You know the adage, “a picture is worth a thousand words.” If the above photo, which purports to show two Wagnerians training Belorussian soldiers, is genuine then I can tell you flat out that these two clowns have no business training anyone. The very first rule of handling a firearm — a pistol or a rifle — is not to point the gun at anything or anyone you are not ready to kill or destroy. PERIOD. NO EXCEPTIONS. But there they are; standing down range from a bunch of guys pointing rifles at them.
I have trained over 100 new shooters and have worked as a volunteer Range Safety Officer at a public gun range dealing with several thousand shooters over a period of three years. The immediate task in teaching a novice how to handle a pistol or rifle is muzzle discipline. The photo above is horrifying. The two trainers are standing in front of the troops who are pointing their rifles in a number of unsafe, dangerous directions. With only two trainers available they should have started with groups of four soldiers in a straight line facing down range. I have never seen nor would I ever countenance doing an L-shape formation to let the trainees practice dry fire. If you want a visual definition of “shit show”, just look at the photo above.
Just because someone has been in combat does not necessarily guarantee that he knows how to safely operate a combat rifle, like an AR-15 or AK-47. Look at the guy in the very center of the photo. He is standing upright with his rifle aimed at the soldiers to his left (your right as you view the photo). Bad stance and, most worrisome, bad muzzle discipline.
Here are two more photos showing the same failure to safely handle a rifle:
Several of the soldiers pictured have their fingers on the trigger of their rifle with “friendlies” down range. NO!!!!
I know first hand that Special Operations personnel, when they go through the initial Operators Training Course, will spend an enormous amount of time doing dry practice (i.e., operating the gun without ammunition). The objective is to build muscle memory and neural pathways so that the soldier or sailor (gots to include the SEALS) gets to the point that putting the rifle on safe or taking the safety off is no longer something the trainee has to think about. It becomes an instinctive action depending on the circumstance. Ditto for keeping the finger off the trigger until you are ready to engage the threat.
I hope this photo is an aberration or is being used as an illustration of how not to teach troops to handle a rifle. Here is a video that shows me doing an emergency re-load drill while shooting at a three inch circle at 10 yards (yes, I hit the circle three times). I am not claiming I am some sort of special ops bubba by any measure. Just want you to see that I know how to handle the rifle safely and how to practice an emergency re-load drill while shooting accurately. My dear friend who was filming this challenged me to catch the second magazine in mid-air after I hit the magazine release. That’s the reason for the laughter. Please note, when I no longer have ammunition in the rifle my finger comes off the trigger.
My point is simple — take a big grain of salt to any story touting the prowess of Wagner or the leadership of Prigozhin. I tend to believe those stories are being fed to the public as an information operation as opposed to journalistic reporting. What is not false or a deception is the fact that tensions are building on the Poland/Belarus border and that Putin has warned that any attack on Belarus will be viewed as an attack on Russia. That should make anyone’s blood run cold.
Where there’s one deception, there’s many more. I’m keeping my head open regarding Wagner but not making it the main one (as it may be another distraction).
In related news, ‘UK sanctions Wagner-linked officials in Mali, Sudan and CAR’ – https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/7/20/update-1-britain-sanctions-wagner-linked-officials-in-three-african-countries
I showed your article to a former Marine buddy of mine, and he agrees with you… I think. What he said is that, “Proper range safety and etiquette is the Gold Standard in determining combat competence.” He said this has been known at least since British Major General William Howe wrote to his superiors that victory was a foregone conclusion because the enemy they were facing was an undisciplined rag-tag army. General Howe specifically pointed out how the opponents rarely ever came on line, like proper soldiers do. They instead hid behind hillocks, trees, rocks and, rather than firing “on command” like proper soldiers do, they instead would fire whenever it suited them. General Howe estimated that it would take 6-8 months to mop up this undisciplined crew of rabble, and restore British control over the area. I tried to look up this British General, “Major General William Howe” but the only one I could find was from 1776 A.D. — hmmmmmmm
Also, my Marine buddy said that if we are to guage competence in combat on whether we follow some civilian range safety etiquette, we need to petition Google to blur-out the circular patterns worn into the ground — and clearly visible in the aerial view of Edson Range, at MCB Camp Pendleton. When I asked him what was wrong about those circles, he said something like, “All I’ll say is that Marines in training at Edson Rifle Range disperse around those circles, standing for awhile, then kneeling for awhile, then sitting for awhile, then laying prone for awhile. And never you mind WHAT they are doing in each of those rifle-firing positions, in a circle, all facing each other — just get Google to blur out those circles!” Those circles can be seen at this link:
https://www.google.com/maps/@33.2659444,-117.42575,619m/data=!3m1!1e3?entry=ttu
If you want a good read about Gen. Burgoyne and his campaign from Canada, intending to split the colonies North / South by capturing the Hudson River Valley, try “The Battle of Saratoga” by Rupert Furneaux. I have read it approximately 8 or 9 times by now. Spoiler alert, the British encountered one Daniel Morgan and his 500 Virginia riflemen, who proceeded in rude frontier manner to shoot the officers first, and the accuracy of their rifles astonished the British and Germans. Morgan had been given 499 lashes for striking a British officer in the French & Indian war, so he did *not* like British officers. A great read with lots of first hand accounts of the action. Oh, psychological warfare too … apparently an American officer (Loyalist) in the British camp had an American fiance living in the area. He sent for her, fearing for her safety. A few days later, an Indian came into the camp bringing a very long, luxurious scalp. The officer recognized it as formerly belonging to his fiancee! Word about the atrocity spread eastward to Vermont and New Hampshire, and stirred up a hornet’s nest of outraged militia, going “agin Burgoyne!”. Another outstanding read is “Northwest Passage”, by Kenneth Roberts. the main theme is an attack by Roger’s Rangers on a Canadian villiage (French & Indian War) and the retreat under pursuit. Things became pretty grim. Rogers wrote the “28 Ranger’s Rules” for guerilla warfare. Anything by KR is great. Some of Roger’s men fought at Saratoga, John Stark who raised New Hampshire militia was one.
U.S. Marine Corps doesn’t stand a chance then, if we are to believe this article.
Here is a link showing Marine Corps instructors, [quote] “standing down range from a bunch of guys pointing rifles at them” [/quote]
https://youtu.be/jDzVmuvvnmo?t=3470
(the instructor is always there, down-range, but comes into the camera view 8 seconds into this part of the video. Also, the instructor we see is not the ONLY instructor there, downrange.)
