“Wounded Warrior Package” for the military: what is the initiative and who needs it?
10 January 19:12
ANALYSIS FROM 
Recently, Deputy Minister of Defense Serhiy Melnyk announced an initiative of the Ministry of Defense to provide the military with a “Wounded Warrior Package”. It is about the military who are undergoing treatment. The package will include, among other things, adaptive clothing, hygiene products and special utensils – 30 items in total. Kommersant asked military experts whether such an initiative is necessary and whether wounded soldiers really need it.
According to Dmytro Snegiryov, the Wounded Warrior Package is one of the most important initiatives of the Ministry of Defense that can significantly support servicemen during treatment and rehabilitation.
“This is good news that shows that the needs of the Ukrainian Defense Forces are being taken into account. This is quite a significant progress in terms of real technical support for the needs of the soldiers. Moreover, it is about, among other things, adaptive clothing, which is in great demand. The only thing that needs to be said is that the decision is a bit late. We are in the third year of a full-scale war… But nevertheless, it is better than nothing. And I see absolutely no reason to question the appropriateness of this decision,” he said.
According to Myroslav Hai, an officer of the Armed Forces of Ukraine and a volunteer, the Wounded Warrior Package initiative is actually an adequate response of the state to the needs of the frontline.
“Let me just explain what the Wounded Warrior Package is. If a person in the Armed Forces of Ukraine is injured, for example, while performing combat missions, or suffers a mine-blast injury, or is hit by a drone (now the largest number of injuries are caused by mine-blast devices), the wounded often receive numerous injuries, minor injuries, fragmentary injuries, shrapnel injuries.
Accordingly, when he gets to the headquarters, or even during medical evacuation, all his clothes are cut off. Everything is cut off completely. Military pants, jacket, tunic – everything. The underwear is also cut off, removed, because according to medical protocols, you have to examine the wounded completely for any entry or exit wounds or bleeding. Plus, it’s still baked with blood, so all these clothes are thrown away,” the soldier said.
Then the wounded man is taken to a specialized hospital. And he gets there without clothes. And such guys have hope for a fellow soldier or family, or a volunteer, who try to provide basic things, underwear, certain elements of light clothing, so that a person could just cover himself. Accordingly, this is exactly what the Wounded Warrior Package is for.
“Of course, its content is important. I do not know its full composition yet. But I can say right away that
the next problem is the lack of cell phones so that the wounded, if they are able and not in intensive care, can contact their relatives.We get these cell phones, for example, through volunteers or through fellow soldiers, because the soldier’s phone, if not saved by his comrades, is usually lost or destroyed. That is, this is the next problem – a cell phone and a SIM card,” said Myroslav Gai.
He added that the wounded soldier’s package will facilitate the tasks of social support for the soldiers, but it is important that a good initiative is also properly implemented, because there has been no such practice in Ukraine before.
Wounded Warrior Package: what is known
The Wounded Warrior Package, which will be distributed to the Armed Forces this year, includes adaptive clothing, hygiene products and special utensils, a total of 30 items.
The kit is designed to take into account different situations in which wounded soldiers may find themselves, the Ministry of Defense notes. It is aimed at providing for the soldier in the first days of his stay in medical facilities.
the “wounded package” for female defenders will be different from the one for men, taking into account their needs, Deputy Defense Minister Serhiy Melnyk pointed out.
He also said that it is not possible to refuse the package and replace it with a cash equivalent.
Testing of adaptive clothing was conducted in October last year in the Zaporizhzhia direction. In order to launch the project, the Cabinet of Ministers of Ukraine must adopt a resolution on its financing.
