instructors

Dan, founder and president of TDI, has lived in Ukraine since 2018, when he joined the Ukrainian marines, serving honorably for four years. 

His previous experience in the British army, and volunteer medical service in Syria and Myanmar prepared Dan for the challenges he would eventually face when Russia launched an all-out invasion in Ukraine. 

From a rudimentary aid station in the basement of his apartment building, Dan would go on to found TDI, the only organization of its kind in Ukraine.

Chris  Edwards came to Ukraine a few weeks after the  Russian invasion began. 

He initially worked alongside two organizations  extracting civilians from war-torn areas as well as delivering aid,  supplies, and vehicles to the front lines.

When these organizations eventually faded away Chris, along with a handful of other volunteers contacted Dan. 

Chris then joined john along with other NATO ex-servicemen on the pilot course in Kyiv, forming what would go on to become TDI.

As  Administrative Manager Chris uses his previous military experience to  ensure  a high level of training is delivered by all TDI instructors and Ukrainian soldiers benefit from all of our courses.

JD is an American paramedic, having worked in Emergency Medicine since 2009. Having worked in Iraq, Afghanistan, and various parts of Africa.

JD first came to Ukraine in 2015 to work in Donbass for the OCSE special monitoring mission, and has lived here ever since, training and bringing medical supplies into country since the war began in February of 2022, and joining TDI a few months later.

At Trident Defense JD helped form the Team Medic course, designed to fill a critical gap in the Ukrainian war effort by providing a basic three week course in trauma medicine for soldiers on the ground, ensuring timely delivery of field care to injured troops before handing off to the next level of medical care.

Geoff is a former volunteer firefighter and has nine years of experience in mountain search and rescue in Los Angeles, USA. 

His training included Emergency Medical Technician (EMT), law enforcement (Level II Deputy), Urban Search and Rescue (USAR), swift water rescue, high-angle rescue, snow and ice rescue, searching and tracking, and helicopter deployment tactics (HELITAC). 

His professional career has been in renewable energy technologies. He intends to continue to assist the AFU as needed indefinitely, until the war is won on Ukraine’s terms. 

Thomas became a combat medic in the middle east in 2016, he has has seen conflict in Syria running CCP's and field hospitals.

Thomas joined TDI in early April 2022 shortly after the full scale invasion and has been helping TDI train tactical and medical students.

Passing on his extensive knowledge of urban fighting, Mine/Counter Mines and medical support roles, Thomas has helped lay the foundations of the way in which we train Ukrainian soldiers/Medics.

Devon is a former United States Marine who served for 4 years on active duty as part of a Machine gun platoon and 1 year as a machine gun section head - He also spent 1 year US Marine reserves.

After leaving the US Marines Devon went on to work with independent contractors in Afghanistan for 1 year.

Devon deployed to Eastern Asia and Northern and Eastern Europe.

Devon is now using his skill set to pass on his knowledge to Ukrainian Soldiers.

Oleksii  is a Ukrainian volunteer and a coordinator of StandWithUkraineinUA  initiative. Prior to Russian invasion, he was a PhD student in History  in Austria and Lithuania but then paused his studies to volunteer for  his country. 

He is currently interpreting TDI instructors to achieve the best training for Ukrainian soldiers.
 

In  his free time, he and his volunteering initiative organizes charity  auctions to crowdfund for drones and vehicles for the Armed Forces of  Ukraine.