Frag Out! Magazine

We make our way through an obstacle course of Hescos, mesh-wire baskets filled with stones, and enter an army base. There we are invited into a paneled room with heavy couches. Brigadier General Aras welcomes us warmly. He and the Peshmerga – Kurdish units and Iraqi army - are responsible for a sizable stretch of the front lines near Kirkuk. When we enter some local politicians are still in the room. Kirkuk is not part of the Autonomous Region of Kurdistan. Nevertheless the Peshmerga are at the front lines. "We jointly defend the city, we are all in this together and everyone does his part," the General explains. He studied in Sweden. His wife is working in genetics, he explains. The door opens, and a message is delivered. The face of the officer handing over the report spells bad news… A car bomb went off. The General is unsettled, the enemy managed to strike again. "It's not easy around here," he states, as if some kind of apology was in order. Currently the front line is stable, according to the General. But there are other issues. Ordnance and supplies are scarce. But his biggest worry: his soldiers only recently got their salary for March. Therefore he finds it quite irritating, that the public servants in Mosul, which is occupied by Daesh, receive their payment on time. That money might have made its way from the Iraqi treasury directly into the hands of ISIS. Also the "reinforcements" of Shiite militia is referred to as a double edged sword: there already have been some incidences, which left one Kurd dead. And there is a fear that once the Shiite militias have settled in, they will be reluctant to leave. Already they have some patrols in Kirkuk. But General Aras wants to focus on something else. His quick reaction force (QRF), composed solely from western volunteers, who joined the Peshmerga in their fight against D a e s h . The door opens and two young men enter, obviously neither Iraqis nor Kurds. Three more follow, then a couple more. Greetings are exchanges in American English. Most of the 15 men are Americans, predominantly from the US and a couple of Canadians. One volunteer is European. Some of them are former US Marines, one has the Combat Infantryman Badge (CIB) of the US Army pinned to his Plate Carrier (PC), and another says he has no prior military experience, but wants to make a difference. Most of the volunteers are between 20 and 30 years of age, with one or two outliers towards 40. "I'm here to fight against ISIS", says one of the Americans. He already did two tours in country with the Marines. And the time to act is now. "My war isn't over, yet!" "You just have to fight Daesh," another tells us. "I am here now, and if we manage to push them back, I will fight them in Syria, and afterwards if necessary Libya." Some of the volunteers have given up everything to fight ISIS at their origin. More than one tells us, that he has sold his car to pay for the trip and some gear to take with him. One of the medics arrived with medical gear (bandages, tourniquets, …) worth more than 2.000 Dollars. Now he barely has enough left for his own IFAK. Another volunteer is also former Army. They discharged him, after he suffered through two Improvised Explosive Device explosions (IEDs) while on duty in Iraq and possible Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Now he's back with his "family", the fighting men. "We had everyone who came to u s vet te d," REPORT

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