As a personal and professional acquaintance of Nance, I was not at all surprised when the literary agent to whom I had introduced him a few months ago questioned me about whether I knew that Nance had joined the International Territorial Defense Legion of Ukraine. on March. “I had no idea,” I replied, very shocked. “But it sounds like something Nance would do. “He’s the most Malcolm ever.” Whether he fights with his conservative critics on social media or struggles with the tendency towards authoritarianism that has invaded American politics, Nance has spent most of his life defending the values he espouses. He participated in US military operations, taught Survival, Evasion, Resistance (Sere) and created advanced programs for the US Army. His 20 years of experience in information, counterterrorism and cryptology as a senior non-commissioned officer in the United States Navy have made him one of the most sought after intelligence specialists in the media. Although the books Defeating Isis and The Plot to Hack America foreshadowed Putin’s invasion of US elections and Ukraine, Nance is not a war correspondent or expert. When I interviewed him about his recent decision to take up arms in Ukraine, the telephone conversation was typical of many of our conversations. First of all, let me ask you, as a journalist, not as a friend: what the hell, Malcolm? Well, what made me decide to do it were a few things. But the dangerous event, of course, was the invasion of Ukraine. I spent a month in Ukraine driving around, mapping the Russian battlefield, driving up and down the highways, and analyzing where the invasion routes were going. That’s how I knew the country back in time and before the invasion. In fact, on the day of the invasion, I accidentally boarded the last Lufthansa flight abroad. A few hours later they had leveled the airport. In addition, I am a widow, which means that I understand the sadness, which is a strong motivation in this case. It was the thought of all the grief that this country was going through in that invasion. And I just thought, this is it, this was completely unjustified, this is paranoia. To think that I could go to bed and wake up, and these women would be just huge piles of corpses and armor, just upset me. So how did you do that? You showed up with a gun and said, “Am I here to help?” [Laughing] Ukraine announced that there was an international force on February 27 and I started examining it on February 28. I called the Ukrainian embassy in Washington and said, “Hi, I want an appointment.” They were a bit slow, so I just went down there and put in my application. The guy asked if I had combat experience and I said “Yes”. Then he looked at my application and said, “You are in the team.” How long has it been since you were in a battle zone? When was the last thing I did, when did I go to Iraq? I returned to the United States in 2016. Well 2015, so seven years. When you go children: “Oh yes. That’s what Malcolm would do, “he said. I’m a firearms collector, and because I’m an information contractor, I’re just thinking about keeping my skills up to date. I’m such a guy. Despite the fact that Russian television put my name, my face and everything I say on television (except the place about the mass killing of civilians) and called me a “soldier of luck”, it is not about money. We pay $ 600 a month. But I believe in defending democracy. Although my right-wing critics do not believe me or the lies they tell, I really believe in the things I support on television. One of the criticisms leveled at you is that you are willing to fight for an army that has been accused of abusing people of African descent and serving as an international training ground for white supremacists. The Ukrainian army is 250,000 people who are mostly white and mostly men. Do you know where I can show you more Nazis? Except for the US military, that is? Russia’s Wagner group is full of Nazis. The leader of their mercenary group has all kinds of Nazi tattoos all over his body. Look, this is a country of 42 million Caucasians, so statistically, the US probably has a bigger Nazi body. I traveled to this country with Terrell Starr and the Afro-Ukrainian community here and I have seen fewer Nazis than I have seen in America. Beyond that, I always mention that Eugene Bullard was the first black pilot to fly in the First World War. But he flew with the Lafayette Flying Corps to France because, as an African-American, he was not allowed to fly to his home country. In the end, 269 Americans flew into this fate. He was the only Black pilot. From 1914 to 1917, he was a French legionnaire who fought in Verdun and was wounded three times. So there is a tradition of African Americans fighting for democracy. I’m sure we could have found one in the Spanish Civil War, but Hemingway did not write about it. African Americans have always fought for the freedom of others, even when they did not have it themselves. But I know there is a lot of criticism. And to be honest, what bothers them the most is that I’m black. It has nothing to do with how we see the rest of the world. It has to do with how we see ourselves in this world – as free people. And that’s what bothers them the most. People have a problem believing that African Americans have ideals and that we stand up for what we believe. When you compare the percentage of African Americans in the country with the percentage in the armed forces, we are fighting disproportionately for the country. So when you wake up in the morning, what happens? Well, it depends on where I am and what I do. I wake up at 4 in the morning because I like to wake up early. There is a routine depending on where you are. I get up at four and all I do is read, read the news. I try to feel the battle front based on Ukrainian news and reports. And then I look at the analysis of the experts from the previous night in the west. If we have PT, we do PT [physical training]. Wherever I am, whatever I do, I constantly check my equipment. If I am in a safe house in a hood type, as I am now, I pass all my equipment. I am reorganizing my package. I guess I have to take everything, get up and run with them or go to a location forward. Right now, part of my job is with the press. They knew full well that I was a high-level advantage. So instead of putting me on the line, I’m in a safe house talking to people like you. For people who are completely unaware of how the army works, is this legion part of the Ukrainian army of people who are not Ukrainian citizens? Or is it a legion organized outside the Ukrainian army? What happened here early is when Zelenskiy made that call, they started forming TDUs – territorial defense units. The TDUs were actually just men in your neighborhood who, in the event of an emergency, had to be registered and registered as part of an area. It’s like every neighborhood in Chicago setting up a military unit waiting for an invasion. The difference is that the International Legislature for Territorial Defense of Ukraine is a branch of the Ukrainian army. We are an organized combat element with contracts signed by the Ukrainian army. We are paid by the Ukrainian army and get an ID card of the Geneva Convention. So if a brigade has five battalions and is on the line and needs more enforcement, they will get a legion unit to give them more manpower. But the legion operates almost exclusively in English, although there is a French team that generally operates in French, and some Japanese and Koreans as well. What do you think is your absolute value here? My absolute value is that I have experience in this. Now, look, I’m not a pedestrian. But despite what Twitter critics who follow Rambo believe, the battle is not to be a killer, a killer of Seal Team Six. It is mainly about accuracy, accurate fire, selective fire, keeping people calm, getting in line and moving forward. For almost 15 of my 20 years, my middle name was “I need a black man who speaks Arabic.” When I was in the NSA, I was lent everywhere, so I saw a lot and I made missions back or near the enemy lines. If I were white, I would be a hero. But to some people, it’s as simple as saying, “You’re black. you can not have done anything extraordinary in your life, nothing “. They can not imagine that I am here for altruistic reasons. And that may explain why Eugene Bullard was in the French Foreign Legion and not in the US Army. There are many African-Americans and young Americans in the military who will see and be inspired: this is essentially the French Foreign Legion and it will be part of the pantheon of defending democracy in defending Ukraine μου My dad was one of the first Blacks commanders in the navy. That’s who I am. I’m African American, but to God I’m American.
