Despite risks, U.S. veterans reckon with joining Ukrainian war effort
In which me, @AlexHortonTX @phscoop and @JHBaran put heads together and try to make sense of who's among the Americans heading to the war against Russia without U.S. approval.
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
In which me, @AlexHortonTX @phscoop and @JHBaran put heads together and try to make sense of who's among the Americans heading to the war against Russia without U.S. approval.
washingtonpost.com/national-secur…
We found several kinds of participants. Many want nothing to do with combat in this war, but want to help. Others are spoiling to join the Ukrainians in taking on the Russians directly.
One of the individuals we talked to is Angel Raymond Luna, 30, arrested late last month in D.C. outside the Ukrainian embassy with weapons. He'd draped himself in the American flag and stood at attention outside in his body armor. Drew police attention nearly immediately.
Luna told us that he "has never had a real chance to defend” the United States, after a lone deployment to Kosovo with the North Carolina National Guard. Now he feels compelled to go. After his community service time, most likely.
Lane Perkins is a Navy vet. He never saw combat in his military career, and said from Ukraine that he's looking to get into the fight now. He called it a "noble cause." He thought about joining the French Foreign Legion or Kurds fighting against ISIS previously, but did not.
Zachary Burgart and Mark Turner called me from Romania, after spending six days in Ukraine. Their mission is more personal. They went iwith a Ukrainian-American friend to his hometown. They now plan to go back. No plans of fighting, but want to help. They served in Marine recon.
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