While we’ve already had one Pirates of the Caribbean actor put his entire life on hold to travel to Syria and fight ISIS, and now we have “Tiger Sun,” the former Canadian model who worked as a spotter for Kurdish troops by identifying jihadis for snipers to take out. You’re probably sitting there thinking “What, a model? Really? Models aren’t meant for fighting,” to which I’ll say…
What were you saying about models not being built for combat? Because Derek Zoolander would like to have a word with you, as would Tiger Sun, the 46-year-old former Canadian model who spent four months with the Kurdish YPJ (People’s Protection Units) until she was forced to return to Canada due to malnutrition. According to Daily Mail,
The mother-of-one, who was born in Zambia, left Vancouver, Canada, for the battlefields of the Middle East after a Lebanese man she was in a relationship with left her for an arranged marriage.
She also saw an ISIS propaganda video featuring John McGuire, a white convert jihadist, from Ottawa, and it prompted her to go and fight.
On March 1 she left behind her grown up daughter from a previous relationship and flew to Iraq where she was smuggled through the country and into Syria.
With no real training other than how to fire a gun, she was thrust straight into battle.(via)
After only 3 months and being virtually untrained upon her arrival, Tiger Sun was thrust into face-to-face combat during a battle to gain control over Tal Abyad, a town that Daily Mail reports was used by ISIS to export illegal black market goods into Syria. While she didn’t kill anyone directly, she did see the immediate affects that taking a life has on those who have done it:
In battle Tiger fought with a woman who shot 28 jihadists dead – although she never killed anyone herself.
‘They were always just out of range,’ she said. ‘I brought my own pair of binoculars with me because they weren’t readily available, so I was doing a lot of the spotting, which led to kills.
‘I would go and look at the bodies afterwards, but it didn’t and still doesn’t bother me. I had lunch by a pile of brains once. It was no big deal.
‘However, I saw those who did kill someone go through a whole range of emotions, like elation, then guilt, and I realised if I did kill someone directly, I may obsess about it and ruin the rest of my life.’(via)
However, Tiger Sun’s tour came to a close just one week ago after having lost almost 35 pounds due to a vegetarian diet. According to Tiger, most soldiers from the west “hit a wall” and need a break, telling Daily Mail “We lose too much weight and strength and have to leave. Some go to Erbil in Iraq to regain strength, some go home. I had become too weak. When we were taking the bridge leading into Tal Abyad, I had to jump down a ledge and my legs gave out under the weight of my gear. Another girl tried to help me up and that’s when I realized I had become a detriment. I wouldn’t want someone else to get hurt while trying to help me.”
Now back safe at home, Tiger Sun has a few choice words for the men of ISIS:
… But she’s not scared of ISIS, whom she described as ‘a bunch of little men with crazy beards.’
‘All I saw were a bunch of social misfits pretending to be something bigger than they really were. They use fear tactics to scare people, but in reality they’re not that intimidating.’(via)
Little men with crazy beards who aren’t that intimidating, you say? Hmmm….you mean?
[H/T Daily Mail]