I always admired Larry Johnson because of his loyal defense of Valerie Plame. But on his article here (that a picture of combat-movement training) is a slam-dunk valid method of assessing Wagner’s combat training competency), Mr. Johnson is wrong.
Its’ not a fine point situation in the flat lands of Ukraine.
The math is bulk…. mass of force. You have 300k…we have 1.4 million….
you fire 10k rounds…we fire 60k rounds….
We blockade your ports…we take down your grid…we eliminate your infrastructure, we eliminate your economy.
Meanwhile sanctions make us leaner, meaner…and turn us towards a greater alliance against you.
The west has put Russia, China, India…in the training camp.
Now…as they work out… they are looking like they are in better and better shape.
This US administration, and since the coup of NATO…they are failures.
Really hard to watch.
Not India. The West is trying to recruit India, but Modi (like Erdogan) plays a double game.
Bob, True about India. They straddle the fence in foreign policy with the west. The dust ups between India and China are pretty heated. They don’t get along. With the Kashmire…it’s basically the water. You look on the north side its all Islamic Church – read: Pakistan, you look to the south side..it’s all Hindu temples – Read India. India administrates. Basically like Ukraine..the political subdivision boundaries are in the wrong location per the people that live there. Lots of that problem is left over from the British colonial political subdivision era.
Not really Kashmir ( the indian state of Jammu & Kashmir,noe deviod of statehood and directly ruled by the central govt) on Indian side consists of three Regions ie The Kashmir valley which has 95% Muslims, Laddakh the stark tibet like area to North East which has 50% Muslims 40% Buddhists and 10% hindus and Jammu which has 45-50% Muslims and rest Hindus and sikhs.
This Jammu too was muslim majority of about 60% but in a part of post independent history which is not acknowledged the Indian state colluded with non state actors to comit genocide to send significant population of nomadic sheepherders who were Muslims to the Kashmir valley while simultaneously getting hindus and sikhs from Punjab state to settle down in urban cities to change the demographics.
True, both India and Turkey are sitting on the fence; however, make no mistake about it, when the chips are down and the West declines while the Brics+ prosper, both India and Turkey will come down on the right side of the fence.
Total agreement.
Turkey is a Russian vassal state…just like New Zealand and Australia are China vassal states. They march on Africa…all the players…from all the directions. China is doing the best of the lot so far…. gathering more land and resources than the others. South America has the Nicaragua type problem…with Russia in there… and the persecution of both the church and the people. The traditional players like Argentina… have the govt spending hyperinflation.
I look for what’s left of Ukraine to be like Paraguay…a money laundering hub mixed with honest agriculture
The history of Kiev is mafia. Just how it is.
I kind of marvel how the gold makes it out of the Congo..to Dubia.
I should be part of that…the smuggling network. Don’t fool yourself…govts are involved in that laundry mat.
Good source on India’s military and geopolitics.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trWzaN8ImNM
If it were any other country, I’d likely say it won’t happen. However, with Poland, they’d be stupid enough to try their luck and invade the Ukraine. Let’s hope sanity (and common sense) prevail.
Those who trusted the English once, are doomed to betrayal once again.
The English used to follow their elites interests, as do all countries with the exception of Colonies of an empire which have no alternative but to follow the interests of the Empires elites, the UK is now a US Colony as is the EU and most countries outside of BRICS. If you ever spoke to an Englishman about this you would most probably find he is as pissed off as you with all of the Globalist Non representative Govt, the lies, the scams, the immigration and BS. After all its not like anyone elects their Govt these days in free, fair and open elections is it.
A classic (Norm Macdonald 2:54): https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=2_0q_CXl41s&pp=ygUabm9ybSBtYWNkb25hbGQgcG9saXNoIGpva2U%3D
Haven’t we been here before already? President Putin lives up to Winston Churchill’s adage, “Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma” and playing it brilliantly with a little help from real diplomatic icons that will last the test of time. Seriously, it’s those 15,000 Chechnya Mercenaries and 15,000 Syrian Mercenaries I’d be afraid of, trained from the time they were born! White Hats! 30,000 on the prowl for those Ukrainian Nazis and 62 USA WMD Biolabs!! I don’t think President Putin is going to give that away anytime soon! Nice try though.
History has to be repeated until everyone learns the lesson. Poles have some obvious learning disabilities, because they are eager to get educated again and again.
As far as mercenaries go, Syrians are too busy fighting their own war. Chechens are not mercenaries, but part of regular Russian Armed Forces (just like Chechnya is regular part of Russian Federation).
That being said, there are some Chechen mercenaries (of terrorist kind) fighting on the Ukraininan side. Recently they published video of their biggest victory so far. They snuck up behind Russian lines, and shot up a supply truck. It looked a bit like US police footage. They kept on shooting at the dead driver.
Chechens in the main, are not primarily in the Russian Army, but in Rosgvardiya, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Guard_of_Russia – there are some facts in the article, but an awful lot of BS.
I should have written Russian armed forces instead of Russian Armed Forces.
“Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery, inside an enigma”
Edited quotations mislead…………..
The Gathering Storm Quotes Showing 1-30 of 107
“I cannot forecast to you the action of Russia. It is a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. But perhaps there is a key. That key is Russian national interest.”
― Winston S. Churchill, The Gathering Storm
Wagner can’t hold the Chechens’ jock.
If anyone wants to know more about Belarus, I really recommend this podcast from The Duran:
Belarus in great power politics w/ Ambassador Dmitry Mironchik, Alexander Mercouris and Glenn Diesen
https://rumble.com/v30wnte-belarus-in-great-power-politics-w-ambassador-dmitry-mironchik-alexander-mer.html
Ambassador Mironchik is another Lavrov and outclasses everyone in the West. Very impressive. IMHO
Also involving Belarus:
Why America’s Largest Tool Company Couldn’t Make a Wrench in America – WSJ
https://archive.fo/RQev4
Think about the implications of that, the United States is going to send an army to Russia and it can’t even make the wrenches to service its vehicles? …furthermore the rolling machinery that would have made the wrenches would have been imported from Belarus.
That is how far gone the West is.
Hitler failed to provision his troops for the Russian winter, but my bet is, after reading that article, that the West probably can’t even manufacture winter uniforms. (sigh)
my favorite paragraph from that article:
Stafstrom, who retired in 2021, said the factory’s struggles were exacerbated by attrition among “gray-haired folks” with deep knowledge of tool making, while Felty said turnover at the top of Stanley’s tool division contributed.
