A former Royal Marine Commando has called out the ‘PlayStation generation’ volunteers who have no prior ‘military experience’ and are wanting to live out their video game fantasy by fighting Russians in Ukraine.
Speaking to Stoke-on-TrentLive, Emile Ghessen said many people have been throwing their hat in the ring to fight alongside Ukrainian troops to chase a ‘romantic notion’ elicited by video games.
“I've spent time with the guys here, and it comes with various reasons," he said.
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"You mentioned earlier about the PlayStation generation, there's quite a few young men here that have got no military experience, they've never seen combat, as far as it goes past the TV screen back home.
“Some of them are clueless about what is going on - they've got this romantic notion that ‘I’m going to come and save Ukraine against Russia’.”
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“I wouldn't say many of them are here just to kill people, but everyone I speak to, I ask: ‘are you prepared to kill Russians?’ and they say ‘yeah, of course I'm ready to kill Russians’ - where four, three weeks ago, they didn't have an issue with Russia."
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has urged foreigners to join the International Legion for Defense of Ukraine, and more than 20,000 people have signed up to fight so far.
These volunteers are from over 52 countries, including Canada, Japan, U.K, U.S and the European Union.
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With volunteers by the truck-load, some nations have even formed their own international legion. While many have military experience, some of volunteers have never seen combat before.
Ghessen said these ‘wannabe’ soldiers' saw the Russian invasion as the perfect opportunity to fight.
“Some of them are the wannabe guys who you meet in a pub and said ‘Oh, I was going to join the army and never did’, and now they see an opportunity they can come and join volunteer units and be armed and go to the frontline.”
Although being a former soldier isn’t mandatory for Ukraine's Foreign Legion, British Conservative MP and chair of the defence committee Tobias Ellwood advised it’s too dangerous for those with no combat experience.
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"We say no to tasking the Nato alliance - but now endorse UK civilians, with no military training, to go and fight in Ukraine!" he said.
"Please do not go if you have no combat experience. You may get yourself and others who have to look after you, killed."
Charisa Bossinakis