Local veterans react to Ukraine war, two men wonder how far it will go

Two Sault veterans - permanently affected by the horrors of being in overseas wars while serving Canada - have shared with SooToday how they have reacted to Vladimir Putin’s war on Ukraine.

“I feel discouraged. It’s genocide. It’s unbelievable what’s going on over there. We’re in a world right now where we don’t know what’s happening with all the COVID variants and the war in Ukraine. I’ll call it a war because it is a war,” said Frank Iezzi.

Iezzi served with the Canadian Armed Forces in Afghanistan and has openly shared his struggle with memories of that war as reported earlier by SooToday.

Observing women and children fleeing Ukraine as refugees for other countries such as Poland, Iezzi asked, in a soul searching question, ‘what would you say if that happened in Canada?’”

“For a veteran, it’s very hard to see and very hard to watch.”

Though PTSD affects many Canadian veterans of the Afghanistan war, Iezzi said “I know a lot of veterans who wouldn’t hesitate if they were in better condition to go over and help.”

Despite his own battle with PTSD, Sault veteran, Bryan Gagne said “I called the Ukrainian embassy and I wanted to go and do my part. After a brief talk with my wife she said ‘you’re not going', so I said okay and we’re just trying to find other ways to help Ukrainians aside from using my suit of armour again. We’re just trying to get involved in fundraising and humanitarian efforts.”

Gagne is a veteran of four tours of duty in Afghanistan.

He said he was wounded in Iraq in 2015 while serving as a Canadian Special Operations Regiment soldier, training and supporting the Iraqi Security Forces and its Kurdish branch in its campaign against ISIS extremists.

“A lot of troops go over and they come back and they have mental health issues. We don’t know when this conflict’s going to be over but I can imagine a lot of the Ukrainian troops over there are going to have similar issues on a larger scale,” Gagne said.

TV news reports from Ukraine have shown many children - too young to understand extremist politics from an external enemy and how it leads to war and pain - sob because of the physical and emotional agony of their shrapnel wounds.

“It’s the biggest thing in the world, is children and women,” Iezzi said.

“We try to protect our children and our ladies. I can’t watch it. I see things on social media but it’s difficult to watch and difficult to hear about. You try to protect everyone you can in your life, your family and friends. You have to move on but it’s difficult when you see stuff on TV and social media that’s disturbing. Very disturbing.”

Iezzi said he has thrown himself into a recently launched small local business that he co-owns with his wife to keep his mind off Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.

“Keeping occupied, as a veteran, is the best thing for you, but a lot of veterans can’t or won’t. I try to keep in touch with my fellow veterans in the city or the Algoma District just to see how they’re doing. We try to keep busy that way, just to talk with each other and not bring up any emotions or feelings about what’s going on and just talk among ourselves.”

“I have been diagnosed with PTSD but I’ve also had many years to figure out coping strategies to deal with it and I’m happy to say I’m on the other side of those types of things. There are different events that trigger things like that but you learn strategies to get past those things,” Gagne said. 

Where do the two men see the Russian attack on Ukraine going?

Iezzi said he believes in sending humanitarian aid and some weaponry to Ukraine.

“It’s a scary situation.”

“Putin can hit a couple buttons and who knows what’s going to happen?”

Iezzi said he believes NATO countries - including Canada - are keeping their heads cool and not trying to provoke Russia into starting a Third World War.

“Hopefully all the women and children can get away from that, but it’s scary.”

“Russia is scary. Mr. Putin is scary at this time. I don’t know if it’s just him trying to flex his military muscles and seeing what people around him are going to do. Will Putin go further? I don’t know.”

“I wouldn’t want to be in NATO’s position. How far do you want to take it and what retaliation will Putin have? It’s scary,” Iezzi said.

“In Ukraine there are atrocities. It’s a conventional war in the truest sense,” Gagne said.

“Right now it’s turning into a proxy war. We’re using the Ukrainian soldiers to fight. We’re arming the Ukrainians and I’m actually quite surprised that Justin Trudeau started giving munitions and lethal weapons. I thought Canada is doing its part this time, but from here you won’t see Canada engage any further until the United States of America does. Obviously it’s NATO in the larger sense but it’ll be the U.S.A. to say ‘okay we’re doing it’ and once the U.S.A. says it then it’ll be a domino effect.”

“If they hit a NATO country it’ll be a mass war in a huge context. We shouldn’t be letting Putin threaten us. At some point we’ve got to say no and that's the entire point of NATO.”

While the world hopes the Russian attack on Ukraine will not escalate into something far worse, Canada - and in a local sense, Sault Ste. Marie - has said it will welcome refugees fleeing Ukraine. 

Gagne told us that his wife is of Ukrainian descent, so it hits home. 

“If any of them come to the Sault they’ll be welcome for sure. I know in Sault Ste. Marie fashion everyone will donate and give as much as possible.”