US Army veteran going to Ukraine to assist country’s military: ‘I don’t like what’s happening’

Matthew Parker, a U.S. Military veteran of 20 years, is heading to Ukraine to help the nation’s army in any capability he can in its struggle towards Russian army forces.

Parker, who owns a protecting providers coaching agency referred to as Unbiased Safety Advisors, LLC, plans to fly into Poland throughout the subsequent few days and coordinate together with his contacts there to assist him cross the border into Ukraine. 

“I do not like what’s occurring on the bottom over there. And I’ve seen what occurs when civilians are caught in the midst of a struggle, and I discovered that the Russians generally tend — after they cannot win — to mainly burn bridges,” Parker advised Fox Information Digital.

The 50-something father of 4 grownup kids added that he had turn out to be near a Ukrainian soldier who served below him for a few 12 months and a half when he was within the Military. That soldier nonetheless has household in Ukraine, together with a sister with disabilities, which Parker mentioned is a part of the inspiration behind his choice to supply his help there.

Parker had plans to depart a few week in the past however delayed his departure after receiving an inflow of inquiries from different American and international volunteers — lots of whom have army or first-responder backgrounds — who need his assist to get to Ukraine.

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Some volunteers are younger males who’ve been out of the army for 2 to 10 years, Parker mentioned. 

“Once you’ve been to Iraq or Afghanistan, or like me, you have been to Bosnia, and also you see the carnage and tragedy of struggle, you do not flip that off,” he defined. 

“Now, earlier than some … particular person says, ‘Oh, that’s PTSD.’ No, it isn’t PTSD. That is referred to as reminiscence. And if you see ladies and kids hungry, their houses destroyed — if you stand on the sting of a mass grave and look down … it is the identical anger. It is the identical ignorance. It is the identical lack of human compassion that the Russians are displaying proper now as they bomb these cities. As they bomb hospitals.”

U.S. Military veteran Matthew Parker. Credit score: Matthew Parker/ Fb

His firm does govt and diplomatic safety work, so Parker has expertise deploying coaching groups and brokers to international locations around the globe, as FOX 5 Atlanta first reported.

“So I took that have and I put these younger males collectively and mentioned, ‘Pay attention, you want a will, an lawyer. When you personal one thing it wants to enter storage. You may’t simply go away your automobile within the airport,” Parker defined.

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He is additionally serving to volunteers collect correct tools for chilly and snowy climate situations in Ukraine and call the Worldwide Legion of Territorial Protection of Ukraine to tell them when volunteers are arriving and with what expertise.

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy created the Worldwide Legion days after Russia invaded on Feb. 24 and lifted visa restrictions for international volunteers.

Gutted vehicles following an evening air raid within the village of Bushiv, 40 kilometers west of Kyiv, Ukraine, Friday, March 4, 2022. (AP Photograph/Efrem Lukatsky) 

“Anybody who needs to affix the protection of Ukraine, Europe and the world can come and struggle facet by facet with the Ukrainians towards the Russian struggle criminals,” a Feb. 27 press launch from his workplace states.

Parker has contacts in Poland and Ukraine who supply volunteers rides from the airport, a spot to remain for the evening, and rides throughout the Ukraine border. As soon as inside Ukraine, volunteers verify in with the Worldwide Legion and hope to be assigned to particular teams based mostly on ability units.

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“Now, they’ll completely disregard all the pieces [a volunteer] will get there. You recognize, he could possibly be a extremely skilled electronics repairman. They may hand him a rifle and say, ‘Go guard a bridge,’” Parker mentioned. “That is so new, and so they’re below such stress. The truth that they can stand the legion up in any respect is wonderful.”

Parker says his 4 kids weren’t stunned when he knowledgeable them of his plans.

U.S. Military veteran Matthew Parker (proper) and his son (left). Credit score: Matthew Parker/ Fb

“The boys had been used to me being in Iraq, and the truth that this isn’t Iraq and it isn’t the Military sending me … All of them mentioned the identical factor. One: ‘We knew you had been going to do it,’ however, two, ‘We belief you,’” he mentioned.

Ukraine has been below assault for 15 days. An estimated 2.3 million individuals have fled Ukraine up to now, based on the U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Refugees.

The Workplace of the U.N. Excessive Commissioner for Human Rights estimates that 549 Ukrainians have been killed as of Thursday, and almost a thousand others have been injured since Russia started invading on Feb. 24.