Afghanistan

Tampa Bay Veterans Aiding American Evacuations From Ukraine – CBS Tampa

jayfer2 Afghanistan, american, american allies, americans, andrea alvarez, bryan stern, business, charity, consumer, COVID-19, cw44 news at 10, economy, education news, Environment, evacuations, florida news, florida stories, health, health news, invasion, local, local news, news, nonprofit, on cw44, organization, political, political opinion, politics, project dynamo, Russia, science, tampa bay, TECH, Ukraine, veteran, warnings, wednesday 0 Comments February 24, 2022

TAMPA, Fla. (CW44 News At 10) – As Ukraine shifts to a war footing and political tensions rise Wednesday, many are buckling down amid warnings of a “full-on-invasion” from Russia. A Tampa Bay nonprofit group, on the other hand, is working to get Americans and American allies out of the country.

“Knowing that Americans were probably going to get left behind, we were like, ‘let’s not watch it on tv, let’s not be a spectator. Let’s try and help’,” said Bryan Stern, Co-Founder of Project Dynamo. An American veteran-led organization, Project Dynamo was founded following the Afghanistan evacuations in 2021.

READ MORE: For most Americans, owning a home is now a distant dream

“When we deploy, we buy one-way tickets,” he said Wednesday.

His team of volunteer veterans is grounded in the Special Operations and Intelligence Sector.

“We have the skills. We have the expertise. We’ve been doing these kinds of things for the government for many years,” he said. “We’ve rescued more people personally than most military elements and most special operations elements in the government. The volume of what we’ve personally done is prolific.”

For the last week, the Tampa Bay-based team has been mapping out Ukrainian exit routes from the U.S. Embassy in Kyiv which is currently shut down, itself.

READ MORE: Former Brooksville Mayor Sentenced For Using A Hidden Camera To Produce Child Sexual Abuse Videos And Images

“The invasion started just the other day. We’ve been here planning prepping and setting conditions and building out human and physical infrastructure, building out routes,” said Stern. “What Ukraine is all about is taking the lessons learned from Afghanistan and applying them here. Getting Americans and NATO allies from where they shouldn’t be to where they want to be, safely and legally.”

But unlike prior missions, he says the current environment is different.

“The Russian Army – they have a tremendous cyber capability. If they take Kyiv, the first thing they’re going to do is kill the phones and kill the lights. The Taliban don’t do that.”

And with Russian soldiers now entering the country, the team is in desperate need of donations to prepare for arrangements.

“Covid shots, if it’s buses, if its safe houses it all costs money. Pilots cost money, airplanes don’t fly for free,” he said. “These things are incredibly expensive.”

MORE NEWS: New Tampa Bay Challenge Promotes Black-Owned Businesses

Project Dynamo is solely funded by donations. Click here to help.

Breaking News

Veterans continue to serve with Cincinnati Service Platoon

jayfer2 9 On Your Side, Afghanistan, Air-Force, America, Armed service, Cincinnati news, craig mckee, OEF, OIF, USA 0 Comments February 22, 2022

CINCINNATI — With a couple of fleeting days of warmer temperatures amid a winter backdrop, one can’t help but think about spring gardens. For kids who attend Latonia’s Ninth District Elementary School, spring will bring a fresh bounty and a much-needed place to learn and relax thanks in part to a group of veterans.

“It’s really about spreading a little bit of joy, and they get a break from the classroom and get some fresh air,” Ben Basar said. “Enjoy the nice garden we’ve created and participate in it.”

Basar served in the Marine Corps and in his free time has joined the volunteer corps of The Mission Continues’ Cincinnati Service Platoon.

“That desire to continue serving doesn’t leave us when we take off the uniform,” said Nate Swope, founder of Cincinnati Service Platoon. “It’s something that we are as people.”

Swope said he felt a need to continue to give back to the community. The project at Ninth District Elementary School is the second project under the newly-formed platoon with a specific mission.

“This organization brings veterans and other volunteers together to continue serving and helping their communities in ways they can do,” Swope said.

Monica Gomez served in the military and said she has found the comradery she remembers from being in the service helping others as part of the platoon.

“I’d been wanting to do things with veterans and for the community, so it was a great opportunity for me to come out here,” Gomez said. “The reason I liked this is you can bring your families, and we know how important they are to us and how important they are to support what we do. It’s great they can come out here and do it with us.”

There are a number of community partners who’ve helped out on the project, and Swope said they’re always looking for community partners and volunteers for future projects.

“Our main focus is for our veterans to find new missions,” Swope said. “We’d like to find partners and people we can serve and organizations that can benefit from funding and volunteers and we can bring our volunteers and veterans in and help out.”

That said their next mission project is Saturday, Feb. 26 at Our Daily Bread Soup Kitchen and Social Center. Additional information and registration can be found on their website.

If you have a veteran story to tell in your community, email [email protected]. You also can join the Homefront Facebook group, follow Craig McKee on Facebook and find more Homefront stories here.