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-Is it your first interview? -Yes.

Yeah. So, my biggest thing, it's not so much the face,

it's just the tattoos, right?

I can shave my beard and wear a wig, and I look like somebody else.

I can't get rid of all of my tattoos.

That's the big thing for me.

I'm Gimli, and I am 30 years old.

Uno. U-N-O.

My call sign is Cazy. I'm 22.

East Coast, United States.

My hometown's pretty aggressive.

People take sports pretty seriously, and they take their opinions pretty seriously.

Originally, I'm from California.

My county actually has sister cities here in Ukraine.

The town that I was born in, the sister city is actually Cherkasy.

I'm from Washington state back in the United States.

Oh, it's the beautiful Pacific Northwest.

It's the home of rain and big ass trees and pretty cool people.

It's a beach city.

I still love surfing whenever I get the chance.

I love skateboarding whenever a kid will let me borrow a skateboard.

I grew up with my parents, had a few siblings - a couple sisters, and a couple brothers.

All the boys went into the military.

I went into the marines. My brothers all went into the army.

90% of my understanding about Ukraine totally comes from the video game S.T.A.L.K.E.R.

Like, that's the majority of my knowledge.

The first day that I was in Kyiv,

I proceeded to embarrass myself by getting a wonderful bowl of borscht all in my beard.

So, my love for Ukrainian food started there. Very messy and wonderful.

And Skittles. Ukrainian Skittles suck.

It's, like, the worst thing about this country, really. I mean it.

Well, the war's worse.

The war's significantly worse.

After centuries of war with Muscovy and Poland,

the Ukrainian Cossack state emerges on the territory of what was once Kyivan Rus.

The Russian Empire destroys the Cossack state.

Ukraine loses its political sovereignty.

The First World War begins.

After the overthrow of Tsarist Russia, Ukraine declares independence

Bolshevik Russia invades and conquers Ukraine.

Four years later, the USSR is established.

Millions of Ukrainians die in manmade famine.

The Second World War begins.

Ukrainians fight the Nazis in the ranks of the Soviet and Allied forces.

The Ukrainian insurgent army is formed, fighting both German and Soviet occupation.

The USSR suppresses the independence movement.

The fourth reactor of the Chornobyl nuclear power plant explodes.

The USSR tries to cover up the greatest man-made nuclear disaster in history.

USSR falls apart, and Ukraine regains independence.

Ukraine gives up its nuclear weapons in exchange for territorial integrity,

promised by Great Britain, the United States, and Russia.

The conflict over the island of Tuzla becomes modern Russia’s

first attempt to violate Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Rejecting their government's embrace of Putin’s Russia,

the people of Ukraine launch the Revolution of Dignity from the Maidan.

In response to Ukraine's pro-European choice, Russia starts its war against Ukraine.

Crimea is occupied.

With the help of the Russian army, puppet republics are proclaimed in the east.

Russia launches its full-scale invasion with the aim of conquering Ukraine once and for all.

The Armed Forces of Ukraine resist the numerically-superior Russian army,

as its soldiers advance from the east, south, and north.

Russian troops blow up the dam of the Kakhovka hydroelectric power plant,

causing one of the largest ecological catastrophes in modern history.

Ukraine appeals to the world to come to its defence.

The International Legion is formed.

Jason Madeck!

Jeremy Heiss!

Haim Chard!

Norris Clifton!

I'm 27, from Arizona.

They call me Sassy.

It's from one of my favorite shows.

Favorite character.

His name is Sassy He’s just a Sasquatch.

It's about... a good show.

You should check it out.

That's not horrible, is it?

And the whole no parallax error on the red dot thing is pretty...

Yeah. I'm already on TrackANaziMerc, so it's okay.

I prefer if you blur my face and tattoos, though. That would be nice.

-Yeah. -Thank you. Appreciate it.

My call sign is Waldo.

I'm 27 years old,

I'm from New Hampshire.

A lot of my time here, I covered my face, on my Instagram as well, whatnot,

but I have nothing to be ashamed of.

During the first year, when I got here in the unit,

they were like, "You need a call sign. You need a call sign."

In Europe, people call it "Where's Wally?"

And it's the guy who has glasses, a beanie, and a striped shirt.

And he's always hiding with, like, I dunno,

a thousand little people on a page, and you gotta find him.

So that's me.

I'm hiding in a wood block in Luhansk, waiting for Russians.

Waldo.

When I was younger, the military was the last thing on my mind.

I was occupied with skateboarding and dirt biking,

and I was not thinking about the army or the military.

I thought about going to the Middle East for a while when I was maybe 23,

but not with the military. To go fight with volunteer units.

I didn't end up doing that.

And then I saw what was happening in Ukraine

and I ended up here, joined the Legion.

I served in the US army for eight years.

Did some time in Texas, did some time in Germany, did some time in California,

did some time in Afghanistan.

When I was a kid, my dad would always let me watch movies with him,

and he's a big fan of war movies,

so you can't really blame me for joining the army or coming over here.

For this drill,

you'll be starting in hunting, looking over the sights.

You'll fucking have a empty magazine in, one in the chamber.

When we're doing live fire, don't worry about it

for drys, you'll say, "Oh, target, up."

