If you're going to spend your time talking shit about the Armed Forces of Ukraine, I genuinely recommend actually serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine instead of spending so much time talking about those of us who do. If you don't have time on the zero, if you're not a combat veteran of Ukraine, I'm not sure why you believe your opinion should carry greater authority than the people who are actually here doing the work. Ukraine needs support. We need people who recognize what is happening, understand what is needed, and help. What we do not need are people whose entire contribution is antagonizing soldiers, attacking volunteers, dividing supporters, and creating problems for people already fighting a war. Recently, my battalion and I came under attack online over tourniquets made in Ukraine that we wanted to order. The things people said and accused me of were outrageous. I had people who do not serve in the Armed Forces of Ukraine explain to me that I was harming my battalion by following orders. More astonishingly, they demanded that I disobey direct orders because they believed their personal opinion on the internet carried greater authority than the judgment of a five-year combat medic who is also a doctor. I'm not exaggerating. This is the level of stupid shit actual soldiers are dealing with from some people who simultaneously claim to support Ukraine. Then, when those people are called out for spreading bullshit, interfering with a frontline fundraiser, or attacking soldiers, suddenly they are the victims. If you aren't serving in the Armed Forces of Ukraine and you want to support us, that's wonderful. We genuinely need you. But if your entire feed is dedicated to creating problems among the people fighting this war, we don't need another problem. We have enough already. I don't need everyone to like me. I don't need everyone to agree with me. But I am never going to violate a direct command order because somebody on Twitter thinks I should. Asking a soldier to disregard their chain of command because you have appointed yourself an authority from behind a screen is not support. I've put up with a lot online. I've been doxed. I've watched people promote the people who doxed me. I've had people compare me to individuals who have endangered soldiers, and every time it happens, I privately tell them the same thing: do not compare me to someone who doxes soldiers. None of it prevented me from lacing up my boots and going back to the zero. I've watched men I refused to sleep with turn around and say hateful things about me. I've watched lies interfere with media opportunities for my children's book, only for people to discover afterward that what they were told wasn't true. By then, the promotional window was gone. No apology. I laced up my boots and went back to the zero. I've had women resent the attention I received as a female soldier and support my being doxed while I was operating on the zero. No apology. I laced up my boots and went back to the zero. That's the point. Everybody receives hate. Sometimes criticism is deserved. Sometimes it isn't. But an account being angry, confident, or addictive to read doesn't make what it says true. A dopamine hit isn't evidence. A pile-on isn't evidence. And somebody having thousands of followers does not place them inside a military chain of command. The same people telling you they know everything about me and how I am not qualified to even pick out my own tourniquets were telling me to violate direct orders in the same tweet. Should I have done it because somebody on the internet thought it was a good idea? Of course not. While all of this has happened, I have continued serving. I have continued being promoted. I have continued going forward on the zero line. And yes, I have continued receiving recognition for my service—from the President of Ukraine, from the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Ukraine, from the Minister of Defense, and through my military service. I have earned every one of those recognitions. Those recognitions came through actual institutions and actual processes connected to actual service on the zero line, not popular vote or opinion. And then I did what I always do. I laced up my boots and went back to the zero. That's where I want the conversation about Ukraine to return: supporting Ukraine and supporting the people actually doing the work. Support the soldiers. Support the medics. Support the drone crews. Support the volunteers. Support the fundraisers supplying people at the front. Ask questions. Demand accountability when there is evidence for it. Criticize legitimate wrongdoing when it happens. But stop mistaking perpetual antagonism for service. And there is a certain irony in how all of this ends for me. My citizenship process has gone through, and at this point I'm awaiting the final documents and passport to be in hand. So after years of people plotting, posting, antagonizing, doxing, gossiping, and trying to interfere with what I was building, what did they actually accomplish? Nothing. I am still me, still on the zero, still serving Ukraine. They sometimes slowed down my success online. That's it. They didn't stop my service. They didn't stop my battalion from trusting me. They didn't stop my writing. They didn't stop my career. They didn't erase the recognition I've received for nearly three years of service to Ukraine. And they didn't stop Ukraine from becoming my home, nation, and people. The internet can make noise feel enormous. But noise and consequence are not the same thing. Tomorrow, somebody online will probably have something else to say about me. And I'll do what I've been doing all along. I'll lace up my boots. And I'll go do my job, because that is why I am here.

Didn't die but didn't catch an orc either... At least there will be a next time.