Hi folks, Just a quick note to let you know what's transpired over the past 24 hours or so. I bugged out of Kyiv yesterday afternoon because they announced a three-day curfew. I needed to get going so I packed and headed south, staying in Vinnytsia (sic) last night with a wonderful Ukrainian family who is taking in refugees.
Well, I got to see what that's like.
I slept on a pullout couch in a room with my interpreter, and another refugee family in the next room. In the morning we had coffee and dark bread with simple summer sausage slices for breakfast, then drove four more hours southwest to the Romanian border. There, I stood in line for about three hours in the cold, with hundreds of other refugees trying to get into Romania. Once we finally made it, a bus took me to Suceava, Romania, whereupon I took a taxi ($120) for the 3-hour drive to Iasi, the closest city with an international airport.
Here I met my replacement, a Ranger I served with back in the DAY in A. co 3/75 Rangers. He and I had a great time catching up and getting him up to speed on the mission.
I will be here for a day or two, then will fly to Egypt for a week, then Saudi Arabia for a week, then Armenia for a week. After that, I'll probably come back to Ukraine. Let's pray there's nothing I need to report on by then.
Stay tuned, lots of great stuff coming!