Complete GoPro of a Terrible Recon Mission in Ukraine 

this video is a perfect example of why the infantry does those shitty uncomfortable ruck marches all the time, you never know when you'll get fucked and a mission takes longer or goes further

As a former soldier myself this is the most stressful video i've seen, they're walking in a path without cover, you have to look at literally everything in order to surive, snipers, clear skies which have drones above you, no cover, mines and an incorrct intel, idk what else could be so shitty

The creepiest part of the video to me personally is how beautiful and peaceful the terrain in the woods is. It's almost like you forget that there is an actual war going on (besides the explosions in the background of course.)

I’m a former Army Recon Det Comdr & Sniper TL & this video is quite alarming. The disregard of noise discipline, patrolling in open tracks by day which are considered obstacles or potential fire lanes, the lack of recon SOP’s is evident. No all round defence halt procedures. No obstacle crossing procedures. In open ground you should be patrolling into your OP at night, during the day you should be using cover such as sticking to treelines or deadground. There are 2 main threats for a recon patrol… enemy trackers & forward observers or OP’s. FO’s can call in IDF. Long Range OP’s are occupied by snipers which observe at a distance of 1-2km. I know you guys are on the ground doing the business and it’s easy to point out faults from our end but please learn & apply recon patrol procedures. It will minimise loss of life. ❤️ from NZ.

Imagine if WW2 was documented with this level of detail

20 years retired infantry guy here and I tell you all that open space makes me cringe. One danger area followed by another and another. Goodonya mate.

Doesn't matter how many movies or games will be made about this war, nothing will make my heart pound as much as a Gopro video! Whoa... 3.9k? Madness!

This mission is a literal tactical nightmare, heavy gear, wrong intel, only open fields with possible mines IED’s or hidden infantry and clear skies so loads of drones abd aerial view aswell.

The Vietnam War was the first widely televised conflict, and that profoundly changed how the general public perceives warfare, but this is on another level entirely.

A few things we learned in Iraq was if you come to any obstacles in a road its better to go through or over it incase it was there to direct you to a certain side of the road. Also never walk on edge of road always travel in tire tracks cause if a truck went over that spot then it's more likely safe

Hey, My country Uruguay is very much like Ukraine, 90% of the country is grasslands as our main agricultural thing is cattle. seeing this footage of you fighting in Ukraine really gives me a glimpse into what fighting in my country would be like. When I and my guys train we try to go to places with hills and more wooded areas, but this only shows how much of the fighting is done in areas with not that much tree cover. Considering the advent of drone usage in warfare concealment really has become hyper important too. thank you.

People always have the fear of being alone, but in those open fields, you have the fear that you are NOT alone.

There's something kind of scary to know there were people in those trenches who were waiting for this exact situation and it's just a matter of time that separates that

In the face of danger y'all having a laugh and keeping positive in a situation where I'd be absolutely both shitting myself and enjoying myself, that shows the bravery and companionship between brothers in arms. Keep strong lads.

I served in the army with your medic, he’s one of my best friends! Small fucking world mate!

I live in this village....Prishib is called .I thank everyone who participated in the liberation of the city of Balakliya

This war has finally shown live and in color how messed up small unit movement in a tactical environment is. "Where are we? What is the mission? Mission's changed? Medical problem mid-mission. Are those guys bad guys? Do we shoot that guy coming out of the building? Where are the bad guys?" CivDiv came up with the best title for this vid.

I like what you said about the medic! I'm a retired army combat medic and most people don't realize that the medic is always carrying lots of equipment and when we would stop on a long movement the medic is still moving checking on the troops. I loved every minute of it though. Sure do miss those days!

this will go down in history, thank you for documenting this

good weather and birds chirping in a battlefields is just eerie

Was a medic in the Canadian armed forces for 20 years. Only had one mission with SFOR in Bosnia 1999-2000 and only once felt in danger and that was crossing a check point manned by drunk Bosnian soldiers/ police. Whilst in training we were warned not to trust these checkpoints as things could go south fairly quickly. Only time I had a bullet in my pistol’s chamber. This being said, I can feel the tension in this video. I can only imagine how it must have felt patrolling that area with misleading intel to top it off. Thanks for sharing this with us. Hope you guys are all safe. Slava Ukrain!

I can't imagine what these families go through trying to live through something like this. That was a very brave guy coming out to say hello, armed men in his yard. Stay safe, Ukrainian man with dog.

