Iraq. Baqofa. 2015. A masked American volunteer for the Peshmerga. He and other volunteers from the United States, Canada, Ireland, and France were being trotted out for visiting journalists from the New York Times (including myself) as evidence of the international support for the fight against ISIS. They were not pleased to have been yanked off the front line for a dog-and-pony show and largely refused to be photographed. They were mostly men, but there was a young female Canadian medic among their ranks. A number were ex-servicemen, and most seemed to be there out of a combination of idealism and adventure. Some were escaping. One told me he’d recently been divorced. Another told me he’d suffered from severe PTSD when he went home after his military deployment, but as soon as he got back to Iraq, he felt whole again. There were rumors of child molesters in the ranks, and even one soldier who’d kissed the lips of dead ISIS fighters.