IMHO, Its gonna take a generation or two to restore the US industrial base, if ever (if all our leaders do is tell stories). No industrial base, no military. No military, no empire. No empire – a whole lot of folk are gonna be a whole lot poorer.
Here Larry is right! Why did the Belarusian army need instructors? With thousands of Russian soldiers in Belarus! Wagner’s men didn’t go to Belarus to train anyone. And Larry is also right when says that an instructor’s skills are not gained in combat. Football players don’t give all coaches either. But it’s not this charade that remove the prestige that Wagner earned last years! Much less Prigozhin’s greed. I can’t stand who said the wonders of Wagner’s operational art before Prigozhin’s clowning and suddenly Wagner is a big piece of shit. What does operational art have to do with someone’s greed? And the photo does not identify anyone. One instructor is even smoking a cigarette. They might even be Lukashenko’s brothers-in-law! Which of course never saved Putin’s life as the media also wrote.
Belarusian army does not need instructors, but those guys needed a job. Imagine hiring a relative that needs a job:
– What can you do?
– I can shoot people.
– Anything else?
-Nope.
-I guess you are a shooting instructor now.
Wagner never had anything to do with operational art. They operate on tactical level. That’s why praising them as “the best fighting force in the known Universe” never made much sense. Tactics is important, but it’s just one piece of the puzzle. Some dead Chinese guy said that tactics without strategy is the noise before defeat. Wagner surely excells in generating all kinds of noise. That’s why MSM loves them. Media is all about the noise.
P.S. Operational art is done by the quiet bald man with scary eybrows and even scarier nickname.
Firstly, Wagner operates on several levels. Depending on where operate, in Mali commanding the Malian army or in Donbass alongside the Russian forces! And Wagner even as an assault force also has operational art. That’s why it’s not easy to articulate with the MOD. Wagner has its own concepts for managing resources in a theater of operations to design a campaign to translate the Goals Strategic in tactical actions, to achieve the Desired End State of the Theater Commander and the leve strategic. Operational art is the way of thinking the operation that allows the achievement of strategic objectives through the definition of operational objectives to which the success of tactical actions will contribute. And Wagner’s stamp of quality comes from the Russian special forces, not from Wagner. Who I never said was the best force in the universe. That’s why I didn’t need to do somersaults afterwards. And the Belarusian army has professional instructors like the army of any nation! Again, I’m not the one who writes novels with instructors. We don’t even know the real reason or how many Wagner soldiers – whether it still exists or not – are in Belarus.
The best fighting force in Universe part was a figure of speech (I thought it was obvious). No one actually said it, though on the Internet things are either the best, or complete shit. No one gets praises for being adequate, or just above the average.
“And Wagner’s stamp of quality comes from the Russian special forces, not from Wagner.”
Not only that. Almost everything comes from Russian forces. It’s Russian operational art. Wagner officers are not some aliens that fell out of the sky, with some not-ever-seen stuff. They are ex Russian officers that were operating out of standard chain of commmand, which gave them freedom to experiment & improvise to a bigger extent. Their prestige, or lack of, will only be seen once the fog clears.
We don’t know the real reason, or how many Wagner soldiers are in Belarus. My guess is that they are there because they have to be somewhere, and do something, until Putin decides what to do with them. There aren’t many things they are qualified of, hence my joke attempt in the prevous post. They do have unique modern warfare combat experince that should not go to waste.
Ok but I hate hypes! And somersaults. Especially online! And my point is that I don’t mix combat with Prigozhin’s shit or greed! I still don’t believe in Prigozhin’s so much protagonism. Wagner is controlled and is the GRU army! And it doesn’t compare to any other force on the planet. With advantages and disadvantages. Like when they act with a lot of autonomy in Africa and the Commanders are almost all ex-convicts. You cannot build a “small army” and then expect to integrate well into a large army like the RAF! Relationship problems weren’t born now in 2022. And I, to be honest, expected problems. Not with the dimension they came to have. With much still to be understood. In any case, those who best evaluate Wagner’s expertise is the enemy. Like the video they posted here of an AFU Commander in Bakmuth! And African countries like Mali who worship Wagner because Wagner solved many old problems with Islamic terrorism that disturbed the populations.
“And it doesn’t compare to any other force on the planet.”
Nonsense! Wagner is just a brand, repacking old shit and selling as brand new shit. Prigozhin is Gopnik Elon Musk or Steve Jobs. Do you believe that Elon Musk or Steve Jobs invented anything? They haven’t. It’s all hype and repacking someone elses work, while taking all the credit. People buy the hype. I’ve read about vacuum trains in 1980s. Idiots believe that Musk invented them few years ago.
African countries love Russians because they are first “white people” that did not come to enslave them (their own words). It started in times of Soviet Union. Russians were instrumental in the initiation of the process of decolonization of Africa. Wagner just took over the business, because it was easier from the legal standpoint (Putin is into legal stuff). If you take out the Wagner brand hype, you get same old Russia doing same old things with some modern technology added.
Larry, way back in tech school at Lackland, the TI on the gun range had a some choice words to live by. I am paraphrasing a bit, it was 43 years ago “If anyone decides to point their weapon at me, I will shoot you with this 45”. He wasn’t happy with me shooting the nail that held the target up on my lane. I do remember after getting on post and the flight chief rotating me thru the posts till he realized he wanted me as his driver and sharp shooter. Had a first Lt call for an exercise after a two day rain in southern england. Carrying the m60’s ammo and mine and the footing was not good. Head to toe in mud. So my point is, they don’t release pictures like this unless there is a purpose. Weapon security is taken seriously by everyone. Then why show the opposite? Is it more WAGNER! WAGNER! The mask in full.
Scott,
I agree with you. Why display your ass like this? (Not your ass, Wagner showing its ass).
Larry 100% correct
SINGAPORE 1963 RIFE RANGER REFRESHER Changi
Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders mean as cat shit infrantry.
Magazines full, lads hot, bored and not that keen on the Sgt.
Sgt. steps forward in front of them and screams, “youse fuckers fire when I say youse …..FIRE!
Wee Scotsman unloads his magazine. Dead Sarge…..
No charges, no court marshal, because the Sargent was in the Red Zone.
I was eleven years old at the time and over heard dad telling mum, “The shit has hit the Fan!”
When a recruit in the Aussie Army (kapoka) on the firing range one of my Corporals was walking us forward, fire on order. Got a HEAD OF THE LINE.
