Ex-Army vet Cody Heard is heading to Ukraine to help fight the Russians — a decision he made because of his kids.
“None of us really want to engage but we will defend ourselves or others if we have to,” said Heard, part of a wave of volunteer American service members who are heading to Ukraine.“Mainly our mission is to help train civilians so that they have more of a chance to defend themselves,” he said.
“He was in my unit and he’d fought the Russians before. Then he went back home. So when Russia invaded, I felt like my brother was under attack. In the infantry, we live by a very close bond. But there was nothing I could do. Then I saw civilians were being targeted.”“They were volunteering,” he said. “We had a Skype meeting a day or two after the invasion. They told me, ‘We’re flying to Poland and then we’re going to cross over into Ukraine.’ I’m part of two groups now.
He is part of a wave of American service members taking up arms in a volunteer “international legion” formed by Ukraine’s president, Volodymyr Zelensky, who is seeking to add firepower in his fight against the Russians.