Bang.

Reload.

Bang.

Yeah?

Everybody getting it?

So, what I want you guys to do for the fucking dry fires,

you'll have that fucking empty mag in,

have the bolt racked, so you have trigger movement...

The first week is going to be like, really basic fundamentals and stuff.

And some of it might be a refresher for guys. Some of it might be completely brand new.

So, we kind of have to, like, start with this, like, real general stuff for everyone,

like weapons handling and weapons [identification] and all that.

Good shooting techniques...

If the dudes are doing good,

if they soak in and everything, then we'll spend more time working on the fundamentals

because that's all that being good is -

the fundamentals, the basic shit done really-really well.

It's not like the western military.

We're not going to be, like, waiting outside the bus door,

start screaming at you like, it ain't that.

Because I don't want to do that. That sounds terrible.

I do not want to go to the US embassy at all here.

“You haven't paid taxes in…”

Every time you go to the US from coming to Ukraine,

they pull you aside, the government, to talk to you

and ask you about what you saw, what you did.

Sometimes search you. Homeland Security, Customs, FBI, CIA,

they just want information though. I'm not in trouble.

It's legal for me to be here.

They just want to know what actually is happening on the front lines.

No, dude. Ten years in the army, bro.

That's not young, man!

One, two, three...

Four and one back.

And don't lose this.

Okay.

Okay. Get on position.

Prepare yourself.

Okay.

Fire when ready.

Three bullets, on your speed.

Okay. Safety on. Move to the target.

-Do you have irons or...? -Irons.

Good shooting for irons.

You're with irons, you're zeroed.

These two are like in center. This half, 3 mm is human mistake.

Anyway, we cannot put 3 mm upper or lower on the irons.

-Okay? -Alright, I appreciate that.

One click down and slowly. Okay.

-Control. -Okay.

Got you, brother.

-Three inch. -Three.

Three inch equals 7.5.

Have you done the shake when it's like you're going for it

-And it's like... -Turkey or snails?

-Yeah. Snail. -Turkey.

I know this. Turkey!

Yeah.

-And there's a wet noodle. -Wet noodle?

Pinky promise you'll never do that again. Shrimped.

I'm leaving, that's fucked.

I was in Kramatorsk a little bit

with my old team.

But I didn't feel comfortable working with them.

That's alright. We just didn't mesh together.

And there's different teams with different personalities,

and it's about who you feel most comfortable with.

I met him this week.

We have the same birthday.

-Yeah. -Same year, same day.

Yeah. October 1.

That's wild.

-Doppelganger. -Yeah, doppelganger.

Just blond, and then brunette.

That's how it works here.

You meet people that you would never become friends with back home,

just because of our lives don't have the same paths,

but here you meet people all the time

and become good friends or whatnot.

When you're in the front, it doesn't matter who your commander is,

doesn't matter what side you're fighting for,

or what politics brought you here.

The only thing that matters is the guy next to you.

That's it.

And that's going to determine if you go home or not.

Boom, boom, boom. Alright.

Boom, boom, boom.

Another time that you need to remember to shoot and scoot

is before you make a rush.

Crawling until the last one crosses the way.

Come on, bro, come on!

Good!

Look here.

Just continue to crawl.

Crawling, crawling!

Put magazine in firmly, okay,

in order not to fall, fall down.

So, we put it firmly, check [that] it’s down, not going.

[It’s] not going down, that means that it's firmly in place.

How we will load it?

Okay.

Back and release.

Okay? Good?

The most intense hostilities are now taking place in the Eastern operation zone -

Kramatorsk, Kurakhiv, Pokrovsk zones.

Obviously, Pokrovsk area is where the enemy keeps pushing

for the past several weeks, the enemy has been actively attacking there.

That this zone is the most intense comes through the statistics

of Russian bombardments in the last week...

My body really hurts. It does.

I'm just gonna use this body of mine until I can't.

The military just ages your body like milk.

So...

Yeah...

When I joined the military, like, I realised that men are relying on me to be fit,

and so, just trying to make myself harder to kill, and easier to kill.

Running around and then having to shoot at distances,

close range or long range, control your shots.

And so, if you're not breathing so heavy like I am right now,

you got it, you know? Yeah.

You start off right here in front of you,

and you go to your sides.

Equipment doesn't make the soldier.

You can have all of the best kit, the most expensive gear,

and it doesn't mean you're a good soldier.

It matters where your heart's at and how much you train.

I came here because I want to try to do my part to stop the endless, you know,

slaughter that the Russians have brought here

and the terrible things that they're doing.

I just don't think it's right.

I mean, I know I'm only one person, but it's to try to do the right thing,

to try to put an end to that.

It's the right place to be.

These people, they deserve our help.

And honestly, it's an honor to work next to them.

I'm a fucking able-bodied man, like...

So why not me?

I start to think, like, "Hmm...

I can make some things different.

One person is not much help, but...

I can help something."

The war in Ukraine is

in my opinion, and I'm completely convinced,

a personal matter for every Chechen, wherever they may be-

in Ichkeria, Europe, or Northern America...

This is personal for us.

There's people here who fought in Bosnia

and say that this is worse than Bosnia.

