KYIV, Ukraine -- "Skunk" found himself pinned down in a trench, outnumbered and under relentless close-range fire. It was Christmas Eve 2024, and the 38-year-old U.S. Air Force veteran was serving with a unit in Eastern Ukraine as that country goes into its fourth year of repelling Russia's full-scale invasion. He didn't speak Ukrainian or Russian, and it had been 15 years since he'd served in the U.S. military, but he felt compelled to try to help defend an ally. He'd arrived in Ukraine only