“Stierlitz” is a combat medic with the 6th Special Operations Forces (SOF) Regiment who has been serving in the Ukrainian Army for two years.
You belong to an elite unit, the 6th Special Operations Forces Regiment, what can you tell me about your unit and its missions?
As any SOF unit in the world, we focus on those tasks which require long-term special training, specific skills and ability to adapt to rapid changes in the nature of the war. It is not only about unconventional thinking which instructors try to develop during the preparation of recruits, but also the fact that enemy also learns very fast and it makes us to be always one step ahead. 6th SOF Regiment also known as “Rangers” was an attempt to create an elite unit which can manage to face new challenges of Russian-Ukrainian war. In our work, we focus not only on traditional methods of war, but all the time implement new approaches based on our personal experience and those lessons we have learned from our instructors.
As for our missions, we can work as a raid team whose task is “cleaning” a terrain from the enemies, operations “search and destroy”, gathering intelligence data and detecting, identification and further neutralization or termination stationary or non-stationary targets. For instance, our regiment includes special forces companies, mechanized companies, mortar and drone units. It allows us to destroy Russians not only face to face but also thanks to artillery or even conduct successful point eliminations, throwing explosives from drones.
So, what is the main focus of the Rangers?
Our main idea is quality over quantity, and this approach allowed us to conduct countless successful military operations with minimum of casualties. Taking into account that we have to deal with raids and direct actions and looking for enemies in the forests and other dangerous areas or clean trenches before the infantry can enter and hold this position, it is very important to make all steps necessary to avoid failure and survive during the mission.
You also serve as a combat medic, why did you take on that role?
I never dealt with medicine before the war, but I think the main reason is that I am very calm person and can keep cold blood in stressful situations. At the very beginning, I was not sure that I would be able to avoid panic when I faced my first casualty and was really afraid to fail my team. Nevertheless, when I had my first casualties, I managed not only to save their lives but also organize the collection point in order to prioritize every casualty and involve in the process of tactical field care the rest of people who were not participating in the raid.
My first casualty had a gun-wound. The bullet destroyed his arm and there was a risk that he could have lost his arm if we did not make a conversion of a tourniquet. I evaluated the wound and decided to replace a tourniquet with combat-gauze, conducting wound packing and applying pressure dressing. Then, I slowly released a tourniquet, controlling if massive bleeding was not restored.
In my opinion, my biggest advantage is to keep cold blood even in such situations when I have more than one casualty. Last winter, during a operation when we helped the infantry to hold their positions, we had to deal with more than three waves of well-prepared Russian assaults supported by fpv-drones and very precise artillery and mortar fire. We were only two medics for two SOF teams and infantry which worked with us. In the first day I had 8 different casualties, some of them were lightly and some were seriously wounded. In the second day, we had 10 casualties, including me. Fortunately, I got only light barotrauma, caused by mortar mine explosion. Situation was very critical because all of us were injured to some extent, and, at the same time, we needed to move to the point of evacuation trying to save our friend, who later, unfortunately, was identified as killed in action (KIA). For half a year of my tour, it was the only one KIA which I did not manage to save due to the wounds incompatible with life. Unlike others, I am not afraid to harm or make a person suffer if I know it will save that person’s life.
Is panic the biggest threat when casualties occur?
Yes, and sometimes you have to play a role of a kind of psychologist in order to prevent a panic of a casualty but also among the rest of your team. If I have to work with seriously injured person, I will never tell that the wound is very dangerous or something like: “Oh my God, I can see your bone\intestine”, etc. Usually, I say that I’ve seen much worse wounds and then try to change the topic, ask a lot of questions about wounds, where casualty feels pain in order to identify additional wounds which can cause the death. Every casualty is the best source of information about the condition of the wounded.
Tell me about your training. I believe one of your functions is to instruct soldiers in basic first aid, is this instruction widespread in the Ukrainian army? Does it make a difference?
First thing which I do after every mission where I had casualties is a deep analysis of my own actions, wounds I had to work with, condition of the wounded, and eventually how to improve my own skills of a combat medic to reduce the number of human losses. Since, 2014 Ukrainian army started to adopt TCCC (Tactical Combat Casualty Care) protocols as an integral part of basic military training. If we compare it to Russian army, we can see very big difference in the levels of skills. They learn very well from us if we talk about tactics, production and using suicide drones, but what they did not manage to learn is tactical combat casualty care. It is not only very bad quality of their first aid kits and tourniquets but neglecting new approaches of combat medicine based on Russian-Ukrainian war experience.
