American fighting with the Kurds against ISIS (UPDATED)
Andy11M sends us a link to the Reuters article about Jordan Matson, from Sturtevant, Wisconsin, who the Kurds say joined them in their fight against ISIS with the People’s Protection Units (YPG);
“Yes it is true,” YPG spokesman Redur Xelil said in an online message. “He is fighting in the Jazaa area.”
Jazaa is a town in Syria’s northeastern Hasaka province, close to the Iraqi border and has been the site of heavy fighting between the two groups.
[…]
A friend of Matson’s said he told online gaming friends about two months ago that he was joining a “private army” to fight Islamic State.
“He told us in the community that he was getting hired by a private army and he let us know two to three months in advance,” said Miguel Caron by telephone from Montreal.
The article says that Matson was in the military at some point, but there’s no record of him in AKO. He graduated from High School in 2005, so that makes him about 27 years old, I guess. If the Kurds want some volunteers, we have a thousand or so prospective recruits in our Stolen Valor page where they can start. Many of them are “Call of Duty” trained killers and I’m sure they’d jump at the opportunity.
UPDATE: Our buddy Jeff Schogol at Military Times says that Matson spent a year in the service according to the Army’s Human Resources Command;
Matson served as an infantryman from May 2006 until November 2007, attaining the rank of private first class, according to HRC. His record does not indicate why he left the Army after little more than a year, and command spokesman William Costello said he was unable to comment on Matson’s “character of service.”
During his brief tenure in the Army, Matson trained at Fort Benning, Ga.; Fort Bragg, N.C.; and Fort Polk, La., according to his record. His military awards include the National Defense Service Medal; Global War on Terrorism Service Medal; Army Service Ribbon and Parachutist Badge.
Category: Terror War
More power to him-kill ’em a lot!
Well he’s not sitting home talking shit, so I will give him that….I would have thought traveling with the US Army would be a more appropriate course of action.
I guess this isn’t much different than folks joining foreign armies to fight in both world wars of the last century.
If you want to fight there are always ways to get there.
Personally, I think this guy has the potential to do more to help fight ISIS/ISIL than our current administration’s combined efforts to date. For his sake, I hope his military experience isn’t forged…
I too wish him well.
Well, I do wish him well, and survives with many tales to tell, even though he won’t be there ‘officially’.
He seems to have done what he thought was the right thing to do.
“All that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing.”
Good luck Mr. Matson. Come home safe.
He is doing what the White House won’t do!
“Get some”!
I’ve seen reports that he claims he was a Marine. If true, then he would not show up in AKO
Ok… Only because I feel like playing the Devil’s Advocate for a few minutes.
Why is it ok for this young man to go off and battle AGAINST ISIS? Which is acceptable.
But, we vilify American citizens that go and fight FOR ISIS? Which is unacceptable.
Both are doing what they think is right.
Discuss…. (I learned that from Hondo.)
Thanks for the prop. (smile)
To answer your question: I’m pretty sure only one of the two has been declared by the US government to be a terrorist organization. That would be ISIS. So supporting them would appear to be contrary to Federal antiterrorism laws.
I don’t believe the same applies to most Kurdish organizations, or to the Kurdish regional government. (A few Kurdish organizations were once similarly declared terrorist as I recall, but I think those largely disbanded after the 1991 Gulf War and/or no longer operate in present-day Iraq.) So if the young man is steering clear of any Kurdish groups that have been declared by the US government to be terrorist organizations and refrains from committing acts that are war crimes, I’d guess he’ll probably be OK.
For the most part, I’d agree.
But, wouldn’t both types of individuals be considered mercenaries?
We, Americans in general, have always tended to romanticize the whole merc concept. Or, is that only for the ones on “our” side?
Told you I was feeling contrary today….
The latter, actually. And that history goes way back – well before the aviators who flew for France and/or England prior to US involvement in World Wars I and II. The members of the St. Patrick’s Battalion fighting for Mexico during the Mexican-American War weren’t exactly well-thought-of – or treated gently when captured.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Patrick%27s_Battalion
In conflicts where the US wasn’t involved and in which the US government had no official position, we’ve generally turned a blind eye towards mercs.
…..because those other people are fighting AGAIN ST the U.S when they fight with our enemies. Seriously, why did you even ask this?
Cause sometimes I like to ask questions that make you expound on your reasoning.
Duh…
Fighting with those who have been identified by the government as our enemies is quite problematic, both on a moral compass aspect and a legal aspect. Joining enemies who want to destroy your homeland or the people in it make you a traitor and an enemy to your nation.
Those who choose that path can never truly come home again, unless you are Jane Fonda apparently, and deserve whatever fate brings their way.
Fighting with those who are fighting our enemies isn’t a problem for the US citizen typically. There are some legal considerations, but generally they can be managed.
Taking money to fight as a mercenary though places you in a different legal position, careful consideration should be given to any agreement of that nature as to how the end game resolves itself in the event of a successful outcome and especially how to resolve itself in the event of an unsuccessful outcome. An appropriate escape option and travel plans have to be carefully managed as the unsuccessful outcome will leave you traveling through a hostile land and attempting to cross borders into other potentially hostile lands. It can be a really long walk to a friendly border and an airport that will fly you home.
