“We don't let the Russians relax”: life inside the Georgian Legion by Wendell23 for 1843mag
He had come to Ukraine to help but was leery of signing up to the Ukrainian army and being sent straight to the front, or of joining the newly formed Ukrainian International Legion, for he would have to sign a contract for an indeterminate period “until the end of martial law”.
He had brought two large bags with him, then realised that it was “too much stuff to take into the field”, so he gave away his trainers, jeans and hoodies. He hung onto the medicine – not just ibuprofen but the “real stuff”: painkillers, sleeping pills, anxiety meds, blood-pressure regulators. Adam’s stare was blank and unyielding. Unlike other volunteers, he was eager to get to the frontline as soon as possible and stay for as long as it took.
Volunteers in the Georgian Legion are supplied with weapons and equipment by the Ukrainian army and deploy in close co-ordination with it. Legion fighters usually operate in small teams, specialising in sabotage, skirmishes and reconnaissance across enemy lines. Before Russia invaded Ukraine the legion had about 250 fighters; now, Mamulashvili told me, he has six teams on the frontline . So far, they had suffered just a single injury.
Mamulashvili had taken a few days off from the frontline to oversee the establishment of the new base and make sure recent volunteers were properly organised. In a large room on the first floor of the building, chairs had been laid out in uneven rows for classes and demonstrations. The torsos of two shop-window mannequins were propped up against a wall, now serving as demonstration models for first aid. Downstairs, a hall had been turned into a dormitory.
When he spoke about logistics, supplies, weapons, training and tactics, Harrison used the phrase “slowly but surely” several times. He was motivated to sign up by recent events, he said. “The withdrawal from Afghanistan was a complete military failure,” he told me. “Entire families that had supported the American mission were massacred in their homes. I don’t want to see the same thing happen here. I want to help the refugees. I am willing to do my part to help.
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