The red hot spent cartridge ejected FROM MY SLR and got stuck between his shirt and webbing.
HE SCREAMED LIKE A SCOTTS MAN.
I froze solid with the barrel pointing down range. Not a word was said…to me!
I assume that you mean Kapooka, a shithole not far from Wagga.
May be there at the point of Clint Eastwood in heart break ridge?
@ Larry,
it could very well be a movie set and these are just the actors getting their movements right. Another commenter here, Sunday XXXIII, has commented before me on this and I do find it very plausible. And they are churning out movies on the SMO at a pretty good pace.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmDiCVyg8U4
This is a Wagner movie- Best In Hell
Secondly, due to the difficulty in judging depth/distance in a picture, the criteria by which you are judging might seem exaggerated.
Larry Vickers ( ex-Delta assaulter) has done videos on Russian Spetsnaz training.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rI01qKAqYts
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGgpH7DJU84
LOL but the most probable reason might be is that the Russians are simply trolling.
This seemed relevant so sharing, the shootout scene from Gods Must be Crazy
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZFMNya0r450
at 0:35 mark
Just working around law enforcement for as long as I did and going on search warrants, etc., I can at least recognize good firearms discipline, even if I don’t handle guns myself. In any film I’ve seen of the Wagners from RT or other Russian news sources, it always seemed these dudes were pretty professional in how they handled their firearms and themselves.
Contrast that with above – that’s a full on circular firing squad. I guess there are some Barney Fifes in every organization. Hopefully Lucashenko didn’t get all the Barneys lol.
Thanks Ted. Most folks don’t understand that you require greater muzzle discipline and trigger control in a military unit, especially one in combat, because the guys handling firearms are in close contact with their buddies. Unsafe handling results in shooting your friend in the trench.
The Serb troops are the ones to watch.
Maybe Wagner is a distraction or feint like Patton’s blow up tanks army?
Morale seemed good in the AM Prigo addresses the troops video and now the page won’t let you download. (pffft)
Serbs don’t have separate troops, but are part of regular Russian forces. They are not very numerous, though they are probably most numerous of all the “foreigners”.
I too got vibes of the “Patton’s blow up tanks army” from the very beginning of this Wagner Belarus adventure. The whole idea of them charging onto Kiev or wherever sounds ridiculous.
Chechens are not mercenaries. First, because Chechnya is a Republic of the Russian Federation, one of its constituent units, that is, Chechens are Russian citizens. Second, the Chechen troops in the special military operation zone are Russian national guard personnel for the Chechen Republic. Care must be taken with the use of the term mercenaries.
Larry, relax, during training the rifles are without ammo, the photos dont show that they’re at a rifle range, so it’s safe 😁
I hope you’re being sarcastic. Loaded or not, you do NOT EVER point a gun at someone you do not intend to kill. PERIOD.
Indeed this is the ground rule – universal to my knowledge. My father taught us never to point a gun loaded or not, when my brother bought an antique rifle – old rule still from the Imperial Austrian-Hungarian army.
When my son was little, I sent him clay dove shooting with his Grandfather – the recoil drove home the point of the inherent danger like nothing else would. But I never allowed him to have toy guns.
Sarcastic, and also realistic. 🙂
As someone that have been involved in military guns & explosive training, I can confirm that strict safety protocols are not always fully enforced. Those that have been in war tend to be more lax with rules. Back in the day there was no filming, though.
Keep pointing your gun at me, t will not matter if you’re being careless or jokelingly, I will deck you the army way.
Check the training footage I have posted further down. 😉
A weapon is loaded even when it’s not.
Unless you’re a Baldwin; then you can do it and even cause someone’s death. And apparently it isnt a crime cause Baldwin is still walking around a free man. I could have sworn that was an open and shut case of involuntary manslaughter, but apparently Im wrong
Not that black or white Larry. You can stick your gun into someones mouth and decide not to pull the trigger. But in the context you are referring. Of course you are right! Look at the dumb fkk Baldwin.
There are any number of training instances that disprove your vociferous absolutism. For example, simunition training, dry fire and positional training using barrel plugs, etc. Training civilians is not the same as training soldiers. There may be 1000 good reasons to mock Wagner, but a few photos lacking context are a pretty weak one.
Make sure you tell that to Alec Baldwin next time you see him.
“SmallStepForMan.”
Good God ! it applies to a bow and arrow, sling shot and a big mouth. I was in the Army and a mate swung round and unloaded both barrels of a shot gun. I was on the other side of the big rock four feet higher than him. The blast hit the dirt just below my boots and covered me in pellets and soil.
( I decline to discuss the condition of my undies.) weapon safety is paramount.
How many untrained and scared Ukraine soldiers have shot dead a mate by accident or committed suicide from the terror of unrelenting artillery fire. Imaging your best mate, legless and only one hand reaching towards you crying out for his mother.
Thank you Joe Biden and the crew : not forgetting the drunk fuck, Boris Johnson.
Russian Weapon handling instruction needs an urgent up grade.
Larry, get on it..!
This SMO needs a timely victory or Total War .
And one day, you’re not on the training ground, you’re in operation, the guns are loaded and the reflex to not point at someone you don’t intend to kill hasn’t been acquired. Then sh*t happens.
I have no idea about weapons and how to use weapons, but for God’s sake, Wagner is combat music, in the conditions of urban combat, it is really impressive, and they play combat, that’s a fact, for God’s sake, isn’t Bkhmut telling you anything. But you sit in armchairs and think. As far as training is concerned, the US Army was completely destroyed in Vietnam, since then it has been waging war through Jihad fighters, Al-Qaeda and ISIS and Fascists in Croatia and Ukraine, now only Poland remains as a tool of war. Look at the terrible defeats of Afghanistan, Libya, Syria and now Ukraine and the defeat with Poland awaits, NATO countries, the USA and the UK have experienced a truly complete defeat, they are unable to wage war, there are no more jihadists and fascists, only Poland remains as the last tool and what training do you need, it is almost over: the Military and Economic imperialism of the West and the USA and the UK has been completely defeated. Wagner didn’t go to train, he went to play the fight with Polish soldiers, behind that playing, the Planetary Philharmonic of Russia comes, and you about training. And you just have to keep in mind: Catherine the Great created a general staff in Russia, and since then it’s really a planetary impression of the war that Russia always wins, and you train.
