Veteran recruiting 'a few good men' to fight Islamic State
JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A U.S. veteran is putting out a call to fight the Islamic State on the extremists' own turf.
Sean Rowe of Jacksonville, who said he served in the Army eight years, is looking for a few good vets with a minimum of four years of military experience.
"There has been strong support and numerous veterans who are interested in going," said Rowe, who started the group Veterans against ISIS but is the only one who has committed to the fight so far. "I will be talking with them and screening them. I want to keep it small and simple."
The kidnappings, beheadings and other violence attributed to Islamic extremists recently motivated him to take action, he said.
"I'm not scared of these guys," he said. "They can come for me if they want, but I am going to take the fight to them."
No federal laws prohibit people from flying to other countries and acting as mercenaries, but former FBI special Agent Ron Wirth said law-abiding citizens need to keep other laws in mind.
"If you are training with automatic weapons or weapons or explosives or rocket launchers, you may exposing yourself to criminal prosecution," Wirth said.
Rowe wouldn't be guaranteed medical treatment if he were injured, Wirth said. And he wouldn't be protected under the Geneva Convention, a series of treaties that establish standards for the treatment of soldiers and prisoners of war.
"It's going to be dangerous, but that's a risk that anyone who signs up for this is voluntarily taking," Wirth said.
Other veterans — including Jordan Matson of Wisconsin and Jeremy Woodard of Texas, who joined Kurdish militias fighting the Islamic State in Syria; and Louis Park of Texas and Brett Royales of Michigan who left for northern Iraq to join the Assyrian Christian militia group Dwekh Nawsha — already have traveled overseas to join anti-ISIL militias.
Rowe doesn't have a strategy or a group of fighters he wants to join.
"We just need to be in an area," he said. "Just to leave it to us. Don't worry about it."
He's also not concerned about being a terror target.
"Do they care about Jacksonville? I don't think they care about Jacksonville," Rowe said. "They aren't going to come for me," said Rowe.
But warfare should be left up to active-duty professionals, Wirth said.
"The fighting of the war should be left to the acting military who are trained and know the latest consequences of what's going on," he said. "If you want to volunteer for something, volunteer to help the veterans who have come back, people who need your help here at home."