When The Calls Come" Man Down”Ukranian Medics Move to Make a Difference

Im sorry I could not show the line pictures taken live in Ukraine. It seems I could not afford them from The New York Times. That is the most expensive part of this operation. If you end some by any bank, Pay Pal, Zelle. Then the HOLIDAYS the was a kink in the system as I suggested a $10 gift for adamfoxie, Pay paid some $10 until there was 0 in the account, which it was not much but talk about pain on top of injury.

 Medics

They are the first line of treatment for soldiers wounded on the battlefield, racing against time to try to save lives.

 

So, deep inside a position that soldiers call “the black forest” in eastern Ukraine, the medical corps of the 63rd Mechanized Brigade tries to remain hidden. The zero line — where Russian and Ukrainian forces are squared off in trench lines within sight of each other — is only a mile or two away.

The iconic red cross painted on the side of the team’s armored vehicle offers little protection from enemy fire. In fact, soldiers say, it makes them a target. They carefully camouflage the vehicle until it is needed — which is often these days as Russian forces mount wave after wave of assaults.

The vehicle is at the combat medic station, a critical link in the chain of care for soldiers wounded on the front. It is often the first stop before they are dispatched to stabilization points farther from the fighting and then to advanced medical centers where more complicated procedures, like amputations, are performed.

 

The medics at combat outposts provide basic trauma care, including setting bones, applying tourniquets,  giving pain medication and, in some locations, performing blood transfusions. 

Wounded Ukrainian soldiers riding in an armored vehicle with medics to the site where their injuries will be treated.

 Image

 Moving the bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers from an armored vehicle to a van for transit to a morgue.

The medics’ lives revolve around the routine.

“There are only two options: Either you are on duty or you are having rest,” said Lt. Andriy, a 27-year-old dentist who was mobilized in the summer of 2022 and is now a lead medic for the brigade. Like other soldiers, he asked that his last name not be used in accordance with military protocol.

“You wake up in the morning, get ready, and go,” he said. “Without too much thinking.”

As he was talking, an urgent message crackled over the radio.

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“Two men down. Fly out.”

It was time to go. Vasyl, the driver on duty, glanced up at the sky, looking for Russian aircraft.

“Currently, there are so many drones and kamikazes,” he said. “They are hunting us.”

Fortunately for them, the clouds hung low and heavy, limiting range of vision.

Vasyl pulled the armored vehicle out from under the brush, the soldiers checked their kit, and they set off once more.

They did not know it as they drove, but this would not be a rescue mission. The two Ukrainian soldiers had died where they had fallen. Once the team arrived, all they could do was wrap the bodies in black plastic bags and carry them away.

“The best experience is when you save a heavily wounded soldier,” Lieutenant Andriy said. “And the worst is when you can’t help.”

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A combat medic waiting for the bodies of two Ukrainian soldiers who were killed nearby.

“I can’t call it a routine,” Lieutenant Andriy said. “It’s our duty. But you can’t get used to people’s pain.”

The scale and intensity of the war in Ukraine — which has ebbed and flowed over two years but rarely relented — can be hard to fathom. Combat medics and their teams often see the worst of it.