U.S. government allows American citizens to fight in Ukraine army

[Sunni Man]

But I wonder if an American citizen who went and fought with the Russian army to help liberate Ukraine would be arrested when returned home?
Asking for a friend....

 

[Toro]

Sounds good to me.

 

[Sunni Man]

The U.S. isn't in a declared war with Russia.
So under what legal statute could an American citizen be arrested and charged for fighting with the Russian army against the Ukrainian insurgents?

 

[okfine]

Free to do what ever you want in this country. By the way, are you on the way to kill Ukrainians in the near future?

 

[night_son]

But I wonder if an American citizen who went and fought with the Russian army to help liberate Ukraine would be arrested when returned home?

If a soldier on a modern-day battlefield is caught out of uniform by the enemy, he could well be shot as a spy. That being said, I was reading a Reddit thread last night started by a British ex-soldier who went to fight with Ukraine but retreated back to Poland after a Russian missile strike on the Ukrainian base where he was billeted and awaiting orders. Apparently, a Ukrainian commander stationed there to welcome troops wanted to push international volunteers to head right away to Kiev. I read posts from other volunteers who said they'd never before seen nor imagined the terrible level of destructive firepower brought to bear against the Ukrainians. I've personally got nothing against the Russians or the Ukrainians, but I can understand how the idea of running off to fight in a far off war could seem quite romantic and adventurous to certain young minds. Just what the world needs: more dead "heroes".

 

[Sunni Man]

Free to do what ever you want in this country. By the way, are you on the way to kill Ukrainians in the near future?

Naw, did my bit when I got drafted into the US Army for a war in Asia
1970 to 71 ...

 

[Batcat]

A number of Americans who had fought in the Vietnam War became mercenaries and fought in wars all over the globe.

I remember talking to one who fought in South Africa. He said fighting in the field wasn’t all that dangerous — the bars were where you were most likely to be injured or killed.

 

[Toro]

Naw, did my bit when I got drafted into the US Army for a war in Asia
1970 to 71 ...

You should have worn your helmet when the mortars went off.

 

[Augustine_]

But I wonder if an American citizen who went and fought with the Russian army to help liberate Ukraine would be arrested when returned home?
Asking for a friend....

That's a great question but it doesn't mean you have to start supporting evil now instead of opposing it

 

[Toro]

That's a great question but it doesn't mean you have to start supporting evil now instead of opposing it

In fairness, he's always supported evil.

 

[Sunni Man]

A number of Americans who had fought in the Vietnam War became mercenaries and fought in wars all over the globe.

I'm sure there were guys who did that but I never met one.
All the fellows I knew, did their 2 years, went back home, got married, found a good job, or used the G.I Bill to go to college and start a career. Which is what I did. ...

 

[Augustine_]

In fairness, he's always supported evil.

Perhaps but I remember times when he was against a 1st world country slaughtering weaker countries for their own personal gains or vendettas

 

[Dekster]

The U.S. isn't in a declared war with Russia.
So under what legal statute could an American citizen be arrested and charged for fighting with the Russian army against the Ukrainian insurgents?

The Neutrality Act makes it illegal for an American to fight against any nation we are at "peace" with. What that means in Biden's hands, who knows. Really the worst they could do is strip you of your US citizenship.

 

[okfine]

Naw, did my bit when I got drafted into the US Army for a war in Asia
1970 to 71 ...

You must of got the communist bug while there, I suspect.

 

[Batcat]

I'm sure there were guys who did that but I never met one.
All the fellows I knew, did their 2 years, went back home, got married, found a good job, or used the G.I Bill to go to college and start a career. Which is what I did. ...

The merc I talked to ran an indoor gun range in Tampa for a while. His skill at shooting a handgun was simply amazing.

There used to be a magazine for mercenaries named Soldier of Fortune.

Soldier of Fortune (magazine) - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Soldier of Fortune (SOF), subtitled The Journal of Professional Adventurers, was a monthly U.S. periodical published from 1975 to 2016 as a mercenary magazine devoted to worldwide reporting of wars, including conventional warfare, low-intensity warfare, counter-insurgency, and counter-terrorism. It was published by Omega Group Ltd., based in Boulder, Colorado.

***snip***

Significant to the early development of SOF was its unprecedented, successful recruitment of foreign nationals to serve in the Rhodesian Security Forces, during the Rhodesian Bush War (1964–79).[5][6] During the late 1970s and the 1980s, the success and popularity of a military magazine such as SOF led to the proliferation of like magazines such as Survive, Gung Ho!, New Breed, Eagle, Combat Illustrated, Special Weapons and Tactics, and Combat Ready. SOF has been published by the Omega Group Ltd., in Boulder, Colorado.[7] At the height of its circulation in the early 1980s the magazine had 190,000 subscribers.[8] The April 2016 issue of Soldier of Fortune was the final print edition; further editions have only been distributed online.[9][10]

***snip***

Contract killing[edit]​

In 1989, four men were convicted of conspiracy to commit murder in the 1985 contract killing of Richard Braun, of Atlanta, Georgia. The killers were hired through a classified services advertisement published in SOF magazine that read: "GUN FOR HIRE". Braun's sons filed a civil lawsuit against the magazine and a jury found in their favor, awarding them $12.37 million in damages, which the judge later reduced to $4.37 million. Nonetheless, in 1992 the United States 11th Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the judgement of the jury, saying "the publisher could recognize the offer of criminal activity as readily as its readers, obviously, did".[12] The Brauns and SOF magazine settled the wrongful-death lawsuit for $200,000.[16] One consequence of the lost lawsuits was the magazine's suspension of publication of classified advertisements for mercenary work, either in the U.S. or overseas.

​

 

[skye]

Anybody who desires to go and fight for Ukraine over there....should be prepared to die, those are the war games rules.

Like these Brits ....if like them you do stupid things, then you win stupid prices.

March 15

Fears three British ex-special forces troops killed by Russian attack in Ukraine

Dozens died in missile strike close to Ukrainian border with Nato member Poland on Sunday in most westerly attack yet by Russian forces

www.yahoo.com

 

[Sunni Man]

The Neutrality Act seems to be a very capricious piece of of legislation.
Pick the side the government likes to fight for and everything is good.
Choose the side the government is at odds with and you might go to jail.

 

[Toro]

The Neutrality Act seems to be a very capricious piece of of legislation.
Pick the side the government likes to fight for and everything is good.
Choose the side the government is at odds with and you might go to jail.

Yes. American Nazis whined about the same thing.

 

[Sunni Man]

There used to be a magazine for mercenaries named Soldier of Fortune.

I bought a copy of it every month when it first came out.
Lot's of good information about weapons, equipment, and gear.
Plus, there was quite a bit of first person article's concerning the 3rd world geopolitical proxy wars going on. That the regular TV news never talked about.
But eventually I stopped buying it because the magazine devolved into an unrealistic cartoon like rag for wannabe Rambo's

 

[JGalt]

But I wonder if an American citizen who went and fought with the Russian army to help liberate Ukraine would be arrested when returned home?
Asking for a friend....

Probably not a good idea. But Russia is using a lot of foreign fighters. They currently have 14 recruitment centers in Syria.