Stop overestimating Russia's military

We have consistently overestimated the capabilities of the Russian military. Of course their conduct in the war in Ukraine is the most recent example but this is something that dates back to WWII. The article looked at here raises the issues with how that has come about. From relying too much on official Russian statements as to their abilities to failing to incorporate the issues they have with soldiers in their ranks.

#military #russia #ukrainewar #ukraine #russianarmy #russiaukraine #ukrainerussia #army #war #warinukraine #nato #coldwar

[pctotil]

"Russia is never as strong as she looks; Russia is never as weak as she looks." (Attributed to multiple individuals, including Winston Churchill.)

[whysosyria]

Rather overestimate than underestimate

[tdev]

Your military isn't fully tested until you experience and witness your fellow soldiers in the battlefield blown up. Other than that everything is just a wonderful theoretical exercise.

[karliszauers]

Those who live in ex Soviet bloc have always been aware of how Russian military operates. Getting rid of corruption is extremely tedious and hard and that's in democratic country. Post Soviet Russia might have even achieved corruption greater than Soviet Russia ever could

[dt]

It is better to overestimate an opponent than to underestimate him. In the latter case, you might find yourself in a costly unpleasant surprise. Countries have lost wars underestimating the enemy.

[ADobbin]

They emphasis numbers on paper because they assume their potential enemies are tactically, strategically and logistically capable. If you assume that, it comes down to how much stuff the other guy has compared to you and how fast you can trash it in battle. Frankly no one can just assume and train like the other guys are stupid and useless. If you do, you start getting lazy and wind up being just as useless as the guy you are laughing at.

[zombijohnny]

At the same time, don't underestimate the Russian military

[jimmychin]

Underestimating ur enemy is foolhardy.

[joeledwards]

Quote I heard in the 80/90s about the USSR. They always lie about their capabilities, but the US always assumed they were telling the truth! The US was always honest about our capabilities and the USSR always assumed we were lying! The 1st Gulf War changed some of this..

[anssimyllymaki]

In Finland we have this term 'Ryssiä'. It means to f*ck up, do someting poorly or fail miserable. Russian is called 'Ryssä'. Term comes from 'do it like russians '. 😂

[murrydog]

Russia was just following classic Sun Tzu, “When weak appear strong..”

And they did a very good job of it.

The problems started when Russia started to believe their own hype….

[kev_sen]

France was also regarded as the strongest most capable military super power in the lead up to WW2.

[Jamesthechef]

The enemy is never as strong as they say or as weak as we think

[ashcarrier]

NATO before the war: Russia can defeat NATO in two weeks. We need to spend more money.

War: Russia can't do combined arms for shyte. It's logistic ability ends one truck's fuel capacity beyond the last Russian gauge rail head. It's air force barely gets any flight hours in peacetime, can't do SEAD missions, and basically isn't a factor on the battlefield.

NATO after observing all of this: We need to spend more money.

[looinrims]

As someone who likes history and military topics, god I’ve been saying this for years

Just look at binkovs battlegrounds comments on Russia videos before the war, may be trolls but many genuinely are Zimps

[FakeAssHandsomeMcGee_]

The popular CoD game set in 2007 or 2009 had the Russians doing a successful invasion of the Eastern US. They even got their small corvettes all the way across the Atlantic.

[lt.dashkov]

I love how people want to jump and say "oh so you support ukraine" when no hes hypercritical of both sides and it must be known this man never misses on a review

[andrewjohnston]

I spent a year working in Russia after the end of the Cold War, I walked past a military barracks every morning, and it looked like a hippie commune, unkempt, dirty, and decaying, much like the soldiers. Everyone of them was hungover every morning, the sentries were scruffy and slouching about, I have no illusions about the Russian males (military or otherwise), they're just a drunken rabble and they couldn't function (a litre of Vodka every night per man was (probably still is) quite normal). As an ex RAF officer I was astounded we were so worried about the Red army, they were a sorry spectacle. The only advantage the soviets had was lots and lots of manpower, cannon fodder if you will, the same as they had in WW2 and as Stalin said "Quantity has a quality all of it's own".
As an aside, saying Russian soldiers come from the poorer areas, well that's the military the world over, the British army is full of people from the less wealthy regions of the UK and I'd take a guess the US army and Marines are pretty similar, there's nothing remarkable about young men joining the military to get a economic leg up.

[JacobKuchkov]

Jocko Willink said “I always respect my enemies.” We should remember that

[leadminer]

Russia's strength was its Soviet legacy, which was declining over time as it was becoming outdated. The biggest part of this was massive stockpiles of ammunition and artillery shells. Russia has squandered this legacy by firing an inordinate amounts of artillery shells that has both reduced the stockpile and worn out their artillery barrels at the same time. Russian army doctrine relies heavily on artillery support and without it they struggle. Ukraine on the other hand has been provided with relatively modern artillery which outranges and beats the Russian artillery for accuracy. As a result they fire less shells and wear out their barrels more slowly. The war reminds me of the tale of the tortoise and the hare. Russia came in at top speed with all guns blazing, while Ukraine has slowly improved their position and has caught up with Russia now. However, the race has not yet finished.