By Donna Hoffmeyer
(original post on Medium, Taking Off The Armor)
I was thinking about my blog last week regarding the responses and reactions of the Veterans as they watch the young and old of Ukraine stand strong while their country is obliterated around them.
If I had to take an educated guess, I would say most of us are living vicariously through our active duty and activated counterparts. Oh, you may hear us say, Glad I’m out, or some version of that statement. However, do not be fooled, any of us who were operational are thinking back to our “glory days” and fondly remembering the excitement of the time.
I’m sure many civilians are thinking we are one screw loose for this train of thought. However, you first need to understand our mindset.
You need to understand this is what we did day in and day out — training and preparing. The pilots have to keep up flying hours for currency…but while they are flying they are learning and practicing defensive and evasive maneuvers, targeting, reconnaissance, and a host of other procedures and techniques to allow them to be the best during conflict.
If you walked into a military hospital you probably wouldn’t immediately notice any difference in care. We have doctors, nurse practitioners, physician assistants, nurses, medics, and ancillary staff just like civilian hospitals. What you do not see is the next level of training. We have teams specifically trained for medical care out in the middle of nowhere. There are teams trained to move patients from the front line to higher levels of care. There are teams trained in operating on complex trauma from war. Mass casualty training is an annual event. If you’ve never been involved in a mass casualty, it is a complete mindset change. The civilian medical caregivers received a taste of it during COVID surges. It is very traumatizing when you are not prepared for it…and a mental toll even when you are trained.
The same applies across the board to all the military. The Army doesn’t ride around in tanks just to fulfill a childhood dream (although, I’m sure it does that too). The Air Force doesn’t just fly a plane for a joy ride (and joy is subjective here). The Navy doesn’t float in a boat because it’s cool (well, it is cool)…they are constantly practicing, and ready to move to position when the call comes. Our newest cousin, Space Force, is doing “spacey training”. Half joking, they are keeping skills up to defend us in space (from aliens, of course). And the Marines…well they are Marines, need I say more? Those badasses are also practicing, training, and improving their “badassery.”
The bottom line is we spent an entire career preparing to be ready for the call. So, when the call comes or is coming, Veterans innately mentally prepare to go…even though we dolefully know it is not our game anymore.
Watching the news, social media, newspapers, and magazines brings back memories of our many deployments to Vietnam, Iraq, and Afghanistan. The bombed cities, displaced families, and homeless children are permanently imprinted in our minds. It propels us to action.
Even if we cannot be back with our unit to get the mission done, we have to do something. We are not bred to standby…we are bred to defend our nation and allies that struggle to defend themselves. What that looks like varies.
For some, just sending prayers and positive vibes is what they offer. The situation may be so triggering; the images of today compound the images that already haunt them at night. They have to tone down and filter the amount of information they are digesting for their well-being.
Veterans with non-profits and businesses are bringing awareness, offering support on social media, and sending a portion of proceeds and supplies to specific charities. Here are a few doing great things:
Then there are Veterans who have a skillset they feel can only be utilized by being present. Project Dynamo, created by veterans Herring and Bryan Stern, is a non-profit dedicated to evacuating Americans and allies caught in war-torn countries. This morning, as I was getting ready to write this article, I stumbled upon this story. Hector and many others are offering their services in person in response to President Zelensky’s request:
“We will have a lot of work to do to rebuild our Ukraine. Everyone who can defend it abroad, do it directly in a united way. Every friend of Ukraine who wants to join Ukraine in defending the country please come over, we will give you weapons. It will be announced very shortly, how this can be done. Everyone who is defending Ukraine is a hero.”
This is the mindset of the eternal warrior. There is no question of their purpose. Their life is sacrificed to protect those less capable of defending themselves. It is not a choice, it is a calling. Maybe it is even a little guilt that ignites them, for being the one that survived, while their buddy gave the ultimate sacrifice. Maybe it is knowing the trauma these civilians are enduring, and wanting to desperately protect them from the chaos.
No, you might not hear us say it, but only because most civilians wouldn’t understand. So, I’ll say it here. If we were called up tomorrow, we’d take a deep breath, prepare the family, and as difficult as it would be, we would go. We also know that, in reality, the call will not come for the majority of Veterans, yet we will be compelled to answer. Please understand, that we are all responding, in our way… every one of us.
