‘You’re not going to be doing the crème de la crème jobs’
A former SAS operative has warned non-veteran Brits to “stay at home and play Call of Duty” instead of journeying to Ukraine to fight the Russian invasion.
Phil Campion, 53, has served in the army since 1997, having passed SAS selection to face combat in Northern Ireland, the Balkans, and West Africa.
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After calls from Ukrainian officials for foreigners to join the fight, Campion told the Daily Star: “Make sure you know why you want to go, identify the key reasons why you want to go to Ukraine.
“Identify your skill sets and what you think you can take over there because if you can’t take any skill sets over there, you’re useless.”
He added that thinking “you’re another body that can hold a rifle” is false, and you could create more problems for Ukrainian fighters on the ground.
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He added: “If you’re an average person that doesn’t bring any skills to the party, you’ve never held a rifle before, you’ve got no experience whatsoever, get yourself a decent Playstation and get yourself Call of Duty.”
While Campion understands that those with ties to Ukraine may want to fight, those without connections or combat experience should refrain from signing up.
Related: Remember the Brit who got stuck in Afghanistan? He’s in Ukraine and hungry for war
He explained: “It takes six-seven months to train a soldier and put them out on a battlefield.
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“Don’t just think you can walk out of the job you are doing now, get handed a rifle and all of a sudden you’re going to be Audie Murphy, because you’re not… you’re probably going to be dead.
“The other thing is, when you go over to these places, you won’t get used on the front lines.
“If you think you’ll be over there swinging through windows, kicking doors in and being the underwater knife fighter, you’re not.
“You’re probably going to find yourself driving columns, guarding some facility. You’re not going to be doing the crème de la crème jobs, especially if you’ve got no skills in the bag.”
Campion, who has family over in Ukraine, said even he is apprehensive.
“At the moment I see my position on this as best advising people not to go, rather than leading by example and sending myself over there,” he said.
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- Tory MP says UK doesn’t need to do more for Ukraine – as ‘we’ve done our bit with migration’
