Hi everyone 
How are you doing?
I looked here from time to time just to read last posts.
As i saw the BIG work had done!!!
Bill, you're the truly tetris master 
Last week was silent in my city - air-alarm sirens don't count - many people don't pay attention to them
Now the main military actions are concentrated in the east of country
I tell you some interesting about Ukraine 
Do you know that "Carol of the bells"(Xmas song) is Ukrainians song?
Listen in original
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWsgqwk0EGo
And in rock version - i like it!!!
The Eagle has landed and the Oxygen Machine is in transit from Italy to Bill's place in Hungary.
Kinky!
Touchdown!!
Thunderbirds are go.
(Sorry guys, I know I owe you an update buth there's been a lot. At the very least I'll get the chart posted today)
Alrighty, just a quick and dirty while I wrap up my day. Sorry, I went across the pond for a week and came back to a stack of papers on my desk that somehow all required answers last week. Add in old age and shifting my sleep schedule by 9-hours twice in as many weeks and I'm hurtin' for certain. As promised, here's the updated chart:
Everything is funded except for a little left in the Kisgorbo bucket. The balance is actually a little higher than that as I had nearly 600,000huf to spend on medical supplies but only spent 502,000. Whatever remains from that cash envelope will get added to the balance, but that should put us pretty close to 400,000 of our 500,000 goal.
The other buckets are topped up and that makes sense. The shelters are at pretty low capacity and it turns out we did a pretty darn good job stocking them. Add in, a lot of the stuff we donated was left for the people that stayed behind and it all just comes together. Toys, kitchenware, clothing, etc is all available and in use.
The trip to Lviv is set to start. Mrs. Hungary and I (along with the Hungarlings, as they're out of school now) will spend the next two days playing Tetris with boxes in our vehicles, and updating all the customs forms accordingly. We have donations to the Hospitallers (to go to the front), donations for RAZOM (to go to civilian and military hospitals as needed), firefighting PPE for Dnipro's fire dept, and now one more person has asked us for help...
Back when I went to Lviv last time, I remember mentioning that I got delayed at the border and couldn't make one of my deliveries? Well the universe seldom ceases to amaze me, as the husband/wife couple who took our goodies from that gas station and into Kyiv on our behalf got back in touch with me while I was flying to LA. They've both volunteered and were accepted by the Ukrainian Army as medics. They were reaching out to us to ask for help as they couldn't get uniforms, boots, and needed IFAKs.
You would think that what happened next was as simple as a trip to ye olde local Californian Army Surplus store, but it wasn't. First there was the translation from Ukrainian to English. That was easy enough with Google translate, etc, but then we needed to convert from EU sizes to US sizes. That's where things got difficult.
The man's (Vladamyr) clothing was easy enough but the woman's (Olena) was more difficult as I have no idea how women's sizing works. Enter: VikkiDp 
A few short messages later, and VikkiDp got me squared away. A few more quick messages with AClockworkGarage and we had a pretty good shopping list. It took us until Thursday (work trip, remember. no time at all for side-quests) but we FINALLY got to the surplus stores. First one was a bad on my part. More "tacti-cool" than functional but it worked out as they had IFAKs, real deal CAT tourniquets, tourniquet holders, and quick-clot. No fatigues or boots though.
Second one had uniform pants and shirts for Olena and Vlad, but no boots. And I must say, the shelves were BARE!!!! I've never seen a surplus store with so little functional inventory (I mean, the cheesy crap was there. Camp stoves, axes, pocket knives. But no fatigues, no boots, etc)
At the end of the evening, here's how we were lookin:
Also: Can I say that trying to decide what you're going to buy for someone you know based off what you think they're going to need in combat is damn stressful? I'm crossing my fingers those two can find some plate holders...
Anyhoo, what's done is done and it's all boxed up and ready to send to them in Kyiv. However, falling short on the boot department didn't sit well with AClockworkGarage and he kicked me some more cash. I wasn't able to score boots, undershirts, or any clothing related items locally (and we don't have time to ship) but I DID find one more CAT tourniquet (You may have noticed that one of the pouches was empty), sharpie markers to go with, and three Israeli bandages to throw in the IFAKs.
Mrs. Hungary pulled her strings this evening to finish off the set. She was doing that uniform and clothing drive before I left? Well she reached back out to the people that donated and scored a pair of 38 and a pair of 43 sized boots.
(43's pictured. 38's arrived while I was at work)
Done and done. Tomorrow we get ready for the run.
Guys! Guys!
The Eagle has landed....
... with European plugs 
If one of you didn't do this, then....
I mean, Murphy's law being Murphy's law, there was no way I was going to ship this into theater with a link as fragile as a plug adapter. I was 100% opening this up to cut the American stuff off and wire in the proper European connector.
But the universe being the universe... I guess it took care of that for us. 
Make sure you get a set of chest seals into each of those IFAKs.
You cannot imagine how annoying it is to be trying to guide bill to the barest essentials while sitting next to a litteral pile of exactly the gear they need.
AClockworkGarage said:You cannot imagine how annoying it is to be trying to guide bill to the barest essentials while sitting next to a litteral pile of exactly the gear they need.
Is that pile for sale to the public? I haven't sent my monthly payment to Bill yet. If this is a higher priority, or a higher speed transaction, maybe we can correct this frustration you are feeling.
In reply to DarkMonohue :
It is my private collection. It's both expensive and Illegal for me to ship to them under ITAR. Add to that the time crunch, it's just not to be.
Your best bet is get funds directly to Bill as quickly and often as possible and trust that he will do his best.
AClockworkGarage said:Make sure you get a set of chest seals into each of those IFAKs.
You cannot imagine how annoying it is to be trying to guide bill to the barest essentials while sitting next to a litteral pile of exactly the gear they need.
