FAIRFIELD, Ohio — When the war in Ukraine started, an Army veteran and retired infantryman in Fairfield had a gnawing desire to help those who couldn’t fight back.
"When I started seeing the civilian casualties, and I started seeing the struggle that was happening over there, it tugged at my heart where I had to go and I had to do something," said Brad Crawford.
Part of Crawford's U.S. Army service included training foreign fighters.
"I helped in Iraq, the Iraqi Civil Defense Corps, we helped," Crawford said. "I was in Ethiopia and we trained many armies over there — Kenyan and Ethiopian, Djiboutian armies — and then we worked all around the world."
As a result, watching the images of civilians walking hundreds of miles from their hometowns as Russian bombs destroyed Ukrainian communities impacted Crawford.
"I couldn't sit back and watch on the TV what was going on when I knew for a fact that I can make an impact or a difference," Crawford said.
Crawford said he joined the International Foreign Legion. His mission is in part to help rebuild Ukrainian military units to get them back in the fight.
He said the one unit he was dedicated to helping rebuild was the 36th Brigade.
"That was the brigade Mariupol that was decimated during the start of the war," he said. "We met with the commander of Ukraine Marine Corps, and he told us, he said, 'Hey, we got 1,000 Marines to train, you got to get this brigade back up.' And I told him, I said, 'Well, we got 10 guys, we'll make it work, we'll figure it out.' And we trained every single unit in that brigade. So we built that brigade from scratch, from the ground up."
That frontline danger was real, and he knew the position he put himself in on day one.
“When I first arrived to Mycholiv, we were only 20 kilometers from the front line,” he said. “We had anywhere between 30 and 50,000 Russian soldiers right at our doorstep.”
He described attacks from cluster munitions and him and his training team being systematically targeted, having to run through the woods to get away from the target zone. There was also the explosion at 3 a.m., which he said was caused by a Russian cruise missile hitting just a stone's throw from where he was sleeping.
"I mean, that was meters difference away from being living or dead. If it would have came 10 meters closer, we probably wouldn't be having this interview with you,” Crawford said.
Crawford said he spent six months in Ukraine and came back home in September. He said he did it without pay and the medals and certificates are not as important to him as the impact he hopes he made so that Ukrainian forces can better defend their country.
"It does take a toll on you a little bit, but I was dedicated to the mission of helping Ukrainian military and helping them, you know, defeat the Russian forces over,” he said.
During his time in Ukraine, his name and photo were discovered on a Russian hit list.
"I had two members, the Ukrainian counterintelligence come meet me," Crawford said. "And three members from the Wagner group were captured, trying to kidnap me and take me back to Russia, and on their phones a nice picture of me full name and order capture killer. So, I've already been through all that. I wasn't worried about it, then. Definitely not worried about it now."
Now back home, Crawford's settling back into his role as a husband and father. When asked about possibly going back over he had this to say.
"I'm a family man — I have two children and a wife. You know, I gave six months of my time to Ukraine. I did it without pay," Crawford said. "I didn't get paid a dime to go over there. However, you know, if the situation calls, you know, that might be a possibility."
If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email homefront@wcpo.com. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.
