“This is where I should be”
Swansea born and bred Dylan is an Army Reservist with The Third Battalion, The Royal Welsh. He joined the British Army six years ago when he was 18 years old, and says his main goal in life is to become the best infantry soldier he can be, and is now training Ukrainian soldiers to also be the best.
From a family proud of their military heritage Dylan volunteered for Op Interflex. He wanted to help Ukrainian soldiers become the best they can be in, in their fight against Russia’s illegal invasion of Ukraine. He also saw the operation as a chance to develop himself as a soldier, as he explains here:
“This is the first major mobilisation I have done. With the British Army I have been on training exercises, and I have done a lot of private courses, all with the goal of making me the best infantry soldier I can become. Not in a cocky way, but I think everyone’s got that, especially in the Reserves. We all wanted to be here. We all want to be the best that we can be. So we’re always chasing that goal of being better. Getting my head in books, reading people’s experiences, talking to the Ukrainians, listening to their stories, taking in information and just growing my own skills.”
What made you volunteer for Op Interflex?
It was the right thing to do. It was doing your part and I think everyone should be doing their part to help in this situation. It is an unjust war. It’s an invasion of an innocent country, and especially as an infanteer, this is my opportunity to give the best knowledge and training demos, for example, that I can, to help these soldiers. And everything I have learned throughout my service; I will try my best to give that knowledge to the Ukrainians.
How vital do you think infantry warfare is to the Ukrainian battle?
I think it’s hugely important, this is really going to help them. It is definitely needed and they will definitely learn from this experience.
How do you find being on Op Interflex?
It is eye opening, definitely eye opening. It feels like this is where you should be. It is where I should be.
How have you found training the Ukrainians?
To be honest, they are literally just like us. We’re all the same, we are all brothers in arms. We laugh about the same thing, joke about the same things. The language barrier isn’t as big as what people think when you can feel and know what they want to say. There is a connection between the two forces between the British and Ukrainian, you can definitely see it.
How do you feel about seeing these soldiers you have a connection with, that you have trained, go off to a war?
We can really do our part by really helping them here [in training]. You have got to be professional, do your best to help them, and not be selfish and think about ourselves, but help them. That is where our part comes in, giving the best training that we can to the Ukrainians.
We obviously can’t be there, but we can do our best here to support them, to teach them. Lethality and survivability, these are the bread and butter that we are teaching them.
What do your family think about you doing?
They’re all proud of what I’m doing. They think it’s a great thing that I’m doing here. And that’s fully supportive.
When it comes to back home, it was good to see the Ukrainian flags, and military flags on some people’s doors, you can see Ukrainian flags, especially around Swansea. There is definitely a huge amount of support to help Ukraine, people back home are donating, making donations for clothing, and food banks opening up. It was really good to see.
