I am a US Marine vet who trained with the Ukrainians 20 years ago. Here is the secret of their fighting success.

• Troy Smothers deployed with the USMC to Ukraine in 2005 to train his infantry to NATO standards.

• By necessity, many Ukrainians are skilled at fixing electronics and keeping aging systems running.

• Smothers often visits Ukraine and told Business Insider that this mentality drives their success.

This essay is based on a conversation with Troy Smothers, a US Marine veteran sergeant who now runs American Made Freedom, a non-profit organization that provides fiber-optic drones to Ukrainian forces. Business Insider verified his military record and deployment to Ukraine with the Department of Defense.

The following has been edited for clarity and brevity.

I was a standard infantry corporal in the Marines when I was sent to Odessa, Ukraine in 2005.

There were maybe 100 of us, and our obvious role was to teach infantry tactics, such as jump and bound alternate movements, fields of fire, and calling in artillery fire.

This was the doctrine of NATO. Because 20 years ago, Ukrainians were inspired by Soviet tactics that threw people at their enemy like waves of human flesh.

The roles are now somewhat reversed. Now the West wants to know how the Ukrainians are fighting, and how they have turned what little they have into a powerful weapon.

Even two decades ago, I saw among them the same mentality that is the key to Ukraine’s strength today.

I was only in Ukraine for about three weeks in 2005, but my training with the soldiers there left a similar impression on me.

We knew that Ukraine’s military budget was underfunded. All they had was Soviet-era equipment that had been scrapped by the US 20 years earlier.

We asked ourselves what we were doing sitting in their old Russian made helicopter.

Helicopters usually leak hydraulic fluid. However, when we boarded the helicopter in Ukraine, there was a pool of liquid in the cracks in the floor of the plane.

Of course, nobody smoked near those things.

Most of the Ukrainian equipment was old, but it was a testimony to what they worked with.

‘We’ll make it work’

Since the start of full-scale war in 2022, I’ve been traveling to Ukraine for months at a time, showing drone manufacturers the new fiber optic spools they can build and improve on impenetrable drones. We’re testing designs used on the battlefield today.

You see the same “we have it, so we’ll make it work” determination now in Ukraine. The Ukrainians are getting some great kits from Europe and America, but it’s clearly not enough to win yet.

By necessity, they took toy hobby drones and turned them into sophisticated military equipment.

We don’t fight like that in America. If something breaks, we usually order a replacement part or refund.

In Ukraine, they open the part and repair it. Wages are very low there, so their people are more used to repairing electronics or appliances themselves. If the mobile phone breaks, they will open it and start soldering.

Because of this, they had a large army of electronically savvy people, which enabled them to bring instant solutions to war.

That is not culturally ingrained in the American military or our people. Of course, we would adapt in the same situation, but could we have done it as quickly as the Ukrainians did, transforming toys and parts bought from China’s Alibaba into something the whole world is seeing today?

Here’s an example of their DIY ingenuity. The Ukrainians have nicknamed their first-person-view drones a “mustache,” which is essentially two stiff copper wires extending forward.

When the drone flies over its target, these wires send a signal to the attached detonator – touching the blasting cap – to trigger the explosion. The mustache safety device is a simple, 3D-printed pin that pops out when you launch the drone.

I’ve bought and used dozens of these while developing fiber-optic drones, and a single one costs only $12 to $15. In the United States, to get the same device, you’ll spend $400 to $500, even on scale.

Most of these Ukrainians were just regular people until they were attacked and killed by the Russians. But if anything, they have an incredible advantage in finding solutions, sometimes because their uncle or friend may have run a repair or electronics business.

We were there 20 years ago to bring the Ukrainians up to NATO standards. Today, I can see how much they can teach us about innovation. It is humble.

Read the original article on Business Insider