Clustered around a table in a classroom festooned with Ukrainian-language posters, six Army special operations soldiers chatted in Ukrainian with a visitor this month—not without hesitation, but seemingly ready for their upcoming exams. 

“I'm very proud of them; they're doing very well,” said a Ukrainian instructor at the Army’s John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School.

The six-month course is among a slew of Ukraine-related changes at the school—and part of Army Special Operations Forces’ broader, six-year plan to revamp instruction in irregular warfare, technology, and psychological operations.  

Students in the Ukraine class are the guinea pigs for a course that didn’t even exist until October. The course was designed from scratch over nine months, the Ukrainian instructor said, vastly condensing a process that typically takes three to five years.