Feature Photo: Here is Vtalena and her family. You can see her three small children (the youngest held by her husband sending you a “hello” wave).
The tragic trauma of carnal war can be neither measured nor adequately described. Our Lord warned that there will always be wars and rumors of wars because our world is controlled by Satan’s evil influences. We cannot escape or evade this world’s evil. And, the best advice I ever heard regarding our response when evil hits is, “It is not about the WHY but it is about the WHO.” (From the Dalraida Auditorium Bible Class thanks Robert!).
If you really want to push my buttons then show disrespect and total insensitivity to the regulations that are positioned for behavior. In the context of carnal war, one is expected to observed the regulations. I have been very cautious in doing this and am told that my respect for the censors’ regulations has been noted while others have been flippant and arrogant in posting details, names, photos, and information. These have not gone unnoticed. Command’s #1 is mission purpose and close behind it, if not cojoined, is members’ security. You do not lose focus on your mission and you do not place others in peril.
The destruction, scattered debris, the muffled sounds, and all other elements of the two vans on the road to Kharkiv, tragically reveal that carnal war is not a video game. Carnal war is not some stage upon which you become a renowned hero by insensitive betrayal of information. Carnal war is not for self-embellishment. Carnal war is not for political posturing. Carnal war IS evil.
Let me repeat this observation from the March 14 update.
On January 17, 1961, President Dwight Eisenhower warned against the establishment of a “military-industrial complex.” His speech was less than ten minutes as he delivered his political farewell to the American people on national television from the Oval Office of the White House. Many were surprised when the military leader and hero of World War 2 voiced strong warnings about the dangers of the “military-industrial complex.” Even a casual look at the Russo-Ukrainian War validates President Eisenhower’s concern. Volumes can be written as to how the warned danger is documented in the current war, and sadly will be a continuous legacy. (BTW opposition to the “military industrial complex” is not antithetical to one’s national patriotism!)
Sufficient time has passed and the following is approved for posting.
We had two vans going into Kharkiv Region loaded with relief supplies, medical supplies, and a few Family Buckets. It was a trip that we had made numerous times as we help those still living on the frontlines. As the vans were travelling there were a number who were travelling to assist in the distribution. One was a lady named Vtalena. She lived in central Ukraine and has been an active relief worker since Russia’s first invasion in 2014. She has three children. She could have excused herself and stayed but she wanted to help those in need. As the vans travelled there was good conversations, laughter, and somber discussions about our mission and distribution plans. Distribution would not be in a public area where many gathered. Such gatherings are targeted by Russian drones and are forbidden by martial law. Unknown to the vans was the fact that a Russian loitering drone had spotted them going toward Kharkiv. Attack had been sent. One second you are driving down the road and then next, in the middle of a sentence, everything is blown apart. The van where Vtalena was riding was blown in half by a drone. The other van was hit as well. In the aftermath of the smoke and smells, others began to move. They were dazed, disoriented, and hearing was almost gone as one had a loud ringing and other sounds were muffled. The contents of the vans that had been loaded with expectations of giving to those in great need, were scattered all around. It was a surreal moment as the survivors slowly moved assessing the situation.
Those in the van with Vtalena were injured by the shrapnel of the drone’s bomb. One had a trauma to the back of his head just where the neck meets the skull. But he was moving (later he would give me the chevron he wore that day). Vtalena had a fragment hit her neck that severed the carotid. She was dead. Her husband and three children find her gone remembering the last moments when she left to help others.
Every carnal war introduces and “tests” new weapons of destruction. The Russo-Ukrainian War has introduced and made amazing advancement in drone technology. In 2014 I met with some friends who showed me how drones were used to send GPS coordinates on a Russian tank unit and even recorded the missel strike on a tank sheltering under an overpass in Donetsk. I thought that was amazing. But now the drone technology has advanced “lightyears” past that point. Evil utilizes such advancements for the “prince of the power of the air, of the spirit that is now working in the sons of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).
Eisenhower was correct in his assessment.
Please continue praying for our efforts! “In the world you have tribulation, but take courage; I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). In the midst of evil, God has opened doors of opportunity for us to cooperate with an amazing network to bring the message of “The Prince of Peace”!
John L. Kachelman, Jr, Ukraine Missions, Dalraida Church of Christ, P.O. Box 3085, Montgomery, AL 36109
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