Today and tomorrow I am one of 700 delegates from around America advocating for Ukraine in the U.S. Congress. This is my fifth trip to DC since Russia invaded Ukraine. I have met many immigrants from Ukraine since the collapse of the Soviet Union. Today was the first time I met a soldier from the other side of the East-West Cold War border.
Ihor Chernik grew up in Lviv, Ukraine. He went to college to study electrical engineering. He joined the Soviet equivalent of ROTC (Reserve Officer Training Corps) called Вое́нная ка́федра (Voyenaya kafyedra or Military department). The program required three years of military service. Ihor was commissioned and became a Soviet signal corps officer.
From a base in Poland, he monitored NATO communications. During peace, his unit was listening for signs of impending war in our radio traffic. During a war Ihor and his unit would be tracking NATO forces in the battle.
Several hundred miles away in West Germany, I was training my tank crew to fight a Soviet invasion. Most experts (including Tom Clancy in Red Storm Rising) believed would begin in the Fulda Gap in the center of divided Germany.
World War III never happened.
Ihor left Lviv in 1994. He came to America and a job with IBM as a network systems engineer. He and his wife Larissa (she is from Ukraine, but they met in America) lived in Fairfield County, Connecticut, until Ihor retired in 2020. Now they live in New Hope. He started skiing at age 6. Retirement allowed him to spend winters in Vermont as a ski instructor.
In two meetings today, Ihor and I talked Congressional staffers we were on opposite sides in the Cold War but are now united in support of Ukraine. We will both be working to support Ukraine and will be together in the spring the next time the American Coalition for Ukraine comes to Washington DC.
When Ihor found out my paternal grandparents emigrated from Odesa (in 1900 and 1901) he said we should go there together. So far, Lviv is the only city I have visited in Ukraine. Let's hope our journey will be a celebration of the defeat of the Russian invasion.
No comments:
Post a Comment