John Gallagher, The Canadian Veteran who gave his life fighting isis

[1000yards]

I ran a search for his name and didn't see a single thread about him. He was a former Patricia, who felt it was his duty to go and fight Isis.
Regardless of your opinion on the events in syria or the refugees, I highly suggest you take a few minutes to read this interview.

http://www.calgarysun.com/2015/11/06...d-selflessness

SPECIAL TO THE SUN - Canadian John Gallagher was believed killed this week in a suicide attack by ISIS. Calgary journalist Gavin John spent some time with Gallagher on the frontlines in Iraq where he battled ISIS as a volunteer with Kurdish forces.

I only knew John Gallagher for no more than an hour, while sitting in a small office in an army base south of Kirkuk, Iraq, last May.

We talked of war and family, of duty and atrocity, all less than 30 minutes away from ISIS positions.

The setting was hardly worthy of a man who, within that hour, showed me the true definition of courage, empathy, and selflessness.

His death in Syria this week while fighting with the Syrian Kurds shows the tragic price we will have to pay if we truly care about the lives of people on the other side of the world.

John did not have to be there, he chose to be there.

“(I’m) here to assist the Kurdish people in their fight against ISIS,” he said.

Not Canadian people, Kurdish.

While John made it clear he understood why governments have their hands tied, he felt a moral responsibility to help.

“I could not live with myself if I stayed home while this was going on,” John told me as he sat on an old purple couch alongside another Canadian volunteer.

“Knowing that I could have helped is not something I want to look back on in 50 years and say that I didn’t do my job.”

It is something that he felt Canada should stand for as a country.

“What we say about ourselves, we’re a nation of peacekeepers, we stand up for basic freedom, if that’s true, this is about as clear cut as it gets.”

“This is a basic matter of right and wrong.”

Perhaps he’s right.

In an age where our desire to help abroad seems less and less and our will to stand against evil has faltered, John’s hope for more international action seems a pipe dream.

It’s hard to convince a nation to put our men and women in harms way yet again.

“The Canadian people are not too terribly interested in this conflict. And, even if they are, they don't want us sending soldiers,” he said.

John knew that, and yet he went anyways.

“I get it. Canadian people don’t want us over here. That’s fine. We’ll pick up the slack,” he said with a small grin.

Yet his advice for the rest of us back home on what we should do as Canadians was simple: “Inform yourselves.”

“Some people are just willfully ignorant of the nature of this threat.”

Not just the threat in Iraq and Syria concerned him, but the fact that he is fighting his very own countrymen.

He implored Canadians to look for answers.

“There is only a couple of us who have come here to fight for the Kurds, but perhaps hundreds of Canadians who have come to fight for ISIS. Canadians could be a bit more concerned about why that is.”

The war in Syria and Iraq may not seem like our issue, yet we seem to lose sight of the fact that men, women and children like us live in those countries and they are the first to suffer the atrocities of ISIS.

If we’re not willing to stand up for others abroad, then who would we expect to come to our aid when we need it?

If we as a nation aren’t willing to stand for basic human rights, it will come down to lone men and women like John to take our nation’s place, and pay with their lives the price of our inaction.

“Some people come with two-way tickets, I came with a one-way ticket. I intend to be here for the duration, however long that is,” John said, perhaps prophetically.

We all should be proud of not only what John Gallagher has done in the name of freedom for others, but what he stands for.

Men like him matter, because without them, we’d all be fighting our battles alone and in turn losing the most important part of being human.

Our empathy for others.

Thank you, John, for standing up for what is right.

[CaberTosser]

Having been there I'd say he had a much better grasp on the nasty realities than do the likes of us armchair quarterbacks over here (naturally, veterans who've been there are excluded from that quarterback jab). He put his money where his mouth was, I hope his death wasn't in vain......

[HalfBreed]

Go team.......

I'll write his name on my wrist for Wed so I don't forget.

Another that goes out in another ****ty way.

[Albertacoyotecaller]

The world needs more men like John.

RIP

[HunterDave]

He died doing something that he strongly believed in, a man can't ask for more than that.

RESPECT

[Selkirk]

Originally Posted by CaberTosser

. . . I hope his death wasn't in vain......

John was there fighting with and for the Kurdish People, and the 'Greater Good' ... so rest assured, his death was not in vain.

Though not well publicised, truth be known there are several other Canadian volunteers fighting alongside the Kurds in this war. Reminds me of the 'Canadian Mackenzie-Papineau Battalion' that helped fight against the fascists in the Spanish Civil War of the 1930's.

Mac

[HunterDave]

John Gallagher has a manifesto of sorts posted somewhere. I haven't had time to look for it and read it but I will.

[brohymn2]

May be rest in peace. I wish I had the balls to do what he did.

[airbornedeerhunter]

Canada has devolved from being a selfless nation made up of people who risk everything to come to the aid of those in peril in the first 55 years of the 20th century, to a mamby pamby country of whiners, cowards, malcontents, narcissistic, perpetually offended isolationists who would rather gouge out their own eyes than put on a uniform.

Nothing but respect for him, most Canadians would spit in his face.

[Grizzly Adams]

Originally Posted by HunterDave

He died doing something that he strongly believed in, a man can't ask for more than that.

RESPECT

Pretty sad that a Private person has to step up and do what governments should be doing. They're the ones losing respect here.

Grizz

[score]

Awe and respect but really no words. Conjures up a lot of anger too though...