Former US soldier Jordan Matson, far right, takes a break with other fighters from the main Kurdish militia, the People's Protection Units, in Sinjar, Iraq. Matson, 28, from Sturtevant, Wisconsin, and dozens of other Westerners now fight with the Kurds, spurred on by Kurdish social media campaigners and a sense of duty many feel after Iraq fell victim to a militant offensive last summer. "I'm not going back until the fight is finished and Isis [Islamic State] is crippled," Matson said. "I decided that if my government wasn't going to do anything to help this country, especially Kurdish people who stood by us for 10 years and helped us out while we were in this country, then I was going to do something." Photo: AP