A 22-year-old US citizen working for a private military contractor was killed in Ukraine fighting alongside Ukrainian forces against Russia, members of his family told CNN.
Family members said Willy Joseph Cancel, a former US Marine, was killed in combat on Monday. The CNN report didn’t reveal the name of the contractor. Cancel’s mother said the group of men he was fighting with were from “all different countries.”
After signing up to fight, Cancel flew to Poland on March 12 and crossed the border into Ukraine by the next day.
When asked if the military contractor Cancel was working for was employed by the US Defense Department, Pentagon spokesman John Kirby said, “Not that I’m aware of.” When asked if the Pentagon has any contractors working in Ukraine, Kirby again answered, “Not that I’m aware of.”
The US government has a history of using private military contractors in war zones, most infamously was the use of Blackwater in Iraq. If the US was employing private contractors in Ukraine against Russia, it would mark a serious escalation of Washington’s role in the war.
Former US service members have also enlisted in the fight against Russia by joining Ukraine’s newly created international legion. In March, Ukrainian officials said more than 20,000 people from across the world had joined the legion.
Can you please call these people – mercenaries
And call paying for these mercenaries directly or indirectly by western countries what it is: intervention.
Speaking for myself, I appreciate the clarification Sambor71…
‘Intervention’ is exactly what it is but everything comes at a price. I guess we will have to wait and see what that price is…
Western taxpayers. War without any legal undepinnings. But money for war is being voted on. None of it will go to Ukraine. All weapons depots are being emptied of old veneratiom weapons — Ukraine bound. It is questionable what will reach Ukraine. And what can soldiers actually use. Large scale training is impossible. This stuff is given on loan. The new money must be going somewhere else. My guess is — it is gking to MIC to catch up with the super-weapon technology. From supersonic ship fired, plane fired, MIRV class supersonic warheads, ground to ground hypersonic cruise missiles. submarine probes and drones, etc. It had to happen given the deficit in technology. And without Afghan war expenses -. this is a more viable way to approve the money, as domestic programs cannot challenge it.
He died as a hero, fighting nazi orcs.
He died irresponsibly, living a fantasy life as a merc adventurer. That’s not heroic.
Dying at age 22, he probably joined the marines just to get the bare minimum amount of training to qualify for a merc company. They seem to prefer to hire ex-soldiers.
He likely never wanted to be a US soldier, but a mercenary, and probably had a complete collection of ‘Soldier of Fortune’ magazine.
“He likely never”
“and probably had”
Uhh, you really do like to speculate, don’t you?
The evidence is what it is.
He died as a foolish loser. Fighting for the people that did this https://uploads.disquscdn.com/images/5b0eaf092821d5805c370398097628d8c7786fa1b012549c710136a7fb5b13ba.jpg
Ukraine’s newly created international legion. Misfits and kids looking for adventure but who will be misused as cannon fodder and mine meat while the Ukrainians look on.
Detailed in the story below.
https://www.businessinsider.com/they-went-to-ukraine-to-be-war-heroes-and-fight-russians-2022-4
Paid by Kiev from foreign aid from NATO.
You can donate here!
https://www.flircameras.com/export_conditions
I don’t get how this applies.
These people make the discrete digital Infra Red cameras that make any drone a deadly hunter.
AI can track any heat signature you pick even if it moves.
It is a targeting platform that directs traffic of defenses and offenses to a pinpoint target.
It’s hand’s free hunting by assigned GPS values or any of several selections.
AI can even launch, attack and return to recharge by satellite control.
It needs a ground crew of one and a car battery.
“Not that I’m aware of”… ? Lie, deny, then alibi…
Notice he didn’t say “no”?
Well, what the Sam Hill did he expect might happen to him?
You wanna play soldier, you suffer the consequences. Sorry, no sympathy from me.
Mr. Cancel was living the Soldier of Fortune fantasy.
His entire motivation for joining the marines was likely to get training to become a professional merc. The minimum age t0 join the Marine Corps with parental consent is 17 years, after that he can join as an ‘adult’.
Dying as a merc at age 22, looks like he did the minimum 4-year contract and was probably sending applications to merc companies while still in active service.