Like, if something's worse than Bosnia,

that's pretty concerning, you know...

We thought that was bad,

and then this happens. It's not... It's not right.

MAY 9 VICTORY!

-Is that his dog? -Yes, he just got delivered here.

-What? -If any of my shit gets pissed on…

Piss on the dog.

Display dominance.

Eat the dog's food in front of it.

-Eat the dog? -Yeah...

It's a competition.

One, from the other side,

should be faster with the reloading.

Not all together, but one against each other. You have a partner.

You should be faster than him.

Are we standing or not?

The whole drill is standing!

Everybody understood?

Will you say "reload"?

Reload. In this competition, you're against him.

If you lose, you're going out.

Oh no!

Where do I shoot? In the air? Or at him?

-Straight at his head, bro. -The gun isn’t loaded!

Ready?

Yes!

-Ready? -Yeah.

Ready.

Reload!

Reload!

We're not friends anymore.

Ready?

Ready?

As spring turned into summer, Russia surprised Ukraine

by launching an offensive in Kharkiv region, in the war-torn country’s northeast.

Ukrainian troops are facing increased pressure along the 600-mile front line

as Moscow continues... Putin said that the number of troops fighting in Ukraine

has grown to nearly 700,000, up by 83,000 since the beginning of the year.

... frontline brigades are clinging on as they desperately await munitions from allies

and fresh recruits to provide some much-needed manpower .

Three children were killed

and eight were injured in the missile attack in Zaporizhzhia region in southern Ukraine.

It was broad daylight and the kids were celebrating their graduation.

when the missile struck ... Tht death toll stands at 47

as Russia launched a barrage of 40 missiles.

the day before all NATO member country leaders gathered in Washington

for Alliance’s historic summit... ... a massive Russian missile attack

that targeted five Ukrainian cities on Monday, including Kyiv, Dnipro, Kryvyi Rih ...

...military-aged men in Moscow are being enticed with salaries

of nearly $60 000 a year to go and fight ...

...have recently made significant tactical advances on the approach to Pokrovsk, northwest ....

... the town is a key hub for resupplying the Ukrainian army on the front lines

and evacuate casualties from Donetsk region towards Dnipro...

Russia is forcing Ukraine to commit to defensive operations

rather than gear up for a counteroffensive.

The fight continues ...

Alright, guys, so...

the plan tonight is just to work through that stuff we were doing earlier.

And then, as the sun sets, we're gonna move into NODs familiarization and stuff.

So, we'll just crawl, walk, run it with the fucking peeling maneuvers.

Try not to just go fucking bananas with your round consumption

because we don't have a fuck ton. Yeah.

Fucking Dale, Kevin, Obi, Waldo and Ryan.

Everybody else is with Jim-Jim.

-Contact! -Go!

Twelve o'clock, 50 meters!

Peel left! Peel left!

Bang-bang!

Bang-bang!

Going back. Let's go, Dale.

Moving!

-See how it wiggles like that? -Yeah.

And so right there.

So, what you can do is, fucking...

We'll find a hammer or something and we can bend these in a little bit.

Yeah.

And it'll grip a bit better in there, but not your fault.

Just the fucking problem with these.

-Nice work. -Thank you.

Let's fucking take a few more minutes. Like five more minutes or whatever.

Fucking drink water, get yourself situated, and then we'll roll into live reps.

How come you don't even sweat, Kevin? What is this bullshit, bro?

I'm sweating.

Oh, yeah, you're sweating so much, dude.

He's French Canadian.

Because it's like... That explains it a way....

Like, it's super fucking hot up in Montreal or something.

Two to go!

Come-come-come.

All the way! All the way!

End exercise!

Puta madre cabron

You good, bro?

You ripped your pants?

-Fucking A! -For ventilation.

Da-a-ang.

Smells really good.

We are slowly running out of days here,

and so, the more shit that we can do,

upping our training tempo a little bit is gonna be super beneficial.

It's corny,

but I very much want our team to be one of those teams

that's fucking leading the way in all the standards within the squadron.

I mean, that's one of the things I think I said to everybody

when you were onboarding to the team, was that, like,

"Hey, I want our standards to be some of the highest."

And that helps us out in the future on combat operations.

But it's also just a fucking "esprit de corps" thing, right?

Like, take pride in the team and take pride in yourselves.

So, fucking, yeah.

If you're sucking at something, like, ask your teammates for help there.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. If I have to start telling people to do that kind of stuff,

you bet your ass you got to call me daddy.

-That's the trade-off there. -So, Jimmy's mom?

-Jimmy is “mommy”? -Jimmy's Jim-Jim.

Jim-Jim forever.

Alright, guys, anything else to add there?

Cool, hands in. Ronin on three.

No. One day, one day.

Alright. Good night, guys. Good training.

Yeah. We're near the World War II memorial.

It's beautiful. It's well done, it's artistic, it's...

I mean, it's substantial.

The unity, the freedom that it represents.

I mean, it's just...

All in all, it's just that...

We wanted to come and take a tour of Pearl Harbor and the Missouri battleship.

Well, first of all, the boat is huge.

I can't imagine being a sailor on a boat and trying to live in this environment.

We tend to take that spirit from those who served before us

and just use that to further our service.

