Time to Face Some RealPolitik

I suspect Crowder didn't pay much attention to the way the Russian fights (from "Enemy at the Gates").  You put your "reluctant warfighter" into a "Penal Battalion" and place a loyal "Guard Battalion" (better equipped) behind it.  The reluctant warrior learns to become loyal/ reliable pretty quickly... at least, the survivor's do.

ps - Anyone else here familiar with the concept of embedded "political officers"?

This is what Putin meant that the SMO lacked a "defense in depth".  The Guard battalions drawn from 300,000 veteran reservists, will now be entering the battlefield.  If you are part of the Donbas militia, you now have some "back-up" that will ONLY back you up IF your unit is advancing towards the enemy Ukrainian nationals.  No more ground will be lost.

The tradition of civilian control over the military predates the October Revolution. William Odom, for example, has described the tsarist armies as “executants” rather than initiators of policy.11 Throughout its history, the Soviet military has fulfilled essentially the same function, under vigilant party supervision. The principal Bolshevik innovation was to formalize and extend tsarist practice through the introduction of political commissars it attached to military units, from the company to the divisional level, from the outset of the new regime. With certain modifications and adjustments, Soviet authorities have retained that system.