He has no military training. He suffered a heart attack in 2007. But, none of this stopped 53-year old Jim Atherton from selling some of his most valuable belongings in order to buy military-grade weapons and join a volunteer military group that protects Christians in Iraqi villages.
This despite the fact that his family and British military officials urged him to stay in Great Britain.
The British man sold his boat, two motorcycles and his car and left his wife and three children in order to make the long, dangerous journey to protect others from the scourge of ISIS. His brother died in Iraq in 2006, giving Atherton further motivation.
Atherton recently described his motivations in an interview with "The Sun Newspaper."
“It’s something I felt I had to do. I wanted my grandkids to know what I’m really about.
‘Watching what IS are doing just beats me up. Nobody seemed to be doing anything about it, so I decided that I would.
I’m a middle-aged white van man. I thought if I’m going to do anything with myself it’s going to be now.”
Atherton is currently stationed in Kurdistan and gets occasional leave to come home and visit his family. He says that he's never before felt so proud as he does now that he's joined the fight against ISIS.
“I’m not anti-Islam, I’m not a violent person and I’m deffo (sic) not a killer…[but] I’m willing to fight that fight for those who can’t."
Here are some of the items he sold in order to protect vulnerable Christians from the brutality of ISIS. These pictures were taken from Atherton's Facebook page.
Hat Tip: Bro Bible