In the first days of the Russian attack on Ukraine, former marine Nik Koppedraaijer saw videos on the internet and TV of women and children with bloodied faces and limbs. The footage brought the veteran back to the battle of Mosul in Iraq in 2016, when he and his colleagues cared for hundreds of wounded soldiers and civilians fighting the Islamic State. He thought: I’m not going to wait now, I can and will do something for Ukraine.
After his departure from the armed forces, Koppe Draaijer had a online course made for the help of war wounded, in the hours before the ambulance arrives. To learn how to stop the bleeding from a bullet wound, for example, or how to breathe air again to someone who can no longer breathe through their throat. The former soldier had the course and accompanying videos translated into Ukrainian and put them online after about three weeks. “About 1,500 Ukrainians have now completed the course,” he says over the phone. “That number continues to increase.”
Lives changed
The war in Ukraine, which broke out sixteen months ago, has changed the lives of Dutch veterans. This is what veterans who celebrate Veterans Day this Saturday at the Malieveld in The Hague, where numerous veterans clubs and armed forces units present themselves in white tents, say. This can also be heard in the stories of veterans who do not come to The Hague, such as former Lebanon resident Eus Sandel in Amsterdam, who “prefers to work locally on the relationship between citizens and veterans.”
‘Ukraine’ has made that easier. Because of the war, society has become more aware of the more than 100,000 veterans. This is evident in big things, such as the billions of euros that are now being invested extra in defense – “although it is bitter that that war was necessary,” as one veteran notes. It is also in the little things, such as the veteran who suddenly has to explain to friends and acquaintances “what is happening in Ukraine and what war actually is.”
This is mainly due to the growing appreciation of civilians for soldiers. “Nowadays I regularly hear in the supermarket, or in the neighborhood: ‘Hey you are a veteran. I think it’s great’. Previously, I was only asked if I had ever shot someone,” says Sandel. Marine Robin Imthorn, who lectures extensively on dealing with war trauma, recognizes this: “In my audience, the sensationalism of ‘tell me some exciting stories’ has given way to genuine curiosity about ‘how was it for you?’ Ukraine has brought war close to everyone.”
Sharpshooters
This not only earns (former) soldiers applause, says former commando Marc Pollen. The Afghanistan veteran has had it for about five years a successful podcast (150,000 listeners per month), Sharpshooters, with stories of soldiers. “The few episodes about Ukraine have generated the strongest reactions. About ten to fifteen percent of the responses come from people who are anti-government and therefore also anti-militarist. Like: you are pawns, too stupid to realize that you are fighting for the elite. These kinds of comments emerged in the corona era and seem to have only increased since the war in Ukraine.”
Pollen particularly sees a need for action among the (former) soldiers in his extensive network. “Since the withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021, there have been too few major missions where you can put what you have learned into practice. It’s like training for the Olympics but never getting there.” It also gives quite a few veterans a “feeling of powerlessness”, says Imthorn, not to be able to fight in the biggest war in Europe since 1945.
Perhaps the closest thing to a Ukraine mission is the forensic investigation that the Royal Netherlands Marechaussee in Ukraine has done for the International Criminal Court. On this Veterans Day, Marechaussee Angelo Wouters will talk to the king, among others, in the Hague theater about how he helped in Charkiv with “gathering evidence for war crimes” by, for example, analyzing traces of used ammunition.
Three places from the king and next to Kajsa Ollongren (Defense, D66) is the Ukrainian Minister of Veterans Affairs, Yulia Laputina, who has been welcomed as a special guest. A day earlier, Laputina in the Netherlands visited Ukrainian soldiers who are being trained for the maintenance of armored vehicles, and the military rehabilitation center, where Ukrainian war wounded are recovering. The Netherlands pulls two million euros to help set up rehabilitation centers in Ukraine.
Laputina’s visit thus once again emphasizes the support of the Netherlands to Ukraine, such as the delivery of the Patriot anti-aircraft defense system against Russian missiles. “The Ukrainians use that much more effectively than we had expected on the basis of their relatively short training,” says adjutant Peter Menting of the air defense. “And now the Patriots also appear to be effective against hypersonic missiles. Conversely, we learn from them, because we receive data about the deployment in Ukraine.”
Intense experiences
Dutch aid to Ukraine makes quite a few veterans ‘proud’, says Imthorn. He himself also contributes by teaching the unit that trains Ukrainian soldiers. “Because those soldiers may have had intense experiences, the instructors wanted to understand trauma and how to deal with it. My most important tip is always: don’t come up with solutions, take the time to listen. Then you get a real conversation.”
The flip side of the great involvement is that for about three percent of the veterans, the war images bring their own traumas to life. After following the war maniacally during the first few months, veterans now often do not follow the news closely. “Otherwise I sleep two hours a night,” says Sandel, who runs a walk-in home for veterans. “Now I sleep four hours.”
Former marine Nik Koppedraaijer draws as much as possible from his previous experiences in Iraq. He and his colleagues saved hundreds of lives on the battlefield and received for this high military decoration. “We learned a lot there. You stop the bleeding from a bullet wound by plugging it with some sort of cotton wool. We found out that this doesn’t work if you poke your finger around in a wound without first giving painkillers,” says the veteran. “We have all incorporated these kinds of experiences into the medical course. Ukrainians tell me that they find the course so lifelike and practical.”