Anytime I go out on the bike, it cannot be nearly

as challenging or dangerous or scary as what they would have been through.

So, it always gives me a little spark of encouragement.

Actually, I don't really like war

because I think it's really destructive and can harm a lot of innocent people

and just, you know, it's scary.

I hope the United States will keep out of this war.

I believe that it will.

I believe it's important for every generation to visit it

because it is history and it did happen.

And if you forget, history has a tendency to repeat itself.

Well, obviously you had the axis partners - Hitler and the Japanese and so on.

And I'm not saying that that didn't exist.

All I'm saying is that...

the bankers always had their sticky little fingers in these things.

The bankers.

The bankers...

I don't like being a civilian. It didn't feel right.

Yeah, there's a lot to go into that but...

Just getting misunderstood, I guess, not fitting in.

Getting disgusted and disappointed with the population.

But I'd say probably one of the worst days on the front line for me

was when my first squad leader was killed.

Lincoln.

He's from Australia.

Really good guy.

He was one of the first people I met in Ukraine when I got to the barracks initially,

and he died in a firefight, but he died doing what he loved. So...

We're all volunteers here. We all accept the fact that we might die.

I think about it all the time. Like, in the back of your head, you're just like,

"Man, I hope I'm doing right by the guys who came before me."

I hope I'm doing the memory of my friends who have been killed,

doing them justice.

And I hope I'm doing, like,

like that if the dudes who fought these wars long ago,

like, if they saw me, they'd be like, "That's a good fucking soldier."

It's not about, like, how I think I look, or the job I'm doing.

It's about, like, well: Would other people be proud of the work I'm doing?

It's always like, they clique up.

Like, I had a unit where there's a lot of Polish people, and they...

because they can speak the language, there's some sort of favoritism going on,

and they kind of are allowed to just, like, do whatever they want.

Like, we're supposed to get permission to leave the base every day if we need to go anywhere.

That's not too far, though.

I just look at all the people looking at us and just saying,

"Yeah, could be worse."

This is awkward pressure.

-Yeah. -Could be getting shelled right now.

That's true.

You guys definitely shouldn't reinforce the American stereotype of always buying McDonald's.

You might have to not film that part.

Super size me.

Reinforcing!

Super size me, is that what you said?

“Look at these fat Americans. All they do here is buy McDonald's.”

Attention. Air raid alert all clear.

Did the guys go in?

I need to find...

Velcro. How do I say velcro?

It’ll probably be around Nuts and Bolts, like, Miscellaneous, maybe Screws.

In the Screw area.

That's adorable.

Cleaning kit. Zippo fluid.

-Oh, I saw zippo fluid over here. -Smoking section, right?

-Okay, that was for more, like, gas stuff. -I need, like, for a lighter.

"Zapalnychka" [lighter].

[in Ukrainian] -Good afternoon. -Good afternoon.

This AR 15.

-Speak in English? -Yes.

[in Ukrainian] Do you understand English?

Translator [app].

Here's a 5.56 set.

Waldo's, like, shaking his head, like he understands.

"Yeah, for sure. For sure."

It's a very compact and practical set.

It’s very compact and easy to carry.

A very compact set.

-Good? -Good-good, give me this.

-Give it? -Yes.

And also...

-Good. Thanks. -Thank you.

-Goodbye. -Bye.

-Glory to Ukraine. -Glory to the heroes.

-Where are we supposed to respond back to that? -[In Ukrainian] "Glory to the heroes".

Glory to Ukraine. Glory to the Heroes.

I'm just gonna say "Glory to Ukraine", brother

One thing that was really funny when I went home the first time

is that my friends are asking me, like,

"What's it like in the cities?"

Everyone's thinking it's like Afghanistan and Iraq, where everything is destroyed.

I had to explain to them that we’d go to the front lines,

we'd do our job, and we'd come back, we'd go get sushi

the same night, coming off the front lines, we'd go back to civilization,

and then again the next day, we'd go back to the front lines.

It's a very funny way of life here.

Ukraine wants nothing more than just what's theirs.

We want to get their territories back, and that's all.

No one's asking for anything more than that.

That's perfectly fine.

No one thought Ukraine could do this.

The western world didn't think this would happen.

I remember being at work, watching the news,

and I go to work, when I was working in construction, and everyone's talking about,

"Oh, did you see what happened with Ukraine? Oh, they're going to be done soon.

It will be done soon."

And I already made my decision to come and join the fight.

And I'm just listening to everybody, all these old guys, like Afghanistan and Iraq vets,

talking about how Ukraine has no chance...

And obviously we do.

People may say that Ukraine is losing,

but it doesn't feel like that when you're here.

See, he agrees too.

My grandpa used to say,

"Dead Russian is the best Russian."

And now I'm starting to understand what he mean.

Yeah, it's a pretty crazy situation, you know.

Ukrainians have been fighting for this country forever.

You know, there's a deep history with Russia.

I've been told that Ukraine has been fighting with Russia for hundreds of years, on and off.

Chechens, Georgians, Ukrainians, Belarusians.

I mean, Belarusians have gone through terrible things.

I'd argue Ukrainians are the least oppressed of all the groups.

