Before jumping to praise, I would suggest you have a watch of the Perun video I posted above.
Sorry GTX, my recognition vs your stated "praise" are two very different things in my perception.
You'd undoubtedly appreciate that soldiers have been adhocly improvising and adapting weapon systems/platforms throughout history.
Whether Russian soldier adopted combat lessons from the Syrians is irrelevant, the fact that they have actual adapted it.
I'm not referring or imply the following to yourself GTX, but there are so many people who have become very accustomed to slagging off the Russians, for no other reason than they are Russians - nothing more, nothing less.
Personally, without wanting to diverge off topic, I'm very tired of this pathetic narrative of Western media/politicians/arm chair generals demonising, de-humanising Russians - or more simply put underestimating ones perceived
enemy - you know, like this rubbish of Russia running out of this and that weapons, using washing machine computer chips, .......
I would be very interested to see the actual post-conflict analysis of this Russian-Ukrainian conflict - the actual causes vs the narratives, the actual true combat performance of given weapons/units/leadership etc.....But alas that's never going to happen. I think, just as in the case of most wars/conflicts, the combination of political/politicians hubris and the Military Industrial Complex profit opportunities won't allow for this.
I remember the hype of the First Gulf War and the exaggerated claims of given weapons capabilities vs reality [the Patriot SAM against Scud's being but one] or the fact of just how shit the Iraqi military was [you know - The Republican Guard!] which spurred on massive arms sales in the West by Western arms manufactures - a corporate delight which is in top gear once again and the conflict hasn't even concluded yet.
Anyhow, on a lighter note, I better get back into my garage and get my indigenous Hills Hoist clothesline Cope Cage finished.
P.S. Wouldn't it be great to have a mature thread on discussing the actual lessons/evolutionary aspects of the Russian-Ukrainian conflict thus far. But once again alas, peoples hatred and steadfast ideologies would probably destroy such a mature thread within hours, if not minutes of its posting.
Regards
Pioneer