At the moment, the Non-Commissioned Officer Corps of the Armed Forces of Ukraine — which includes more than 250,000 sergeants…
Soldier Serhii, with the callsign “The Director”, could, on entirely legal and highly respectable grounds, have avoided taking up arms in the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine.
His workplace and position as a teacher of Ukrainian language and literature — and as the director (hence the callsign) of a gymnasium — guaranteed not only official exemption from mobilization, but also the opportunity to contribute to the defense of Ukraine and the Ukrainian people through educating the younger generation.
However, as a true Teacher, Serhii chose the best form of upbringing — his own example. He told ArmyInform about his choice and his combat path.
The teacher’s choice
“Please don’t take this as pathos, but for me the words of the Oath are not an empty sound. Especially since behind me I left my family, whom I had to go and protect, as well as my small and great Homeland”, — Serhii explains his decision to join Ukraine’s Defense Forces with a weapon in his hands.
In the first days of the full-scale invasion, on 2 March 2022, “The Director” abandoned the familiar civilian life of a schoolteacher and became a soldier of the Armed Forces of Ukraine. Besides his family, gymnasium students, and Homeland, he left behind more than a quarter of a century of teaching.
“I officially worked at the school since 1999, but in reality I came into the education field much earlier, because I decided to dedicate my life to the calling of being a teacher. Back in 1992, I worked as a pioneer leader, then graduated from Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University and returned to my district. Since then, I have always been with the students at school”, — the soldier recalls.
Serhii did not serve compulsory military service, but understanding the inevitability of further Russian aggression after 2014, he completed short-term intensive military training. In 2021, for two weeks, together with many other men from the Dnipropetrovsk region, he acquired basic skills in weapons handling, tactical medicine, and squad-level combat tactics.
“For two weeks we trained as future territorial defense. It definitely can’t be considered full-fledged basic military training, but we were genuinely taught the things necessary to understand military service — at least we held a rifle in our hands”, — Serhii jokes.
Thus, in early March 2022, he joined the Armed Forces already minimally trained in the basics. In the first weeks of the invasion, even such far-from-ideal training was crucial, as many volunteers had none at all.
Meeting “Caesar”
The time before going out on combat missions passed quickly. In the morning, Serhii and his comrades were still at home; by evening they were already near Volnovakha receiving their first orders. From then on, “The Director” became an infantryman, performing one of the toughest tasks in the forests between Volnovakha and Vuhledar.
“At first, I was assigned as a member of an anti-tank crew. Later, after the brigade was reorganized following heavy fighting and reinforced, I became a rifleman–combat medic”, — Serhii recalls.
At that time, “The Director” served in the 53rd Separate Mechanized Brigade named after Prince Volodymyr Monomakh, and fully experienced what it meant to be infantry during large-scale combat under enemy air and artillery strikes.
“I actively took part in combat from March to mid-summer 2022. It was a hard, very hard period — the Russians constantly attacked, we defended. We fought with old Soviet weapons; there weren’t enough of them. But when in late May or early June we first saw the French CAESAR self-propelled howitzers with our own eyes, we knew for sure we would hold on!” — the soldier says, not hiding the emotions of that time.
The appearance of heavy weaponry from Ukraine’s partner countries in early summer 2022 indeed significantly influenced the course of the fighting in favor of the Defense Forces, so Serhii’s memories convey the mood of Ukrainian soldiers then.
“It’s difficult to recall the battles because they are tied to the loss of comrades. But one episode is impossible to forget — when I was dragging a wounded brother to the evacuation point and kept talking to him, saying: ‘Talk to me, talk, talk!’ He could barely move his legs, laughed, and said: ‘You’re more worried about me than I am about myself’”, — Serhii recounts.
“The military enlistment office is the primary Recruitment Department for the Armed Forces”
Serhii did not have time to fully experience the advantage Ukraine’s army gained thanks to Western weapons. In mid-summer 2022, he suffered a severe concussion and was sent to a hospital for months of treatment.
After rehabilitation, the military medical commission found him fit for limited duty, and in March 2023 he was assigned to continue service in a Territorial Recruitment and Social Support Center (TCC and SSC).
“I walk a bit poorly now, my legs don’t respond well, so my job is more sedentary — working at a computer, processing documents. As a Ukrainian language teacher, it’s not difficult for me — my education and experience help”, — says “The Director.”
Even this somewhat “lighter” service after a traumatic brain injury is exhausting, but Serhii considers it necessary — despite the option to leave the Armed Forces and return to his beloved work with schoolchildren.
“I met with colleagues, attended the ceremony of awarding students their school certificates. I spoke with the students. They’re waiting for me in the gymnasium, and I want to return, but I’m needed here and now. Because the TCC and SSC is the primary recruitment department for the Armed Forces of Ukraine, and if there is no one to serve, Russia will seize and occupy us”, — the soldier says.
He does not even want to describe the consequences of occupation — they are too obvious and horrific. Unfortunately, he believes that a certain and quite large part of people do not realize how terrible life under Russian occupiers would be.
“They simply don’t understand — many things they don’t understand — because Russian propaganda is very effective in this aspect. Unfortunately, we lag behind in this area”, — he adds.
The Legend of Moses
“We should have begun countering Russia much earlier, and not formally, as the state’s policies and the Ministry of Education’s approaches imposed, but through real work with children and teenagers. Because a child is soft clay that forms into a future citizen”, — Serhii says.
Thus, it is necessary to speak to children as sincerely and convincingly as possible. Adults should not be forgotten either — work with them was neglected and remains far from ideal. He continues:
“Propaganda is a great thing. Proper propaganda forms what allows life to continue. Patriotism is formed from birth. It’s hard to convince adults now — they’re already infected with alien negative propaganda — but if you speak honestly and openly, nothing is impossible”, — he continues.
“I want to remind you of the biblical legend of how Moses led the Jews out of Egyptian captivity. How many years did he lead them through the desert? Not because he didn’t know the road. The distance is very small if you look at a map. Moses led them so that the generation infected with the ideology of slavery would die out, and a new one would be born — one that did not know slavery and which he could shape”.
“That is why we also need many years for this ideology of slavery to die and for us to understand that Ukraine is our only state. And everything we see around us — the air, the land — this is what we must rise for and take up arms to defend”.
“…Not just a lesson outline…”
In the summer of 2022, during a short break between combat missions, Serhii wrote a poem–address to his students, which he managed to send despite poor connection. He agreed to share it with ArmyInform as well.
Greetings, children! We have unscheduled lessons…
I’ll tell you from afar about the most important steps.
About faith and knowledge — you asked me a year ago,
Then I kept silent — but now I want you to know.
I believe in the power of prayer, in sincere words!
I believe in the power of Love and the greatness of Affection!
I believe! — And this can no longer be changed,
How to live and create, and defend our land!
I know how easy it is to pray through tears of despair…
How hard it is to accept when a brother-in-arms is already beyond the edge…
I believe and know: prayers are spoken for us,
So that we return from this cruel battle.
My words now — not just a lesson plan outline,
From the heart, not from professional habit…
You must remember them forever:
Faith! Love! Ukraine! Fight! Love!
