A small town in Wisconsin is a far cry from the civil war-ravaged fields of northern Syria. But for Jordan Matson, a former U.S. solider, the battlefield feels most like home. For the last month, Matson, 28, has been a volunteer fighter in the Kurdish militia known here as the People's Protection Units, or YPG. The group has been defending three small Kurdish statelets in northern Syria. The Kurdish militants have also spent much of the last year battling ISIS, the hardline jihadist group that wants to create an Islamic state across parts of Iraq and Syria. "Due to two years of almost no foreign policy in the region -- while these people threatened American citizens, and bring harm to us -- I think I decided enough was enough, and I decided to come out this way," Matson said.
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Jordan Matson, a former U.S. Army solider, is fighting against ISIS
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He was never in combat during two years in the U.S. military
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"Civilian life just wasn't for me," he says
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U.S. law enforcement officials say it's illegal for an American to join a Syrian militia
Yes, it does help @placeholder back home, because we're taking the fight to the enemy here, so they can't take it to us.