US Veteran in Ukraine – JD Interview

JD is a US Air Force veteran with four combat deployments and one peace-keeping deployment during the Global War on Terror. We have spent a considerable amount of time getting to know JD over the past couple of years, as our spheres of influence consistently overlapped stateside and abroad in Ukraine. We spent some time discussing his inspiration for volunteering in Ukraine, some lessons learned from the experience, and how training has shaped his experience in Ukraine, and he gave some sage advice for fellow veterans who may consider a similar path to his.

*What inspired you to get involved in the war by Russia in Ukraine?*

I think the majority of military veterans feel a certain tug at their soul when they see an innocent underdog being victimized by an aggressor. Maybe that feeling is cultivated in the military environment, or more likely, those are just the kind of people that are drawn to serve.

*To the extent you can disclose, how did you get involved in Ukraine, what have you done there, and what are you doing now?*

Initially, I came for “3 weeks” to help bolster a training program that had been started immediately after the invasion.

I fell hard for the work, so I decided to commit full-time. I spent one year running a growing organization that eventually became a formal training program for the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Our teams of instructors would run multiple training programs at rear positions, and then when the “graduate” companies arrived at the frontline, I and others would work with them and their command to integrate learned disciplines into the real-deal combat scenario.

During my time at the frontline, I had the opportunity to build relationships with some incredible Ukrainian teams even outside of our training network, and after a year with the training program, I decided to formally join a team that I met in Bakhmut.

I am currently back in uniform, serving with a small team in Ukraine’s Military Intelligence “Special Operations” company. One day I was deciding that I’d go spend 3 weeks volunteering to help an innocent country, and 13 months later I was the only foreigner in a high-speed Ukrainian military company. Life is pretty wild.

*What experiences did you leverage from your time in service and as a civilian to help shape the training you conducted in Ukraine?*

I’m not a “covert operations underwater super commando”, as was claimed by so many Americans who came to Ukraine in the beginning. Truthfully, I had serious doubts about my qualifications to be a trainer when I first arrived. I had zero experience as a trainer. However, it was a very organic transition into creating an effective training environment for civilians who were suddenly being called upon to pick up a rifle. My military experience (read discipline) combined with over a decade of civilian adulthood, actually gave me a leg up on working with brand-new recruits who were not always the stereotypical “military” types.

*What adaptations or adjustments did you need to make to be effective in training?*

I think the biggest adjustment was recognizing that we have to train them for what they will encounter, not necessarily what the United States military expects to encounter in combat situations. We came into this thinking we’d be training straight from our personal experience and education, but quickly realized that we had to tailor the POI to conditions on the ground. When there’s no air support, very little logistical support, and entire Battalions with little to no experience and/or training … it would be foolish to train the same way a US military institution would train. You have to learn the combat environment, learn what you’re working with in terms of the trainees, and then create a POI that maximizes the potential readiness of the training group.

*What lessons have you learned from your time training in Ukraine?*

A few things:

1. Heart goes a long way. I have been humbled time after time by the things that Ukrainians have accomplished based solely on grit and determination.
2. We are so lucky in the US military to be part of a structured military that has been fine-tuned over centuries.
3. Anyone with a basic understanding of military disciplines who is driven by pure motives can save a life. Or twenty. Or hundreds.
4. Someone with a wealth of military expertise who is driven by *unpure* motives can cost a life. Or twenty. Or hundreds.

*What level is the fight in Ukraine?*

Outside of irregular warfare units, squad-level fighting is almost non-existent in Ukraine. It is mostly being fought at a platoon level, and in many of the extended frontline hotspots it is fought on a company level. Certain specialized units operate in squads, but it is unheard of in the traditional forces.

*You are an eyewitness to a modern conventional war. Without going into specific TTPs, what, in your opinion, are the most important individual and collective skills for soldiers and units? If you had three weeks to train a unit for the front, what would you focus on?*

Recognizing that most individuals are coming to this with absolutely no military experience, the training priority is “keeping them alive”.

