User:Scott-Led

This user participates in WikiProject Ukraine.

My name is Scott, I am an American; I have lived overseas and am currently at our family home in the Southern US, which is a working farm . We have goats, poultry, honey bees, couple of tractors, and of course a pickup truck:-). But not to fear, not a redneck; I am not only a college graduate but have a master's degree (MS in Strategic Intelligence).

I most recently spent seven years in Ukraine, initially from 2016-2022, with a peacekeeping NGO in which I first served as an Imagery Analyst, monitoring ceasefire violations of the Minsk Accords, from Kyiv. I then transitioned into being a Monitoring Officer, and spent my last 18 months on this contract in Eastern Ukraine, as a Patrol Leader, in which we drove in armored vehicles to sites experiencing hostilities between Ukrainian Armed Forces and Donetsk Peoples' Republic/Russian combatants. I really enjoyed our efforts and made many friends among my co-workers, from quite a few nations, primarily in Europe and North America. This work ended on February 22, 2022, when a certain large nation to the east of Ukraine invaded, and the US Government said I had to evacuate.

I returned to Ukraine in October 2023 (again as an Imagery Analyst) to work with a humanitarian demining NGO, where I was based near Kyiv. I worked in this capacity for a little over a year, thoroughly enjoying the work and getting to know and appreciate my colleagues, both Ukrainian and my fellow international staff. During the workday I spent many hours looking at Ukraine on satellite and UAV imagery to find and aid in the removal of land mines. And by night, unofficially, I watched the passage overhead of Shahed-136 drones, inbound toward Kyiv. I could see, hear, and sometimes smell the engine exhaust of these drones. I often saw the terminal descent and detonation of these weapons. I also saw firsthand the impact craters of ballistic missile strikes. Work on this contract came to a conclusion in December 2024, at which time I came home. Between some formal study and lots of "OJT," I'm able to speak a little Ukrainian and Russian, and can read/write a lot less - it's HARD!!

The opportunity to contribute to Wikipedia by becoming an editor has been a goal of mine, especially since I returned to the US after my work experiences in Ukraine. I wanted to stay up on current events, particularly regarding Ukraine and Russia, now that I am not in proximity to anyone effecting any of those changes and am Just Another Freakin' Observer. Adapting to the user guidance for Wikipedia is actually more complex than acclimatizing myself to life in a combat zone, which I have done in Ukraine and Iraq and Kuwait and the Levant and Libya. I'm now trying to fit into the mold, and it isn't going particularly well, in my opinion. Definitely not the image I had, and while there is a massive overkill of user documentation, the useability of this enormity of information is, well, not so useable. I'm still going to try, but let's see if the results are worth the investment, in time and opportunity.

More background - I'm a genuine Cold War relic, having served in the US Navy from 1983 for 8 1/2 years and then another 20 years in the Navy Reserve, retiring in 2011. Loved it, got to travel the world and get paid to do so. Made a lot of friends and I try to keep up with "my guys" on various social media platforms. Most connections are great, though sadly sometimes one person will die, which just happened to one of my Sailors, at only age 62. He's not the first, and it reminds one of the mortality we all share. This is another reason I'm trying to get involved in editing Wiki, as the universality of crowd sourcing will only continue to expand, and we all have something to contribute. Each of us comes from unique circumstances and can add their little bit to the great big world, but it does take the effort to get involved. And yes it can be a prickly pain in the rear, as I am encountering, but I'll continue to try. Because, hey, This is not a drill!

Been at this activity which I thought I would find interesting and rewarding, for a few days now, and this evening after several hours of editing Wiki articles and getting really piqued by a guy who has done this for 20+ years, and is trying to help but doesn't understand why I'm having these obviously easy issues, we came to the startling conclusion that the page displayed to him, as an old hand, is NOT the page displayed to me, as a new user, so no wonder I can't get right what he insists I'm getting wrong! After this revelation, I needed a change of pace, and so, to celebrate and embrace someplace else with noted sheer lunacy, I found some Monty Python to relax with, and have successfully felt the irritation subside. Shame on Wikipedia, why make it easy when you can make it hard, right!?Scott-Led (talk) 03:57, 29 August 2025 (UTC)