I have some, but they're earmarked for the Hospitallers (none available locally). I didn't want to pull from one to stock the other, but will if advised. Another of those situations where there are no good answers, I think. How do I decide who needs what more?
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Who needs them first? Your medics need them by friday, when is the next hospitalers run?
In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Is there a way to buy a case or so of those and ship them to you directly?
DarkMonohue said:AClockworkGarage said:You cannot imagine how annoying it is to be trying to guide bill to the barest essentials while sitting next to a litteral pile of exactly the gear they need.
Is that pile for sale to the public? I haven't sent my monthly payment to Bill yet. If this is a higher priority, or a higher speed transaction, maybe we can correct this frustration you are feeling.
We wont be able to get anything here in time to make this run, but quick searching looks like we can get plate holders (no plates) locally
Unfortunately separating the signal from the noise in this dept is beyond my forte, and most of it looks like cheap imitations of the genuine article. It's also been my experience that the brands we know and love in the states, are prohibitively expensive out here (shipping them would be subject to high shipping rates, and the ever-dreaded VAT. It's the same with car parts...). I also wouldn't be comfortable using someones APO due to the nature of what we're shipping, so everything would have to go through customs, etc.
However, if we DID find something we wanted to kit these guys out with there's always a chance I can hunt them back down in August, and I'm sure the Hospitallers are always in need such things. Either might be an option for us looking towards the future.
Oof. They're about $13 a pair here. $50 a pair on Amazon.de.
If we can bulk buy it may be cheap enough including shipping.
AClockworkGarage said:In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Who needs them first? Your medics need them by friday, when is the next hospitalers run?
All going in the same run. We might be able to catch Vlad and Olena in August during our next visit.
I'm afraid of what that first one is if it's CHEAPER than condor.
Javelin said:In reply to Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) :
Is there a way to buy a case or so of those and ship them to you directly?
If they're as cheap as Clockwork says on Amazon, I have no qualms with shipping medical supplies to APO. If you want, we can take a collection and place the order before the next run?
That $13 figure was direct from North American Rescue.
Ok, this is my plate carrier advice, with the following caveats. I am a competitive dynamic shooter, not a soldier. I do not have any experience in the eastern european theatre. I do not know the requirements of the Ukrainian military. I am a big dumb guy. If you know more than me and see me make a mistake, CORRECT ME, you won't hurt my feelings.
A plate carrier is a system and should ideally be bought with a set of plates to make sure they fit together. There are different sizes. You probably want something for a large SAPI cut. It's a NATO standard, similar to a Shooter's cut in the civilian market. Swimmer's cut is more comfortable, but covers less. The plates only protect the vital organs. The heart and lungs. The carrier fits way higher and tighter than you would expect them to.
Colour. I'd recommend a solid colour to save money. Multicam is great and all, but you're paying for the licensing. If you do get a pattern, Ukraine uses MM14. Go with an Olive or Ranger green. You can put patterned pouches on it, so it doesn't matter anyway. Black sucks, as it blends into nothing. Coyote looks like camel dung and probably doesn't match much. I haven't read the Geneva conventions lately but journalists typically wear navy blue, so I'd steer clear of that.
As far as features are concerned It's mostly preference. You can get a basic carrier that has two pockets and some straps all the way up to fully featured units. I like Molle front and rear for attaching pouches and hydration directly to the carrier, hook and loop fields front and rear for identifying patches, flag, caduceus, blood type indicators and a rear drag handle. useful for yanking you out of harms way or linking up in a low-visibility stack.
I prefer full molle cummerbunds so I can mount gear to them as well as carry side plates, but an elastic skeletal side section is lighter and cooler if you don't have the need.
Some carriers are quick disconnect. they'll have a pull cord, usually in the small of the back, that when pulled hard cause the armour to fall away. If you're hit and bleeding you need to get to that wound right now, and getting plates over your head is kind of a pain.
this is my (current) setup it's a slim and basic velocity APC in ranger with Hesco special threat multicurve ESAPI plates. Due to a very generous Buy-two-get-one sale I think I paid about $600 shipped.
Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:Guys! Guys!
The Eagle has landed....
... with European plugs
If one of you didn't do this, then....
I mean, Murphy's law being Murphy's law, there was no way I was going to ship this into theater with a link as fragile as a plug adapter. I was 100% opening this up to cut the American stuff off and wire in the proper European connector.
But the universe being the universe... I guess it took care of that for us.
So happy it got there in one piece! Was just going to post the proof of delivery! Hope it gets to do some good!
84FSP said:Hungary Bill (Forum Supporter) said:Guys! Guys!
The Eagle has landed....
... with European plugs
If one of you didn't do this, then....
I mean, Murphy's law being Murphy's law, there was no way I was going to ship this into theater with a link as fragile as a plug adapter. I was 100% opening this up to cut the American stuff off and wire in the proper European connector.
But the universe being the universe... I guess it took care of that for us.
So happy it got there in one piece! Was just going to post the proof of delivery! Hope it gets to do some good!
Outstanding!
Bill nice to see you here again
GREAT job and BIG work you're doing
Tonight i understood that I'm afraid of thunder now
In the night i woke up and can't understand what's happened - attacks again or what
The sirens sounded twice in the night and there were hits near the city
I don't understand how people live much time in "hot" points - you can just go crazy with fear 
VikkiDp said:Tonight i understood that I'm afraid of thunder now
In the night i woke up and can't understand what's happened - attacks again or what
The sirens sounded twice in the night and there were hits near the city
I don't understand how people live much time in "hot" points - you can just go crazy with fear
We pray for your safety every day, Vikki. I'll add peace and quite to the list!
Bill, same to you. Thanks for all that you do!
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