Multiple updates

I have a bunch of updates for you before I open the floodgates on writing pieces.

The army keeps moving me around. This is frustrating on multiple levels, but also makes receiving packages nearly impossible. That said, I most likely know where I will be for the next six weeks, so a shipping window has opened for me to receive packages if they are sent soon. I will post a new wants/needs list, please consider the previous one outdated and covered, I need to pull that one down. Many thanks to those that have offered, attempted to send, or actually managed to get packages to me. I know it can be a stressful pain in the ass, and I appreciate the effort and greatly appreciate the packages that manage to make it here. They have been very thoughtful and useful. I am months behind on thanks and answering e-mails, my apologies there.

Likewise, my extremely nomadic lifestyle often separates me from the things I have gotten that I want to mail to some of you. They are safe, and I might just have time to ship at least some of them here over the next few days before I have to drive across Ukraine again, but I have no idea how much time I have here in my apartment in Kramatorsk. Life in the army is one of endless uncertainty.

It’s good to be back here. I like Kramatorsk, and my shower and bed are decent, and I can cook for myself and eat healthier. How I got here is one hell of a story, but for a variety of extremely good reasons almost all of you will have to wait until after the war to hear that one. Sergey, my Ukrainian journalist friend who is now in the military himself, described what I did to pull this one off as “gangster”, and he’s not wrong.

He is going to need some help getting kitted out. The Ukrainian government is strapped for cash and some of the gear they issue us is substandard and some things a soldier needs they don’t issue us at all. I will be asking folks help with getting him what he needs here in a few days. He’s a great guy, and has helped me immeasurably, in addition to being one of my closest friends, he has acted as my fixer for me, helping me secure housing here in Ukraine multiple times, and helping my with the quest to procure a vehicle to turn into an armored ambulance for me and my unit. His disabled mother also relies on him and it will be a few months before he gets his first army pay and they could use some help.

I am writing up the update on the progress in my Toyota Series 70 being modified, upgraded, and its armoring process being completed, and I hope to have that up by the end of tomorrow, Ukraine time. It’s coming along very nicely and is going to be nearly the perfect vehicle for what I do.

I was lucky enough to finally get to explore Kharkiv for about a week recently, and took a lot of architecture photos and other interesting shots of this wonderful city. I will whip up a photo essay of that here in the next day or two, barring the army prying me out of my nest here and my having to depart for points west before I can do that. That’s a pretty quick and easy piece for me to put together though, so I am hopeful that I can get that out before that happens.

Microsoft decided my e-mail account that I have had with them since 1999 was “suspicious” and locked me out a few weeks ago. Unfortunately, my habit has been to write as e-mails to myself on that account, and I am effectively locked out of all of my writing notes still at this time. This of course sent me into a depression until yesterday, when I started pulling myself together, greatly aided about good news about my potential ability to immigrate to join my lady after the war. Having some hope for a future is a good thing.

Even if I can’t access my notes and half written pieces trapped by Microsoft, more has happened that I have to write about since I got locked out, and I think I can publish my piece on the friendly fire incident I experienced, and I have a copy of that elsewhere. I was hoping to lead my return to managing to write things I could publish here with something more positive than being shot at by our own guys, but that piece is nearly ready to go, and a hell of a story, so what the hell? You gotta play the cards you have, right?

Speaking of cards, some very interesting things have been happening in the war, and I am looking forward to putting on my miliary analysts’ hat for a piece or three to parse some of that for y’all.

I think I will put together a post on toys and another on patches as well. My lady has a six-year-old son that I am looking forward to helping raise after this damned war is finally over, and I have been sending him toys from Ukraine, and taking photos of interesting toys I come across when shopping for him. Likewise, patches, I sent her and her seventeen-year-old son some patches and it turns out the youngest was fascinated with them, so I have been collecting fun, animal themed and glow in the dark patches to send to him, as well as more for the whole family, and for my collection as well.

I also finally got around to modifying my little carbine some, and managed to get it at least roughly zeroed, which was a ridiculous, lengthy quest. I will have a post or two covering that as well.

Thanks to everyone for their support of me and Ukraine, and this struggle against the greatest evil the world has seen in eight years, whether that is moral support, packages, monetary, staying engaged and aware, making memes for me, helping me with research, talking to people about what is happening here, or your own struggles against tyranny and authoritarianism in your lives.

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