Lt.-Col. Tim Arsenault has led Canadian troops in Ukraine

Lt.-Col. Tim Arsenault says his experience in Ukraine as commander for Operation UNIFIER ranks among his most rewarding – no small thing, considering the Sudbury native can claim nearly 25 years of service, including a role in Canada’s mission to Afghanistan.

"It’s one of the best experiences in my military career so far," said Arsenault, reached as he was preparing to wrap up his tour in the eastern European nation. "First of all, we’re culturally similar to our Ukrainian partners here, so once that language barrier is broken, we’re making really tight friendships. In that respect, it’s very good."

There’s also a sense of achievement in knowing the training the Canadians have provided has been key to development and modernization of the Ukrainian forces, which have been dealing with Russian incursions into the country since 2014.

"We’re working at a level here where we’re actually representing Canada, we’re demonstrating Canada’s engagement to our allies, we’re demonstrating Canada’s engagement to Ukraine, so I think in that respect, it’s a very enriching experience," Arsenault said. "It has been one of the first operational missions where I’m not so anxious to leave, necessarily, just because of how good things have been for us here and the friendships we have made. I know that my successor will probably appreciate it as much as I have."

Commander of 3rd Battalion, Royal 22e Regiment (also known as The Van Doos) in Val-Cartier, Que., Arsenault was deployed in January and assumed command of Joint Task Force-Ukraine from Lt.-Col. Jason Guiney during a ceremony there.

He’s one of around 200 Canadian Armed Forces personnel in Ukraine, mostly for a seven-month deployment, as part of UNIFIER, a non-combat operation focusing on tactical soldier training, one of six "lines of effort" for the Canadian mission, carried out in Yavoriv, in western Ukraine near the Polish border.

Arsenault has handed off command, then headed back to Val-Cartier, then to Ottawa.

He expects to stay busy.

"We’re wrapping things up, but we’re doing it running, because we’re starting a training block, so we’ll actually be handing over in the middle of a training block, with soldiers based out of Shiloh, Man.," Arsenault said.

Other lines of effort as part of the mission include explosive ordnance disposal and improvised explosive device disposal training, military police training, flight safety and language training, medical training and logistics system modernization.

More than 150 instructors have now been trained and several Ukrainian instructors have taken a lead role in instructing local forces, with Canadians serving as mentors, and others are preparing to take over by this fall.

"We have had significant success in training Ukrainian instructors how to teach the various different lines of effort that we’ve been running here since the beginning of the mission," Arsenault said. "The mission is very healthy and we’re in a good position to hand it off to the next rotation, to enable their success."

There’s no doubt they’re making a difference, he said, as the Joint Multinational Training Group has brought in units who have previously been through training. Their feedback and their appreciation have been encouraging.

Arsenault also pointed to the response to a junior leadership academy training program, started under the Canadians’ own initiative.

"Initially, it was just a Canadian initiative and we actually had problems identifying Ukrainians to load onto the course, but it spread like wildfire and there’s more demand than we can provide for," he said."In our last training course, we had 73 Ukrainian instructors from all corners of the country.

"Those successful training events have made it so the Ukrainian leadership keeps asking for more. We have constant requests for additional training events, our young Canadian NCOs (non-commissioned officers) and officers are demonstrating their professionalism and they have created a very high demand for the training they have to offer. I’d say that speaks to our success, as well."

Canada is committed to keeping 200 CAF personnel in Ukraine until March 2017. Arsenault said the Canadians are "well-posed to transition to something else, whatever the government decides that might be."

"I know we’ve certainly set the conditions for the next rotation to take the mission and move it forward. Overall, I think it has been a very positive experience for everybody and I know I’ll be staying in contact with a lot of my Ukrainian friends here for a long time."

bleeson@postmedia.com

Twitter; @ben_leeson