And that's pretty crazy considering you're being invaded,

like, the things that Chechens and Dagestanis and Siberians...

Just like Hitler was raised in his time, so too Russia and Putin's regime

Was, unfortunately, raised by the West’s own hands.

We cried out about it, starting in 1999, that Putin is a terrorist.

That Putin’s not only killing our citizens in Ichkeria, but his own citizens, too,

blowing up his own citizens.

I mean, my understanding is essentially, since the collapse of the Soviet Union,

Russia's big thing is trying to retake or establish control in a political manner

over what they consider to be what was theirs.

...August 1949

the first Soviet nuclear bomb is tested.

My question is, going back to Ukraine, what would trigger a nuclear war?

And how close are we to that risk?

You know, people are constantly trying to accuse us

of waving around some kind of nuclear sword.

But was I the one who just asked about the possible use of nuclear weapons?

It was you who did that.

You lead me to the topic, and then you’ll say that I was waving around the nuclear sword.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki - 20 kilotons.

Our tactical nuclear weapons are 70-75 kilotons.

That's [just] our tactical nuclear weapons.

So, don’t just avoid leading to their use, but even to the threat of their use.

They came up with this idea that Russia wants to attack NATO.

Have they gone completely [mad]?

As dumb as this table?

Who thought this up? Trash! A dog’s madness!

It would be madness, if the intention wasn't to fool their own population.

"Alert! Russia is about to attack us!"

"We need to arm ourselves immediately."

"We need to send weapons to Ukraine as soon as possible..."

But what's the real reason for this?

To maintain their own imperial status and greatness! That's the real reason for all this!

Right now, as you watch these scenes,

we must speak about the [great] price we have paid for this terrible weapon.

We’ve made any and all sacrifices,

We’ve deprived ourselves of so much,

In order to repel the deadly threat looming over our country.

We made our thermonuclear weapons in order to preserve peace,

to save humanity from new Hiroshimas,

and ultimately,

to make nuclear war impossible.

Take two.

-Take two. -Right.

You too, take two.

-No... -Weakling!

Not allowed to cook over here actually.

I'll get yelled at by the babushkas [old ladies].

There's nothing that really scares me except those fucking ladies.

This is video evidence that I'm really bad at cooking

the easiest thing in the world: hard boiled eggs.

I don't know if my girlfriend would tell you the same thing.

I met her, like, a year ago out here.

Yeah, around this time last year.

And then we dated on and off.

When I deployed last year to Bakhmut, I got really, really sick.

I had, like, an upper respiratory, like, a throat infection.

And I don’t have a spleen, so if I get infections, I get really, really sick.

So I was in hospital for, like, two weeks in Dnipro,

and I couldn't talk to anyone.

And so she was always calling and, like, talking to the nurses for me

and, like, chewing them out when they were just, like, weren't helping me out with stuff.

And the doctor who was there, kind of sucked.

So she would, like, call the doctor and be like, "What the fuck is going on?

Help this guy. He's a soldier. Do your job."

And it was really helpful.

So, yeah, yeah, she's been great.

She helps me out with all kinds of stuff like that.

I wouldn't be doing as good a job as I am out here if it wasn't for her and people like her.

Is this the merry cooking show?

-Fuck yeah, bro! -These are some fucked up hard-boiled eggs.

That's cool.

Yeah...

So, today is your first tactical mission.

Choose your team leader.

Hey, guys, gather around my little map here.

That's the lake. This is where we are.

What we're going to do is we have to clear this,

to make sure there's no enemies over here.

We’ll send Alpha team and we'll do alternating bounding,

So we've just got one team after another.

Okay?

Fuck, dude. That makes no sense because we're setting up the ORPs.

Sassy, sorry to interrupt, but I think you should talk to that guy

because there's an actual live minefield along this route,

so you probably need to look at the route again before somebody dies.

We've been training for this war for 40 years now.

Yeah, it's 2024 for, like, 40 years now. Since the 1980s.

Like, this was always supposed to be Americans fight.

And then... Like, all that for nothing.

All that propaganda, all the...

Just everything was for nothing, you know?

There's nothing I did in my training for the past eight years to prepare me for that.

So, I’m just going to have to dig deep during squadron training

and absorb all the information that I can

and from the other seasoned fighters that I'm working with.

One ...

Lef side, left side. Handrail.

Two. Three. Four.

Last time we fought, like, a real war since, like, Vietnam,

and they didn't even do needle D, they’d just sit in deep spots.

I guess we'll find out for ourselves.

Yeah. Fuck, dude...

Team! Move up!

I got my mom's number there.

She made me. Before I came. In case I get, blown apart,

and then they just find a bit of rib cage, they can call her up.

May your friend have little damn casualties.

Here you go.

Guys, I'm $40,000 in debt, just please let me fucking die.

Got you, boy.

I slept for the first time on this mattress when I was ten.

It feels like almost I’m at home when I'm sleeping here on this.

Go.

Fucking move!

Pederast [fucker]!

Where the fuck are my netting guys?

USA! USA!

Guys, this is the first time I'm firing this weapon,

so just in case it explodes, stay a little bit back.

Shouldn't explode.

If it does, only I will die.

This is not fun, not fun.