Poor kid didn’t have the maturity to realize he was wasting his life, whether he survived or not.
The height of irresponsibility; leaving an infant behind so he could play war.
I hope his wife’s next husband has more sense than that.
Either a merc or a cop. No difference.
Sadly true.
Kids today if they have any direction at all, seem to like the idea of being something without understanding what that is or means.
It’s a result of all that hero worship propaganda heaped on our military. You know the old “You can thank him/her for the freedoms we enjoy”, etc.
Many kids joint the military with the idea of becoming an even better paid PMC.
Those with merc ambitions go a little beyond then the heroic dream of being military. Being armed and dangerous for a living is apparently a seductive empowerment fantasy.
The new Boba Fett TV show doesn’t glorify being an imperial stormtrooper but a merc. Should be interesting to see how that affects the next generation immersed in American/Western war culture.
I served as a medical corpsman in Vietnam. I wouldn’t served in another war even if you paid me a million dollars. But I had it with war long ago.
Well said!….
There is no IF…!
Ukraine likely hired the mercenary company, and paid them with US financial aid.
No sympathy and I served over 20 years. If you are stupid enough to let someone place you in a position to fight for the thug Zelensky you win the Darwin Award.
At least you DNA will not spread through propagation!
Right CT…the process of natural selection at work!
a doughnut says he was a drone guy, perhaps the one who gave out Arial recon footage of the steel plant to journalists via Starlink assisted interviews.
His remote control has the resolve of a 5g homing beacon.
A precision attack on a Nazi Terrorist affiliate.
Who? Who has resources at his age to be a newborn father and just get up and go to the front line so fast on his own dime?
Too late, I read he left a wife from foxnews:
Cancel leaves behind his wife and a 7-month-old son.
“My husband was very brave and a hero,” Cancel said. “I did not expect to be a widow at 23 years old or for our son to be without a father. All I want is for him to come home, and to give him the proper burial he deserves.”
That’s tragedy, but his first duty was to his family, not fighting a foreign war his own nation will not and cannot officially enter.
Everyone is a hero nowdays. Just get killed and you’re a hero.
Britain has accused a “sick Russian troll factory” of “plaguing social media with Kremlin propaganda” after funding what it said was expert research into the organisation.
Known as Cyber Front Z – adopting the military insignia used by Russia’s invading forces in Ukraine – it was first uncovered in March by the news organisation Fontanka based in St Petersburg.
The Foreign Office said its research found out how the Kremlin was “spreading lies on social media and in comment sections” and according to Fontanka, Cyber Front Z is advertising jobs on the social media platform Telegram that require workers to post 200 comments every day to other platforms, for salaries of 45,000 roubles a month – about £500.
Its headquarters is said to be located in rented space in St Petersburg’s Arsenal Machine-building Factory, a company that manufactures military equipment and technology.
Fontanka’s undercover reporter worked at the organisation’s premises for a month and found the professional trolls are supplied with accounts to operate using their own computers for a number of purposes, including amplifying content that is favourable to the Russian narrative and attacking people who criticise it.
Culture Secretary Nadine Dorries said: “These are insidious attempts by Putin and his propaganda machine to deceive the world about the brutality he’s inflicting on the people of Ukraine.
“This evidence will help us to more effectively identify and remove Russian disinformation and follows our decisive action to block anyone from doing business with Kremlin-controlled outlets RT and Sputnik.”
The name Cyber Front Z is used by the Telegram channel that is attempting to overtly recruit and organise people to amplify pro-Putin content and to attack the Russian president’s critics.
“Britan has accused…” Who cares what Britain alleges… Why are you constantly repeating bullshit NATO allegations? And this is not even on topic. The point here is to be antiwar, not to be a mouthpiece and amplifier for pro war NATO propaganda. Does the world really need your voice, mindlessly repeating that propaganda, which already dominates the old media and the new?
The same goes for the thousands of young Russian conscripts that have died so far in Ukraine. If they are stupid enough to let someone put them in a position to fight for the thug Putin they win the Darwin Award.
At least their defect Russian DNA will not spread through propagation!
The same goes for the thousands of young Russian conscripts that have died so far in Ukraine. If they are stupid enough to let someone put them in a position to fight for the thug Putin they win the Darwin Award.
