I would like to address a question I get a lot: Why did you go to Ukraine? 

As most people know I am a retired US Army Colonel with numerous combat deployments over my thirty-six years of service. I have a lot of experience with war. I became frustrated watching and reading the endless news reports of artillery and rocket attacks on what seemed to be primarily civilian targets. I also wanted to bear witness to the war crimes and atrocities committed by the Russian troops. I was tired of hearing about this war. There is a lot of fake news about Ukraine. I wanted to see it with my own eyes. I needed to understand this chaos with my own senses. I needed to actually meet the victims and aid workers, and hear their stories. If I am to support sending more American blood and treasure to protect the rest of the free world, and not ignore a faraway challenge to our values and our strategic security, I needed to experience it for myself. The experience has changed me.

Girls and women are being raped. Men are being beaten, bound and shot. Mass graves are everywhere. The old and crippled and young orphans left behind in the war zone are fending for themselves. Russian soldiers are plundering the homes and property of Ukrainian families, stealing everything they can carry. Cities the size of Lincoln and Omaha and larger are being “rubble-ed” by near constant cannon and rocket artillery fire (a very old Russian tactic). 

Putin is a terrorist, a murderer, and a war criminal. He is deliberately targeting civilians. I have spent many years in combat environments. I have seen countless unspeakable horrors common in warfare, but nothing like what’s happening in Ukraine. The Russian motive behind this war is the pure evil in the heart of one man. The last time an American soldier fought in a war this horrific was in WWII. The Ukrainians call the Russians “Orcs” from the Lord of the Rings novel. It’s worth looking up why they do.

During my travels through Ukraine, I was able to meet with mayors, church leaders, military people, and visit the wounded in hospitals all over Ukraine. I’ve spent the night in a basement with a family sheltering from Russian artillery that fell all night long. These experiences, meetings in conference rooms and offices, and moving around together, has given me a good handle on how we need to help these people. 

Church leaders are busy caring for the hundreds of thousands of refugees, all in need of food, shelter and security. Ukrainians are a faith-based people. There is a sense of social responsibility among them, which seems to be a fundamental aspect of their character. 

They are like a big team. All the different personalities, and age groups, and political opinions and religions are all in sync. Unlike Afghanistan and Iraq, this war has united the people of Ukraine with a strong sense of national identity with no regard to politics or creed.   

The huge aid package from the United States, NATO and other European countries is slowly flowing into Ukraine. The last time the US and our allies did force-generation logistics on this scale was in the battle of the Pusan perimeter in Korea in 1950. The effort needed in Ukraine is every bit as big as Korea was. Effectively countering long-range fires with the new weapon systems we are giving Ukraine is what will tip the scales and grind the Russian monster to a halt. A modest Ukrainian success on the battlefield may set conditions for a badly needed ceasefire so civilian refugees can finally be evacuated and cared for, and the thousands of rotting corpses can be buried.    

The Ukrainian people are among the most resilient people I have ever met. They love America. They embrace our values, and they are fighting and dying every day with a level of tenacity and valor I have never seen before. Regardless of their persistence and determination however, they cannot prevail if the free world dithers and wrings its hands. This is good versus evil.

The United States doesn’t stand alone in this fight. We have many allies alongside us in this struggle, yet we must not fail to grasp that our great country alone is the muscle in maintaining global democracy. Without the power we have suffered to possess it, democracy will be destroyed in our lifetime. We have paid the price for the freedom’s we enjoy. I fear we are dangerously close to letting those precious freedoms slip through our fingers. To avert this dismal future we must act decisively today, by targeting how best to provide Ukraine what it requires to evict this horde, and rebuild their battered nation.