Canadian vet with Kurdish forces tells of life on the front against ISIL
A Canadian military veteran has described life on the front lines with Kurdish forces in northern Syria, writing in a blog post that he had taken part in several raids and helped liberate villages from ISIL.
Brandon Glossop, a 26-year-old former member of the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, said that since arriving in Syria in February to volunteer in the fight against ISIL he had been given the Kurdish “war name” Zinar.
Now sporting a Kurdish-style moustache, Glossop said that within 10 days of arriving from Edmonton he had found himself facing ISIL alongside Kurdish militia fighters known as YPG and a women’s unit called the YPJ.
“About 100 YPG and YPJ soldiers sat around the sides of the road smoking cigarettes and chewing sunflower seeds,” he wrote about his first trip to the front. “It was a straight shot to the city that stood two kilometres away and was blossoming in mushroom clouds.
“We were eventually moved to a small village where two platoons were waiting … There were eight of us Westerners and we were split up between the two platoons at random and I was moved back and forth … until they had the numbers right. A few hours from then over half of one of those platoons would be killed or injured in the battle for Telumis. I happened to be placed in the other platoon.”
Daniel Meally, a self-described British military veteran, wrote on Facebook last week that he was with Glossop and they were the only two Westerners in their group. “And yes we are winning,” he wrote.
Originally from Sidney, B.C., Glossop is one of a handful of Canadians believed to have made their own way to Syria and Iraq to fight ISIL. Last week, images shot by a Turkish photographer in Tal Tamr, Syria, showed a 67-year-old Canadian volunteer.
Defence Minister Jason Kenney has said that Canadians who want to fight ISIL should join the Canadian Forces, but Glossop’s parents Michael and Valerie said they were proud of their son and supported his “intense desire” to defend Canadian values.
According to a friend and his parents, Glossop joined the Canadian Forces in 2007 and served in Afghanistan before returning to civilian life in 2013. He was working in Fort McMurray, Alta., when he decided to put his military skills to work against ISIL.
His friend said he was upset about the killing of soldiers in Ontario and Quebec by men espousing Islamist extremist views, and was “offended” by John Maguire, a Canadian who had appeared in an ISIL propaganda video calling for terrorist attacks in Canada.