The Field That Isn’t There
Quick answer: How are drones changing the war in Ukraine?
A 26-year-old Ukrainian Marine drone instructor told John that FPV drones costing $700 to $1,500 destroy tanks worth millions, and roughly 70 percent of destroyed targets are now hit by drones, pushing artillery to second place. A single soldier in the open is now worth a drone, so both armies dig deep.
Behind the front line in Ukraine, there's a stretch of ground that looks from above like an ordinary field. It's a photograph. Medics pulled satellite imagery, paid a print shop out of their own pockets, and stretched the banner over their casualty point. Russian drones see grass. Underneath, medics work on the wounded. “It's not the army,” one medic told John over breakfast on 14th Street. “We have to deal with it and find some solution.” He was among Ukrainian soldiers and veterans brought by former Congressman David Bonior to a conference on the invisible wounds of war. Pavlo, twenty-six, a Marine assault infantryman turned FPV drone instructor, still calls infantry the queen of war, but says roughly 70 percent of destroyed targets are now hit by drones. Another veteran led wounded soldiers, some amputees, up Ukraine's highest peak. And one man carried a Ukrainian flag covered in signatures of people who helped him survive, many now dead, across an ocean so someone would read the names.
Why it matters for leaders: When the system can't solve it, the people closest to the problem improvise, and leaders should listen to them.
Q: What is the field that isn't there?
A: A huge banner of satellite imagery that Ukrainian medics paid to print themselves and stretched over a casualty point, so Russian drones see only a field.
Q: What brought these soldiers to Washington?
A: A conference called “Invisible Wounds of the War” at NYU's Washington campus, convened by former Congressman David Bonior.
Read the full essay on Substack → https://heroespath.substack.com/p/the-field-that-isnt-there
By John Fenzel, founder and CEO of Heroes' Path Foundation