Thank you so much for documenting this. This isn't theatrical or dramatized, its just straight raw footage

At first I thought getting shot at would be the scariest outcome walking out in the open like that, but no. Knowing there's a drone and spotters that could be calling in a fire mission at any time is way more terrifying. You can take conceal yourself from infantry, but not so much from artillery.

Considering mines, where I am we never get on the roads as they are perceived to be the most likely areas to encounter one. I'm also a little surprised that nobody had their weapons pointed when the door opened. The single most mind boggling thing for me is how they didn't have maps at their disposal if they have to ask the civilian for his. That pacing out in the open is absolutely heart wrenching to watch.

Feels weird seeing a place all the way in Europe look so much like my homeland in rural Texas. All the more unsettling when you know that same type of place is under a pretty violent war day by day.

As a US Marine Vet. I can say this is the very reason why we build the CORPS so much around being in shape. Our Boot Camp is 100% Physical fitness from day one.

One hundred percent respect and admiration! So, please don't take what I say as being an armchair team captain. However, you guys are a LRRP (Long Range Reconnaissance Patrol) team and I noticed one big thing that stood out to me and that was noise discipline. I heard a lot of things rattling around that needed to be taped down or otherwise secured, sloshing canteens, metal buttons and buckles on slings and so on. Also, you guys were stepping on a lot of branches, twigs, etc. Watch out for that kind of stuff. I want to reiterate that I say this out of love, respect and admiration! I just want to offer helpful advice to see to it you make it home alive. Slava Ukraine 🇺🇦

As a video, this is a fantastic example of the importance of SOPs. For the most part these guys all strike me as combat veterans, but there's a clear disconnect on how to address various combat tasks and situations. Most modern militaries have boiled down combat to an assorted list of combat tasks, and the difference in procedures to accomplish these tasks is showing it's head in full force, here.

I was never in combat but could hear the ghost voice of Sgt Stocker from basic in my head. “If you stop go in shadow and take a knee. Always try to find cover and shadow. The easy path has the most mines. Every civilian will give you away. If you are spotted by enemy attack if on fighting patrol leave if on recce. Always use the basement and find the robust points such as around stairwells. “ A more fun memory is from a WW2 vet who had a trick grenade to clear trenches and rooms with stealth. He put a fuze and cap only into an M/36 grenade and no explosive powder or detonator. He tossed it from near and enemy would hear the spoon clink and pop of the cap lighting the fuze and hear the hiss of the burning fuze. He said it always elicited a response including enemy jumping out with no weapons. If nobody home, he picked it up and used it again.

Your long-ish form videos provide a context that noncombatants usually don't get from shorter videos on War Leaks etc that edit for only the exciting bits of action. Your captioning also really helps bring us along to understand the uncertainty, fog of war, thought process, and improvisation on the fly you have to deal with. It's a really valuable and, in my limited media consumption experience, unique line of journalism and war documentation. It brings home the reality of the conflict and a soldier's experience in a way that news media has never been able to or interested in capturing, I think. I've read a lot of military history and soldiers' autobiographies; watching your vids corroborates and emphasizes their common points in a way that no written account can. Your last comment about how the 1st team dealt with and mentally/emotionally responded after the friendly fire incident is one of the few (only?), best examples I can think of for positive, constructive fatalism. Pretty amazing, to be able to compartmentalize the contributing factors to that situation and be cool with the guys who could have just unintentionally killed your guys. I have to appreciate it without being able to understand the experience. Be well, whether you're still home or planning on returning to Ukraine for another stint/tour.

The hallmark of a successful Recon mission is gathering intel, putting eyes on denied or occupied ground and minimizing contact with the enemy. The biggest metric of your success was you got a ton of info without firing a shot.

As these men walk through a battlefield I can hear the birds chirping like it’s a quiet peaceful day.

Considering you have no comm gear, it seems like they sent you out there to die. Youre doing recon, but youre not able to relay that information quickly and effectively. Kudos to you and your team. You guys are braver than most of us.

I did 14 months in Iraq as a line medic in an infantry platoon from 11/07 to 01/09. Urban is entirely different from sparsely vegetated woodland obviously, and Iraq was a low-intensity conflict (though it often didn't feel like that) as compared to the high-intensity nation against nation warfare here. But man, those crossings in the open gave me the willies. Also, the fact that y'all had to infil during the day is terrifying to me. Anytime we did something like counter-sniper, counter-IDF ops, or even a hard-knock raid, we'd do an offset infil at night. Another platoon would drop us off and we would walk in. The other guys would either act as a roving QRF, or in the event of a raid they'd set up a cordon and watch for squirters. Always night, and we did everything we could to stick to the streets and alleys in those muhallahs and avoid any of the big open squares or dirt fields between muhallahs whenever we could. I'm guessing this was pushed from higher as time sensitive, hence why they had to infil during daylight and couldn't take the extra time to skirt that huge open area and stay in the woodline. Just a shitty situation to be in, even if they didn't take any fire.

that one guy was napping while the tankfire was going on. Thats hardcore.