From my days reading latin, I remember a section, nowerdays shortened to:
train hard, fight easy
I remember seeing a Larry Vickers’ video where he went to a shooting range where FSB was training – their practice was unconventional. Who knows – a crazy Ivan show for the foreigner?
I remember seeing a Larry Vickers’ video where he showed that premium priced canola oil is the best. It wasn’t a cooking video. 🙂
The picture shows a circus act or is a photomontage.
Both could also apply to Prigozhin himself.
I congratulate you Larry for your sharp eye. On the subject of Wagner and Chechens.
I guess mostly we just see what we are supposed to see. I think the Chechens are very effective infantrymen. Very well trained, equipped, and motivated. But I have seen very little of them in real combat scenes. Yes, they like to pose in front of cameras. Patriotically confident of victory and pathetic. But most of the battle scenes I was allowed to see seemed staged. Soldiers pausing in cover, such as in a ditch or behind the corner of a house, holding their rifle over their head or around the corner of a house and emptying entire magazines without seeing a target. Or they would jump from the house into the open and, making a good target themselves, empty their magazine. I think these were staged scenes. Whatever the purpose. But the Chechens’ combat results speak a different language.
I am cautious about Wagner overall. Too much fog. I also count this alleged coup and their alleged role in Belarus. In Bakhmut, they had very large losses. But we are talking about an urban house fight. There is little that is more frightening and more loss-making than that. Besides, I doubt that among the convicts, many of them had adequate military training. Now comes the “but”. In Wagner, many war-tested military veterans served. In Syria and Africa, there were hardly any ex-convicts.
I believe that warfare will change a lot in the next stage of the war. It all depends on what the USNATO does. And I am very pessimistic about an eventual de-escalation of the West. We will not see that. Maybe a hypocritical peace offer from the US. Russia is making its maximum demands. Rightly so. These will be rejected by the West. Then the confrontation between the USNATO and Russia will be another one.
Let’s also not lose sight of Central Asia, Syria and Korea. The pressure will be increased.
The election campaign in the USA has begun. This always has a direct impact on US foreign policy.
Yellen was in Beijing to beg the Chinese leadership to buy US government bonds. With what result? What significant quid pro quo did China receive from the U.S.? Unknown.
The U.S. is currently trying to massively divide the BRICS and ASEAN, as well as pressure African and Arab governments. We will see with what result. Turkey is an uncertain candidate for all sides. Due to its strategic geographic location, Turkey plays a major role.
I do not believe that Poland is provoking Belarus and invading western Ukraine primarily to satisfy its own territorial ambitions. These activities all serve the larger U.S. goal of defeating Russia. Poland has certainly been promised territorial rewards.
If the BRICS split does not succeed and BRICS + SOC development continues to threaten U.S. imperial status, then I expect the war to accelerate.
The empire of lies has become involved in an existential war, and therefore it will be the last great war of the empire.
How to win a military confrontation with China under the given circumstances in Ukraine, not even Zeus will know.
America cannot confront Russia in East Central Europe. They simply do not have the forces.
The only weapon effective weapon America has left for battle in this region is nukes.
If they use this tool, most of urban America and Europe will disappear.
All this foolish talk by people about America in direct conventional conflict with Russia is born of delusional American exceptionalism, not facts.
I agree with that. But there is a thesis that there are influential forces in the U.S. who are of the mistaken opinion that as long as they only drive European vassals into war, that war could be limited to Europe. Again, the question, “How rational are these circles thinking?” Ultimately, the primary goal would not be to defeat Russia, but to weaken it so that the U.S. could turn its attention to China. I don’t know if that thesis is accurate. But thinking about it is not wrong.
Talking about Turkey, I tend to tilt over the thought that it’s being prepared as the next UKR. That’s the only tall standing half a million soldiers across the whole of EU and NATO. And that’s the only country which is also close, while borders other Russia’s allies Syria, Iraq and Iran. So through Turkey, neocons can keep Russia busy, while they focus on China and then India.
If Poland opens hostilities against Belarus, then instantly everything within the borders of Poland becomes a legitimate military target for Russia / Belarus.
NATO Article 5 won’t apply if Poland is the belligerent.
The Poles have watched USA / NATO destroy Ukraine, and now they are shouting “Me too please”.
You’re right, if the photo shows actual training, it’s ridiculous. Haven’t you posted an article about dogs and squirrels recently?
PS: To avoid misunderstanding, I’m not making fun of dogs, I’m a cynophilist too; I have three, a Japanese Akita and two little mongrels picked outside my fence. I even had four but my wonderful Serbian neighbours poisoned my award-winning female Akita.
Larry,
Maybe the Wagner trainers get a hard-on when a gun is pointed at them? Not the first time I have heard of this condition in the psychological effects of PTSD. Just a thought.
But what are the realities?
They are that the Wagners wiped the floor with the best trained Nato Troops Asov battalion and others. More than likely those NATO-trained Nazi troops killed (by these Wagner people shown here) were trained by NATO Trangenders! Never point a gun at Friendlies’ good advice.
But the golden rule in NATO-trained troops is never to go into combat without makeup and red lipstick!
Larry,
Maybe the Wagner trainers get a hard-on when a gun is pointed at them? Not the first time I have heard of this condition in the psychological effects of PTSD. Just a thought.
But what are the realities?
The Wagners wiped the floor with the best trained Nato Troops Asov battalion and others. More than likely those NATO-trained Nazi troops killed (by these Wagner people shown here) were trained by NATO Trangenders! Never point a gun at Friendlies’ good advice.
But the golden rule in NATO-trained troops is never to go into combat without makeup and red lipstick!
Reply
Wagner troops are in a bad mood and would like to visit Poland : RT :
Wagner fighters concern us – Lukashenko
PMC members want to cross the border into Poland, the Belarusian president has told Vladimir Putin
https://swentr.site/russia/580145-wagner-fighters-concern-us-lukashenko/
Are they real rifles? Are they really Wagnerians? Could they be actors training for “Bakhmut the Movie”? It is becoming more difficult for me to believe anything. Maybe that’s the plan.
”If the above photo, which purports to show two Wagnerians training Belorussian soldiers,…”
Wagnerians are the two trainers only…
You might not be that far from truth considering there already is “Popasnaya the Movie” (Popasnaya was Bakhmut lite). 🙂
https://odysee.com/@Iceisnice11:8/%F0%9F%8E%ACPMC-Wagner—Best-in-Hell—2022-(English-subtitles):6
The worst thing that I had learnt during my military service was that around 30 percent of soldiers die from friendly fire. And I understood that 100 people with rifles are not an army, but a chaotic heap.