At least their defect and inferior DNA will not spread through propagation!
Ukrainian Fascist Troll.
Russki Fascist Troll.
No creative and a parrot. When Zelensky dies I will celebrate especially if enough trolls go with him.
How genius. You’re not very good at being a troll. Can’t even think of anything original?
ROFL, you must really struggle in your own country.
Why would you deduce that based on that comment I made? Were you trying to troll someone else and you got confused? And I’m pretty sure you live here too. Otherwise, tell us what lackey country you live in if you have any balls.
If they were “conscripts,”then they didn’t have a choice, did they? You can’t even keep your bullshit straight, and are just determined to have a “tit for tat,” “neh, neh, neh, neh” response to everything. The point is that this dude was NOT a conscript. Not even a Ukrainian, but chose, of his own free will, to go fight in Ukraine. That’s what makes him stupid. Get it now, genius?
ROFL, you always have a choice. Always.
Russian draft legislation allows people to choose an alternative civilian service for religious or ideological reasons. Most objectors are employed in healthcare, construction, forestry and post industries, serving 18 to 21 months.
Get it now, genius?
Russian conscript = Soldier of Fortune, dishonorably discharged mercenary from a third country, when it comes to “choice.” That’s quite an equation, Einstein!
I am wondering how he got out of the Marines at such a young age? Did he enlist at 17? Was Admin Sep’d? USMC Reserves? Usually it’s a four hear obligation.
Assuming he was applying to merc companies during active service, he had time to join at age 17-18, complete his contract, and transit straight to his fantasy dream job of being a merc adventurer.
Its hard to imagine the marines not offering re-enlistment, letting him go that young, if he was any good at whatever his specialty was.
To become a merc so soon after leaving the marines, suggests that was his real ambition. Mr. Cancel seems to have demonstrated focus and dedication at the very least.
Court martial and Bad Conduct Discharge, that’s how.
Play stupid games, win stupid prizes!
He was not a “former” Marine. Once a Marine, always a Marine.
So very true…
I know ex-Marines that do not feel that way.
That’s what my bestie says…he served in Nam.
And realized that once he got off that plane ( he enlisted) he’d made a BIG mistake!
My partner served in Nam as well and he came to the same realization and about just as quickly…
He is now, staunchly, ‘Antiwar’ and when most anyone speaks, in a government capacity, he has a tendency to immediately not believe anything that person says…
That’s how Jim feels too, Donna.
He and both his brothers served in Nam and all are suffering the effects of Agent Orange; all have has colon cancer , as well as various other cancers.
When he encounters young men itching to go to war “to try out their new guns”, he tells them: You’re not just target shooting anymore. You’ll be dodging actual, live bullets… if you’re lucky.
Same as any other branch of Service in that regard. Marines aren’t “special”
After joining at age 17-18 then jumping straight from the Marine Corps to being a PMC?
My first guess would be being a marine was just a stepping stone to a fantasy job as a merc adventurer.
A second guess would be his specialty was so needed in Ukraine that his superiors fast-tracked him into a private merc company.
Many posters here seem to think Mr. Cancel was a drone tech, but the original article mentioned no such thing. Links suggest he already had a job as a corrections officer, which is confusing.
Either way, 4 years at such a young age seems to really stretch the Once a Marine, always a Marine propaganda meme.
He got cancelled on his destiny …!
So the Russians “Cancelled” his contract! Too soon?
Given the age of the soldier, I wondet if he saw any serious military action. It is the shrillness of the hype that can motivate young and reckless into adventure.
I doubt very much that he enlisted via some international recruitment schema. The contractor had to be American, But then, we paid contractors to assist UAE in Yemen.
The US military is involved in enough wars, there’s a chance he did.
He was smart enough to get real military training and join a real merc company. Whether or not he intended to end up in Ukraine is anyone’s guess. [His mother through CNN says he was all for it…]
PMCs are supposedly paid very well. Another 4 years in the Corps would probably have improved his starting wage, but all the merc company need to know is that the recruit can be a soldier. Being a seasoned veteran is a bonus.
Bad Conduct Discharge is what he received
So he did – disobeying a lawful general order. The order has not been specified.
