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"James was a medic who first saw combat when he
replaced another medic killed in fighting in Iraq in 2006. He did two more
tours, in Iraq and Afghanistan, seeing so much blood and death that 10 years
after leaving the military he still attends therapy at a veteran’s hospital.
“But this week, as he watched Russian forces shell
cities across Ukraine, he decided that he had to try to go there to help.
“‘Combat has a cost, that’s for sure; you think you
can come back from war the same, but you can’t,’ James said in a phone
interview from his home in Dallas, where he said he was waiting to hear back
from Ukrainian officials. 'But I feel obligated. It’s the innocent people being
attacked — the kids. It’s the kids, man. I just can’t stand by.’”
- ‘I Just Can’t Stand By’: American Veterans Join the Fight in Ukraine