I can still remember my safe handling instructions from the best part of sixty years ago. It started with a LeeEnfield 303, I was in the cadet force at school.
I don’t think the photos are fake, they are stills from a new Alec Baldwin training video. Our host should use it as a ‘what not to do with a gun’ at his training schools…_
Well, from an outsider point of view, and a person who do not know even how to use a firearm, and since you talk about neural links…
Could this not be a way to make the Belarusian army´s guys building neural connections so that they authomatize pointing at and killing fellow slavs when the time comes?
Indeed may be a very kamikaze way of teaching on the part of the Wagnerites, but, they do not have infinite time to do this, right? NATO troops are packing in the Eastern border of Poland….
It is necessary to build neural connections asap….so that allowing to point and shot at whomever blonde looking like your brother or neighbor out there on NATO armor and with NATO weapons who comes at you from the West…I guess….
I guess that the reason why you never trained like that is because you never, except in you war of independence and civil war ( which was two hundred years ago…), have fought fellow anglosaxons, thus, you have no need to build neural connections to be able to do such a thing of pointing and killing your kind….
Although I don’t much care for firearms, once upon a time I did qualify as a marksman in the Navy. Even the US Navy was adamant and disciplined in drilling into my 19 year old head the fundamental percept that you never, ever point the barrel of a gun at anything other than the ground unless you mean to kill it.
On another note, my father who graduated West Point shortly after WWII ended and was posted to Germany as occupying forces, loved to tell a particular joke: “Why do the Polish drink warm beer? Because they forgot the recipe for ice.”
Here is some older Wagner training footage, for comparison: 🙂
https://www.bitchute.com/video/m3GfQYF70y1V/
https://www.bitchute.com/video/a4g2AA9fKY8e/
Why Larry didn’t pick these training videos, where live ammo, actual shooting close to the bodies’ of the trainees occurs. BTW how many victories the US and other conventional training yielded for the West? NONE! I agree with the common safety procedures BUT Wagner is not training for a peacetime shooting range, BUT for close combat war fighting, of which themselves passed with flying colors! It’s beyond me how Wagner’s successful wiping the floor with Azov and others can be turned into this puzzling low ball attacks? Even Putin repeatedly acknowledged Wagner’s battlefield skills, deeds, successes!
It looks like a coordinated smear campaign against Wagner by Larry, Andrei Martyanov and Alexander Merquris ! ALL begun to shit on Wagner!
I like and listen to all three of them but this sudden attacks on Wagners, YES the pound for pound BEST fighting infantry force in existence is boggling my mind!!!
You are a dumb ass. The safety procedures I’m talking about are standard protocol for a professional military. You can fuck off.
That massive dude trying to kill all the recruits in the top video lol? There is no mistaking his voice, let alone his size. Pretty sure I watched a long form video of him doing a training class on youtube a few months ago. It was a Russian channel, so I can’t find it again, or I’d post it. He was scaring the crap out of everybody, including his own guys. He was showing the newbies how to evac their wounded guys from the field properly, provide cover, etc. And blasting live rounds to keep their attention lol.
I thought the voice was modulated in order to hide identity. If that’s his real voice, he needs to see a doctor, or make a death metal band.
Some if not all of those guys look like they have hit their 50’s and 60’s. Flat footed and not in an athletic stance so they can move. This one is a put on and if not meat training for the grinder.
I hope you are wrong Larry, First of all I bet these are not New bee’s, second we better train like we are in combat, and assume that maybe some of out men get out in front , or don’t fall behind fast enough, I hope are training is more than a firing range.
“take a big grain of salt to any story touting the prowess of Wagner or the leadership of Prigozhin.”
As soon as I heard this about Wagner, I took note of it, then forgot about it. What’s going on, at the Polish frontier, is far more important and significant, from a strategic and operational standpoint, than what Wagner might be up to in Belarus. The movement of armies and corps into Belarus dwarfs Wagner into insignificance.
I still hold onto the notion that a joint Belorussian/Russian offensive will erupt out of Brest-Litowsk, towards L’vov, to take Western Ukraine and cut it off from Poland. I think that this will speed things along, elsewhere. And throw a wrench into whatever plans the US/UK have for Poland, the Baltic States, and Belarus/Western Ukraine. But I just don’t know for sure. I’m armchair strategizing and guessing. The Russians are good at strategic and operational surprise. Only they know for certain.
Someone gets it. This is just what I said in the last thread, Russia has to cutoff the flow of men, weapons and material flowing across the Polish-Ukraine border.
Isn’t that Alec Baldwin on the left?
Telegram reports state Russian MoD has cut Wagner adrift and declared it a “terrorist organisation” inside Russian Federation.
It also states it has been funded through crypto-currencies from Africa.
Lukaschenko jokes about them wanting to go to Warsaw and Rszezow…………
Sounds as if Wagner is no longer associated with Russian State so it is not clear what Poland has to fear………….?
Seriously? ( I was going to note I have a bridge for sale) This doesn’t pass the sniff test.
GRU would 1. Arrest the terrorist organization, then 2. declare it a terrorist organization.
You know what a gun without a bullet is ? A stick. A fighter pilot trusts the mechanics ” that do a lot more complex things than make sure a gun is not loaded, have a buddy also check gun, if something goes wrong after that you have treason’ and better to find out now.
Wagner and the Merry Musicians are magnets for histrionics, but then so is “Putin” (the personification of Russia as all things bad); and alas, the West’s Mockingbird Media sedulously toils after histrionics.
Not truth.
Well, if muzzle discipline is the benchmark then every single instructor in the German military I came across (some 25 years ago) is an utter failure. Yes, we had to recite the safety rules ad nauseam, and yet, the instructors themselves were the ones breaking them – scenes like in the photos above were regular occurrences. But then again, the Bundeswehr was never considered serious military. We had a joke that carried over from the Cold War: The purpose of the Bundeswehr is to inhibit the enemy until the real military (NATO) arrives.
(Not so) fun fact: all Bundeswehr personnel killed in the SFOR mission (ex-Yugoslavia) lost their lives due to avoidable accidents due to NOT having said muscle memory. I know of one occasion when a couple of guys lost their lives in a “friendly fire” incident which happened because some shots “escaped” during the safety check (!) prior to cleaning a 20mm onboard cannon which was pointed at the car in front.
So, no: “Muzzle discipline is for sticklers!!1!”, take it from the “real pros”(tm).