Anything in that circle, bro, you pull the trigger, it's down.

Yeah, I think the attack would be a better option.

Yeah, especially for where we're going.

Is everybody happy to start moving back?

Yep.

That was a collective "yes". So fast.

Yeah. All right, let's pack it up, boys.

I'm not gonna step on it.

I mean, you could step on it.

If you wanted to put your Nike on it, you could say “Nike on Nike”.

Nike on Nike!

I do think that most Americans don't really understand the sacrifice that it took

for those American servicemen,

but really for those who were already fighting in the war in Europe and in the Pacific campaign.

I think most Americans just don't think about that kind of sacrifice of life towards war.

Well, I know about this memorial and its dedication in 1954.

I know that the six marines stand for all the marines across time.

I could talk for an hour about this memorial, about the photographer and whatnot,

but mostly the most important thing is what they left, in perpetuity,

for us to know that uncommon valor was common virtue.

That was an incredible sacrifice that was made for all of us.

Because my father served and all of his peers,

my brother and I never had to serve in a war.

So, I'm always grateful for that.

I think about that a lot.

Coming over here is actually a little bit more somber

because it was amazing for me to be able to sit there,

standing in the exact position [where] so many years ago,

a great scar on the Earth was able to be righted.

So, it was nice.

During that time period and also afterwards, it's just...

I don't know, part of history, and just being here makes me...

Makes me want to cry!

When I was growing up, the attitudes that, you know,

were pervasive across the country was staunch patriotism

and a deep feeling of national pride.

When I was that little, I was into...

In the early 1990s, we had those little plastic army figurines

and, you know, playing in the yard and all that.

So, you know, make believe was a huge thing, and it was...

I mean, I thought it was this...

amazing heroic, you know, all of the little boy classic stuff.

You don't really think about all of the real-life sorrow

and tragedy and horror of war as a little kid.

So, yeah, the first impressions were a very

Saturday morning cartoon version of war.

A lot of people don't know this, but three of the men who are pictured

in the photograph, and thus the statue,

were actually killed only three days after the photograph was taken.

So, yeah...

I'm not anybody special.

You know, if I survive the war, then I survive the war.

But people are not going to be like, "Hey, you're that guy!"

No, I'm a nobody.

You know, and majority of the guys here are,

I don't want to say war junkies,

but, you know, they're good dudes, glad to serve with them,

but we're a bunch of nobodies.

My opinions don't represent nearly a fraction of Americans, I don't think.

I have very different opinions than a lot.

Most people don't understand why I'm here, why I keep coming back.

They think I'm stupid or have a death wish

or just want to kill people.

Some stupid reasons, but it's not the case at all.

I'm gonna say something that's gonna piss off a lot of people in America probably,

if they see this interview or watch it at any point in time.

But, like, throwing an American flag on your porch

and, like, setting off fireworks on the 4 July, that ain't patriotism.

Putting a yellow ribbon on your fucking collar

and, like, a sticker on the back of your car that says, "We support the troops".

That ain't fucking patriotism.

Like, that's just lip service.

Go visit your grandpa, like, once a week or once a month or something, who cares,

take him a coffee, and then, like, "Hey, I want to hear your stories about the war."

“What did you do?"

It doesn't matter if he was, like, some super sexy green beret in the jungles of Nam

or if he was, like, a fucking, like, tank fueler,

nobody gives a shit. But he did something,

he was there, he helped the effort, and, like, share that for him,

and then share it with your kids or the rest your family.

Submit it to your local newspaper.

Who gives a shit? Do something with it, though, right?

Okay. So, I want to say that, it was a pleasure to work with this squadron...

Okay, guys, you can start packing your stuff.

I don't have any traditions before deployment.

I have none.

We're just gonna go, and it's like a normal job for us, clock in and clock out,

wake up like everybody else does and go to work.

So, we just need to figure out where we're gonna be living

and get all of our equipment that we still need and go do our job.

Clock in...

Do last minute police calls [clean up] of the barracks,

fucking fold your little blankets, put them on the beds, all pretty.

Make sure there is not a single piece of trash in here, even if it's yours.

Leave my fucking red panda alone.

That will live here forever.

[Sings the march of the French Foregn Legion]

My parents and family aren't happy that I chose to come fight in a war,

but they appreciate what Ukraine is fighting for

and understand it and think Ukraine is in the right.

So, they say they're proud of me,

but my mom would, of course, rather me, you know,

even just go home and work at Dunkin Donuts, besides do this shit.

But I'm not meant for working a normal job.

I found that out real quick.

Cool.

See you in [BEEP]!

A successful life, to me isn't just a house and a wife and family

and fucking six-figure job and a lake house.

Success for me is just being happy with what you're doing.

I always knew that I wanted to do something different with my life.

I didn't know what.

And it's cool to have the opportunity to be a part of history

and actually stand up for what you believe in,

not just making a fucking Instagram post about it

or saying, you know, "I stand with whatever..."

People come out here to actually make a difference.

I'm happy here.

I like Ukraine.

Russia launched one of the largest drone attacks since the war began

with 89 drones targeting the capital city of Kyiv and surrounding regions ...

...drones arrived in two waves in an attack that lasted more than seven hours.

