Seriously considering joining the YPG( to fight isis)

I agree with the others about not knowing who ISIS really is or who is funding them. The United States and the rest of the western world has serious interests in the oil in the middle east and I believe that the rise of ISIS is extremely convenient. Syria is in with Russia and Russia's policies are very anti US and Western Europe. Threats of pricing oil in another currency besides the US dollar and making western access to their oil harder is what Russia and Syria are moving toward and of course this threatens the United States and Western Europe.

I don't believe very many leaders in the US and Western Europe really care that much about the atrocities committed by these groups but rather the economic benefits these countries could provide if their alliances were with us. ISIS could be a genuine terrorist group or they could be funded by the very country you swore to protect.

Either way it is your choice and I understand completely the temptation to go, it is heartbreaking. However, why not as an alternative try to change things here? There is plenty wrong with this country too.

I completely understand your desire to do so. I have though about such things in the past as well. The thing is you need to find a group you could fight with that would be both competent and share in the same over all moral view as yourself. The YPG is one of those groups that just grabs men and boys from villigages and shoves them into the meat grinder under threat if need be. Now to them that is just the way things are done, to you such things may quickly lead you to question what your doing and whom your fighting for. I am not saying the Kurds are as bad as ISIS but, they also are not a peace loving, innocent unified group of people. Either. Suicide bombs and such have long been a tactic of some of the Kurdish groups. The situation on the ground is very complex. Sides changes quickly. What if you in the YPG and they clash with the Turks or with another Kurdish group? This is common place.

Your idea is noble and in a conflict that was black and white with clearly defined sides it might be something to consider. In this conflict? To many factions, to many sides and to fluid of a situation.

a reply to: TechniXcality

Look at it this way OP these people have been fighting for many years before you were born and they will be fighting long after you are passed away..........What is the point.



You can always tell how good a culture is by they way they teach the young. In this culture the young are taught hate. They are reaping what they have sowed.

a reply to: TechniXcality

Good luck getting out of the country, lol.

Probably not the best of ideas though, to be completely honest. The presence of one man will not change much, even if it does provide you with the ability to marginally help the people of northern Syria. Also, depending on the country in which you live, it could be illegal to travel and participate in foreign conflicts.

a reply to: TechniXcality

I am not sure if you are aware of this, but German and Dutch biker gangs have already gone out to fight against ISIS, but they have done so under their own banner, specifically because fighting under the banner of any of the local groups fighting ISIS, can mean that you would be linked up with an organisation which is also considered a terrorist organisation by the governments of the world.

If you were to go there, it would be an idea to find some like minded fellows, set up an independent organisation (Expendables much?) and do the thing under your own flags and tags, to ensure that your affiliations do not land you in hot water at home. That said, your country probably has laws against that sort of thing, unless of course, you find a way to make money doing it, in which case you would basically be a PMC, and you know how much the US government loves the PMCs!

a reply to: TechniXcality

I was about your age when I was stationed in germany as well back in 2000-2005 as a tanker. Most of that time was spent on deployment. I'm telling you bud, go home, go to school, love your family, keep improving yourself and leave the bullet dodging business. Eight years and three deployments took quite a toll on me and for no good reason.

i have become more and more sickened by the mass genocide taking place in iraq and syria. I want to make a change a real difference im not a hero by any means but i love people, i feel this cause and my skill set and passion come together very nicely.

It sickens me too. But don't forget all this has been orchestrated. ISIS is effectively a US foreign policy created boogeyman. You can't stop all the craziness in the world.

Now i do have health problems and that also plays a part in my desire, i have a pacemaker and heart problems. However i am very healthy and can certainly manage a weapon. I feel if i may die early anyway i might as well die doing something i believe in.

So health problems feed your desire to rush to a battlefield death? I'm not sure I understand why that is. You can die at any moment in this world. Anyone can. The last three and a half years I've been battling stage 4 melanoma when the dr. said I would be lucky to last 6 months. I've survived wars, 2 marriages, cancer, lots of things that have killed others. Don't let the fact that you have a health problem make you want to rush to the grave for a perceived noble cause. There is nothing noble about any of that ship.

The past is history. The future is not promised. All anyone really has is right now. So forget about notions of battlefield honor man, you're young still get all you can (before you get old) and learn all you can and love your family all you can. That's all anyone can really ask out of life.

Hey Jared.