There should never be "secret" groups hunkered down in the area you are to patrol that your commander wont tell you about. That is asking for friendly fire.

LMAO 34:14 pure gold. Thank you guys for doing what you do for this world, all while having the best time you can! That one had me laughing

As an American, I can’t even imagine my country invaded and having to talk to soldiers from a different language. Heart goes out to countries not as secluded as America.

All these open fields - it's a snipers paridise, I wouldn't be able to move. Hence why I'm home, watching. God bless you and God bless Ukraine and America.

Good on you for documenting all of this in such detail, especially the cluster f*k about the bad intel. If you were still doing this in the US Military, they’d make you wait like a year to release all of this as it went through a process of bureaucratic evaluation and then they’d make you edit a bunch of it out to prevent them from looking bad.

Trench, shovels, wet soil, pucker factor high. Thanks for the videos, gives a real insight on what goes on 👍👍

Incredible footage. Thank you. Also thank you for the +30min of footage. Really unique stuff.

this feeling when everything is not correct ... wow, i would be laying in a bush for a day or two after meeting that grandpa in the village ... and you continue on your mission, with injured man, in heavy gear, on opened fields, seeing unknow people everywhere ... holy smokes you got some balls 💙💙💙💛💛💛

31:12 the fun y’all seem to have in this position was awesome to hear. Glad your spirits are high. You’re fighting the good fight.

Good to see you guys using proper spacing while patrolling. Glad you made it through all your missions.

The team leader everyone needs, takes an injury early and still performs to the point where he made a judgement call, against the will of his men, to get them out of there. proved to be spot on.

Hey man just wanna say thank you for your service and thank you for documenting and showing the truth of war all the best to ya mate👍❤️

I love videos like this - taking the "news frame" off the action and embedding us home viewers with the troops ourselves, but with no chance of our being wounded or killed. Thanks for uploading it. Stay alive for us, not just for your loved ones.

Memes in the middle of warfare, I died when you called a vibe check as you all ducked when a bomb hit. Absolute legends. Be safe, Fight hard, And come home. much love from New Zealand. Slava Ukrain.

How much weight is each carrying? As a long distance hiker I can already tell you what they are doing is insane.

34:09 "I gotta take a piss, but... incoming POW!"

I know I'm not there, and I don't know the local conditions, but this was some of the worst movement approaching enemy forces, in daylight, with drone friendly weather, that I can imagine. I'm amazed, really. It's just awful.

I feel like this mission is the exact reason why you need a radioman in every squad if possible.

29:19 When all else fails, a little light hearted "comedy" in a rough situation of tank fire never hurt anyone. Its great to see you raising your friends spirits, even as your position is under fire...by a tank/artillery.

I love how you guys are still able to keep your hurmor and be able to mess around. Perfect example is 34:10.

The Foreign legion is really pulling their weight out there

Man this had me on the edge of my seat. Every bark, every breaking twig. You guys are freakin legends.

The scariest thing for me is that the birds at the start sound exactly the same as the ones here in the UK. It drives the point that this isn't really far from home. Slav Ukraini.

Knowing just how real this is, I could have easily have watched 2 solid hours of this, as it were just the 35 minutes flew by. Praying they are all safe

Idk how much footage you have but I really enjoy these complete GoPro videos

man thank you for recording all of this, I think its so cool that people recording their time in war and the fact that we get to literally watch yalls experiences is crazy to me. I know headcams have been around for a while now but I still really appreciate it lol

This modern warfare is terrifying. The damn drones are terrifying

This is the most documented war and it showed Russia isn’t scary unless nuclear weapons are threatened. Ukraine civilian and whoever helped has gained my support throughout the war.

Without the artillery in the background, this literally looks like a pleasant afternoon walk down a country road It's surreal

Never been in combat but I'm amazed at these guys walking out in the open along roads and trails. Somebody with a rifle could've taken you all out before you reached cover very easily.

Worst statement by the recon team, "Do we have binos?"

