Posted on 03/22/2022 8:17:08 AM PDT by mac_truck
After spending 13 hours hiking into enemy territory and back to retrieve the body of a Georgian soldier who had been killed near Irpin, Ukraine, U.S. Army veteran Hieu Le knew that his war was over.
Not long after recovering the fallen soldier, Le resigned from Ukraine’s legion of international volunteers. “My team was very supportive since they saw how deeply affected I was by recovering his body,” he told Task & Purpose. “Physically I feel fine, but I also feel like I have these invisible wounds on my soul.”
Le served as an M1 armor crewman from 2010 to 2017, during which he deployed to Afghanistan in 2012. In a previous story about surviving a Russian cruise missile attack on his training base, he asked to be identified by his first name only, but on Monday Le gave Task & Purpose permission to use his full name.
On Monday evening, Le was enroute to western Ukraine along with wounded comrades and other international volunteers who had resigned. He was leaving a war that he had just joined nearly two weeks ago.
“I do feel embarrassed to be leaving so soon after arriving, but have you ever seen anything so horrible and heartbreaking that you can’t continue? It was like that for me,” he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at taskandpurpose.com ...
This guy was in our military?
Not long after recovering the fallen soldier, Le resigned from Ukraine’s legion of international volunteers.
He looks like he out ate his tank—or ate his tank.
It sure seems to be. They train, then go to war and fold almost immediately because their “souls get wounded”
I hope people like,him are the exception and not the norm! Otherwise our country is in deep doo doo militarily
Ukraine abruptly discharged the first volunteers who signed up for the unit after their mediocre performance in battle.
What a pussy.
He was lucky he didn’t get shot in the back on his way to safety.
“Physically I feel fine, but I also feel like I have these invisible wounds on my soul.”
That’s what I said at work last night. I almost quit my job so I could go home and eat ice cream with my cats. Some girl kicked me in the backside and got me to snap out of it. Temporarily.
Mercenaries = targets
Ever read the story about Chesty Puller stranded behind enemy lines with a platoon on Guadalcanal, and a destroyer came in an pulled them off the beach?
I found it humorous, the Captain of the destroyer offered to let him and his men stay on board for a few days, but Puller declined, saying he would rather be ashore...being on the ship was out of his element...:)
LOL
This war stuff sucks - I wanted weekends off!
“This guy was in our military?”
This guy did not see any real combat while serving in the US military between 2010 and 2017. Not everybody deployed to Afghanistan experiences real combat.
“but have you ever seen anything so horrible and heartbreaking that you can’t continue? It was like that for me,” he said.”
The US military is well equipped and fights in large numbers. I imagine fighting in Ukraine not well equip and out number is living hell. I understand him, I will not judge him.
You do not know how you will react until you experience it.
Reports are ubiquitous of low Russian morale.
The Ukrainians put out a reward for Russian soldiers to surrender tanks, and it is reported that one has now been surrendered.
A report that 300 Russian soldiers refused to obey an order to fight and withdrew with their equipment, in the Sumy region.
Strong men create good times.
Good times create weak men.
Weak men create tough times.
Tough times create strong men.
————————
We are entering the tough times created by weak men, of which this guy is a prime example. On our present course, we’re going to have a world war, and whether it goes nuclear or not, we’re going to need soldiers - real soldiers, like the guys who won WW2 and who held off the Chinese at Chosin Reservoir. I personally think that we’re going to have to pull from both organized gangs and the criminal element, people that would normally not be wanted at all. To control them, they’ll have to be offered something worthwhile (perhaps money, a clean record or “do this and you have a chance to live”), plus an ultra-tough group of DIs and officers with few restrictions on their actions. IOW, the Dirty Dozen on steroids (or Meth, take your pick). Tough times create strong men.
This guy was five years out from his service which is enough time to go soft. Back in the day I was an armor crewman in W Germany. I imagine in Afghanistan that tanks were not the best counter insurgency tool
He wanted the rush he did not get in service, That chance to see if he measured up. Not unnatural for troopers really. He got his rush without firing his weapon in anger and didn’t like it.
I never had to fire in anger or survival. As a young soldier we all were itching to go against Ivan just to alleviate the boredom around the kaserne. After decades of hindsight I say that I left the service before I could get shot at. I didn’t stick around for more years until Gulf War 1. I had buddies that did. They don’t talk about the road to Bashra.
For the most part individual soldiers are not particularly brave. They are just shooting and scrambling to quiet the guns on the other side for some peace and quiet themselves. There are standouts of course. Men who are true heroes not the fake heroes we have today.
I don’t know where to place this young man. He went to go see the elephant and lucky for him he can withdraw after having found his own line and limits. That has not been the case for all the others soldiers on all sides
I don’t know what to make of this conflict either. It didn’t have to happen. Russia plainly stated its case and position many years ago but the powers that be in the west refused to listen for whatever reason. The current conflict is the result. All unnecessary death is senseless whether it be in Ukraine or soon to be conflict in Taiwan
You're full of reports.
I can’t ad anything to these posts bc I feel the same way. snowflake comes to mind.
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