Ukraine: The Aristoblyats

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > Ukraine: The Aristoblyats

Hyrax Attack!: Jan 13, 2009; We demand to be taken seriously

Plastic_Gargoyle posted:

So just out of idle curiosity, have there ever been examples of the kind of corruption that is endemic to the Russian military in the US?

I have a hard time picturing anyone, say, siphoning off jet fuel to pay for a yacht, even given the stories of incompetence I've seen relayed here.

During WWII Senator Truman led the Truman committee to investigate the government being scammed. He drove thousands of miles (carefully logging his mileage for reimbursement as he wasn�t rich) and found new recruits sleeping in the mud instead of housing the army had paid for, cargo ships breaking up as the left port as the steel was garbage, and planes dropping from the sky with bad engines. And the senate actually held real investigations with scammers getting in trouble and this saved many lives and many dollars.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 05:56

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# ? Jun 1, 2024 00:51

Hekk: Oct 12, 2012; 'smeper fi

quote:

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is history unfolding before our eyes, a cataclysmic event that will reshape international politics and world order for decades to come.

For many watching the war on television and social media, there is an intoxicating draw towards such a conflict. I've heard the refrain many times from people who want to leave behind their mundane 9-5 job, who want to recapture their glory days as a young soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan and take up the world's second-oldest and often most misunderstood profession by becoming a mercenary.
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SPECIAL REPORT: Elite SEAL vet Rob O'Neill on Russia-Ukraine invasion
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A week and a half into this conflict, all too familiar patterns are already emerging as international volunteers present themselves in a new war zone. Having time and distance from war and both the fiction and realities of this trade, there is a bit of advice I would like to share with the men � some young and some old, some military veterans and some mere curious amateurs. I'd like to tell them about some of my own observations before they pack up their old tactical nylon, ballistic helmet and buy a plane ticket.

I would like to tell them about my two friends who volunteered to fight with the Peshmerga in Iraq, and fight they did, but they also had an angry cab driver upset about a bad tip tell a gate guard that the two Americans had raped him. The gate guards butt-stroked my friends without hesitation, leaving them a bloody mess.

I'd like to tell people thinking of volunteering in Ukraine about the British Azov soldier I knew who got separated from his unit in no man's land in Eastern Ukraine and spent two days dodging Russian armored vehicles as well as friendly fire from his own side as they mistook him for an enemy combatant before he finally crossed back to friendly lines.

I would like to tell you about the American YPG volunteer who got shot by a border guard while crossing from Syria, mistaking him for an ISIS terrorist. He spent a month in a Kurdish prison with actual ISIS prisoners.

These are a few of the more mild stories.
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Let me back up for a second to explain why you may want to consider listening to my advice about why you should not go to fight someone else's war.

After serving in the U.S. military for what feels like a long time ago, I became an investigative journalist covering war and the military. I've met and spent time with foreign volunteers in Syria who signed on to fight with the YPG. I covered a battle in Iraq where the Peshmerga, along with their international volunteers, fought ISIS. I became acquainted and interviewed countless foreigners who served in the YPG, Peshmerga, and Azov battalion in Ukraine in 2014.

I consider this subject to be a lifelong interest of mine, and my bookshelves are stacked with tales of mercenaries. I've interviewed dozens of mercenaries who fought in Rhodesia, South West Africa, Angola, Colombia, Nigeria, Sudan, Burma, Sri Lanka, Yemen, and beyond. I broke news stories about South African mercenaries in Nigeria, American mercenaries in Venezuela, and many others in the gray areas where mercenary activity overlaps with private security contracting and straight-up crime.

I only say this to point out that when I tell you not to go to Ukraine, it isn't because I'm ignorant, biased, anti-military, or anti-contractor. But rather because I've been watching and learning about this topic for a long time. The reality of mercenary operations is nothing like you think. Far removed from what you see in the movies, or life in the U.S. military, the reality of becoming a mercenary is long periods of time sitting around doing nothing, smoking cigarettes and drinking, being issued a rusty Kalashnikov, and, if you're lucky, you get to avoid a prison sentence or worse, a shallow unmarked grave.
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Mercenary operations are ramshackle, poorly planned by people who don't know what they are doing, with little if any logistical support. These missions are ad hoc, thrown together in a whimsical unprofessional manner. Not to mention the pay is poo poo.

