Soldiers of Fortune? Not quite.

OLDNEWBIE · Sep 30, 2015

Are these guys in it just to test their skills or to fight for a just cause?
If I was a lot younger without a family I'd consider it for the adventure but I'd want to get some gold coin too for risking my life!

"Why were the foreigners there? Some were escaping life back home. Others were old soldiers, trying to fill a void. A few just had delusions of grandeur. They came for the feeling of solidarity, or adventurism, or they came to fulfill a childhood fantasy, to act out some violent adolescent emotion. The youngest fighter was 19, and the oldest, I was told, was 66, a former English teacher from Canada named Peter Douglas. The veterans hoped to kill ISIS fighters and train the locals as they had been trained in the Marines or the Army. The civilians, among them a surf instructor and a philosophy student from the University of Manchester, wanted to learn what they could. They hoped their stamina was enough."
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/04/m...an-vigilantes-who-are-fighting-isis.html?_r=0

ZA_Survivalist · Sep 30, 2015

Very interesting.

rick49 · Sep 30, 2015

OLDNEWBIE · Sep 30, 2015

Here's another article on the subject. Hope these guys didn't get bombed by the Russians today!

http://www.wsj.com/articles/the-american-veterans-who-fight-isis-1441362601
"Unlike Americans joining Islamic State, who can face terrorism charges, citizens like them risk little trouble back home. U.S. officials say volunteering to fight overseas, while discouraged, isn't illegal if an American isn't joining an enemy or group the U.S. labels terrorist.

The foray can be deadly. At least five foreign fighters, including one American, have died this year in Syria, according to Kurdish groups. There is the grim prospect of capture by Islamic State.

And Americans expecting a good-versus-evil battle find themselves fighting alongside Marxist-inspired guerrillas with close ties to militants Washington calls terrorists. Volunteers face new risks now that Turkey has started bombing some Kurdish guerrilla bases in Iraq where Western fighters gather before heading into Syria. "

"We think it's probably ill-conceived for a lot of reasons," says a senior U.S. official. "On the surface, this is a perilous road, and it's a muddled place over there."

Oathkeeper1775 · Sep 30, 2015

Today's patriotism is much like the unsorted rock and mineral deposits found in and around a glacial moraine.

Unsorted efforts against the enemies of liberty include (but are not limited to) private law suits (Chic Filet & Hobby Lobby), non-profits like Jay Sekulow (ACLJ), Individual Freedom Fighters (OP'S link), professional military and spooks, political action committees, voters, & some internet sites & blogs.

OLDNEWBIE · Sep 30, 2015

I thought some of the language in the first article was pretty derogatory.

Some were escaping life back home. Others were old soldiers, trying to fill a void. A few just had delusions of grandeur. They came for the feeling of solidarity, or adventurism

Also the term vigilante conjures up a bad image. These guys were invited it seems so vigilante is the wrong term. Don't know the motivations of these guys and neither does the reporter. Maybe ISIS just ticks them off.
The story although very interesting seems to have a slant to the left.