Green Beret regains purpose after Afghanistan by demining Ukraine | American Agenda

Okay. Welcome back to American Agenda. It's time now for the Birx breakdown, but we're going to switch it up a little bit today because today's breakdown is a story of true selflessness and personal sacrifice. Ryan Hendrickson, whom you see there on your screen, is a retired Army Green Beret with eight combat deployments in Afghanistan, where during that first deployment, Hendrickson stepped on an IED, nearly taking his life. But as a warrior, he battled back, returning for seven more stints fighting for our freedoms here in the United States. A hero I would say so. But that wasn't enough for him. His instinctual need to defend others kicked back in luring him to Ukraine after Russia's invasion. Well, now Ryan is running a nonprofit helping save innocent Ukrainian lives, using his experience from the Middle East to Defuze, landmines dropped into Ukrainian farmland and other places. Those are some of the ones he's been able to recover and retrieve. The mines there are taking a massive toll on the civilians injuries. There's deaths also costing Ukraine's farming industry billions of dollars in crucial exports. So joining us in studio now is Ryan Hendrickson himself. He's the founder of that nonprofit tip of the spear landmine removal. Katrina also joining us here on set, Ryan, thanks for coming in today. Yeah, I appreciate you guys having me. So yeah, bring us up to speed on, we talked about a little bit about it last night, how it all came to be. You getting to Ukraine, the Afghanistan withdrawal and what you're doing now. Yeah. So, 2021, US forces leave Afghanistan. I left about a month before the full withdrawa. And when I got home, I just remember this, you know, just some dark times, this sense of what was it about, what was it for? And not having a purpose. And then, you know, fast forward to February 2022, just like many people were. I was watching the TV screen and watching the events unfold of the full scale invasion, and I just kept having this nagging feeling, there's something is there something I can do? Is there some way that I can help? Well, as a Green Beret, our, you know, the motto that we live and we die by is de Oppresso libre to free the oppressed. And so that nagging feeling that I had inside it was, it was something that was ingrained in me as a Green Beret to free the oppressed. I wanted to go over and I wanted to help. And anything. So, eventually I went over in the middle of March of 22 and started helping evacuate women and children, civilians from the areas that the Russians were moving into. And then as the Russians started to move east, I would say about April, May time frame, Ukrainians started to come back to their homes and they started hitting these landmines. And the booby traps that were left behind. And so that's when it turned into, well, I have experience with this in Afghanistan. So how can I help now? And that's what led to what we do today. And it's training, advising and assisting Ukrainian sappers force multiplying and equipping them, going out to the minefields and trying to make these areas safe again for the civilian population, because nobody should have to live in fear of their next step. So we're looking at a picture of you there. So what we're really talking about is these fields, these this is Ukrainian farmland where civilians, truly get their food. Get their livelihood. So we're talking about families an, and kids here who are threatened by these landmines that were what they were dropped there by the Russians, kind of kind of explain what types of fields we're talking about, where they are, and how you find them. So with if you're thinking about a farm field and then we're talking about hundreds of hectare acres per field and if it can hold a combine tractor, something that, you know, you're going to use for hay or wheat or grain or something like that, then it can also hold a mechanized, tank or, you know, mechanized units. So tanks, Bradleys, whatever it's going to be. So farm fields are high avenues of approach. And so if I can mine these farm fields and I can keep you onto the roads where our where our artillery pieces are already dialed into, they're called target reference points. Then I can hit you with our artillery. And that's one of the ways of kind of equaling out things, is you can't use the farm fields because they're mined. Well, the second and the third order of effects of that is the farmers suffer. And when the Ukrainian farmer suffers, then the countries that depend on those agricultural exports, then they suffer as well. And that's what's going on right now. And these mines, they're all over the place like Ukraine's industry is farming. And they will be there for years. Unless someone like you trains other people to go in there and get them out. If not, the each and every year there will be tragedy. Yes. And there's tragedy every single day. There's farmers that are taking it on themselves to clear their own fields, because there's just not enough deminers in the country right now. You you're looking at a country that's at war, and they're also trying to de-mine so they can get back to their agricultural, you know, ways. As Ukraine is, and you're having farmers that are taking it on themselves, either they're doing makeshift stuff with their tractors or combines or whatnot, and the civilian casualty rate, because of the landmine crisis in Ukraine is, is high. It's extremely high. And those landmines, how long can they last? I mean, we're talking decades forever. Forever. Here's the here's the thing with landmines. Landmines they don't have there's no politics behind landmines. There's no religion, there's no sex, there's no gender, nothing like that. Landmines are indiscriminate killers, and they're going to continue to kill long after that last shot is fired and long after, their intended purpose is up. And that's that. That could be. That could be over 100 years. Ryan, tell us about the nonprofit, how people can donate, get involved. You train others, other veterans like yourself just as well. And I know it's helped them greatly, too. Yeah. Tip of the spear. Landmine removal, our website is landmine removal. Org. And we are we're veteran owned and operated. And we as us veterans, we go over to Ukraine and we partner up with Ukrainian veterans, those that have been wounded in in defense of their country. And then we give you know, we're giving them another sense of service again to where now they're demining again. They can no longer serve in a military capacity, but they're continuing to serve their country demining, removing these landmines. And so it's US veterans assisting Ukrainian veterans for a mind free Ukraine. Wow. Again, with all the horrible news and the terror and tragedy of war, what you're doing in the heart of gold, that you clearly have, and all of those who are working with you is really, really inspiring. So thanks for your service. Thanks for your hard work. Ryan Hendrickson, tip of the spear. Really impressive. Thanks for being with us, Ryan. Thank you so much again.