This is the person who helped Ukraine blow up a Russian tank over the phone

Ukrainians messed with usage questions, and Freymann submitted answers. In return, he obtained photos and videos of Russian tanks destroyed by them.

Before the Ukraine war, Freymann was a cavalry scout with the Washington State National Guard, the main instructor in the US military’s training program to use shoulder-fired rockets. He trained about 200 Ukrainian soldiers during the months of the program.

By the time Russia conducted a special military operation in Ukraine, the American trainers had already left the country. But Freymann remained in contact with the people he trained. His former students are now soldiers fighting on the front lines – again contact Freymann to ask him for instructions on operating the Javelins when they have technical problems or forget details.

Freymann told Military.com that he accepted help and passed information on how to use Javelin to his former students. They then sent Freymann photos and videos of destroyed Russian tanks. Freymann said at least four tanks were destroyed after some of his phone training.

Captain John Bartkowski, a Washington State infantry officer, led the Javelin course that Freymann taught along with several other soldiers.

Both have adopted much of their doctrine from Fort Benning, Georgia’s Heavy Weapons Leaders Course. Normally, Javelin training for American soldiers can take about a week, but for Ukrainians it takes two to three weeks. First, training manuals and PowerPoint presentations must be translated.

“The language barrier posed challenges,” said Bartkowski, who led the April-December 2021 training.

Bartkowski said it was a “surreal” experience training the Ukrainians and seeing them fight against Russian forces.

Freymann’s previous cadets worked through the linguist, who had assisted the National Guard in previous deployments, to overcome the language barrier. Although some Ukrainians have contacted him directly, Freymann said he often has to use Google to translate their questions.

Technical support and phone training are all done by Freymann himself. Before concluding his deployment in Ukraine, he suffered a stroke and is still recovering at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.

Meanwhile, Javelin has become the signature weapon of the war in Ukraine, playing a great role in helping Ukraine stop the Russian advance.

The National Guard has been training Ukrainians since 2015, with units from several states rotating on missions that usually last nine months. The Florida National Guard was withdrawn from Ukraine shortly before Russia entered Ukraine, but continued to train troops in Germany.

“I’m sitting here still getting ‘thank you’ messages from these people and it’s paying off,” Freymann said.