...Russia has repurposed old missiles into glide bombs.

Massive munitions launched out of range of Ukrainian air defense...

US PATRIOT systems can handle the threat of Russian glide bombs ...

...two medical centers, including a children's hospital.

... a children’s hospital suffered a direct hit

The mass graves and torture chambers were discovered

after the Russians were driven out of Izum

in Kharkiv region ... A CHILD

... 447 bodies found were civilians

215 men, 194 women and five children.

...it is a war to keep the Russians from doing the most horrible things imaginable

to people in parts of Ukraine they occupied.

Washington has agreed to make Ukraine a priority

for the delivery of US air defense systems in the coming months, following a request from Kyiv ...

...Washington said that it gave Ukraine permission to use US munitions against positions in Russia, but only ...

On August 7, Russia accused Ukrainian troops of crossing the border into its Kursk region

across the border from Sumy region.

Oh shit!

I’ve always wanted to visit Russia.

I thought it was going to be like a babushka [old lady] house,

and they're like, "Yeah, fit your 17 dudes this tiny dacha."

Because that's what it's been before.

But this blew my expectations out of the water, so it's cool.

It might just mean that we're gonna go do some crazy ass missions

and they're like, "Have a nice place to live before you go die!"

We'll see.

Yeah.

-Whose is this one? -Mine.

Okay.

-You're sleeping in there, right? -Put everything on the table.

“Take your hat off son, that’s a dollar bill.”

Good. We gotta hang this up somewhere.

Yeah.

Probably like over the TV or something would be cool.

Hell yeah.

That's a nice one. I like that a lot. Thank you.

You're welcome.

That's my home screen.

15 minutes drive away from here,

is Ben and I’s pickup point where you'll be taking us, Waldo.

The reason I'm having you take us rather than us just take a truck and leave it there

is so that there is a truck that you guys have it

through the day because we'll be out until who knows when.

If we did what we talked about and, like, get an angle on the corner of this,

that's 50 meters.

So those dudes pushed up 57 meters.

So basically, tried to do the same thing,

come around this super dense vegetation,

and then they got lit up by that PKM [machine gun].

But that gives us a great fucking natural terrain fucking feature to...

-[Backing back onto the hill as well, isn't it?] -Mhm.

The call sign for this is Yabluko or Apple.

Either or. Ukrainian or English.

Pirate told me to do it in English

and then all the other Ukrainian dudes were telling me “Yabluko”

and to say it in Ukrainian, so I wrote it down.

Basically, all that amounts to is fucking be ready to do fucking assault work

or fucking, like, close reconnaissance work in the next four or five days.

But as I know more, I will fucking let you guys know.

-Are you guys the same team? -Yeah. -It’s a little more, actually.

-It's not normal, bro.

Look, I'm not saying that you can't play WoW [Warcraft], like, you know, spend a couple...

I play [Escape from] Tarkov. I enjoy that shit.

I play fucking Arma and simulate what we do for work in a video game after hours.

It's fully retarded.

WoW's basically the same thing.

I wanted to go to the army as a kid. I remember saying it.

And then I was in the car with a friend and my mom.

"No, you can't do that. You're gonna die."

Which I guess at that point, UK was probably in Afghan,

but the level of fatalities aren't nowhere near as high as they are here.

But...

maybe that's partially it, they won’t “No, you can't do that, you're gonna die.”

Of course I'm afraid.

I think it's something good: to be afraid of.

I wouldn't want to fight with people who want to die who aren't scared of dying.

I'm more scared about what's coming after that.

Fuck yeah.

Yeah. I'm afraid to die, but I'm gonna die anyway, right?

I'm gonna die someday. We all are.

So... might as well die fighting for a just cause than just dying.

I wouldn't say I'm afraid to die. I don't want to.

Right. B ut for me personally, it's more of an acceptance of the possibility.

First time when I got out from the front line,

I was like, "Oh, I'm alive."

I think I had same feeling, like maybe when I was ten years old or something.

I felt like so alive.

It was such a good feeling,

and...

it's dangerous because it's such an addictive feeling.

Well, we're about ready to head out whenever you guys are all loaded up and shit.

I'm good to go.

Sweet. Just go throw it in my truck, and we’ll skedaddle.

-You good, Waldo? -Yeah, I'm good. -Cool. Okay.

Radio check.

And channel seven,

it's cooperation with the Artan and with the...

Not with Khartiya,

with Artan and with Kraken and with [the] fifth squadron.

Radio to contact with Khartiya is...

So, Greg has that radio which can contact with the guys.

Yeah, I gotcha.

So, let's try to...

Radio check.

I don't fucking know. I don't want to go all together, damn.

No, I agree with you.

We need to split up once we start moving forwards.

Yeah.

And you guys will go first so that you can tell them,

"Hey, there's going to be some Americans coming, like in ten minutes," or whatever.

"There'll be Americans fucking coming through here."

Damn, it's a really shitty position.

Yeah, yeah, they're fucking super close.

When we arrive closer to the position, it's no fucking standing up and so on.

Because the fuckers, they like, they can fucking listen [hear] us.

And I think they can fucking see us also.

-Oh yeah, boys... -Oh yeah.

