be noted that Ukrainian troops have not yet left the SSoT, pending further agreement they would like to stay further to practice as a cohesive unit without the burden of training SSoT troops (not that it wasn't a pleasure).