I have also thought of trying to do something like you are now.

My responsibilities at home stop me from taking action, I've a young child and leaving him would be the absolute worst mistake I could make. Even so, although I'd like to think that I have the balls to get up and go, I'm not actually sure that I do to be honest.

I appreciate the comments of other posters on here who advise that you stay at home. But I also commend you for wishing to do what you believe is the right thing to do. As I have watched the situation in Kobani unfolding over the past few weeks I have felt horror and frustration, and I admit that as things have improved there on the Kurdish side I am relieved. If somebody had asked me to join the Kurds two weeks ago I nearly would have done so instantly! But again this is foolishness on my part, I've never fired anything other than an old shotgun in my life, I'd probably get myself killed without achieving anything worthwhile.

Here's the thing, ISIS are the vilest scum on the earth, I hate them the more so because they kill in the name of religion, and they are merciless, callous and cruel. Why do I believe this? Because I've been watching videos online and reading reports? This is true, but the reality of that conflict is deeper than you and I can fathom from afar via our laptops. Yes ISIS are those things I have said, I truly believe that, but they're not the only ones. This war in Syria and Iraq is a savage and complex mess. I'm not saying that the Kurds don't need help, I'm just advising that you should be very careful who you affiliate yourself with if you do choose to take action.

Either way, best of luck and God speed.

Please don't go. We need you here. Peace.

a reply to: TechniXcality

Cant say I agree or disagree with what you want to do. You got balls that's for sure. You certainly a class above those that demand war but sit behind there computers and wont ever set foot in battle.

Few things to think about.

Who are you fighting for? Those Kurds may not be the nice guys you think they are, remember at one point ISIS were the "good terrorists"

Laws? What the US gov stance? If you get caught could end up spending a long long long in jail maybe without even a trial?

Health? If something goes wrong with your heart its doubtful there will be the medical facilities to help

Death, hate to say it but there is a very very good chance you will die. And maybe not just die but if your wounded you will not have access to the top facilities but will likely end up have a very slow, agonising lonely death in some cave.
And then you have the risk of capture......If ISIS catch you or even Syria you death will be not be easy and you will likely end up in a personal hell for many months or years before they kill you.

Go if you think its right but dont think its going to be some romantic adventure.

a reply to: Destinyone

Hey des, i just wanted to say thank you for the beautful heart felt response. I also wanted to appologise to everyone for not tending to my thread, as i was working all night. I have not talked to my family, we are not a very close family. I know my mother would say she supports me in whatever i want to do, and that would be about it.

I am considering other groups im not stuck on the ypg. I just feel obligated and ive always been pressed when i feel i have to do something i do it or try my best. I dont want to fade away and thank you for reminding me that i am cared about.

To others i will respond throughout the day thank you for all the kind and wise words . I would not do this for the adventure or nobility as i am very familiar with the cost. Its ugly i just think if you can make a difference you should. Perhaps i am an idealist to an extent and maybe sound foolish, thats ok too. Ill keep you all updated and if and when i go ill say my farewells.

Thank you ats.

a reply to: TechniXcality

There are other ways you can make a difference.

There are no shortage of people to fight over there. Warm or eventually cold body's are not in short supply. Chances are you will and be forgotten.


There biggest issue is material. One big thing is medical supply's. someone likely has to run supply's in. Logistics and support work like that.

Which makes me wonder.....

a reply to: crazyewok

Im on a cell so forgive my lack of quoting. On your first point, i agree brother and honestly i would consider other ways to help if the situation wasnt so dire and genocide being commited.

However i believe that there is a shortage of fighters otherwise huge swaths of land wouldnt be taken by the whim.

Even if i am forgoten that is not why i want to do this, ive said it before but its a personal intimate relationship with my self.so that i can look myself in the eyes and know ive lived a worthwhile life.

Your last point interests me can you elaborate thanks Crazyewok

I say...if you want to make a difference , ...you should think about a way to thwart these homegrown terrorists from building sleeper cells and talking young girls and boys into joining ISIS...maybe something you could do with computer work ? Are you computer savy? Maybe create a jamming signal that could jam the ISIS air waves , take down their websites, and mess them all up or something?....lol...I don't know, ......but...with a heart condition I would think you'd be better off working behind the lines and doing good, then risking having an issue and being a detriment to your team.

a reply to: Meldionne1

Thank you for your care and consideration , i assure you my heart wouldnt hinder my team.

a reply to: TechniXcality

Well sir, I have to say I agree with your choice. There are some issues that you have no doubt considered. I wish I could go along with you. You are going to be doing something many can not/will not do.

