Guest Commentary | For some, the attacks never stop
Florida volunteer, call sign “Trust,” has served in Ukraine. PHOTO
PROVIDED
Twenty-five years ago, we promised Never Forget. But how can you forget something that is barely a part of your national memory?
I was in Long Island when the towers went down. I saw the smoke in the sky, and waited for the calls from loved ones who worked on Wall Street as I feared for their lives. Though I was a little girl, I remember that day like the back of my hand.
And while it is comforting to know Americans still honor this day, it hits different for me since I’ve spent the past three years taking mission trips to war-time Ukraine, where it’s 9/11 literally every day.
The fact is, our society cannot fathom how blessed we are to have zero idea what war on the homefront is like but after being under daily bombings from terrorist Russia, I can’t help but fear our way of life can be threatened once more.
With all that goes on in our world, why is it so hard for us to imagine war can happen here too? What will it take for us to open our eyes to these unavoidable truths?
One of the biggest mistakes we can make as a country is viewing the events of 9/11 as an isolated moment in history from strictly a patriot lens when, in reality, the moments leading up to that day, and our response thereafter set the precedents that are still relevant to our national security this very day.
When the towers went down, Department of Homeland Security was created. TSA and federalized airport screening protocols were established. The Director of National Intelligence was formed to detect threats.
We also began our GWOT campaign to structure our military posture in the Middle East, a position which continues to be critical for us even today in the “military conflict” with Iran.
However, we let a lot slide as well.
Under the guise of “fiscal conservatism” to make imaginary cuts to our trillion dollar debt, we instead cut critical military programs, and failed to develop our defense in sync with modern military standards.
Even after we dishonored our international agreement within the Budapest Memorandum, it was the Ukrainians who were among the first to offer support to the U.S. military in drone defense in the wake of war with Iran.
And our defense production has stagnated, we don’t have enough missile interceptors to cover all of our bases with the current state of global conflict, and we’ve even begun talking to Ukraine for drone sourcing.
A man from Florida, call sign “Trust,” who fought in Ukraine, recently wrote to me, “America has never fought peer to peer and since we like to shoot Patriots at shaheeds in Iran, my guess is there’s a gap.”
He and his buddies now travel the U.S. to train American police, military, and civilians on warfare tactics they learned in Ukraine.
I’ve joined forces with him and his team to raise funds for the Ukrainian military to send trucks to the front line as a sister project with one of the most reputable organizations in sending front line vehicles. They soup up these civilian trucks with armor, camo, the works.
We are doing this in spite of the U.S. admin’s choking military support to Ukraine to near nil, because, if we’ve learned anything from 9/11 it’s that you don’t make a deal with terrorists. We must meet them with force. Negotiations fail but our people are going to continue to fight and do the right thing, and hope that our governments will follow because, afterall, isn’t that what military alliances are meant for?
If you’d like to support our Campaign, please go to:
car4ukraine.com/en-US/campaigns/50forua-florida-battalionLastly, I am planning some exciting community activities with some of our U.S. veterans in the Southwest Florida community in the near future as well, so please stay posted on my social media pages and if you’re interested in collaborating with us, you may write to me at alexzpublicrelations@gmail.com.
Many thanks for your ongoing support and community!
Alexandra Zakhvatayev is a local resident and an advocate for Ukraine’s defense.