-We’re gonna do some walking and stuff. -Yeah, a bunch of that

At least one night, stay in one of the most expensive hotels I can

with a big jacuzzi bath and get a nice bottle of wine and a steak.

And I'm gonna sit in the hotel room for the entire evening in a bath.

That's what I'm gonna do.

I don't care about strip clubs.

I want a big tomahawk steak and a big glass of wine with it,

and to smoke a cigarette in my bathtub.

That's what I want.

Wake up, drink a coffee,

ride a dirt bike,

come back,

eat food,

ride a dirt bike again.

That would be my life till I die,

if I survive, you know.

I'm always, I think, gonna be interested in doing like, military work.

So maybe if I have the opportunity in the future to do like contracting

or do like, training and stuff with people,

share my experiences and things,

then I would be interested in doing that kind of work.

It's just not the time for me yet.

I feel like I still have more experience to gain

and I have more to give to Ukraine, so...

But, yeah, that's the plan for the future.

Go, go, go.

Faster, guys, faster, they're shelling!

Go-go-go!

They've spotted us. Translate that to them please.

Go, go, go!

That sucks.

Dugout?

Keep moving.

Dudes, one person per dugout.

They're shelling in front of us.

-[In Ukrainian] Good afternoon! -Good afternoon.

Where's your translator?

There!

Hi there! Are you alone?

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm coming in.

Watch out, homie.

Short stay.

Short stay.

How are you?

[In Ukrainian] Thanks.

They're aiming at us.

That's a fucking tank.

Is everybody in cover?

[In Ukrainian] How long have you been here?

Three days?

That's fucked up.

Three days.

Three days?

Fu-u-uck!

Made me jump a little.

Fucking hell.

Hey, Waldo, you good?

Yes, good.

Either AGS [automatic grenade launcher] or cluster.

Sounds like AGS.

I think the fire's on them at the last position!

Where our bags are.

[In Ukrainian] Yeah. The Legion, but...

Kraken.

The Legion is replacing Kraken.

-The Legion? -Yes.

Cool.

Owl!

They're heading to the "Dragon" [position].

"Dragon-1", Kraken assault.

-The "Dragon"? -Yes!

To the "Dragon".

You guys take it. First group, start pushing up to "Dragon-1".

Do what you got to do on the way. You know how we're working out here.

We'll be behind you.

I'm gonna try to give it, like, ten minutes. If the sky is clear, we'll follow up.

Check it out, Waldo, I'm gonna send you up the hill first because I hate you.

Yeah, no problem.

-This one? -Yeah.

You're gonna charge up this hill. You can... We walked it.

Just, you know, it's on you, man.

It's not a super long hill. It's steep as fuck.

Roger.

But just... If you hear that drone, you should probably pump.

I got it! I got it!

Get ready to move, Cal. I'm gonna cover you.

…hundred meters.

Okay. Thanks.

All I need is a pumpkin spiced fucking beer by this fire.

Mines here, boys.

One man, maybe two men.

That spot's cool, but it's super smoked out,

and the fire is just going towards it.

Fires like, 40 meters in front of us, too.

Yeah.

Fucking cock-sucking piece of shit.

-You good? -Yeah, I'm good,

just scared the shit out of me and fucking made my ear do a big thing.

I'm stuck.

I hate that SPG [grenade launcher] so much.

It's like the number one thing fucking with us out here.

I hate him!

That sounded like ours.

Yeah, it does sound like Sassy.

I was making way too much noise.

A little bit.

I didn't communicate to you - there's a fucking dugout up there. We can see.

I was trying to get your attention.

Mongoose. Mongoose, be advised.

I think Russians approaching your position.

I can hear a radio 40 meters away, heading towards your direction.

Be advised.

Ah, bro. I can probably shoot this thing.

I could probably hit this thing.

It's right there.

Got him.

-For real? -Yep.

…because I don't want to get blown up again…

Hey, y'all.

I want to introduce you to my episode of MTV Cribs.

This here is my blindage [dugout].

Got it for a fantastic deal. Fantastic deal.

Previous owners...

Previous owners didn't need it anymore.

So, yeah, they left a few belongings behind,

but for the most part, done a good job of cleaning it up.

We've got our little...

Oh, God, I can't see shit.

It's dark in here. You know. You know, we live in...

We don't have a lot of electricity in this part of the country,

So, you can't see but this...

this dark hole is my sleeping area.

Um, don't worry about that. It's just that, you know, the neighborhood kids,

they just like to play with firecrackers and stuff.

They're a hoot, they're fine , they're great.

-Awful. -Fucking terrifying

Kitkat, this is Ronin, plus-plus [do you copy?].

I copy.

Fall back to best position for element dispersal.

Stand by until 04/ 05 tomorrow morning for update on mission. Over.

I'll take one. Thank you.

I love my job,

but fuck this shit.

Bye-bye.

Welcome to MTV Cribs, Ukraine.

We're out here with the boys.

Yeah, you guys are all right. We can be friends.

-Whiskey. -Whiskey left. Whiskey left.

I'm here.

You just press the top one and it starts recording with all these fucking war fighters.

[in Ukrainian] Good afternoon!

Let's get the low angle.

Two fifty, two bimbos at 11 o'clock.