Exceptions, where professionals run well-planned and executed operations, are few and far between, such as Executive Outcomes in Sierra Leone, STTEP in Nigeria, or Peter McAleese's attempt to assassinate Pablo Escobar.

The press is now almost gleefully reporting on foreign volunteers in Ukraine, encouraging them one could argue after President Volodymyr Zelenskyy made a direct appeal for foreigners to join the Ukrainian military. Funny enough, the press was deriding these volunteers up until a few weeks ago as neo-Nazis and white nationalists who pose a right-wing extremist threat when they return home. The narrative changed so quickly that it nearly gave this reporter whiplash.

Just as we saw with the war against ISIS and the reporting on foreign volunteers who signed up with the Peshmerga and YPG, we are already seeing war hero stories about the most �fearsome� Canadian sniper, or the American Army veteran who told his wife he has to go to Ukraine and �do his part,� or the British �Lion� who went to fight in Ukraine but instead got captured by his own side and beaten up as a suspected spy.

You can set your clock by these stories. I may have even written a few such profiles myself in the past. They're mostly bullshit and bravado.

At the moment, the foreign fighter situation in Ukraine is similar to what it looked like in the opening months of the war in North East Syria, known as Rojava by the Kurds, where foreigners clustered around a base called Derik just across the border where they were left to smoke cigarettes and take pictures for Facebook while the Kurds tried to figure out what to do with them.

Due to the influx of foreigners showing up in Ukraine to fight, a similar situation has developed in the Western Ukrainian city of Lviv, where foreigners are sitting around in bars (I'm sure the accommodations are nicer than Syria) while the government tries to figure out what to do with them. The most obvious answer, as the Kurds found, was to use the foreigners for public relations. Let them use social media, get them interviews, and show the world that their fight has global support.
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As time went on in the Syrian civil war, the foreigners were often put in remote bases where they could be kept safe and out of harm's way. However, the YPG was based on a mountain guerrilla model forced into a conventional military setting, and what Tabor (platoon) you ended up in depended a lot on when you hit the ground in Syria and which group of Kurds you linked up with. In time, quite a few foreigners saw serious action over there.

In time, the nature of the volunteers in Syria also began to change. Initially, there were a lot of U.S. military veterans, red-blooded Americans who wanted to get their kill on against an enemy that was clearly evil, and some of them did. Later, the international volunteers became more ideological and left-leaning as anarchists, communists, and others from both Europe and North America joined the YPG. I sat at the memorial service for one such young man in New York City. When his face came up on the big screen on stage, a little girl sitting behind me cried out, �that's my daddy.�

Currently, the Ukrainian military is going through this same cycle, trying to figure out what to do with the foreigners. Some Ukrainian officials are cautious about cowboys and war tourists being integrated into their units. A source intimated to me that the plan is to integrate the foreigners into a unit called the International Legion of Defense of Ukraine also called the International Legion of Territorial Defense of Ukraine. As a territorial unit, it may pan out like how the Kurds initially handled foreigners, these troops will be used to do presence patrols in remote villages and kept out of harm's way.
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That said, Ukraine is not Syria or Iraq. This is a different type of war. Even back in 2014, the internationals in Ukraine had better weapons and kits but it is also an old-school slugfest with enemy airpower, artillery, and armored vehicles.

However, the riskier method is to bypass the Ukrainian process to join their armed forces altogether, as some volunteers simply pack up their go-to-war gear, fly to Poland, cross the border, and jump right into the formation of the unit already in combat that they want to be with. Azov might not want foreigners anymore, but the equally sketchy Georgian Legion will take them. One picture has already emerged from the International Legion, with one Mexican member allegedly flashing an MS13 gang sign.

