Tank operator Britney was part of the Canadian mission to Poland in spring 2023, a group of instructors to teach Ukrainian troops handling the Leopard 2 main battle tanks. As a Canadian Army soldier she learned about the war with russia first-hand, by listening to the stories from her Ukrainian students who had experienced battles with the russians.
"I wasn't able to sit back anymore, so I had to come here and I had to do more than just train two companies and then just return to Canada," she told reporters from the Air Assault Forces Command. Britney went to Ukraine and joined the ranks of the Armed Forces of Ukraine as a tank gunner.
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The servicewoman has been fighting alongside Ukrainian comrades for eight months already and hopes she will eventually become the tank crew commander. The main obstacle is the language barrier, she says: there is no one in her battalion who speaks English, so Britney is learning Ukrainian. "It's a challenge, but Ukrainian gets better every day" she notes.
"Captain" says her colleagues in the Canadian Army were "very supportive" of her decision to go fight in Ukraine. Her ultimate goal is to return to her homeland and build a career in the Canadian military. As per regulations, Britney can stay for another four years in Ukraine if she wants to.
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