Interview with an American YPG fighter: Straight Outta Raqqa

Kurt: So what was it like connecting with the contacts you made (no names or specifics that would compromise PERSEC) and ultimately making the trip to join the fight? Were there any significant aspects of traveling this way that stuck out to you?

Mitchell: It was a challenge. They are very busy people and it was hard to get timely responses to coordinate everything. I began contact with them in 2015 and arranged to go in April of 2016. I flew from Chicago To Jordan, then Jordan to Erbil. I stayed in Erbil for a few weeks with many failed attempts to contact them. I tried to join a Peshmerga unit while I was there, but ultimately ended up flying back home. It wasn’t until a few months after that when I began to try to reestablish contact with them. Their responses were more frequent the second time around and I was able to coordinate the trip properly. I took the same route this time. Traveling was way easier than I expected. I got absolutely zero questions the entire time. Keep in mind, I’m carrying all kinds of tactical gear in my bags, so any questions that they may have had for me would’ve been justified. That never happened though, so I strolled into Iraq like I belonged there. Both times.

Kurt: What was it like crossing the border? Into Rojava, that is.

Mitchell: I asked a few guys who had crossed before what it was like. They all had different experiences. I guess everyone does because it’s a situation that requires constant change. In my experience it was pretty simple, although I had no clue what was going on the entire time. We took a car to a mountain somewhere close to the border and got into a different car. From there we were taken to a field that led to a river. When we got to the river we inflated a paddle boat and crossed. All this while dodging spotlights and checkpoints. Once we crossed the river we walked for around 5 hours while still avoiding detection. At the time it didn’t seem as crazy as it sounds. I remember feeling oddly comfortable with the situation as we were crossing.

Kurt: What made you decide to leave?

Mitchell: I decided to leave mainly because of the liberation of Raqqa. My whole entire goal of going there was to participate in Raqqa from beginning to end, and that’s something I was able to accomplish. Another reason being the direction of the tabur was not going in a direction that I favored. There was a lot of tension between the guys at the time I decided to get out. Most of this tension came from a change in leadership. Where as we were an apolitical military unit before, new leadership started to impose its own politics on everyone and the level of tactical proficiency started to decline

Kurt: That’s understandable, can you walk me through how you got out of Rojava and then Bashur since the airports were closed, and the journey home in general?

Mitchell: My situation getting out was different from almost all volunteers before me for a few reasons. Getting back across the border into Iraq was a challenge because Peshmerga no longer controlled the border. Getting caught crossing was basically a slap on the wrist before. Now with Turkey coming down from the north and Iraqi Army along with Hashda Al-Shabi coming from the south to take the whole border, not getting caught took a whole new significance. I waited at the academy for around 3 weeks as the people in charge tried to find a way. In the YPG they never really tell you anything until it’s happening. They came in the room and said “we are going now,” so within a split second I was getting all my things packed to cross the border. I’m still unsure who was in control of the area of border that we crossed, but at one point they hit us with a spot light and we had to take off running. We hid in a ditch until we were picked up by a truck and taken to Sulaymaniyah.

Getting to Sulaymaniyah was only half the battle. With the airports closed we were required to fly through Baghdad. I wasn’t too excited about this but it’s the only hand I had to play. We had to get rid of all military equipment and create a story for why we were in the country. Luckily, no one ever asked for this story in Baghdad. One of the most memorable parts of leaving was my ability to dodge the immigration officers and avoid the $400 visa fine. I basically just did my best to blend in and I was able to get out of Baghdad with an extra 400 bucks. Hopefully admitting that I dodged the fine doesn’t come back to bite me at any point!

They were surprisingly helpful at the airport and more professional than I expected. However, had they figured out we were volunteers with the YPG leaving Syria it might not have been as smooth leaving. Imagine the suspense you feel when you watch the movie Argo. I was in a real life situation similar to that and my heart did not stop pounding until the wheels were off the ground. Once I arrived in the U.S., Customs and Border Patrol along with Homeland Security was waiting for me as soon as I stepped off of the plane. Lucky for me it was the same CBP agent I had spoken to a year earlier when I arrived home from Iraq. It was a quick security interview then I was a free man.