Here is another truth about the foreign fighters in these wars: they are strategically relevant to nothing. I know that's a tough pill to swallow, but we can disregard that silly figure of 16,000 foreign fighters the Ukrainian government has put out. That's a logistically impossible work of fiction and propaganda. The reality is that the foreigners come into the country in onesies and twosies, not in platoon or company strength. While one man can make a difference, understand it is a small difference and that it is Ukraine's fight to win or lose.

Another uncomfortable truth about foreign mercenaries: they are not necessarily good people. In my travels, I've met ones who were con artists, stolen valor types, criminals on the lam from the law back home, blowhards living out war fantasies, and even guys who showed up to die choosing suicide by war. Once and a while, you might run into the rare professional soldier in these units, but I would describe every single one of them as a lost soul.

The early years of the Azov battalion in Ukraine saw the unit loaded with ex-prisoners and neo-Nazis. Another friend signed up with them when they were doing Mad Max ops driving out to the front lines and playing Star Wars (green and red tracer fire) with the Russians, then running as soon as mortars came screaming in and heading back to the rear to get into some drunken punch ups with their erstwhile Nazi teammates. The Russian apologists won't like to hear this, but NATO getting involved in Ukraine was what began cleaning them up, kicking out the Nazis, and minimizing extremism in the ranks.
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There are guys like George, who I knew in Syria, a rich kid from Chicago who joined up with the YPG early on, and a dyed-in-the-wool psychopath who was pretty open about his desire to become a war profiteer. His behavior was erratic and irrational, one moment he'd be carrying on complex discussions about economics and politics, and the next he'd break down crying over something mundane. He's still out there grifting as far as I know.

Most of the foreign volunteers will head to Ukraine, like those before them, get bored and head home in a few weeks, but only after they've snapped a bunch of pictures for the 'gram. A few still stay for the long haul, even make multiple trips back. Others will return home and pitch stories to the news media about how they got more kills than cancer behind a sniper rifle, or build their identity around their month in Ukraine and do fundraising, but for who we're never quite sure. Still, others will bounce from grift to grift, some will try to give Burma a shot with the Karen rebels, others will drift to Africa and say they are doing counter-poaching activities.

Others will participate in coup attempts, searching for that high one more time in places, like Seychelles, Equatorial Guinea, and Venezuela only to end up dead or in prison.

On the flip side, in no shape or form am I saying they are all bad people. Some former foreign fighters are good friends of mine, a couple stayed in my home and met my family. Some of these guys get it out of their system and figure out their lives. They get normal jobs, get married, have kids, and live great lives. But they all ended up fighting someone else's war because they were running from something back home.

But here is the deal fellas, what if you could just skip straight to the end game? Cut out all that messy painful war business in the middle and jump straight to the part where you give up chasing someone else's war and instead build a life for yourself? It's not easy, and I suppose I'm an imperfect messenger. After all, I've spent a long time chasing you guys around the world for stories I've written.

What you are planning to do is dangerous, and could get you in legal trouble if not dead. While I respect the intentions of those who want to fight on behalf of beleaguered people and help them secure their freedom, I also feel that the stories I've related above never quite make it into the books or movies about mercenaries.

While I may respect many of you, I'm also not looking forward to attending your memorial service.

Want to get more connected to the stories and resources Connecting Vets has to offer? Click here to sign up for our weekly newsletter.

Reach Jack Murphy: jack@connectingvets.com or @JackMurphyRGR.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 05:57

Herstory Begins Now: Aug 5, 2003; SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>

mlmp08 posted:

https://twitter.com/matt_meeta/status/1502666334127239168?s=21

this is perfect

# ? Mar 13, 2022 05:59

davecrazy: Nov 25, 2004; I'm an insufferable shitposter who does not deserve to root for such a good team. Also, this is what Matt Harvey thinks of me and my garbage posting.

brains posted:

total contempt for opinion articles notwithstanding, this does a good job describing why i find the modern trend of war volunteers so disquieting

Modern?

