(Editor’s Note: The people at Task Force Yankee reached out to us concerned about a couple of media reports that had insinuated or flat out accused them of being a company that hired mercenaries to fight in Ukraine. There are various non-government organizations in the US and Europe right now trying to help Ukraine with medical supplies, humanitarian aid, and other means to resist the invasion by Russia.  We agreed to publish a response by TFY by Seth Hopper who is the organization’s, Chief Operations Officer. You can learn more about Task Force Yankee at their website or on Facebook.)

Task Force Yankee has recently become aware of two separate news articles.  One was written by Jay Reeves of the Associated Press, and another one has recently surfaced on a website called mailbd.net.  There are several inaccuracies in both articles that we would like to address.

In the article by Jay Reeves of the Associated Press linked here

This AP article was also picked up and run on Politico

It is stated incorrectly that Task Force Yankee has placed more than 190 volunteers in combat slots and other roles.  This is inaccurate reporting, as Task Force Yankee (TFY) does not place volunteers in combat slots.  Harrison Jozefowicz refuted that statement, stating “At no time did I ever say that.  What I said was the verbiage we use for the volunteers.  We do not place people in Direct Action roles”. 

What TFY does is offer what we feel are qualified individuals safe passage through Europe into Ukraine.  Once in Ukraine, volunteers have the option of finding work on their own or staying with TFY in a humanitarian position.  Should those volunteers decide that they no longer want a combat role, because they have already been vetted through TFY, we can then offer them a spot assisting with the movement of humanitarian supplies, or helping with medical training.  

 

Donated medical supplies to Task Force Yankee are prepared for movement into Ukraine.

The reason why people are vetted and cleared prior to volunteering is to ensure that we are not sending people with serious criminal backgrounds or patterns of misconduct into an area with minimal supervision.  We do our best to ensure both former military and civilian volunteers are vetted to the full capability of TFY.  This includes but is not limited to; verifying proof of service, characterization of discharge, and even requesting that the potential volunteers run a background check on themselves and submit it for review.