Sandra Andersen Eira (36) is a fisherman and former politician from Porsanger in Finnmark, and has, among other things, served four years in the Sami Parliament.
But last February, just days after Russia’s attack on Ukraine, she decided to leave the safe.
Call it pure massacre
It only took 24 hours from when the thought struck her, until she called the embassy and set foot in Ukraine.
Eira has been on several assignments for a long time in Ukraine. Now she is home on Norwegian soil, after a four-week assignment.
– It is very good to be on Norwegian soil again, says the 36-year-old Norwegian, who describes it as a different reality.
WEAPONS: Live ammunition has become commonplace for the politician. Photo: Private
She has spent the last time in the Bakhmut area, where fierce fighting is going on.
– The Eastern Front is quite hard. Those were intense days. It is pure massacre.
– Just messing around with everything called sanitation
The 36-year-old has a large military network in both Norway and the USA. Her boyfriend is a former US Special Forces soldier. They fight together in Ukraine.
When the Finnmarking decided to travel, she chose the “Combat Medic” sub-department, which is the highest level of competence within the Armed Forces’ education in first aid and emergency medicine.
From there, she was quickly thrown into it:
– You have to take care of the injured during gunfire, bombing and in the field. It’s just rubbish at everything called sanitation there. You just have to patch them up and make sure they’re alive enough to get to the hospital.
Eira fights with the group “the Dirty Duzon”, which is under the “Armed Forces of Ukraine”. This means that she and her fellow soldiers are in active service for the Ukrainian military.
During the first mission in the northern front, they were a team of 22 people. They then split up, and Eira’s team now consists of five pieces: Finnmarkingen and four from the American special forces.
– I feel we owe it
Contributing to war is something she has envisioned for a large part of her life. But the 36-year-old had thought it would be a war in the Middle East, not a war against Russia. It was surprising to her.
– From the time I was six years old, I have felt that this is what I want to do with my life, she says.
In the meantime, the former politician and fisherman ended up in other places, such as the sea and the Sami Parliament. Until February, when she decided to start the war.
– When the war was a fact and I saw it approaching the border, and we all understood it was not training, I felt it was the right thing to do.
SOLDAT: Finnmarkingen is in the middle of the war zone in Ukraine. Photo: Private
But she also feels that she owes it:
– It wasn’t that long ago that our grandparents were in the same situation. Then there were so-called foreign fighters who came and helped us. I feel we owe it.
– We have many from other countries who are buried on Norwegian soil, who helped us during the previous war. Now we are in a new war.
Eira believes that it is naive to believe that the war will stop in Ukraine, if it is not possible to stop it there.
Didn’t think she would survive
In war, no day is the same. Eira says that one day she can be on the phone from morning to night to collect equipment, because equipment is used up as quickly as it arrives.
– The next day you might be stuck in a basement and become a bomb. On the third day, you are in a war zone on the eastern front and have to transport the wounded and dead. There is no normal.
MEDICAL EQUIPMENT: Eira says equipment is used up as quickly as it arrives. Photo: Private
The Finnmarking knew this before she traveled in the war.
– We were aware of what we were getting into, it is not certain that we will survive. It’s war. We see life and death daily. You can sit and have a coffee chat around the kitchen table one day, and the next day they are not there. I have lost many people I know. That is the reality of war.
Although Eira is what she describes as being in the best hands with her team, there have been episodes she didn’t think she would survive.
– There have definitely been a couple of times when I’ve thought that I won’t get through this.
On one occasion, they were told that there was a thirty percent probability that they would survive.
– There was more than one time I thought: “Why did I do this? If I survive this night and pray to higher powers, I swear to go home.” But then you survive and continue, she says.
She does this if she is captured
The first time the Norwegian sanitary soldier felt death was when she was north of Kyiv.
The city was occupied by Russians, and Eira and the team remained stuck for four or five days.
– 150 paratroopers came, there was bombing with artillery, tanks and everything you can imagine.
The house where Eira was staying was bombed so hard that the walls disappeared and the soldiers were thrown over.
To defend himself, Eira had been given a Glock 17, a semi-automatic pistol, by his superior.
– Being captured is not an option. Then death is much better. There was a moment where I just looked at it and thought, “Now it’s over.”
Luckily she got through that too, but lost her hearing for four months and some of her memory.
The medical officer says that the team has agreed on what to do if they are captured:
THE TEAM: Eira is the only Norwegian and woman on the team, which consists of American special forces. Photo: Private
– Then it’s better with a shot in the head by one of their own. It’s better than being tortured and then killed, because that’s what happens, she says.
Didn’t tell her family she was going to war
For the sanitation soldier, it is not about “war and blood”. She had her reasons for leaving, and it was what felt right to her.
Even though she is at war, she has many good moments with her fellow soldiers, whom she has come to love.
– It has become my second home with near and dear ones around me. Leaving would be much worse for me to live with.
The family and friends back home in Norway are used to Eira being gone, after her many years at sea as a fisherman.
– I didn’t tell any of them that I was leaving, but they weren’t surprised that I was in Ukraine. They are surely worried and probably don’t understand why I’m leaving.
– This war has cost me an enormous amount. I don’t know what I’ll have when it’s over. But for me it’s worth it. This is where I choose to be.
Now Eira has a short stay in Norway before she travels to the USA, then back to the front in Ukraine.