# ? Mar 13, 2022 06:21

Alan Smithee: Jan 4, 2005; A man becomes preeminent, he's expected to have enthusiasms.

Enthusiasms, enthusiasms...

mlmp08 posted:

https://twitter.com/matt_meeta/status/1502666334127239168?s=21

How the gently caress Does this even happen

# ? Mar 13, 2022 06:24

Slo-Tek: Jun 8, 2001; WINDOWS 98 BEAT HIS FRIEND WITH A SHOVEL

Torrannor posted:

This site isn't available in the EU

Can somebody post the cliff notes?

War is the great rear end in a top hat magnet. And the people who show up are bullshitters, psychos and grifters, and they end up going home, getting in jail, or dead.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 06:31

Armacham: Mar 3, 2007; Then brothers in war, to the skirmish must we hence! Shall we hence?

Slo-Tek posted:

War is the great rear end in a top hat magnet. And the people who show up are bullshitters, psychos and grifters, and they end up going home, getting in jail, or dead.

Sounds pretty sweet to me

# ? Mar 13, 2022 06:35

Sentinel: Jan 1, 2009; High Tech
Low Life

Slo-Tek posted:

War is the great rear end in a top hat magnet. And the people who show up are bullshitters, psychos and grifters, and they end up going home, getting in jail, or dead.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 07:11

Saint Celestine: Dec 17, 2008; Lay a fire within your soul and another between your hands, and let both be your weapons.
For one is faith and the other is victory and neither may ever be put out.
- Saint Sabbat, Lessons; Grimey Drawer

Alan Smithee posted:

How the gently caress Does this even happen

Fell off a transporter.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 07:12

Wasabi the J: Jan 23, 2008; MOM WAS RIGHT

Slo-Tek posted:

War is the great rear end in a top hat magnet. And the people who show up are bullshitters, psychos and grifters, and they end up going home, getting in jail, or dead.

As a bullshitting gipper:

ya

# ? Mar 13, 2022 07:18

GD_American: Jul 21, 2004; LISTEN TO WHAT I HAVE TO SAY AS IT'S INCREDIBLY IMPORTANT!

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

If I recall correctly, part of the strategic justification for the US military budget is being able to fight two large scale expeditionary conflicts simultaneously. Now that Russia is being exposed as a paper tiger, isn't that a reason to cut back on spending? If China is the only potential conventional adversary, gearing up for two enemies that don't exist comes off as a waste of money.

The US military dropped the two-front doctrine (which had been an empty promise even before the great Reduction In Force of the early 90s, and a bad joke since then) in 2019.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 07:30

Herstory Begins Now: Aug 5, 2003; SOME REALLY TEDIOUS DUMB SHIT THAT SUCKS ASS TO READ ->>

Alan Smithee posted:

How the gently caress Does this even happen

you flip the camera upside down I believe

# ? Mar 13, 2022 07:32

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Russian ballistic missiles struck targets within 10 miles of the Polish border this morning.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/l...f087f6d099f6231

# ? Mar 13, 2022 07:43

Grand Fromage: Jan 30, 2006; L-l-look at you bar-bartender, a-a pa-pathetic creature of meat and bone, un-underestimating my l-l-liver's ability to metab-meTABolize t-toxins. How can you p-poison a perfect, immortal alcohOLIC?

Alan Smithee posted:

How the gently caress Does this even happen

Have you watched Russian dashcam videos?

# ? Mar 13, 2022 08:09

Jimmy Smuts: Aug 8, 2000

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

If I recall correctly, part of the strategic justification for the US military budget is being able to fight two large scale expeditionary conflicts simultaneously. Now that Russia is being exposed as a paper tiger, isn't that a reason to cut back on spending? If China is the only potential conventional adversary, gearing up for two enemies that don't exist comes off as a waste of money.

