Preparing trainers for the recruit adaptation course

The Office of the Military Ombudsman, together with the NGO Frontline Reforms, conducted a training session for future trainers of the recruit adaptation course at the Armed Forces of Ukraine training centers.

A comprehensive adaptation program for newly arrived servicemembers was introduced in April 2025 at the initiative of the Military Ombudsman, Olha Reshetylova — at that time, the Presidential Commissioner for the Protection of the Rights of Servicemen and Their Family Members. The adaptation course was initially piloted at one of the training centers and, starting from September, was scaled to all training units where mobilized recruits undergo Basic General Military Training. Before the start of their main training, recruits complete a three-day course covering psychological support, Ukrainian history, financial literacy, the rights and duties of servicemembers, and international humanitarian law.

“The way a soldier’s path in the military begins largely determines how it will unfold going forward. It is important that in their first days in a new environment, mobilized recruits are surrounded by civilians. They are going through stress, and they need time to accept their new reality and prepare to absorb the training material. We started with an experiment at one training center: one training company went through preparation with the adaptation course, and another did without it. In the company where the adaptation course was introduced, we recorded more than 50% fewer cases of AWOL,” said Olha Reshetylova.

The knowledge gained during the training will be applied by the future trainers in their work with recruits to explain their rights, benefits, and responsibilities as servicemembers. 

We are grateful to the International Renaissance Foundation for supporting the organization of the Training of Trainers, as well as to the lecturers from the Boryviter Military School, Pryntsyp NGO, and attorney Kateryna Anischenko.