As yesterday’s events unfolded I couldn’t help but be impressed by Ukraine’s tenacity. A country that many believed would get trampled completely by the Russians managed to keep itself afloat, capturing several Russian battalions and destroying military aircraft and vehicles. As of this morning there have been 137 Ukrainians killed during the invasion. But, their patriotism inspires the hell out of me.
The tension between Ukraine and Russia exists for one reason — Putin’s insecurity of losing influence in Eastern Europe to NATO. Although Russia has successfully gained control over Crimea and legitimzed two pro-Russian separatists regions, Ukranians mostly wish to build a stronger alliance with the West and Europe, remaining liberated from Russia. They have an incredibly interesting history and their resilience against Russian aggression over the last several years is unreal.
Anyway. Happy Friday.
In the winter of 2018, after a few months of seriously practicing and learning Russian, I got tasked on a team for a mission in Russia. You can only imagine my excitement, finally getting to visit the mysterious motherland of our Cold War enemy and the birthplace of my wife. Nothing could have been more exciting to me than to have the chance to go do my job in a country where I could actually speak the language a bit. I wanted to be a different kind of asset to my team in this way.
Our unit had previously developed an interesting relationship with the Air Force Office of Special Investigations because of our frequent travel to less friendly places. We would exchange details about the places we go, the investigators giving us a brief about what to expect in exchange for details about what really happens on the ground. When our mission to Moscow became apparent to the investigators, panic erupted in their offices.
I personally attended the meeting with the investigators as the team leader for this trip. I sat down and listened to a full hour of horror stories about diplomats, soldiers and spies and their misgivings in Russia. CIA agents being found out and kidnapped. Diplomats being blackmailed from hidden video footage from their own hotel rooms. God damn it.
Of course, we all knew it was sketchy. I already had friends who went to Russia on missions and came back with some wild stories. A team from my unit was riding in a cab to a hotel room after their shift when the driver got into a heated road-rage argument in the middle of the road. The opposing driver pointed a gun out the window at my team and the taxi driver sped off. I guess I can see where the concern comes from.
Our reason for going to Russia? No idea. We were escorting a cabinet-level White House employee, so let’s just assume that information was above my pay grade. But the investigators concerns somehow made their way so far up the chain that within a week our itinerary had completely changed. Most of our time would be spent in Kiev, Ukraine instead.
Russian-speaking came in handy quickly. A crowd of Ukrainian customs agents surrounded our aircraft just after we landed and parked on the military side of Kiev’s airport, equipped with body cameras. My team rushed out the door of the aircraft to set up a security perimeter for the VIP to safely exit the aircraft, get into a vehicle and depart the airport.
“Turn that off,” I told multiple of these agents in broken Russian, some obeying. One of my teammates, much taller and larger than I, literally chased an agent in a full circle around the aircraft Tom and Jerry style to prevent him from capturing our VIP on video. We eventually had the area clear, but to this day I don’t understand what the deal was with these customs agents. This happened on multiple occasions.
Almost two years later, my team and I were back in Kiev and preparing to head out to the airport for our shift. Our driver picked us up as expected, but took us to the actual airport instead of the military airfield where we belonged. I did my best to explain to him, in slightly-less broken Russian, where we needed to be. “Ahh... OK,” he said, indicating that he understood.
15 minutes later, we pull into a dark parking lot off the side of the highway, absolutely not what I remembered to be the right place. “This guy is f*ckin’ lost.”
He insisted to me that the airfield was just through the gate in front of the cab. The gate was supposed to be open.
“So you suggest we jump over this gate? This military base gate?”
He shrugged. “I guess so.”
“Are there soldiers on the other side?”
“Yep.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
“Do they have weapons?”
“Yes.”
“…f*ck it. Let’s go.”
We tossed our bags over the gate and start helping each other over. On the other side it was pitch black darkness. At this point we were already late for our shift change, the priority now was to make it there at all. The only trouble we ran into, luckily, were some dogs in the woods growling at us as we crept passed the building where the guards supposedly were posted. Later, I decided to try my luck at going into the shack to see if I could use their shower. Sure enough, the guards were extremely laid back, mostly just playing on their phones on the couch.
Kiev is one of the most beautiful cities I have ever been to. It is truly painful to have to watch from the sidelines as Ukranian patriots are paying the ultimate sacrifice for their freedom. I have nothing but the utmost respect for Ukraine and their people, especially during this difficult time. I hope that they are able to continue fending off tyranny until they get the support they deserve, or at least that the upcoming peace negotiations with Russia are successful.