Till these days, when we destroy a group of Russians we still can find Esmarch bandages which were last used probably during Soviet-Afghan war. The reason is that Russian military and political leadership do not care about countless human losses. In their mindset, the end justifies the means, and they are not going to stop even if they need to send one million draftees more to capture a couple of villages or cities which will be totally destroyed by their artillery or precision-guided bombs and will be unhabitable for at least next two decades.
What is the main cause of casualties at the front?
From my experience, I almost always have to deal with shrapnel wounds. The war in Ukraine is very often called the war of artillery and drones. One day, it can be shrapnel wounds cause by the 2B11 – 120 mm mortars, next time it is the result of explosion of suicide-drone or a grenade thrown from a DJI Mavic drone adapted for this goal. It does not mean that there are no gun-wounds at all but most often you have casualties due to very high activity of drones on both sides of frontline. It is almost impossible to identify whether these are friendly or hostile drones. Anyway, you have to hide to avoid human losses.
Is it possible to care for the wounded under the permanent threat of drones?
It depends on the situation. Drones complicate things a lot. At first, they were used for area reconnaissance, then for fire adjustment, and now they are also used for detection and destruction of stationary or non-stationary targets, be they hostile trenches, infantry groups and even armored vehicles, helicopters and tanks.
It is very hard to care for the wounded under the permanent drone patrolling, but not impossible. For instance, it is very hard in winter, and you should always look for safe place to work with your casualties. During the autumn or winter, you can use trenches or dugouts while during the spring or summer you can use both and also bushes or dense forests. At the same time, you should take into consideration the golden rule of combat medic – yellow zone can become red zone at any moment. One more important fact you should keep in mind is that Russian artillery turns dense forests in the barren fields very fast.
What has been the most difficult situation you have experienced as a combat medic?
From my perspective, the situation which I described above, when I had more than 10 casualties for two days. Analyzing all facts available, the situation was more than critical. According to the standards which existed before 2022 two casualties in the squad could be a serious reason to immediately abort the mission. In those circumstances we did something almost impossible, almost impossible, because, in the end, we managed to do it with the minimum number of KIAs possible for such situations.
The killing of prisoners by the Russian army is frequent, and in many cases they also do not respect their own wounded who are abandoned on the battlefield. Have you had to treat Russian prisoners?
As Friedrich Nietzsche told: “When you kill monsters it is important not to become a monster”.We know what Russians have been doing to our soldiers. Unlike Ukraine, Russian government does not provide any access of Red Cross Committee to the places where prison conditions meet all standards of concentrations camps. In our case, we follow all Geneva Conventions and provide Russian prisoners of war with medical care, normal conditions of living and even job. Despite that fact, we are continuously criticized by Red Cross Committee for not following Geneva Conventions and any word of criticism of Russian behavior towards our people.
I cured a Russian soldier who we captured alive and I did everything to make sure that he will survive. As any Ukrainian, I hate all of them but the reason I saved his life is that we can exchange him on someone of our people who suffer in much worse conditions. Another reason is that I am not going to become a monster even if I fight monsters. That is what makes fundamental difference between us and them.
You have been on duty for more than two years. How has the situation in the frontline changed and what scenario is the war evolving towards?
War has changed a lot because it combines old tactics like war in trenches and assaults but in the same time there are hundreds of 10-miles drone kill zones where any person cannot walk safely. If Bosnia had its own Sniper Alleyduring the war, we already have hundreds of suicide-drone alleys. The role of drones has dramatically increased not only in context of destroying infantry or whole buildings but also made almost impossible any involvement of helicopters, tanks and armored vehicles. Today, if you want your people to survive, you need to look for hidden and safe routes and move to positions on foot.
I think that the role of humans will decrease, and war will evolve into a more technological process as has already happened. When fpv-drones emerged both sides started to develop electronic warfare means, and, when successful, drone operators started to change drone frequencies. Next step was invention of fiber optic drones which are not vulnerable to electronic warfare means.
Unfortunately, Russian-Ukrainian war leads the world to new wars because other authoritarian leaders and rogue states look at weak reaction of free world on the situation in Ukraine and understand that they can do what Putin does and will not face any serious consequences for violating humanitarian or international law. As Winston Churchill said, those who choose dishonor between war and dishonor, will finally get both.
