Hi, my name is Shauna, I am fundraising for a friend to all of us and right now those in Ukraine, Josiah Napier. He was in the Canadian Army as an infantry paratrooper for 8 years, until he gave up his career in the Army to become a full-time dad.

Josiah went to Ukraine in March 2022 shortly after the war began when Russian invaded Ukraine. Politics as they are prevented nations from directly putting boots on the ground. So he went along with other volunteers to help train Ukrainians in tactics, Tactical Casualty Combat Care (TCCC) and provide support. He personally worked with a British lead group doing tactical and medical evacuations along side the Hospitaller Medical Battalion at the time based out of Kyiv (they have since moved main base of operations further east towards Donbass region. The main Ukrainian army is relatively small and, at the start of the conflict, was bolstered by volunteer Ukrainians called territorial defense. Unfortunately, these folks are often old farmers and young men; most middle or fighting-age males were not around. Those that were “fighting age males” and had appropriate kit had mostly private security experience; this is not kinetic or force on force. They often serve as security at checkpoints and gate guards in the middle east and Africa. The inappropriate kit caused issues as ignorance of things as simple as field hygiene in extended time in the bush created noncombat casualties on a high scale. Let alone complex issues from communication, logistics and battlefield movement/tactics. None of this is to slight or cast shade on the Ukrainians; quite the opposite, they are doing what they can with what they have. The Ukrainian army is in a woeful state, with large weapons like anti-tank and ground-to-air missiles drying up, and morale has followed. The Russian army tactics involve walking artillery forward and then sending ground troops in after; rape, murder, and other atrocities follow in short order, often to women and children first.

Since Josiah has both medical and combat experience sorely needed, he has been requested to go back. He has been asked to go with a British lead group with mostly ex-military folks running more tactical and medical evacuations in Kharkiv. The last time Josiah went, he went on his dime. This time I am asking for financial support for this cause.

The money would go to the following:

• Travel, accommodations, food. • Kits (I gave out to Ukrainians staying on the front ) second pair of boots, combat pants, AK 74 magazine pouches, gloves, radio and batteries.

• Medical equipment, no way around it; Ukraine is corrupt. Battlefield medicine like analgesics ( ketamine to paracetamol), TXA, directrices and junctional tourniquets now cost money; as demand has risen, so have markets to supply them at a cost. Antibiotics are abundant; people there just don’t know how to use them if they are in French and German etc.

• cigarettes are as good as currency; they make checkpoints vastly easier.

• And lastly fuel and generator.