My family fled the Soviet Union when I was three and a half years old. Upon arriving in New York City in 1979, my father worked multiple jobs to support us, all the while learning English at night.
Our collective military service is a special part of our family's story in America.
This might be a conceit of government officials, but there's the idea that maybe you can make a difference. It's a conceit. Maybe it's unhealthy. We all believed we could make a difference.
Since the struggle for our nation's independence, America has been a union of purpose: a union born from the belief that although each individual is the pilot of their own destiny, when we come together, we change the world. We are stronger as a woven rope than as unbound threads.
The privilege of serving my country is not only rooted in my military service, but also in my personal history. I sit here, as a Lieutenant Colonel in the United States Army, an immigrant.
In taking a very sober view of where this president is taking this country, the divisions, the catering to our adversaries, the undermining of national security interests, that I am absolutely a never-Trumper.
Even as I experience the low of ending my military career, I have also experienced the loving support of tens of thousands of Americans.
I made the difficult decision to retire because a campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation by President Trump and his allies forever limited the progression of my military career.
After 21 years, six months and 10 days of active military service, I am now a civilian.
I did my duty as an American citizen and Army officer.
I had to choose between the president and the Constitution. I was aware of the fact that I could be compelled to testify. But I chose the Constitution. No Army officer wants to be put in that position, but there I was.
President Trump should be considered to be a useful idiot and a fellow traveler, which makes him an unwitting agent of Putin.
I have dedicated my entire professional life to the United States of America.
Since 2008, I have been a Foreign Area Officer specializing in Eurasia. In this role, I have served in the United States' embassies in Kiev, Ukraine and Moscow, Russia.
The uniform I wear today is that of the United States Army. We do not serve any particular political party; we serve the nation.