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/local/2022/04/29/willy-joseph-cancel-orange-county-ny-native-killed-ukraine/9584157002/
So, what was the ‘lawful general order’ order?
Mr. Cancel was possibly a vax refuser. The US military has been purging most of the vax refusniks.
He then fell right into a job with a private prison company, which suggests whatever order he refused, it wasn’t serious enough to deny responsible employment, at least in the private sector.
Cancel left the military after being court-martialed in 2020 and serving a five-month jail sentence, the service said. A person familiar with the matter said Cancel was court-martialed after bringing a weapon onto base.
Sigh.
Soldier of Fortune material.
Where and when he could carry a gun should have been among the first things he learned as a marine.
https://www.usconcealedcarry.com/resources/federal-ccw-law/federally-banned-locations-for-carrying-firearms/
In the early years of DIY ‘PIC’- like customizable microprocessors, one could program their own drone from the ground up. Much was open source. All the sexy features -the bells and whistles and sexy smarter fat features were pinched by some well financed poachers who turned it into a militarized export to us: a tax haxen. Finland makes Reconnaissance Drones for sale, We make the night vision: FLIR. I am certain that it is not readily available to just anyone with money. Ukraine got theirs ‘donated’ (?) from the USA private donors somehow and they got there via Canada. This is an investors war: a privatized war.
https://www.flircameras.com/export_conditions
Ukraine Needs trained operators to run them. WHO provided our network news groups w/Arial drone footage approaching and over the Mariupal Steel Workz?
Ham’s were among the first large technical group involved in search and rescue volunteer services to use drones for situational Arial Reconnaissance HERE as Owner drone operators. So did some remote control flyers and law enforcement chiefs. From that sprung industry Over There that was financed from Over Here: The Finnish Drones were able to gimbel a very sensative miniaturized Infra Red camera but The consumer Ham-grade had limits and security issues. A new solution is to import the Drone, sell it to agencies only and apply for a FLIR Camera that only Qualified Agencies and its employees can use and access. These are very affordable weapons. The Hams are out of the picture altogether now as Drone operators and these things have been seen in practice at night, sometimes flying in a formation making a sweep or visiting rural properties. Policing agencies have full time drone operators.
A doughnut says our boy overthere that died for a private contractor was fully trained in all things of Drone Recon and Attack.
We sent 700 new suicide drones and they likely can be controlled from a drone platform of various abilities. It’s likely not totally idiot proof to run, it takes a team and that is a team of drone operators with specific team tasks with an oversight director of some authority: The Drone Captain. Was that guy a Spaz Farce guy?
Drone footage over the Steel Plant in Mariupal was provided by Who and with What? No way are the Azov Battalion going to authorize a different drone flight over the plant or near it. They control the horizontal and the vertical imagery we get to see. Network News fly-over feeds were from a militerized patroller drone platform; the eyes and ears platform the 700 kamikaze drones are supposed to get orders from Over Here. Nothing new to Russia, “not even a fly” will fly over now according to Putin. Drone Patrollers need not be used all the time especially if integrated with a satellite Intel team at a Spaz Farce command group: They are platforms smart military offensives are coordinated from at the H.Q.
Privatized War
Young and dumb.
That’s why the young and dumb are used for human capital for the war lovers.
US Military Contractors…! Licensed to kill with immunity to provide for their family back home…! Anyone knows how does the contract work…? A base salary plus bonus for every person they kill…!?
Vladimir Putin ‘will undergo cancer operation in the near future’ and is set to ‘hand over power to hardline ex KGB chief while he is incapacitated’
Vladimir Putin may be forced to give up control of the war in Ukraine for days as he is set for cancer surgery, a ‘Kremlin insider’ has claimed.
The Russian dictator will reportedly nominate hardline Security Council head and ex-FSB chief Nikolai Patrushev to take control of the invasion while he is under the knife.
The source is a well-placed figure in the Kremlin, which reported that Putin has abdominal cancer and Parkinson’s 18 months ago.
The surgery had been scheduled for the second half of April but was delayed.
‘Putin was recommended to undergo surgery, the date of which is being discussed and agreed.’
