Introduction: Why This Video Rings True – NATO’s Entrenched Second-Generation Warfare Mindset and the Shadow of Cultural Marxism

But then, the wall: NATO advisors, guardians of the status quo, quietly strangled the funding.

As a longtime advocate for adaptive, human-centered military reform – drawing from my decades of experience training leaders in maneuver warfare and mission command – I watched this video with a profound sense of validation and urgency. “Ukrainian soldiers say NATO training USELESS and Outdated” isn’t just a headline; it’s a stark indictment of a Western military establishment that’s still shackled to the rigid, attrition-based doctrines of second-generation warfare.

The raw testimonies from Ukrainian troops on the front lines – men and women who’ve stared down Russian drones, artillery barrages, and hybrid threats in the Donbas – cut through the bureaucratic fog like a bayonet. They describe NATO’s training as scripted checklists, top-down micromanagement, and obsolete simulations that bear no resemblance to the chaotic, initiative-driven reality of modern combat. One soldier’s quip about feeling like they’re “training for World War I in 2024” isn’t hyperbole; it’s the lived truth of a generation gap in warfare paradigms.

And here’s the deeper rot: this isn’t mere oversight. NATO’s persistent embrace of second-generation culture – with its emphasis on mass, firepower, and linear execution over agility, decentralized decision-making, and human judgment – has been compounded by decades of Cultural Marxism’s insidious creep into our institutions.

What began as well-intentioned pushes for inclusivity and equity has morphed, in too many corners, into a corrosive ideology that prioritizes ideological conformity, grievance hierarchies, and performative virtue over merit, resilience, and warfighting excellence.

We’ve seen it in the dilution of standards, the suppression of dissent, and the elevation of process over outcomes – all of which stifle the very adaptability Ukraine so desperately needs. The result? Advisors who cling to PowerPoint briefings and compliance metrics, while Ukrainian forces, forged in the crucible of survival, innovate with commercial drones and ad-hoc networks that NATO’s playbook can’t comprehend.

I know this not from afar, but from the front lines of reform efforts. In spring 2023, the Ukrainian Center for Peace – their premier leadership development hub – reached out to me directly. They’d been studying my works on Outcomes-Based Learning (OBL), a framework I champion to shift training from rote memorization to real-world problem-solving and adaptive thinking.

They wanted me in Europe in the spring of 2024: to embed with their cadre, deliver hands-on workshops, and help them operationalize OBL for true maneuver warfare and mission command. Imagine it – Ukrainian officers learning to empower small units with the intent to act decisively, unburdened by the command paralysis that plagues so many NATO doctrines.

As soon as they contacted me in 2023, we moved fast. I emailed all of my materials: my full library on mission command, OBL curricula tailored for high-intensity conflict, and even authorized translations of my books like Adapting Mission Command and Raising the Bar into Ukrainian. Their team was electric – hungry for tools that treat soldiers as empowered agents, not interchangeable cogs.

I answered, in lengthy details, numerous emails from their director of training on how to implement OBL and Mission Command. I emailed more materials and examples. Now, they wanted me to come to Europe, not Ukraine (my wife said no after what I had seen in five and half years in Afghanistan), so they tried to coordinate doing my workshops in a NATO European country.

But then, the wall: NATO advisors, guardians of the status quo, quietly strangled the funding. No overt veto, just the slow suffocation of budgets and approvals, laced with whispers that my “unconventional” methods threatened their cookie-cutter approach.

Why?

Because OBL demands accountability for results, not just attendance certificates – and mission command thrives on trust, not surveillance. It exposes the fragility of a system more invested in preserving hierarchies than winning wars.

This video isn’t anomaly; it’s echo. Ukrainian voices, echoing my warnings from books to briefings, remind us that the enemy isn’t just Russia – it’s complacency. NATO can modernize, but only if it sheds the second-gen straitjacket and the cultural toxins that keep it there. Watch, listen, and act. The front lines are calling for leaders who learn by doing, not by decree. Let’s answer.