Janne Lehtonen trained Ukrainians for war. The death of a man sensitized Lehtonen in a special way.
Janne Lehtonen also talks about his marital crisis in the podcast. Kaisa Vehkalahti
Special forces– program trainer Janne Lehtonen remembers Aki Linnanahte Aki Linnanahde Talk Show in the episode of the podcast, the time when Lehtonen was training Ukrainians in Great Britain for the war in 2023.
According to Lehtonen, there were already more than 50,000 Ukrainians to be trained by 2023. Russia’s full-scale war of aggression against Ukraine began in February 2022.
Lehtonen says in the podcast episode that the training operation involved regular personnel from the Finnish Defense Forces and reservists who had previously worked for the Defense Forces or as special forces soldiers, for example.
– I was called to ask if I would like to go on a training mission, it will last a little over three months and we will train so and so many Ukrainians, Lehtonen describes in the episode.
According to Lehtonen, most of the trainees were men between the ages of 20 and 50. There were also a few women.
– Most of them were just going to the front. They had been drawn from the reserve, ordinary people. It was one of the most meaningful operations I’ve been to, he continues in the episode.
– It has also left its mark. I made friends with quite a few Ukrainians there, says Lehtonen.
A touching call
Lehtonen becomes emotional and tears up when talking about the subject.
– Over the course of a few years, there have been phone calls and messages that someone has fallen. Maybe you made too many friends with the trainees, he begins.
According to Lehtonen, you can see from people who aspire to become soldiers that they know their possible fate.
– If such a person falls on the front, he has fallen in the tasks he wanted to do and for which he was created. He left with his boots on, so to speak. It doesn’t crash that bad. But there were also ordinary family members.
In the episode, Lehtonen remembers one Ukrainian man in particular, with whom he got to know well during the training.
– There was one guy who was a bit rough, who always got to bang on his helmet. You couldn’t make a soldier out of it by baking, no way. He was an extreme IT professional, Lehtonen says in the podcast.
According to Lehtonen, the man had a wife and children at home. During the training, the man made video calls to his family so that Lehtonen could also meet the family via video.
– There was no way to make a soldier out of him, but he was goofing off and messing around so much that he was the spirit lifter of the whole group, Lehtonen recalls gently.
However, the man had a strong will to try. He got through the training and went to the front.
A few weeks later, Lehtonen received a phone call.
– There was a call that the guy in question had made it to the front with his life. I thought no shit, I knew this was going to happen. It still gets emotional. I remember when I got that call at home from this person and started drilling.
Lehtonen thinks it’s special how differently he reacts to news of a death.
– In the same way, I also became friends with soldiers who have been at the front in Ukraine for a long time. When they made the news, I thought they left with boots on.
– Then, when a guy like that goes to the front and I know that he won’t make it out alive… Lehtonen thinks sensitized.
The Aki Linnanahde Talk Show podcast can be listened to In Podimo.