Ckout Paul Craig Roberts whining about Putin not understanding he is at war. Since the 1999 Dagestan beheadings, Beslan, Moscow theater, Shamil Baseyev, etc.. Paul must be losing something monetarily or just that his wife’s home country is the ring leader:)
Big meeting today and tomorrow in St Petersburg……
https://nordot.app/1055613645394232216?c=592622757532812385
Larry, here’s my take. If you brought a line of troops up to be trained, you would have literally have to manhandle them into those awkward positions, in other words intentionally make them do something different, against every other position they have ever taken. Look, the 1st photo is a different group of men and trainers to the 2nd and 3rd photos. The last 2 show old men to be trained, look at body weight and stance, you can almost hear the bones creaking! I think we are witnessing a deception here to goad the Poles into doing something based on overconfidence. I also don’t think those AK’s have a single round in them.
guys the gymnastics clubs all over the us take more risk with 12 year old girls every day, doing double backs off bars roundoff entry vaults , and many other dangerous moves that kids have ben killed doing, it all about progressions , that why all the best gymnastics coaches came from this area of the world, growing up doing, and coaching, gymnastics myself, I can tell you they are doing it right, gymnastics was the training tool for the greek and roman soldiers
Wow, what a nightmare. Please let me repeat: n i g h t m a r e !!!. They can’t be serious. I would have them all stop the exercise immediately, unload all the firearms, keep the firearms even unloaded pointed in a safe direction (the ground?) return to the classroom and watch gruesome videos of shooting range accidents. Just to start with and at the very least. Very hard to believe this.
Larry, thanks for the deep dive on the photo. When I see photos that look like that I assume staged and move on. I recall similar photos by the AFU early on where sometimes a second cameraman was in the field of view (or bystanders watching the big military actions!). So this is Deception (Wagner) wrapped in deception (incompetence). Why? My gut says there is a Polish reason.
I agree with JO, a Russian strike to
cut off Poland from Western Ukraine would be a masterstrike, from many aspects, Polish invasion and deliveries of arms and Nato-officials. The Ukrainian army encircled. Romania can’t be used
in the same way as Poland, but the
Ukrainians can move there, as the Polish move around, during WW2.
Putin said, “they hadn’t started anything yet.”
Oh well maybe those sloppy Wagners will accidental wack Volodymyr Zelenskyy and those freshly released Azov Commanders before Poland can get there.
A big Oppsy! You know, Putin has no control of those people, Wagner and Prigozhin, the ex-convict brigade and the outcast.
Larry, I believe they are training, by setting in conditioned responses, through a series of progressions, basically programing the mind and body, this is what they do, I had a high level coach that defected from the Soviet Union work for me( he was from Odessa )and I also knew many other high level coaches the women that took the silver to Nadia, the Eastern Europeans shocked the world in the 70’s and 80’s , please do not under estimate what they are doing.
Larry,
I’m with you on muzzle discipline. Up here in northern BC, the observation is that ‘unloaded guns kill people all the time’.
A couple notes; Two different wars have been going on, first is war on the steppe -firepower & mines. The second is urban combat – urban combat under the ‘eye of Sauron’, most squad leaders have an iPad that is getting constant information. I think Wagner figured it out in Bakhmut. It’s likely that horrific casualties are unavoidable! So Wagner training Belorussians doesn’t make sense unless you’re going to do a big city. They weren’t training for urban combat! The Belorussian army needs to be trained in current Russian army tactics & procedures; if there is any possibility of joint operations, everybody needs uniform behaviour!
If this is not a fake, the Ukrainian army is disintegrating.
Ukrainian soldiers do not want to die for Selensky. One surrenders without a fight!
https://t.me/VladimirTupin/33176
Panic in the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine: the Russians broke through the front west of Karmazinovka
Hard times have come for the northeastern flank of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. The corpses are taken out by trucks to Kharkiv
https://svpressa-ru.translate.goog/war21/article/380930/?_x_tr_sl=auto&_x_tr_tl=de&_x_tr_hl=de&_x_tr_pto=wapp
Putin is quite right – Stalin gave
away the Western parts of Germany, to Poland, very good for
agriculture, and the border was
called the Oder-Neisseline, and 15
millions Germans was deported, they got a big entrance to the Baltic sea, from Stettin to Gdansk, but Poles showed no gratitude. The same manners are repeated in the EU, 1.000 billons, in support, inst-ead they will have more,obstruc-ting the EU, in many ways. They are rather crazy and the perfect euro-victim for USA,only Ukraine beats them, as we now know.
When the AK started the Warsaw uprise in August 1944,against all odds and advices, just to obstruct
the Red army’s offensive, but 200.000 civilian perished, they blamed Stalin for that, typical
nasty East Europeans, they are not
well viewed in the west, so they play on U.S.,like all nations without
character, empty but catholic souls, with Papa in Rome, like a Stalin.
West Germany, another soulless
US stooge didn’t accept the new border with Poland, Oder – Neisse,
and called it the “abgetrennte gebiete”, first 1972,trough Willy Brandt. But Poland was defended
against a revanchist, nazi-fied Bundesrepblik of the Warzawpact,
from 1955, against the Nato, f. 1949.
So don’t believe the fairy tales of
Poland and W-Germany, the little
anti-nazi tiny innocents, ‘heroes”.
Next weeks will be decisive, if Poland lashes out, as 1938, no one
can trust them.
Maybe they’re training these guys to represent NATO in future exercises.
To many d**ks present, for that. Maybe the goal is to accidentally shot few of those off. Wagner style LGBT transition.
A shot down Leopard 2A6 ?
https://t.me/VladimirTupin/33184
NATO runs amok.
I got you beat Larry. There is a shooting range in Tulsa called US Shooting Academy. A rich oil boy named Thomas Fee built it for 15 million. He hired a bunch of military jackwagons who spent every dime he had, and he killed himself on the range. But when the sugar train was going, I was an instructor there and ran 3 IDPA National Championships there.
I instructed the arcane field of Soviet belt fed weapons. We got some contracts thru Naval Special Warfare and did some there. We also did some training at the old Blackwater facility. We would do belt feds in the morning. And they would do handgun training in afternoon. I would skip lunch, clean the pigs, and load belts for the next day.
