‘It’s just a higher calling’: Chicago Army veteran helps rebuild Ukraine
CHICAGO — Nine months into the war in Ukraine, a Chicago resident is on a mission to help civilians under siege.
“Every day is a struggle, and now all they’re trying to do is say, ‘Where am I going to eat next time?'” Garrison Yusofovich said.
Jozefovich is a veteran of the US Army. He first served in Italy with the 173rd Airborne Division before deploying in 2017 to the 82nd Airborne Division – a combat role in Afghanistan.
“My first contact, besides living in a first-world county where everything is available to you,” Josefovich said.
He did return home and serve as a Chicago police officer for three years.
That was until Russia invaded Ukraine.
He resigned from the Chicago Police Department and went to a war zone to help.
“One day we will repair the windows in the school, and the next day we will clean the rubble in the apartments so that these grandmothers have a warm place to live in the winter,” said Jozefovich.
Although he briefly returned to Chicago over the summer to raise money for the effort, the Army veteran felt he was still needed in Ukraine.
“Simply put, it’s just a higher calling,” he said.
He returned to help rebuild parts of the county that many Ukrainian forces have retaken and where civilians are trying to rebuild, including American volunteers. Many of them are veterans like Yusofovich.
“They’re much more hands-on, rebuilding schools, cleaning up bombed-out flats and just trying to make things livable for the Ukrainians who are there – they’ve been under occupation for the last six months,” he said.
It’s a mission with no specific end date that he’s committed to as a U.S. veteran, serving others overseas with a real-world perspective on what happens when democracy is at risk.
“Now we’re definitely not trying to take democracy for granted,” he said, “especially a lot of volunteers who are coming across this for the first time.”
https://wgntv.com/veterans-voices/its-just-a-higher-calling-army-veteran-from-chicago-helping-rebuild-ukraine/