They're looking like a paper tiger, and they kind of are. But they traditionally solve wars with sheer numbers, which is what they're doing now. Also, they have nukes. You can't forget about that.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 08:27

Just Another Lurker: May 1, 2009

mlmp08 posted:

https://twitter.com/matt_meeta/status/1502666334127239168?s=21

If the russians want to attack Australia, well... it's their choice... i guess. :shrug:

# ? Mar 13, 2022 08:28

BrotherJayne: Nov 28, 2019

Stravag posted:

I thought we weren't supposed to talk about cspam in this thread?

Wait, the antiwar thread is the fascist thread?

... 2022, seek help

# ? Mar 13, 2022 08:41

Stravag: Jun 7, 2009

BrotherJayne posted:

Wait, the antiwar thread is the fascist thread?

... 2022, seek help

It was a joke about cspam tankies supporting fascist talking points as long as the talking point blames the us

# ? Mar 13, 2022 08:44

Just Another Lurker: May 1, 2009

cruft posted:

I don't know, I think the media isn't doing too bad, it's just that they're focusing on emotional impact.

Like when I was shopping for a 3D printer, cnet was helpful, but understanding the stepper motor driver chipset required seeking out a unique forum full of huge nerds.

That's what this thread is (for me).

I couldn't agree more, it's a decent aggregate for me as i don't use Twitter, Facebook or many other media services.

I assume some bias (we're only human) but it's more level headed & less sensationalist than other sources.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 08:45

A Festivus Miracle: Dec 19, 2012; I have come to discourse on the profound inequities of the American political system.

Bored As gently caress posted:

Good article by Jack Murphy here

https://twitter.com/JackMurphyRGR/status/1502382285068374023?t=OVKZbk9VArCZOugC77rChg&s=19

Speaking of dudes running off to fight in foreign wars they have little stake or understanding of...how is Caro these days? Did anybody talk to him after he got out of Syrian torture prison?

# ? Mar 13, 2022 10:05

Action-Bastard: Jan 1, 2008

A Festivus Miracle posted:

Speaking of dudes running off to fight in foreign wars they have little stake or understanding of...how is Caro these days? Did anybody talk to him after he got out of Syrian torture prison?

Yes NPR recently did two pieces on him. He's suing the Syrian government.

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/29/1066718893/kevin-dawes-sues-syria

# ? Mar 13, 2022 10:08

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Action-Bastard posted:

Yes NPR recently did two pieces on him. He's suing the Syrian government.

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/29/1066718893/kevin-dawes-sues-syria

That entire article is just :stare:

# ? Mar 13, 2022 10:15

SlightlyMad: Jun 7, 2015; Gary’s Answer

mlmp08 posted:

https://twitter.com/matt_meeta/status/1502666334127239168?s=21

180 degree revolutionary Russian tank tactics; use whole Earth as armor! Try to top attack this, Javelin!

# ? Mar 13, 2022 10:51

brains: May 12, 2004

davecrazy posted:

Modern?

yes, modern. while history is littered with examples of foreign mercenaries fighting in conflicts for monetary gain, this particular brand of volunteerism is more linked to war tourism and seems to disproportionately bait people suffering from mental illnesses, who go off and suffer the consequences with little to no support afterwards that would be afforded to actual veterans. it sure feels like a lot of these people just drown themselves in social media until they hit a breaking point and buy a plane ticket to a warzone, and then media glorifies them with really gross profiles, furthering the cycle. caro is a textbook example from these very forums.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 11:04

Bored As Fuck: Jan 1, 2006; Fun Shoe

loving sick.

https://youtu.be/Gezu6A9zcLU

Looks like 2 different squads, maybe the same element.

Squad 1 - RPG-7 (2), NLAW (1), ammo guy for RPG-7 w/ 2 extra rounds.

Squad 2 @ 1:15 (possibly either the same squad, or part of same element / platoon as earlier squad) - RPV-16 (2), Panzerfaust 3 (2), RPG-7 (2)

That's a surprising amount of AT for that amount of dudes. They could really gently caress some poo poo up.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 11:32

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Bored As gently caress posted:

loving sick.

https://youtu.be/Gezu6A9zcLU

Looks like 2 different squads, maybe the same element.

