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"I trained Ukrainians to fight Russia. I've never seen a war like this."
Outlook • Perspective
I trained Ukrainians to fight Russia. I’ve never seen a war like this.
I served in the Marines for 14 years. I felt more of a need to head toward this war than any I’d fought in before.
By Zachary A. Burgart
Zachary is a medically retired Force Reconnaissance Marine. He is a recent Windgate-Lamar Fellow nominee from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and currently lives and works outside Chicago as a multimedia artist.
March 18, 2022 at 9:23 a.m. EDT
A man holds a Ukrainian flag as part of a "living corridor" of people paying tribute to a Ukrainian soldier was killed on February 28. The military has organized volunteers into local units of the Territorial Defense Force. (Alexey Furman/Getty Images)
About three days after Russia invaded, my friend Mark texted to ask if I wanted to travel with him to Ukraine. ... A man named Yuri, whom Mark coaches at his jujitsu gym in Naperville, Ill., had immigrated from Ukraine 11 years ago. He wanted to return to see his family, and Mark said he couldn’t let him go alone. I couldn’t, either. I told my girlfriend and called two friends to let them know where I was headed. “If things go terribly,” I said, “make a GoFundMe for my kids.”
Mark and I are Iraq combat veterans. I served for 14 years as a Force Reconnaissance Marine before medically retiring in 2018 and enrolling in art school; Mark had served for 10 years. We had no idea what this war would look like, but we knew what to look out for in a combat zone, and we wanted to use our skills in combat medicine and resource coordination to help people. We bought plane tickets and packed light; we didn’t bring weapons. The next day, we were on a flight to Bucharest. If anyone asked us our plans while we were en route to Ukraine, we would say we were going on a hiking trip in Romania.
We were lucky enough to have a friend whose father lives in Romania. He dropped everything to pick us up at the airport and make the nine-hour drive north to the Ukrainian border, in rain that turned into snow. We stopped by pharmacies for medical gear. Using Google Translate on our phones, we asked the shopkeepers for as much cotton gauze, elastic bandages, burn cream, arm slings, eye patches and eye wash as they were willing to sell us. We were foreigners headed north; they knew right away that we were trying to help. A couple of pharmacies threw in supplies for free.
[Despite risks and official warnings, U.S. veterans join Ukrainian war effort]
At the border, we saw a village of tents for incoming refugees, with stands for free food, clothing and diapers. Tons of people were coming into Romania. We looked to be the only people trying to go the opposite way. We unloaded the car and headed to the crossing on foot. At a tiny shack on the Romanian side of the border, a guard stamped our passports. We looked at each other for a minute, unsure what to do. Could that really be it? What next? The guard leaned out the window and shrugged at us, pointing to his left: “Now you go to Ukraine.”
{snip}
As told to Post editor Sophia Nguyen.
By Zachary Burgart
Zachary is a medically retired Force Reconnaissance Marine. He is a recent Windgate-Lamar Fellow nominee from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and currently lives and works outside Chicago as a multimedia artist.
I trained Ukrainians to fight Russia. I’ve never seen a war like this.
I served in the Marines for 14 years. I felt more of a need to head toward this war than any I’d fought in before.
By Zachary A. Burgart
Zachary is a medically retired Force Reconnaissance Marine. He is a recent Windgate-Lamar Fellow nominee from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and currently lives and works outside Chicago as a multimedia artist.
March 18, 2022 at 9:23 a.m. EDT
A man holds a Ukrainian flag as part of a "living corridor" of people paying tribute to a Ukrainian soldier was killed on February 28. The military has organized volunteers into local units of the Territorial Defense Force. (Alexey Furman/Getty Images)
About three days after Russia invaded, my friend Mark texted to ask if I wanted to travel with him to Ukraine. ... A man named Yuri, whom Mark coaches at his jujitsu gym in Naperville, Ill., had immigrated from Ukraine 11 years ago. He wanted to return to see his family, and Mark said he couldn’t let him go alone. I couldn’t, either. I told my girlfriend and called two friends to let them know where I was headed. “If things go terribly,” I said, “make a GoFundMe for my kids.”
Mark and I are Iraq combat veterans. I served for 14 years as a Force Reconnaissance Marine before medically retiring in 2018 and enrolling in art school; Mark had served for 10 years. We had no idea what this war would look like, but we knew what to look out for in a combat zone, and we wanted to use our skills in combat medicine and resource coordination to help people. We bought plane tickets and packed light; we didn’t bring weapons. The next day, we were on a flight to Bucharest. If anyone asked us our plans while we were en route to Ukraine, we would say we were going on a hiking trip in Romania.
We were lucky enough to have a friend whose father lives in Romania. He dropped everything to pick us up at the airport and make the nine-hour drive north to the Ukrainian border, in rain that turned into snow. We stopped by pharmacies for medical gear. Using Google Translate on our phones, we asked the shopkeepers for as much cotton gauze, elastic bandages, burn cream, arm slings, eye patches and eye wash as they were willing to sell us. We were foreigners headed north; they knew right away that we were trying to help. A couple of pharmacies threw in supplies for free.
[Despite risks and official warnings, U.S. veterans join Ukrainian war effort]
At the border, we saw a village of tents for incoming refugees, with stands for free food, clothing and diapers. Tons of people were coming into Romania. We looked to be the only people trying to go the opposite way. We unloaded the car and headed to the crossing on foot. At a tiny shack on the Romanian side of the border, a guard stamped our passports. We looked at each other for a minute, unsure what to do. Could that really be it? What next? The guard leaned out the window and shrugged at us, pointing to his left: “Now you go to Ukraine.”
{snip}
As told to Post editor Sophia Nguyen.
By Zachary Burgart
Zachary is a medically retired Force Reconnaissance Marine. He is a recent Windgate-Lamar Fellow nominee from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and currently lives and works outside Chicago as a multimedia artist.
15 replies
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