Wife's uncle is heading to Ukraine

[IA_HAWKI]

It's over before it even began. Not gonna share my own thoughts but it sounds like he is going to be returning home already. Here is the most recent post as he re-activated his account.

Ok, I'll be first to say it. What was I thinking? First of all, the Ukrainen Territorial Defense Legion is a joke. They misled EVERY person who came over here. They are requiring you to sign a contract which requires you to stay until martial law is lifted. So basically you are property of the Ukraine Army until the very end. None of the veteran or experienced soldiers are signing that. A vast majority of the guys I see going in are young, inexperienced, and nieve. I'm inexperienced but I'm not dumb. I've met guys from all over the world. Good men coming here with good intentions, but it's still a cluster F. Worse yet, I'm at a border crossing and order is breaking down. A woman was just mugged and stabbed outside my building. I'm told there is a 15 km long line of broken down and abandoned cars clogging up the road to the border crossing.

Im sure they don’t want dipshits like this coming in with too much arrogant bravado and then be the first one to cut and run when sh*t gets a little too real. Guy shouldve probably did his ReEsUrCh

 

[torbee]

It's over before it even began. Not gonna share my own thoughts but it sounds like he is going to be returning home already. Here is the most recent post as he re-activated his account.

Ok, I'll be first to say it. What was I thinking? First of all, the Ukrainen Territorial Defense Legion is a joke. They misled EVERY person who came over here. They are requiring you to sign a contract which requires you to stay until martial law is lifted. So basically you are property of the Ukraine Army until the very end. None of the veteran or experienced soldiers are signing that. A vast majority of the guys I see going in are young, inexperienced, and nieve. I'm inexperienced but I'm not dumb. I've met guys from all over the world. Good men coming here with good intentions, but it's still a cluster F. Worse yet, I'm at a border crossing and order is breaking down. A woman was just mugged and stabbed outside my building. I'm told there is a 15 km long line of broken down and abandoned cars clogging up the road to the border crossing.

He’s an idiot. He actually thought he’d just get to show up to kill people and come and go as he pleased? What a maroon! 😂

 

[Monzon]

He’s an idiot. He actually thought he’d just get to show up to kill people and come and go as he pleased? What a maroon! 😂

Sounds a lot like our Jan 6th seditionists.

 

[Moral]

Yeah if I thought I could freelance merc I might be tempted to go over and squeeze off a few Rpg rounds for the Insta stories then tag out and hop back over to my amcestral Poland for the remainder of my PTO. Bet his story gets better with practice the next couple years. He WAS over there. It's the thought that counts.

A true hero to Ukraine and American hero.

 

[noleclone2]

If I went over there, I would not think it would be a 30 day tour of duty or come without giving yourself up for the authority of the Ukraine Army. He sounds like a Gravy Seal.

 

[Tenacious E]

If he can go and be helpful then god bless him. I’m skeptical on how useful a 51 year old with no military training will be but god bless him for trying.

51 ain’t that old! I’m 4 years away…

 

[Slappy Pappy]

That's a rough statement about the Ukrainians, who are in a terrible situation. Almost 2m people going through those crossings and a government doing its best to process volunteers. Your bil is in his 50s, with no training or equipment. He refuses to stay more than a month. They need to train, equip, and organize him into a unit. That's a big commitment by them, and they'd probably rather invest that in their own conscripts that are going to stick around, rather than someone who's going to insist on leaving as soon as he gets to the front.

The whole screening process is probably designed to keep guys like this out, anyway. They're looking for the 30 year old veterans that did two tours in Astan and are ready to go.

 

[lucas80]

I go with the theory posed that the uncle was trying to start a new life.

 

[Monzon]

That's a rough statement about the Ukrainians, who are in a terrible situation. Almost 2m people going through those crossings and a government doing its best to process volunteers. Your bil is in his 50s, with no training or equipment. He refuses to stay more than a month. They need to train, equip, and organize him into a unit. That's a big commitment by them, and they'd probably rather invest that in their own conscripts that are going to stick around, rather than someone who's going to insist on leaving as soon as he gets to the front.

