Alexander Vindman

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.

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.

After 21 years, six months and 10 days of active military service, I am now a civilian.

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.

Even as I experience the low of ending my military career, I have also experienced the loving support of tens of thousands of Americans.

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.

I did my duty as an American citizen and Army officer.

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.

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.

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.

The uniform I wear today is that of the United States Army. We do not serve any particular political party; we serve the nation.

Our collective military service is a special part of our family's story in America.

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.