“We had to breach through every obstacle, make a hole everywhere while under indirect fire. Every crossing we made we had to have covering fire set up, while having a wounded man, who by some miracle of god was literally sprinting to his own Medevac.

While jumping over a fence our Ukrainian Commander nearly broke his leg. He started limping and now we had two down.

Nevertheless, through all this adrenaline and action, ROKSEAL managed to be ice cool. He gave clear, straight commands in a calm manner. Commanded the whole squad with such professionalism that it was absolutely surreal.

I strongly believe that it was his skill as a commander that got us out that day. All of us alive. Seeing him being completely calm and taking charge was very reassuring.

We finally made it to the staging area, our wounded man literally walked to his medevac, never becoming a burden to anyone.

Later we learnt that it wasn’t shrapnel, it was a 5.45 round that keyholed into his shoulder and tumbled down his ribs. He got very lucky.

We all made it back.

Days later our assault teams cleared the whole town, capturing the BMD that was shooting us. Alpha 1, our sister unit chased the Russians all the way out of the town. Soon after Russians abandoned both Bucha and Gostomel.”

– “Viking” Eastern Volunteer. Battle of Irpin. March 13th-15th, 2022.

PART TWO

This story was documented by Nicholas Laidlaw.

Every soldier has a story, and every story deserves to be told.