I wish there was more of an organized effort by our citizenry to bring more of a fight to people actively recruiting and then trying to hurt us as a people. Its not like terrorists are targeting government officials or facilities. They go after the innocent and in most cases those that are non combatants. If our government will not do more than send air strikes that are ultimately profitable for them then we need to start asking ourselves if our right to defense is valid enough to form militias and take the fight to the people looking to harm us.

Its nothing short than a new crusade, but that doesnt mean its not justified or even necessary. Hell it may even be legally protected.

I only advise you to not trust anyone. You know that, but still, be careful. If things get worse, you may find more of us there with you. Sitting by and waiting for ISIS to get stronger and become more of a threat is not really an option, so thats why I understand your reasoning.

Good luck guy. Kill em all.

EDIT TO ADD:
If you dont go, its not any less valid than your choice to go. I just wanted to say that. There really is something to raising a family or just contributing to society back home. In some ways its more of a fight against our enemies to become stronger and wiser.

Do what your heart tells you to in any event. Just know we support you either way.

a reply to: TechniXcality

Just another thing to add to my last post.

I know that ISIS are a big problem out there in their sphere of influence, and that they allegedly have tendrils in western nations, ready to strike out at folk behind protected borders.

However, you might want to consider that the government of the USA, and indeed the governments of other western nations, including my own, are complicit in the creation, training, funding and supplying, of a great number of the people who have ended up as part of ISIS. They may have received the training and funding, and the tools of their horrific trade when they were merely moderate revolutionaries (if such a thing ever existed). But the end result (which is all that matters a damn) is the same. Our governments created that mob, the circumstances necessary for it to form, and personally, I believe that the governments of the western developed nations, are more of a threat to myself, my family, and the freedom of my people, than ever the ISIS mob are.

Do not get me wrong, they are scum, but they do not concern me nearly as much as David Cameron does. Someone who wants to cut my head off, I know how to deal with. Someone who wants to destroy my nation from the inside however, using political power to do it? I have no response to that worth a damn, not that I can enact myself.

a reply to: TrueBrit

The ultimate answer, brother is to find something you believe in and make it happen, or die trying. Seems to me the only real difference you can make.

I am aware that the arugment exists . That all beliefs are equal and therefor who can say who is objectively right? I cannot answer this question.. what i can say is; i love people, i love creativiy, i love ingenuity, i love logical thinking, i love healthy debate, and even fruitful defeat, i love cohesian , i love being able to love. Any action that destroys that which i love , i cannot tollerate, and any action that destroys anyones elses ability to love must be changed at any cost.

I am not my government, nor are you. Choices exists even if they seem limited. Triumph says it best fight the good fight.

a reply to: TechniXcality

I agree entirely.

What I guess I meant to say, is that there are things closer to you, that pose a more significant and credible threat to your freedom, and all the things you mention above that you care about, than fundamentalist jackasses whose main area of operation is not even on your continent!

That said, if they stick out in your mind as a thorn which must be removed, then that's your prerogative of course.

The State Department commented recently that Americans are free to join the YPG with no repercussions.

originally posted by: TechniXcality
Good evening ATS or perhaps good morning. My name is jared im a 25 year old who was in the army infantry stationed in germany, i have become more and more sickened by the mass genocide taking place in iraq and syria. I want to make a change a real difference im not a hero by any means but i love people, i feel this cause and my skill set and passion come together very nicely.


Now i do have health problems and that also plays a part in my desire, i have a pacemaker and heart problems. However i am very healthy and can certainly manage a weapon. I feel if i may die early anyway i might as well die doing something i believe in.


I bring this to ats because i love this community an appreciate your insights, not that my choice is open. I am still undecided to an extent as i have some loose ends the earlyest i could do this would be four months. Ive contacted the ypg and am in peliminary discussions.

Thank you for your time, and great discussions.

Don't do it. I don't even know you, but it may seem as though it is a proper cause to lose one's life over...I would say leave it alone. I would ask you to think to your future, as you seem to think that maybe you don't have much of one? Only guessing, as you say you have health problems.

Don't cheat yourself out of a life full of peace and happiness. You said you served already, and for that I'm sure those in your country are grateful.