This article comes to us from a SketchyBoyz Watch Club member who can be described as, 'a member of the Canadian Military working with the forces of Ukraine'. His story takes place years before the days of the 'special military operation' that began in 2022, and follows his team from the Polish Border to the Dnipro river, when the war in Ukraine was a much smaller one than it is today. With him, as most of us would, he took a humble DW6900 G-Shock that would accompany him into clandestine operations he would not soon forget.
I looked down at the dashboard to check my speed, we were traveling at 125 kilometres per hour, and time seemed to slow down. I glanced at my Casio G Shock DW-6900 it was 0530hrs and the sun was just cresting to the East on a cold, damp fall morning. I remember thinking to myself I need to get a ‘more under the radar watch’. My G Shock had been a faithful companion through multiple deployments and courses in my Infantry career thus far, but today it was too loud, it screamed military, first responder or embassy personnel. Not good when you’re trying to fly under the radar dressed as a local Ukrainian civilian. My gaze moved upwards as we began climbing a hill heading southeast towards Kam'yanets Podil's'kyi a small medieval city not far from the border of Romania and Moldova.
Kyiv, 2015.
Over the horizon I noticed a flag on an antenna, traveling towards us and cresting the hill in the opposite lane. Immediately, my mind went to ‘Armoured Vehicle?’. Killing the Ukrainian radio station playing 1980s pop music that was way too loud, I tapped my back up driver awake. We were alone and this was the moment that had the potential for a ‘fight or flight’ situation.
The war was still young, and we didn't have a standard operating procedure ironed out for running into potential enemy armor. Many questions then passed through my head, ‘armor? this far west?’. Could we be held as Spies? Violent stories came from the front line like Donetsk Airport. Could this possibly mean execution? As time dragged on, with precious seconds gone by, suddenly appeared a turret, the 30mm Cannon and 7.62mm COAX of a battered Ukrainian BTR 3 was now aiming directly at us. We were in a Blacked-Out Range Rover, dressed in civilian clothes, with beards and hats pulled low. My thoughts went to ‘pull over to the side of the road and just let it pass?’. Do Ukrainian Civilians do that? Would that be seen as a VBIED tactic to the armoured vehicle crew commander, like in Afghanistan? I prayed the Ranger Rovers’ class of build quality would void the potential VBIED Threat.
Vehicle convoy on route to the Dnipro river.
We continued to splash through the many muddy potholes in the bombed-out back-country Ukrainian Road. As we rapidly approached one another, I could now make out four men sitting and laying on the roof of the vehicle. Some soldiers had what appeared to be blood-soaked combat gauze, wrapped around various limbs. One of them, the crew commander, had a nasty head wound under his cocked helmet. He had a bandage covering his right eye and was draped over the front of his hatch of the BTR, head laying on his crossed forearms looking exhausted. The uniforms appeared to be a mix of modern Ukrainian and German cold war era camouflage with assorted chest rigs. Each Ukrainian soldier had a Soviet block style Rifle, AK's and RPD's.
We blew past each other, my eyes locking on the crew commanders tired looking good eye. Milliseconds later, this whole event is over and were back on the damp, empty road filled with black diesel smoke. My co driver stared at me and asked, ‘What the hell was that about?’. I responded as calm as I could ‘...Its War man’.
My focus then turned to my trusty G Shock watch, and for the first time, I wondered, 'what other watches will I buy when I got home from this deployment?'. Here, my watch journey officially began.
- Anonymous