‘The Russian President Vladimir Putin has oncology, and the latest problems identified during [his latest] examination are associated with this disease.’
He also suffers from ‘Parkinson’s disease and schizoaffective disorder’, which carries symptoms of schizophrenia including hallucinations and mania.
You should help diagnose the Bidiot now.
Daily Mail says that based on a “Kremlin Insider”
Obviously a propaganda piece because:
1. Daily Mail; and,
2. from unnamed Kremlin Insider
Here’s breaking news from this WH Insider: Biden is unfit and should resign and then let Kammy take charge to cement the huge huge Repub gains in the mid-terms. If the Deep State allowed the American people to have a choice on war or peace, we’d elect Paul/Gabbard or Gabbard/Paul, but their propagandist media would never allow that.
Comrade Rightstermeister1, a free advice, don’t spend time reading MSM.
There are other, real sources.
If he doesn’t wake up from surgery, it might be a good thing for the world.
Most likely some of his “advisors” will make sure he doesn’t.
They are smart enough to realize that Russia has a chance to start over, once Putin is gone.
Once a jarhead always a jarhead until you join the fascists wanna be 4th Reich, then you get blown to pieces by Russian artillery. You can’t fix stupid only kill it.
He was only a jarhead for 4 years then went straight to a PMC.
Mr. Cancel does not appear to have wanted to be a marine, but a soldier of fortune.
22 is young for a merc. The average age for a merc is reportedly someone in his 40s-50s, usually ex-mil but a career soldier.
Its not clear he was any kind of fascist. More like he was living the fantasy of being a merc adventurer.
He didn’t serve 4 years, unless you count his prison time
Well, if he wasn’t discharged, he was serving.
Oh ok, serving the prison wardens.
The military judge sentenced Cancel to 154 days of confinement, reduction to E-1 rank and a bad conduct discharge from the US Marines. He fit right in with those AZOV thugs.
In his fantasy world, he probably thought he was defending his 2nd Amendment rights by bringing a gun on base.
Soldier of Fortune material.
A result of drastic lowering of the standards.
Thank you all for your help. I just blocked the Ukrainian Nazi troll.
Blocked troll too
What is it with these ex-Marines with Bad Conduct Discharges? That American prisoner in Russia was drummed out for theft.
NINTH Russian general is ‘killed in Ukraine’
A ninth Russian general was reportedly killed in a Ukrainian artillery strike near Kharkiv. Major General Anton Simonov, 55, died during the attack on a Russian army command past in northern Ukraine.
Simonov is the ninth and youngest Russian general killed so far in the latest blow to Putin’s disastrous invasion of Ukraine. He was seen as the Russian military’s leading electronic warfare specialist.
Simonov died in a devastating fightback by the Ukrainians against a Russian offensive.
He led electronic warfare within the 2nd Combined Arms Army and is a former cyber commander of the Western Military District.
The Ukrainian Army said it destroyed 30 Russian vehicles during the artillery assault.
Simonov’s killing adds to the 36 colonels and more than 300 Russian officers who have died in Ukraine so far.
Everyone knew that Putin used his conscripts as cannon fodder, but generals?
Serves him right.
Did Kirby start crying again? What a pathetic actor. Did he cry when the 14,000 Donbas civilians were murdered? Or all the victims of our military campaigns in Serbia, Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Libya?
Embedded, hand-picked warmonger reporters, didn’t show any of the carnage we inflicted in our death campaigns in our wars of choice that had nothing to do with “our freedoms”. That’s why they hate Assange.
Oh the BS playbook talking point of the 14,000 killed by Ukraine. Most of those were killed by the Russian separatists shelling cities indiscriminately. Same idiots that took out the airliner then blamed it on Ukranians.
Funny how no one seems to have ANY evidence for the 14k figure that doesn’t come from Russian state media.
Yes. I saw that phony bastard. He said he has never seen such depravity. What a load of sh*t. Russia is the JV squad compared to the real killers.
I don’t quite understand this, We are told this guy was 22 and an ex US marine. What is the minmum term you inlist for the Marines and how long does basic training take? There is something which doesn’t sound right here. I would believe it, if they said he was a current member of the Marines fighting against the Russians, but they aren’t going to say that are they?