The civilian uncle was super chill✌🏻

Interesting example of the realities of war. All the times as a child I was told or read "We ghosted through the bush in 'nam, never even rustling the leaves because the enemy was right there listening". My brothers and I would try to do that in the forest near our home, and NOTHING we did could stop the dry leaves from rustling . . . we used to say "Wow, our uncles were REALLY good at this". Reality. "Crackle, crunch crunch snap, crackle".

Love the 'pureness' of this footage, especially that no 'enhancing background music' has been added. Bit off topic, but at 20:56 you can hear for about one minute one or more European bee-eaters (Merops apiaster) flying around. In normal times, as a tourist (I'm from the Netherlands), I would have found that an exciting detail...

Dude considering how much weapons ammo vics being sent out there to help I need to know why the lack of gear? no comms no maps GPS? insane. Massive respect for you to carry out recon without key equipment.

Respect to the people of Ukraine. Stay strong Ukraine..👍 Greetings from Denmark.

Wow this really shows the importance of getting proper intel... Luckily no one was killed!

Real deal, thank you! no CGI, no script, no special effects 👍

just the first 2mins and 20s when you start talking about Drones and that alone just scares the crap out of me, we're seriously in a modern age of warfare where drones (not even military grade) are a serious part of gun fights and can be a serious threat to the enemy team. flying cameras... gotta love 'em

Is the audio muffled for anyone else?

You never know when a changO will come in. It’s sucks getting stuck carrying that much gear that long. But being prepared is better than not being prepared. You guys handled that well I think. Also thank you and those around you so much for helping push the Russian army back. It’s crazy we’re in this situation to begin with, but without men like you it would be and could be so much worse. Thank you

Спасибо за братскую помощь и спасибо за операторский труд❕️

Whilst watching you lads, I could feel the tension building. With the enemy still in the area and you boys walking in the open, across the fields, I was just waiting for either the 1st mortar round or the 1st burst of 30mm or maybe even perhaps RPK fire to start whizzing in..

Extraordinary!!! I really admire the courage of all of you. This is real, not a war game. Every second and step forward is a death zone. You guys did it bravely and the team was strong and completely in control. Even between the whistling of rockets and guns, you can still joke and laugh. Truly awesome!

Awesome footage, Civ!! I've been waiting for 15-20 min plus banger. Even though the mission was a lil back asswards, thank you for continuing to show your story!

Thank you for sharing this amazing footage. And wow, those backpacks that the soldiers are carrying are MASSIVE. I've always heard that infantry these days are over encumbered

bro doesnt know how to fear, looking back at wars he been and creates top tier content

goes to show how important GOOD intel is.... respect for getting through it

Great work and documenting. All the "cool" explosions make it to the mainstream media, but it's this kind of work. Being alert all the time, not knowing what's behind the next bush, Don't let you're guard down for hours. Is what makes it so difficult.I am just watching the video and my heart pounded. Can't imagen being over there. Good work.

Thanks for filming you're experience fighting in Ukraine

I haven't seen anything of this quality since Restrepo, showing civilians what war is and at the same time showing the strength of the "Band of Brothers"so perfectly.

I don't know what to say. Personally I could never in my life do something like this unless it was my own country that was invaded. I respect those fighting. Walking in those fields. No cover at all in clear skies. I respect it. I don't know too much about warfare I'll save that for the professionals. Just stay safe the best you can guys!

33:34 "vibe check" lmfao that got me in tears

Wow you can feel that tension, then you hear the birds singing, and it just looks so open when there running.

This looks more like a movement to contact rather than a recon mission. Most recon missions I have been on in Iraq and Afghanistan we were in our hide site by day break. Wishing you guys the best of luck.

The patrol started off with good noise/light discipline, good dispersion, and use of hand signals but you can see things slide a bit when everyone gets tired. Good decisions by the TL upon realizing intel was bad. Also, you can look forward to bad backs and knees when you turn 50 but I don't regret a thing.

I believe you said this in a previous video: But the beauty of nature while this is going on must be a very strange part. I don’t want to know what that’s like. But the GoPro does a great job capturing it. Thanks for what you did. Charlie

This is some of the absolute most intense documentation of modern day war I've ever witness.

I miss my brothers in arms. Kudos to you guys with language, terrain and Intel problems. Stay strong.

I love how you guys stay so positive while artillery goes off nearby, ya'll have hearts of steel. ❤️

sky is so beautiful all time

Do you know that you are all already dead?..

The dude whose face is not blurred is smart af, very observant. Great qualities for a scout I'd guess

It nice to see what a proper mission look like in the beginning, walking quietly as possible and NO USELESS CHATTER.