The whole screening process is probably designed to keep guys like this out, anyway. They're looking for the 30 year old veterans that did two tours in Astan and are ready to go.

Or someone that knows a native language and doesn't need babysitting to show where the potty is or another mouth to feed.

 

[3boysmom]

51 ain’t that old! I’m 4 years away…

I’m 2 years past it. I’d be worthless 😆

 

[lucas80]

I’m 2 years past it. I’d be worthless 😆

No, you have logistical skills. You’d be a big help getting Javelin missiles across the border and to the right units.

 

[SoonerBeAHawk]

Lot of Monday morning quarterbacking going on in this thread now.

I still give him major props.

 

[Moral]

If I went over I would only expect to be there 30 days maximum because I would do such good war that Putin would surrender and Russia would become Ukraine. Book it.

 

[fredjr82]

I see going in are young, inexperienced, and nieve. I'm inexperienced but I'm not dumb.

That's a wonderful couple of sentences. Misspelled naive before claiming not to be dumb. Sounds like your label of Unc was pretty spot on. I guess it was the thought that counts.

 

[NoleinATL]

Must be the old editor in me, but I am skeptical of this story for this reason: At the beginning of the story, it indicates his wife is also in Kyiv, in an apartment building...

While her husband, who now serves on the general staff of the Ukraine army, helps oversee the war against the Russian invaders, Mila, a European democracy activist, remains in their eighth-floor Kyiv apartment with their two children. (One is twenty months old, the other almost three years old.) “I can’t leave,” she said, because each day might be the last one her husband sees their children.

Then, later in the story, there is a tale about how he didn't even tell her he was going into the combat zone, saying he was going to Poland instead:

When Nevstruyev departed Charlotte for Europe, he did not tell his wife that he was heading to the war zone. His cover story was that he would be doing humanitarian work in Poland. She asked, why are you taking a bullet-proof vest? “She knew,” he said. It took him two days to travel the 500 miles from the Polish border to Kyiv, as he and several compatriots came under artillery fire three times.

Something fishy about the story IMO. Unless we are to believe that she somehow packed up the 20-month-old and 3-year-old in Charlotte AFTER her husband left and managed to bring them all into Kyiv with a war raging. Call me skeptical.

The old editor in you might want to read through the article a little more closely.

Mila is the wife of the former Ukrainian parliament member not the wife of the contractor from North Carolina.

On Friday, Nevstruyev, whom I met through a mutual acquaintance, and Mila Melnychuk, the wife of his commander, called me from Kyiv.

 

[PerkyForHerky]

I’m 2 years past it. I’d be worthless 😆

Judging by your avatar, I'd say you'd be great for morale if nothing else. Far from worthless

 

[fredjr82]

Judging by your avatar, I'd say you'd be great for morale if nothing else. Far from worthless

JFC, Nephew in Law is just as thirsty as his wife's uncle it appears. When's your trip to help "fight"?

 

[PerkyForHerky]

JFC, Nephew in Law is just as thirsty as his wife's uncle it appears. When's your trip to help "fight"?

They're in my prayers. Isn't that enough nowadays?
Ts&Ps

 

[TonyTheTiger.1865]

Expecting to go over there and have the Ukrainians dump limited training and resources into you for a 30 day commitment is kind of stupid.

 

[HawCory]

Expecting to go over there and have the Ukrainians dump limited training and resources into you for a 30 day commitment is kind of stupid.

I didn't get the impression that he was actually planning on only being there 30 days. I took it as that is what he told his job and wife. OP can correct me if I misunderstood.

Getting there and finding that he isn't free to go if/when he decides he has had enough seems to be what changed his mind.

 

[PerkyForHerky]

I didn't get the impression that he was actually planning on only being there 30 days. I took it as that is what he told his job and wife. OP can correct me if I misunderstood.

Getting there and finding that he isn't free to go if/when he decides he has had enough seems to be what changed his mind.

Noone had a straight answer from him but the impression that he left with my wife when he said he wasn't coming back was in that he didn't expect to survive.
Purely speculation based on tone and the conflicting response he'd give his wife as opposed to us, because he didn't elaborate.