Posted on 03/26/2023 8:00:02 AM PDT by caww
After a year of combat, many of these homespun groups of volunteers are fighting with themselves and undermining the war effort. Some have wasted money or stolen valor. Others have cloaked themselves in charity while also trying to profit off the war, records show.
One of the best-known Americans on the battlefield is James Vasquez. Days after the invasion, Mr. Vasquez, a Connecticut home-improvement contractor. ... he has posted battlefield videos online, at least once broadcasting his unit’s precise location to everyone, including the enemy. He used his story to solicit donations..... “I was in Kuwait during Desert Storm, and I was in Iraq after 9/11,” Mr. Vasquez said in a fund-raising video.
Mr. Vasquez, in fact, was never deployed to Kuwait, Iraq or anywhere else, a Pentagon spokeswoman said. He specialized in fuel and electrical repairs. And he left the Army Reserve not as a sergeant as he claimed, but as a private first class, one of the Army’s lowest ranks.
Mr. Vasquez had easy access to weapons, including American rifles. Where did they come from? “I’m not exactly sure,” Mr. Vasquez said in a text message. The rifles, he added, were “brand-new, out of the box and we have plenty.” He also tweeted that he should not have to worry about international rules of war while in Ukraine.
when The Times asked about his false military service claims. He immediately deactivated his Twitter account and said he might leave Ukraine because authorities discovered he was fighting without a required military contract.
Mr. Vasquez said he had been misrepresenting his military record for decades. He acknowledged being kicked out of the Army but would not talk publicly about why. “I had to tell a million lies to get ahead,”
(Excerpt) Read more at dnyuz.com ...
Prop-a-GAN-da. The Moskovite teams are aworkin’ overtime/
Everything to do with Ukraine is grift.
Except I wouldn’t really call saying one fought for Ukraine “valor”. More like stolen retardedness or evil.
You didn’ even read it......or you’d know this was first reported in the NY Times so if you want to pay go ahad and look there.
There was a guy at the local VFW who stole Valor. (I’m an honorary member and cook up there, I was unable to serve). They about ran him out on a rail. Dang weirdos.
You can go to the New York Tims and pay to read this article as it was there first.
Story originally from yesterday’s NYT
No it is actually true. He admitted it during an interview.
For the most part these are profiteers seizing on the quick buck principle. Military experience ranges from being the volleyball champ at Camp Anaconda Iraq or being the care package raider who never saw the outside the wire experience. Remember only about 10% of the forces ever deployed ever see actual combat. The rest a re bean and bullet movers to supply that 10% who might have seen an accessional mortar round land in the general vicinity of their volleyball court.
True one can’t even pose a question about looking for neutrality (as opposed to war) and not be quickly challenged by a pro Uke person.
BTW “ They rushed to Ukraine by the thousands..”. Thousands, good grief. While our own border is overrun.
Meanwhile you contemptible Russians have an entire mercenary army composed of convicted criminals! Robbers, murderers, child molesters, rapists...that’s the Wagner army killing for Russia.
As for the Americans, regardless of their past they are out there killing Russians and for me that is an act of redemption on their part.
I wish them good hunting!
The source of the article is the NY Times. Behind a pay wall.
The bottom line on all those arrangements is . . . the bottom line.
The contracts offer enormous pay. Incentive then arrives, instantly, to find ways to not pay it. The people will be sent to the most dangerous configurations. They don’t get paid if taken prisoner, they don’t get paid if they leave their post, they don’t get paid if they are not noted, daily, by their local commander.
And if they miss one day, the contract suspends. The most lenient of the contracts will allow resumption of duration rather than cancelling altogether if a day passes when a commander loses track of the person. And, of course, the commanders have incentive to lose track of them.
Though not entirely. The smarter of these folks cut their commanders in on the deal. They can disappear from the front Bakhmut lines and still get paid via sharing money with the commanders.
This is not new, actually. Soldier of Fortune has talked of these things for years, mostly in Africa.
Commenting like a bloodthirsty moron is not a good look.
Russia invaded Ukraine.
Russia occupies Ukraine.
To restore world peace: Send Russians go back to Russia.
James Vasquez has spent a portion of his life, struggling with self-criticism that, in his case, he would occasionally tell a lie or story in order to try and overcome a failing and gain momentum.
Now there are people who are prosecuting him in the court of public opinion.
Each of his prosecutors has some motivation to prosecute. For example, about stolen valor.
Some such accusors assert that military records are authoritative and thorough; but there are many military records that are not so.
I do not know James Vasquez prior military activity before Ukraine, but I do know that James Vasquez has also been in close combat against Russian forces in Ukraine.
Now, about the thousands of foreign volunteers. A few of the (”20”) thousands did show up. Ukraine is trying to discover what happened to the people of 2022. Presently, Ukraine mostly knows about survivors. Yet, during 2022, Ukraine learned to be more adept regarding who was allowed into the country, followed by who might be a candidate for combat or other activities.
But Ukraine has a big problem with its administration of that gate keeping system. Its efficiency varied widely, depending upon the qualities of its personnel - some were good at their work, while others were terrible (workers socialistic union DNA).
About foreign volunteer aid - money - for Ukraine: a carnival of motivations, Russia haters, cat and dog lovers, several colors of gender lovers, Trump haters, many particular interests such as technical, medical, and spiritual, plus soldiers of fortune who know that their days of “practical” combat have passed.
Regarding the cash flow, the more efficient direction with highest probability of needed supplies being delivered, is of interest to both Ukraine (in need) and Russia (trying to destroy it).
Regarding foreign government aid, I wonder if Ukrainians will ever be able to afford the future being designed for them by the depravity of “progressives” - such as the leftists like the Biden administrators who WILL DENY AID unless your country bows down on its knees to “gender” tyranny.
The New York Times is not likely going to support Ukrainian veterans who object to transvestite classroom teachers preaching to the veterans’ kids.
Good post. Interesting and you are correct about those old SOF articles. Very snakey business. The movie is dated, but the betrayals that are part and parcel of the merc world are shown in that old movie “The Wild Geese”.
Deal behind secret deal, and your own side looks down on you, and the enemy side feels very free to summary execute you. Not much protection in the law of war either. Mercs are pretty much the only ones on their own side.
To me one of the interesting merc stories is the Hessians in the Revolution. A heck of a lot of them decided to stay here in America in Pennsylvania.
It’s a corrupt country and corruption’s contagious.
If you have a boss that steals it increases employee theft...
This is the same. Yes, Joe and his whore monger son and all his private school losers friends and George Soros want us in Ukraine because they’ll be hurt if Ukraine shuts down... but for the rest of us? Not so much.
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