War Pigs

I couldn’t help but chuckle a bit at these knuckleheads who decided to fight for Ukraine because they thought WAR KICKS ASS and then they soon quit when they realized that war wasn’t a video game.

In interviews with The Washington Post, foreign fighters from the United States and elsewhere described glaring disparities between what they expected the war to be like and what they experienced. They recalled going into battle underequipped and outgunned, the occasional thrill of blowing up Russian vehicles, and feeling torn over whether to go back to Ukraine. Some intend to do so. Others saw friends die and decided enough is enough.

…

Military veterans, in particular, have been drawn to the war, emboldened by their combat training and an eagerness to apply their skills in a conflict that, for many, feels like a struggle of good versus evil.

But the conflict also has drawn Western military veterans who either have never deployed into combat previously or have experienced only asymmetrical insurgencies — not this type of war, with contested airspace, unrelenting rocket bombardment, and swarms of drones with sophisticated thermal targeting technology.

Dane Miller, a U.S. Army veteran, went to Poland to take on a quieter but significant role — helping to run logistics for refugee aid centers and sending crucial supplies over the border into Ukraine. He has also assisted volunteer networks in reviewing prospective foreign fighters’ military records, to assess whether they “have the chops … to take on a massive military,” he said. While many do, a common theme is that swagger sometimes stands in place of relevant experience, he noted. He has advised some veterans against going into Ukraine.

“There’s this idea of heroism and it’s glorified. I will look at your 214 and tell you if you’re ready for this,” he said, referring to the U.S. military’s discharge paperwork, DD Form 214, that lists the training and certifications completed while in uniform.

And to say the least, they aren’t. They are mostly clowns, some of whom failed out of the military due to crimes. They think WAR KICKS ASS. But someone else got their ass kicked and it was them.

Now, this is hardly the only instance of this kind of thing in American history. From filibusters into Mexico in the 1850s to Theodore Roosevelt thinking war would make him a Real Man in 1898 to today’s video game warriors who think they are tough but are not, there’s a long history of American men getting in way over their head and realized that war is actually a horrible, awful, no good thing that should be avoided if at all possible. The fact that they were fighting for Ukraine instead of Russia shouldn’t get in the way of us understanding this point. And of course they can and do go home after a few gunshots make them poop their pants while the Ukrainians are in this for real, fighting for home, family, and nation.

In conclusion:

By the end of the second night, eight of the 20 volunteers in Dakota’s unit had abandoned their posts, he said, including a fellow Marine veteran who appeared to break his machine gun with a rock in the hope of passing it off as battle damage. Another feigned an injury, he said.

What tough Americans.