Squad 1 - RPG-7 (2), NLAW (1), ammo guy for RPG-7 w/ 2 extra rounds.

Squad 2 @ 1:15 (possibly either the same squad, or part of same element / platoon as earlier squad) - RPV-16 (2), Panzerfaust 3 (2), RPG-7 (2)

That's a surprising amount of AT for that amount of dudes. They could really gently caress some poo poo up.

Wild how quickly the Panzerfaust 3s made their way to front line troops near Kyiv.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 12:16

DekeThornton: Sep 2, 2011; Be friends!

brains posted:

yes, modern. while history is littered with examples of foreign mercenaries fighting in conflicts for monetary gain, this particular brand of volunteerism is more linked to war tourism and seems to disproportionately bait people suffering from mental illnesses, who go off and suffer the consequences with little to no support afterwards that would be afforded to actual veterans. it sure feels like a lot of these people just drown themselves in social media until they hit a breaking point and buy a plane ticket to a warzone, and then media glorifies them with really gross profiles, furthering the cycle. caro is a textbook example from these very forums.

Social media means we see more of it but volunteers who are not just simply mercenaries is nothing new. The Spanish civil war was filled with idealistic volunteers, on both sides. The Winter War saw almost 10,000 Swedish volunteers. There should be plenty more examples. It is pretty safe to assume that som percentage of those volunteers where exactly the same kind of people as the war tourists you describe.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 12:17

Milo and POTUS: Sep 3, 2017; I will not shut up about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I talk about them all the time and work them into every conversation I have. I built a shrine in my room for the yellow one who died because sadly no one noticed because she died around 9/11. Wanna see it?

AreWeDrunkYet posted:

If I recall correctly, part of the strategic justification for the US military budget is being able to fight two large scale expeditionary conflicts simultaneously. Now that Russia is being exposed as a paper tiger, isn't that a reason to cut back on spending? If China is the only potential conventional adversary, gearing up for two enemies that don't exist comes off as a waste of money.

lol funny loving dude

# ? Mar 13, 2022 12:43

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

Kadyrov is allegedly in Donetsk. Let's hope he embraces leading from the front as vigorously as his Russian counterparts have.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 12:44

Milo and POTUS: Sep 3, 2017; I will not shut up about the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers. I talk about them all the time and work them into every conversation I have. I built a shrine in my room for the yellow one who died because sadly no one noticed because she died around 9/11. Wanna see it?

mlmp08 posted:

https://twitter.com/matt_meeta/status/1502666334127239168?s=21

You're not helping. Why is that, leon

# ? Mar 13, 2022 12:48

Kazinsal: Dec 13, 2011

Milo and POTUS posted:

You're not helping. Why is that, leon

Let me tell you about my mother. [sound of a Javelin firing]

# ? Mar 13, 2022 12:56

ChubbyChecker: Mar 25, 2018

DekeThornton posted:

Social media means we see more of it but volunteers who are not just simply mercenaries is nothing new. The Spanish civil war was filled with idealistic volunteers, on both sides. The Winter War saw almost 10,000 Swedish volunteers. There should be plenty more examples. It is pretty safe to assume that som percentage of those volunteers where exactly the same kind of people as the war tourists you describe.

the swedish volunteers were trained reservists that were fully equipped by the swedish state, and they were the only volunteers who were actually sent to the front

the rest of the winter war foreign volunteers were similar adventurers and war tourists like the people now arriving in ukraine, and they arrived too late to finish their training before the war ended

# ? Mar 13, 2022 13:01

brains: May 12, 2004

DekeThornton posted:

Social media means we see more of it but volunteers who are not just simply mercenaries is nothing new. The Spanish civil war was filled with idealistic volunteers, on both sides. The Winter War saw almost 10,000 Swedish volunteers. There should be plenty more examples. It is pretty safe to assume that som percentage of those volunteers where exactly the same kind of people as the war tourists you describe.

