British soldier, 19, 'goes AWOL' to join Kurds fighting Isil

A serving British soldier has travelled to the Middle East to join Kurdish fighters battling against Islamic State.

The unnamed man, understood to be 19, left his base in Cyprus after telling his family he was joining the Kurdish peshmerga in their battle against the extremist group because "these guys need our help".

British soldier, 19, 'goes AWOL' to join Kurds fighting Isil

Interesting escalation of events with a serving soldier joining the fight.
I have no real problem with his moral choice, but for sure he will be facing a court martial if/when he returns.
News reports are saying he is still officially 'on leave' so not yet AWOL but it would seem that will soon be the case.
Good luck to him, I hope he makes a small difference for the risk he's taking with his life, and army career.

a reply to: grainofsand

Good luck to him, I hope he makes a small difference for the risk he's taking with his life, and army career.

Good luck to him?

He has gone AWOL!

He will probably at best get himself killed or worse get captured and then more life's will be risked trying to rescue him.

sounds like a dumb kid to me.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin
Dumb kid perhaps, but he is apparently a fluent Arabic speaker and either way, he's made his choice and I still wish him the best of luck.
Do you wish him bad luck then? (if there even actually is such a thing as luck)

a reply to: grainofsand

I would not wish him harm if that's what you mean

I think his choice is irresponsible, thats probably the best way of putting it.

a reply to: OtherSideOfTheCoin
Then we share a similar opinion.
I'm not going to let his military crime of going AWOL influence my thoughts regarding his intentions and actions right now. His family are stating he was passionate about making a difference and helping the folk out there, he's done what he felt was right, and to be fair, IS(IS) would happily kill any serving UK soldier so they are the 'enemy' of the British Army.
Should he face a court martial on his return, of course, but that is an Army concern, not mine.

Did you exchange, a walk on part in the war for a lead roll in a cage...D Gilmour.

a reply to: Soloprotocol
Interesting quote there solo, probably along the right lines as well.
Either way he's chosen to fight 'bad guys' knowing the risks so I wish him luck and hope he kills a few of the scum.

Great propaganda piece...
.wonder how many other volunteers that will encourage....

a reply to: stirling
...or help shape public opinion for an official return of troops to Iraq?

originally posted by: grainofsand
a reply to: Soloprotocol
Interesting quote there solo, probably along the right lines as well.
Either way he's chosen to fight 'bad guys' knowing the risks so I wish him luck and hope he kills a few of the scum.

I believe he has made a poor choice. He joined the British army to be a Soldier. i'm pretty sure his chance to get some action would have come in the near future. Lets hope the next time we see him he's not wearing a orange boiler suit.

I can see IS going all out to capture a British soldier.

What if this leads to troops being dispatched to get him back and that bringing about the first true boots on the ground in the conflict against ISIS?

Or would that be a bit too convenient even for our government?

A working class hero is something to be.

Nice one boy soldier, go kick some Islamic State butt!!

a reply to: Soloprotocol
I totally agree about the potential orange boiler suit thing, but he knows the risks of that so he walks his on path there.
Regarding poor choices and 'being a soldier' there are plenty kicked out every year for doing drugs and any other rule breach we could think of. This guy is apparently acting on principle and off fighting those who would kill British soldiers, so on balance of poor choices I've got more time for him than a group of soldiers who kick # into a civvy on a night out or go AWOL for a day because they're still twatted after a weekend off their heads.

a reply to: DodgyDawg
Nothing would surprise me at all regarding any governments.
I take this story on face value but never imagine a situation where a story cannot ever be fabricated BS...that would be naive in my opinion.

a reply to: Soloprotocol
I believe he joined the army to make a difference, like alot of soldiers who do have future prospects outside of the army. Fair play to him he is not jeopardising his fellow soldiers life in doing so

originally posted by: rossacus
Fair play to him he is not jeopardising his fellow soldiers life in doing so

Some will argue that such a risk to fellow soldiers 'rescuing' him is a potential outcome though.
That would be a choice of the government though and it remains a potential, just like the potential that he gets captured with his passport/ID and his family back in the UK get murdered by jihadi's. Think of anything that can happen and it remains a potential untill it does.
Good luck to him, hope he kills a few of the scum and makes it back for a court martial.

*Edit*
Perhaps he'll be away a couple of months, kill a couple of rapist murderers, then get 5-6 months in military jail then continue his Army career. That would be a good outcome in my mind...or rather, my preferred 'potential' out of any I can think of right now.

Good luck to the man, if only more would follow his example, It's actually disturbing how much this situation is downplayed.

If any of the wars we fought against militant Islam were to be worth the fight it is this one, IS are the main threat to western society today, they have legions of young men educated in western schools, being taught I.T, chemical/biological science, mechanics, engineering.

They are men that in another life may have made fine soldiers in our armies.

For now they remain fairly unorganized, have no air capability and have strength only in infantry and heavy weaponry, but if we leave them to grow, they will become organized, begin using specialist units, and in general pose a much greater threat.

Individuals leaving to join Kurdish fighters remains legal in many countries, as long as you don't belong to a group on a terror list, charges will be minor.

Lions of Rojava roll on.
Just ask them on facebbook.

a reply to: Soloprotocol

YEAH but,when YOU have that sort of thing inside,it's better to get it out on the given enemies of your nationstate or people as you see it.

No good deed EVER goes unpunished,just get him a job later
THAT is the best reward a people can do anyway.

a reply to: cavtrooper7
What's your opinion if I may ask?