In late June a post popped up in my Facebook feed: drivers wanted to help get used vehicles to Ukraine to aid the war effort. Because of the feeds I follow (some of them first-hand), I've known that used vehicles play an important role for the troops at the front. Basically, it's DIY troop transports, eh? They are needed and useful. So, when I saw that request, I jumped on it.
Two weeks later I was in Edinburgh, picking up a used UK vehicle to drive to Ukraine. The organization, "Jeeps for Peace", was targeting a "to-date" total of 550 vehicles delivered to Ukraine with this drive. We transported 30 some used vehicles. Pre-drive, the vehicles are inspected and selected for road-worthiness and purpose. There was a convoy of drivers and vehicles.
Edinburgh, Amsterdam, Germany, and the last night of the drive near the border of Ukraine, in Poland. A heck of a road trip. The last day, we delivered the vehicles to the partner garage in Ukraine. There they would be fixed, as necessary, to keep them on the road. I don't imagine they worried about cosmetic issues, you know? But wheel bearings, all that jazz? Yup. Of the vehicles we delivered that day? One went to the front the very next day.
I took advantage of the trip to Ukraine, I will admit. I've had questions about the role of working dogs in the Balkans, so I did a little sightseeing on the way home, to investigate that. All around, it was a very successful trip. Ukraine aid delivered - and it was helpful and desired. (How many times is aid not requested or desired by the target population, because somebody thought it was a good idea, and just didn't ask? Well, in this case, this aid is very much what the troops at the front are requesting.) My trip back, mostly via train, wasn't long enough to answer deep question, but it was enough to get a feel for things - boots on the ground, you know?