Having a ‘nom de guerre’ for your mercenary trip is often the only way to approach those projects. It used to be a lot easier to steal an identity in the US to generate that false name, much more difficult today with SS numbers being issued to infants…stealing it from a 3rd world nation where you can speak the language is often easier and will work to secure a passport from legal sources that can be used to front your PMC adventures.
Not that I would ever advocate stealing or anything of that nature.
I wouldn’t consider that theft myself. Creating an alternate personality for personal benefit is a well cherished part of our literary history. For me, the leap from profiting from your words anonymously to doing so through your actions is, for lack of a better word, fine.
Staying clear of any group our country deems to be terrorist, or any group who does not follow at least the most basic of social conventions (no outright torture or mutilation~look to Africa for example) leaves the rest up to the moral conviction of the individual.
The simple answer? The Kurds aren’t terrorists who cut off the heads of innocents and terrorize entire populations of people.
Jason Nasrallah (Facebook commenter): the units you cited were sub-elements of the International Brigades formed from US citizens during the Spanish Civil War. Many of those individuals had pronounced leftist/communist political orientation vice love of democracy. Further, the “Republican” side in the Spanish Civil War was both leftist and supported by the USSR.
Bottom line: I’m not sure you’re using a particularly good example above.
I’m thinking through-and-through phony. His kit’s far too clean. That dimestore camo outfit he’s wearing still looks like it has the sizing on it. You’d figure if he’d been out in the fight he’d have at least a veneer of dirt on him, a week of stubble, sweat stains, and a uniform rumpled from sleeping in it in a hastily-dug slit trench or three.
It’ll be interesting to see what a FOI comes up with on this guy.
That picture could have been taken as he was leaving to join his unit at the front. That would explain the clean uniform.
Wow. With all the talent we have laying around in the Stolen Valor Vaults Of Shame, together they could make short work of ISIS. I’m talking Marine Forc Recon Snipers by the scores. SEAL members falling out of the closets, Rangers, Green Berets, trained shovel killers. You name it, we’ve got it! If Jonn formed his own black ops merc company and could get these guys the work, he could make a killing! Just an, “Up Sell” marketing opportunity for ya Jonn. I’m trying to help look out for you.
Who was it, I think Thoreau who said, “If I knew a man was coming to my home with the intention of doing me good…I’d flee for my life.” (Probably a paraphrase)
I found this link: http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2014/10/03/the-wisconsin-boy-fighting-isis-in-syria.html
Matson did serve in the Army, but only briefly and never in combat. From May 2007 to November 2007 he was a private first class infantryman assigned to Fort Polk, Louisiana. Standard Army enlistments run from two to six years. That Matson served less than the minimum suggests he may have been discharged early, which could have been the result of an injury, conduct issues, or because of mental or emotional problems.
The Army wouldn’t comment on the nature of Matson’s discharge but records from his run-in with the police show that it was still on his mind five years later.
In November 2012, police officers in Racine County, Wisconsin, pulled Matson over for running a flashing red light. When he slurred and smelled of alcohol, they ordered him out of the car for sobriety tests. “Matson stepped out of the vehicle, did military parade turns and marched to the area on the sidewalk that the officers pointed out to him to stand,” the police report reads.
After he failed the drunk tests, the officers searched his car and found a handgun loaded with hollow-point rounds, one in the chamber. “Officers asked Matson why he had the weapon and Matson stated that he planned to shoot himself that night,” according to the report. He told the cops that he’d tried to kill himself when they pulled him over but when the gun didn’t go off, he put it back in the console and waited to answer their questions.
“Matson stated that he had been depressed since he was ‘railroaded out’ of the military in 2007. He stated he suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder.” An Army spokesman refused to comment on the nature of Matson’s discharge but the police records show that Matson’s emotional turmoil had other sources. When police asked why he had chosen that night to shoot himself, Matson said, “he was upset about the election results and could not live under a socialist president.”
I guess we will see what becomes of this young man…
So much for Devils Advocate. This guy has his own demons.
We all have our own demons, most of us have just learned how to live with them. If this works for him, I salute him.
Arm the Kurds.
Problem solved.
I’m surprised this isn’t more common. I mean what does that say when we have more Americans going to fight for evil than we have Americans fighting against it?
Such a shame Executive Outcomes still isn’t around today. They would have taken care of ISIS for cheap.
Am I the only faker that doesn’t have PTSD? I’m the survivor of 8 conflicts as well as 58 of the grittiest days the US Army has to offer (aka basic Training). All I got was jock itch and a blanket party. I don’t even have a 10 yard stare. I need to get with the program and self diagnose me some PTSD.
Hopefully, I can take the same self diagnosed treatment as (Rev) Aaron Elijah Colyer and self administer either sprinkled donuts or penises. I can do either of those. Lots.of both My guess is that (Rev) Aaron Elijah Colyer only chose cock since donuts don’t keep so well in Tent City…
sincerely
John “Faker 6” Giduck