From Baghdad to Kyiv: A U.S. Veteran’s Warning to the West
American veteran Benjamin Reed served in both Iraq and Ukraine. In this firsthand account, he compares the trauma of drone warfare over Kyiv to his year in the Sunni Triangle, and issues a blunt warning to Western leaders: hesitation kills, and history is watching.
Benjamin Reed
Jul 12, 2025 - 10:44 AM
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The Sound of Psychological Warfare
I remember the sound of the Shahed drones, or Gerans as the Russians call them, over Kyiv on the night of November 25, 2023. They buzzed overhead like cheap motorcycles in the sky, then slammed into the city one after another. Many hit civilian apartment blocks. The blasts rattled windows and nerves. My partner at the time, a native of Kyiv, screamed in fear beside me.
I had just returned from the Avdiivka direction after serving with the Ukrainian military. As I listened to the waves of detonations echo across the capital, I had a thought that still sticks with me: I’ve heard more explosions tonight in Kyiv than I did in my entire year in Iraq back in 2009, when I served as a machine gunner in the Sunni Triangle, outside Baghdad, which wasn’t exactly a quiet deployment.
This was not about destroying infrastructure. This was psychological warfare; Moscow’s attempt to break civilian morale through sheer terror.
To give you a sense of scale, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs estimates that roughly 20% of Iraq War veterans developed PTSD. Now imagine what this does to civilians, night after night. When I was in Kyiv, Russia launched 75 drones. Today, their attacks have escalated tenfold. Some nights, Ukraine faces barrages of over 700 drones. This kind of trauma is designed and intentional. It compounds with every night the sky buzzes with those engines.
Russia’s Strategy: Colonial Terror and Western Paralysis
Russia knows exactly what it is doing. In its vision for a new Novorossiya, it aims to imprint generational trauma on the Ukrainian population for what it sees as colonial insubordination. They see themselves as some twisted incarnation of modern Rome. Just as they starved Ukrainians during the Holodomor and terrorized small landowners - kulaks- during the Soviet era, they are again trying to break the Ukrainian spirit. Western hesitation only emboldens them.
Last week, NBC reported that Secretary of State Pete Hegseth delayed necessary aid to Kyiv. This can only be perceived as either staggering incompetence or a calculated power play against a partner in crisis. Fortunately, the German government has proposed purchasing ten Patriot missile systems from the United States to fill the gap. But these delays cost lives and erode frontline morale. It is unacceptable, and it is not the first time, nor will it be the last.
What is the West waiting for? I remember March 2022, when I was helping refugees on the Moldovan border, and the Biden administration denied Poland's offer to transfer MiG-29s via Ramstein Air Base, again, for fear of "escalation." Two years later, the Netherlands and Denmark began sending F-16s. France committed Rafales. ATACMS deliveries faced the same pattern of delay, always at the advice of so-called escalation managers. Thousands of Ukrainians have died because of this risk-averse paralysis.
This Is the West’s Churchill Moment
Now is the time for the Trump administration to own the situation. If Ukraine can stop the Russian offensive this summer, it will mark a strategic victory comparable to the Battle of Kyiv in 2022. President Trump appears eager to prove he can manage Europe's greatest security crisis since 1945. The opportunity to do so is now. The battles for Pokrovsk, Kostiantynivka, and Kupiansk are being fought this summer. Delays must end. A resolute message must be sent to Moscow: if they continue this war of revanchism, they will pay a heavy price, and they will lose.
I appeal to the basic decency of American and European policymakers. This is your Churchill moment. There are no diplomatic options left that do not surrender Ukraine to Moscow’s orbit. If Ukraine breaks this offensive, we remove the near-term risk of a resurgent Russia and give NATO the breathing room to plan long-term security. A broken Russian assault will also send a clear signal to Beijing: the West does not flinch in the defense of democracy.
We are in the battle for our future. The ball is in your court, President Trump, President Macron, Chancellor Scholz, and Prime Minister Starmer. They shall not pass.
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Benjamin Reed
American Veteran