"This Is The War I've Been Preparing For."

• 24.12.2025, 17:08

A former U.S. special forces officer has volunteered in Ukraine.

Mark Hayward, a former U.S. Special Forces fighter, was caught off guard by the war in Ukraine. At first he hoped America would honor its commitments under the Budapest Memorandum, but then he realized that no one would give the command to save Ukraine, writes The Telegraph (translated by Charter97.org).

Hayward joined thousands of volunteers from the United States, Britain, Australia and other countries to defend Ukraine. Many of them had long since lost their physical fitness, and the military equipment available in the early months of the war was virtually unusable.

For Cold War veterans like Hayward, the conflict was a war they had been preparing for all their lives. He served since 1994 in Special Forces, participating in the Kuwait and Iraq campaigns. After leaving the Army, he lived in Alaska, where events in February 2022 made the Russian invasion a "personal matter" for him.

Crossing the border through Poland on March 12, Hayward arrived in Ukraine with a refurbished ambulance and equipment. He began helping as a medic and then became an instructor, teaching Ukrainian soldiers how to use NLAW anti-tank missiles. Often they had to improvise.

Hayward notes the unique skills of the Ukrainian soldiers, "Their ability to problem solve and improvise is the best it can be. They always have a screwdriver and a soldering iron at hand."

Despite personal expenses and debts, Hayward believes the best contribution to his children's future is to protect the world from Russian aggression. "I am old, but the best legacy I can leave is a world where such injustice does not go unpunished."

The Ukrainian war was an opportunity for Special Forces veterans to put their skills to use and make a personal contribution to global security.