Former US Marine joins Russian military, claims the Corps and police force turned their back on him

A former US Marine is reportedly fighting alongside Russian forces in Ukraine. One of his motivations for this decision seems to be connected to a policy that affected many US servicemembers.

A video on Telegram [which is making rounds on Reddit] included a caption that read, “An American Marine fights on the side of the Russian army in a special military operation zone.”

In the video, the man identified himself as Seth William Baker. He claimed he was discharged from the Marine Corps as a lance corporal because he refused to get vaccinated against COVID-19, despite the Defense Department’s controversial and mandatory vaccination policy at the time.

Marine Corps officials confirmed to Task & Purpose that there is a record of a Seth William Baker who served as a lance corporal. However, they cannot verify if he is the individual in the video.

According to Marine Corps records, Baker served from August 2019 to May 2022 as a bulk fuel specialist. His last assignment was with Bulk Fuel Company A, 6th Engineer Support Battalion, 4th Marine Logistics Group. He was awarded the National Defense Service Medal.

It is unknown what kind of discharge Baker received, as information about discharge types that troops receive are not publicly available unless they result from a court-martial.

However, Baker claimed that his refusal to get the COVID-19 vaccine led to his discharge from the Marine Corps. This policy, which has since been reversed, ended many military careers and caused distrust in the US government among veterans.

“There are many reasons why I came here,” Baker said in the video. “But one of the big tipping points was when I was a lance corporal, I was due for promotion the next month, and they came out with the COVID vaccine mandate in the military. I’m a young, healthy man, and I’ve already had COVID before, so I don’t need that. And so, there’s a few of us – not very many unfortunately – that said, ‘We’re not going to take it.’”

However, his stance cost him more than rank in the corps.

“So, they kicked us out,” he said. “I lost my promotion to corporal. I was in the process of becoming a police officer in Arizona, and I lost my place at the police academy as well. Very rough things. There’s all this talk about freedom in America, but not for some of us, I suppose.”

Baker’s presence in Ukraine highlights the trend of US troops joining the conflict on both sides. However, it appears to be more dangerous to side with the Russians than with Ukraine.

In April of this year, a self-proclaimed communist from Texas named Russell Bentley was reportedly sodomized and murdered by the Russian troops he was serving alongside.

© 2024 Bright Mountain Media, Inc. All rights reserved.

The content of this webpage may not be reproduced or used in any manner whatsoever without the express written consent of Bright Mountain Media, Inc. which may be contacted at info@brightmountainmedia.com, ticker BMTM.