So the emphasis is on weapons manipulation, combat casualty care, working as a team, and communicating with support elements.

We were teaching small unit tactics, but the real value is the way trainees learn to communicate and work together as a team. Even if they never utilized some of the maneuvers at the front, just the practice of mental discipline, communication, and teamwork saves lives when responding to combat situations.

The companies that operate in regular contact with fire support, with a recon drone operator in their comms, with a QRF team on standby, and a mission plan that includes multiple contingency scenarios … that company has exponentially fewer casualties than the company that just sends everyone to assault and calls the fire support once they’re in the suck. This seems common sense to us veterans, but it’s a foreign language to civilians who never intended to fight.

Communication, communication, communication. Teamwork. That’s what is saving lives. When you’re teaching civilians, they don’t know what a QRF is. They don’t know that a drone’s eye in the sky can save their entire platoon. You have to teach them how to create an advantageous battle scenario, to communicate, and to rely on each other.

*Are there any leadership lessons you’ve taken away from the experience?*

I have learned to ask more questions and make less statements. People will naturally give their respect to someone who they feel values them. If I need to get my point across to someone, odds are, they will get there on their own if I ask the right questions.

*What advice would you give to fellow veterans who are looking to help or volunteer abroad, not necessarily solely in Ukraine, to help prepare individuals and prolong life?*

If your life situation allows it, do it. Immediately. It filled voids in my life that I didn’t even know existed. I never had any intention of doing something like this. I just took an opportunity, uncharacteristically if I’m being honest, and it was the best decision I ever made. The first time one of your trainees sends a message from the front telling you that something you told him just saved his life, it’s everything. When their daughters are sending crayon drawings and labeling you as “daddy’s angel”, it’s everything. I expected to put a cool experience on my life’s timeline … instead, it changed my life forever and gave me a sense of purpose I didn’t realize I needed. 

*If you had one thing you could tell everyone in America – and the world – about the war in Ukraine, or just about Ukraine, what would it be?*

I am arguably the biggest critic of mainstream media. Arguably the biggest critic of our politicians. I remember the absolute vitriol I felt toward media outlets during my time in Iraq. But hear me say, the optics that were presented at the beginning of this invasion “Ukraine is an innocent country being terrorized by an evil Russia” are absolutely accurate. They were then, and they are now.

Ukrainians remind me of the best of our society in the US. Hardworking, family-oriented, humorous, and almost absurdly kind. Just being around Ukrainians has humbled me. Immensely. They have inspired me to adjust some of my own character flaws and judgmental traits. 

And these beautiful people, to a person, want nothing more than to be free from the dark Russian cloud that has hung over them for generations. Russia knows this, and because of it, they are attempting to commit genocide. All other motives being claimed are merely propaganda. I have seen the graves where hundreds of civilians were bound, raped, and executed under Russian occupation. I have seen the libraries where Ukrainian history books have been destroyed. I have listened to their pundits joke and laugh about needing to drown every Ukrainian child in the Dnipro River.

This is as much of a *good versus evil* battle as we will encounter in our lifetime. I have bet my life on it.

*What would you tell the US Government?*

Read more books. Do your job. Protect the interests of the American people. Russia, and Putin, don’t even hide the fact that they are systematically attempting to destroy the United States.

They have stated for decades that the path to victory is dividing our nation from within. It’s working. They are destabilizing the Middle East and they outright defied the international community by invading and trying to take over Ukraine. They are attempting to assert their dominance over the international world order, specifically, the United States. Their end game is the destruction of the United States. They have said as much. Openly. Now do your job and stop them.

Ukraine has given the United States an amazing opportunity to remove its greatest threat, without even having to send US soldiers. Give us what we need over here. Stop sending just enough of just the right equipment to continue bankrolling the military-industrial complex, and give us what we need to end this. American security deserves it, the taxpayers deserve to stop slow-funding a lengthy war and brave men have made immeasurable sacrifices for America to do better than this.