If you get on a train, say, Kramatorsk-Kyiv, most of the passengers are military men. They are actually travelling from the fighting. Look into their eyes. You will immediately feel everything without explanation.
Rehabilitation is not only about physical injuries and teaching a person to use a prosthesis. Here, everything is more or less clear and there are specific technologies. Rehabilitation is a full-fledged, and first, restoration of the mental state. Where you put your soul and your inner state back together piece by piece. In the same train, the conductor will definitely call for a doctor. Because one of the soldiers will faint. The strain is insane on the last drops of health.
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Most of the injuries are contusions (acubarotautomata). A person may be healthy on the outside, arms, and legs are there, but the brain was shaken so much that everything inside was disturbed. They put enormous pressure on the blood vessels and grey matter and ‘mixed up the files in the head’. Or perhaps they did it many times. Afterwards, as a rule, nothing was restored. They gave me three days of treatment, and then they sent me back under the mines.
Often, at the beginning, the military do not realise the level and consequences of their injuries, especially when the adrenaline is going through the roof. And then, as a result, panic attacks, depression, anger — then either suicide or inadequate behaviour. The person is not mentally restored and that’s it.
I know all this, not from stories. No one talks about their weaknesses in the army. I know because I survived a shell shock myself. Only one, but it was enough for me to feel its consequences for more than a year.
And what if there are 5 or 10 of them? I know of such cases. And if you’re in the infantry, you don’t even have a chance to rest.
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Often the guys calmly complain that due to numerous contusions, for example, they cannot remember yesterday afternoon… We have been riding on heroism for four years. Although there are fewer and fewer of us who have been in the infantry full-time since the first days.
We have been riding on heroism for four years. Even though there are fewer and fewer of us who have been in the infantry full-time since the first days.
The fourth year is not so scary. What is scary is the unknown – how many more years. Just living in hope or listening to beautiful speeches is not enough. We need specific programmes and their implementation. Just like that, on the go.
We need to learn to do everything at the same time. To fight and to be treated. And rest, and defend our positions.
We have to use the best part of Ukrainians — their adaptability. Therefore, we need to develop and implement a broad rehabilitation programme. I think almost the whole world has a hand in this matter. There are both funds and readiness. We just require our attention and determination.
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The same hotels in Bukovel can definitely accept a portion of the military from their turnover free of charge.
I am sure that governments from around the world, from Japan to the United States, are ready to take our military for rehabilitation. I repeat, we are talking here not only about the severely wounded, but in fact about the majority of those who fought on the frontline. All of this should not be limited to a hotline or a government statement ‘about the importance of military health’. We need an in-depth plan and real actions.
Every day I see the surrounding guys changing.
I see how their condition can deteriorate. Even those who fly drones in the unit. And those who may be sitting in headquarters under CABs. Whoever they are, they all deserve to at least have the opportunity to recover their strength and health.
This is the duty of both Ukraine and the whole world.
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