absolutely true, but i'm not referring to people trained by another state as reservist, paramilitary, or militia forces who then go off to fight in another conflict or proxy war, or the traditional for-hire mercenary. i'm explicitly referring to true volunteers who are not state-sponsored in any way. if you step back and take a look at some of these peoples' trajectories, it looks awfully similar to other types of online radicalization, and my problem is that when the person is western and going to fight on the "correct" side, they are glorified by the media, and when they go to do jihad or fight against western-backed powers, they are terrorists.

it's gross that people get incentivized to radicalize and fight in a foreign war if it benefits the west. true, it's not a new phenomenon, but it's still just as gross and now you become a tiktok star in the process.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 13:49

Warden: Jan 16, 2020

ChubbyChecker posted:

the swedish volunteers were trained reservists that were fully equipped by the swedish state, and they were the only volunteers who were actually sent to the front

the rest of the winter war foreign volunteers were similar adventurers and war tourists like the people now arriving in ukraine, and they arrived too late to finish their training before the war ended

And even then the Swedish volunteers were not sent to the primary fronts, but instead freed up Finnish troops in the north to be moved where the actual fighting was. Less than 30 Swedes died in Winter war, and all of them as result of air battles or artillery fire.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:11

psydude: Apr 1, 2008

The Guardian reporting that a NYT journalist was shot and killed by Russian forces in Irpin. No word yet on who it was, but it was a NYT team that documented the death of that family by mortar fire in Irpin.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:17

Nuclear Tourist: Apr 7, 2005

psydude posted:

The Guardian reporting that a NYT journalist was shot and killed by Russian forces in Irpin. No word yet on who it was, but it was a NYT team that documented the death of that family by mortar fire in Irpin.

https://twitter.com/AlexKhrebet/status/1502988753165561857

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:22

Mr. Nice!: Oct 13, 2005; bone shaking.
soul baking.

psydude posted:

The Guardian reporting that a NYT journalist was shot and killed by Russian forces in Irpin. No word yet on who it was, but it was a NYT team that documented the death of that family by mortar fire in Irpin.

I saw his name in one of the other threads. He's been identified and the twitter thread has pictures of his dead body. I can't find it again at the moment, but its out there.

e:f;b.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:23

Marshal Prolapse: Jun 23, 2012; by Jeffrey of YOSPOS

https://twitter.com/jimmysecuk/status/1502999312732631043?s=21

Mmm� that�s not cooking.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:30

davecrazy: Nov 25, 2004; I'm an insufferable shitposter who does not deserve to root for such a good team. Also, this is what Matt Harvey thinks of me and my garbage posting.

brains posted:

yes, modern. while history is littered with examples of foreign mercenaries fighting in conflicts for monetary gain, this particular brand of volunteerism is more linked to war tourism and seems to disproportionately bait people suffering from mental illnesses, who go off and suffer the consequences with little to no support afterwards that would be afforded to actual veterans. it sure feels like a lot of these people just drown themselves in social media until they hit a breaking point and buy a plane ticket to a warzone, and then media glorifies them with really gross profiles, furthering the cycle. caro is a textbook example from these very forums.

I think if there was social media in the 1930s and 1940s you wind find the same type of motivations from the folks who rushed into Spain (on both sides) or volunteered in England and China.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:37

Adbot: ADBOT LOVES YOU

# ? Jun 1, 2024 00:51

Saukkis: May 16, 2003; Unless I'm on the inside curve pointing straight at oncoming traffic the high beams stay on and I laugh at your puny protest flashes.
I am Most Important Man. Most Important Man in the World.

Marshal Prolapse posted:

https://twitter.com/jimmysecuk/status/1502999312732631043?s=21

Mmm� that�s not cooking.

Oh no, Russians have been misled by disinformation, same as us. They too heard about the effectiveness of pickled cucumbers, but the truth is it was pickled tomatoes all along. Those jars are useless to them.

# ? Mar 13, 2022 14:50

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Internet VFW > Ukraine: The Aristoblyats

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