76 jarige Vietnam veteraan in Ukraine
https://www.reddit.com/r/(...)new_post_on_the_way/“On the way back we ran across a lot of dead Russians.”Ukrainian War Volunteer Uncategorized December 31, 2022 11 Minutes
(UV and his usual after action report he writes after returning from a patrol, then resting, and eating.)
Just woke-up. Actually slept through the night – a rarity.
Came in for a rest and resupply. We went deeper in this time than ever, could see the lights of the city. Moved around a lot of Russians who were also either moving or prepared to move. We did notice they are less static in the forested area, and are trying to keep their elements in positions where they can be mobile. It is a good tactic, and reduces their vulnerability to artillery.
I suspect it is also because they are concerned that we are making feinting moves to get them to commit reinforcements to a particular area. They are right. Command always assumed they would try to break-up into smaller units and increase their mobility, and it was part of our job to influence where they went. It seems to have worked to some degree.
All the time we spent ———— has influenced their movements, or so we are told. Once they do commit to a position, it is our job to make sure the support elements are located and can be hammered as they struggle to now supply mobile units, mostly by roads, roads which have to be scanned for mines.
In some areas wheeled trucks have issues with the mud, but I don’t see the lack of frozen ground causing a change in our plan or hindering planned activity much. My thought is, if the ground was frozen, the plan would be much the same…although, I am not privy to top-level planning, nor should I be.
We saw quite a bit of activity, a lot of-hit-and-run stuff from roving forward teams that take out a vehicle, then move away. Most of that was on the way out, as we worked our way back through the leftovers of combat. Only five of us made this trip, and we spent a lot of time hunkered-down in the day, and moving slowly at night. As we got closer to the city, we found and pinned several fixed supply sites, and one forward command center. By now they have been hammered.
On the way back we ran across a lot of dead Russians. I counted 34 in all, mostly scattered in groups of a handful or so. Only one was barely alive, and there was nothing at all we could do for him. His lower jaw had been shot off and he seemed to be paralyzed below the waist. His eyes were glassy and his breathing was rattling. He would never survived being hauled out, and it was impossible for us to haul him anyway. I covered him with a poncho and we left.
One thing you notice, after some time, in this cooler weather, if you get close to a corpse they smell like a stale boiled egg.