I wandered over to the handgun bay when I was done one day. First, OMG were they young. When I was in, you had to have time and seniority to go on the teams. These were kids. But anyway, the training had went fast. Instructor says, heh we are done. What you guys want to do? They had all kinds of big plastic gear boxes. They ran over and said they were issued this for “ops”. Sig 225’s and Thunderwear. I shit you not Larry. I was senior, and they came asked me. I told them someone is going to shoot their nuts off even with a DA gun. But fuck it, they are big boys. So, we were running basically IDPA stages with guys wearing Thunderwear crotch holsters and one single spare mag stuck in their pocket. It would have been comical except for the danger aspect.
Looks different from Belta News channel, Larry.
With English subs:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HClp8Hu2PQk
Which raises the question of why were those pictures released that show so much incorrect behavior?
Only Wagner/Prigozin could answer it. Maskirovka? Smoke and mirrors?
Because they don’t care. My guess is that this is some ad hoc training session, with fighters that are not proper instructors. They have battle experience, but don’t know how to translate it into proper training lessons, so they improvise on the spot. Someone happen to be there to film it.
Like many of the problems in the US , everyone say’s what the head guy wont’s to hear, The movie heartbreak ridge was about this very thing and Clint Eastwood was a US Marine. I also heard they drown navy seals in training.
Our system in the US is Afraid of failure. and I under stand a gun is a bad thing to fail with but so is a car. people from this area of the world, at least the ones I have met and I know a few” train to handle fear and they do it smartly, fear is different for everyone but its how you manage it, if your not afraid your an idiot” when your life is on the line, but if your trained properly you can burry it deep, and do your job, I think that if they send these guys out there without having a gun pointed in there direction at some point, you are not preparing them properly, s Some one mentioned (Alex Baldwin) He’s an Idiot, He hired a diversity hire, with nepotism , because her father was an armorer , they are all Idiots, It’s foolish even comparing these men to that. your going to make mistakes at anything, but when your trained properly, and a big part of that training is managing fear, because the fear will get you killed, you have a much better chance at making it, along with the men around you, Sorry Larry I agree you you on almost every thing but not this one. Jim
James,
You clearly do not own a firearm and have never been trained to use one. What you have written is ridiculous. Please don’t embarrass yourself by making this kind of uninformed comment.
I own fire arms Larry and understand the importance of safety that’s not my point as a civilian” I don’t won’t to be shot in the front or back at a range, soldiers in are military are shot in live fire exercises https://apnews.com/article/93d8790a58d147ee9eff2c7c10b9872f. https://alaskapublic.org/2019/04/04/army-investigating-fatal-shooting-of-soldier-during-live-fire-field-training-exercise/ Its obvious we are training like this with bullets in the guns .
I like how the Russians train. The gun is pointed at you and it doesn’t get anymore realistic than that. Trainers even shoot at trainees as they run or crawl through obstacles.
Damn…
Very true. And the Soviets used the same training techniques on the terrorists they trained throughout Africa. I believe many of these training activities are still available on YouTube under Russian spellings.
I suspect that the two stills above that Larry has provided are more or less fodder for consumption by the west at large who have Wagner billeted in their minds rent-free.
Perhaps we should allow the Empire of Lies and its stenographers the full benefit of the deception, and keep our fingers crossed that the world will soon be rid of the global hegemony of the tiny group of Western plutocrats.
When I was trained for service in Vietnam with the M16 rifle we were told to shoot at the base of the enemy soldier because the round could tumble and cause damage.
Larry, I like your site but this article was “An Unforced Error”. From where they point their weapons and where they fingers located, you drew the conclusion that the Wagnerites are no good trainers, though all the Belarussian who met them tell otherwise. They are not training civilians for a peace time civilian shooting range. On other training video they shoot inches away from the bodies of the trainees into the ground to make them move to the desired direction. I’m sure that violates your safety standards too. But the results speak for themselves. They beat the crap out from the Bakhmut defender Azov and other Ukies with a smaller number than now the Russian army have difficulty to defend the Wagner liberated city.
Wagner presenting Paris with a horror show in the CAR………..
https://www.rt.com/news/580142-car-security-wagner-africa/
https://vk.com/wall-65943602_69316?lang=en
Oh, by the way, both London and Paris are royally pissed with the Wagner PMC……..
https://adf-magazine.com/2022/05/evidence-mounts-of-wagner-group-atrocities-in-the-car/
Currently, Wagner is fully responsible for the exiting of Paris from CAR and, earlier this year, Mali
Joke of the day :
What did Woody Hallen and Lukashenko have in common ?
Every-time they hear Wagner they feel like invading Poland. 🙂
Hello Larry.
I really like your site and I know you are a gun Trainer but this article is full of errors and shows why the Green Berrets allways miserably fail in training militias/conscripts.
I served in the Schweizer Wehrmacht (100% swiss conscript army) in the artillery, the only army in the world that shot 155mm shells over cities – kindergardens included – in peace time (remember, just conscripts not professionals). Rifle and handgrenade training was always life fire whith overshooting/-throwing comrades in front of you! This never took place on the rifle range but just anywhere in the countyside (note, Switzerland is densly populated ). I remember some Bundeswehr NCOs who were once on visit and nearly got a heart attack (what a bunch of softies ;-)) and french artillery officers who were filming like crazy because they could not believe it 🙂
Now to your article:
1) It’s an optical illusion on most photos (same trick is used in hollywood), most are not aming at each other.
2) I don’t know any problems with L-shape formation; I trained dry firing the same way in the first week, second week was allready life fire.
3) “…..pointing their rifles in a number of unsafe, dangerous directions”: Sorry, but there exist no unsafe directions in the world.
4) “starting with groups of four”: Are you kidding me? How do you want to train hundreds of thousand of soldiers in a week with only 4-man-groups. I too trained at least by the dozen.
5) Make soldiers point guns at other people so they get used to it and see that pointing a gun at somebody is no way different than pointing your running car at a person – something you do dozens of times every day by the way and nobody is shocked (remember I was shooting 155mm shells over kindergardens); from a mahtematical point of view cars are a thousand times deadlier than guns!
6) Safety switches, what rubbish is that? Ah yea I remember the Sowjet TT-33 story. As a good old style war gun it had no fancy safety switch; USA banned their sale due to their lack of a safety – I am not afraid and own one 😉
Therefore from your pictures you cannot tell if Wagners are good or bad trainers .
Worthy points
“the only army in the world that shot 155mm shells over cities”
This reminded me of a Youtube video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h1s6S4kotE
During basic training the range instructor told us point blank, pun intended, that should we wave the weapon around or point it at someone, we’d be shot. I’m assuming that rule still applies.