Racine man injured fighting ISIS with Kurdish militia

RACINE, Wis. (WLS) -- The ABC7 I-Team has learned that an Army veteran from southern Wisconsin was wounded while fighting in Syria. But unlike some Americans who have gone overseas to fight with the terrorists, Jordan Matson is there taking on ISIS.

You could call him the anti-jihadist - his one-man crusade is against ISIS terrorists.

Matson, 28, went from Racine, Wisconsin to northern Syria - from working the overnight shift at a food service company to manning the front lines with the Kurdish militia.

He is still recovering from a fairly minor war wound and preparing to go back into a battle 6,100 miles from home.

"I got sick of everyone saying how bad it was but doing nothing about it, so I made up came over here to do something about it," said Matson.

In an interview on Kurdish television, Matson explained his decision to come here in mid-September, flying out of O'Hare and making his way to the Syrian-Iraqi border.

He linked with the Kurdish people's protection unit known as YPG, fghting the spread of ISIS terror forces across the region and supported by mostly U.S. airpower and missile strikes.

Matson graduated from Case High School in Racine in 2005 and served for a year and a half in the U.S. Army. When he returned to Wisconsin, he had readjustment problems and minor run-ins with the law- all of which he says contributed to his move overseas.

"When I told my family about my decision to come to Syria and Kurdistan to fight against ISIS, at first they were very concerned because they didn't want any harm to come to me but they soon came to understand why I went because of all the people who have been persecuted. They need good men and women who are going to defend these people, that they may live in peace," he said.

Matson is now recovering in a Syrian hospital with a foot wound. In a Facebook post, he writes that he was hit by a mortar during a six-hour firefight, but that he killed an ISIS fighter in the process. It was Facebook that actually led the Wisconsin native to YPG, the Kurdish militia.

"I learned about YPG on Facebook, and I wanted to come join because I got sick of watching so many innocent people be killed and my country doing nothing about it for over a year," said Matson.

A spokesperson for the U.S. state department says they are aware that a U.S. citizen has joined the Kurdish defense unit, but would say nothing specific about Matson. It apparently isn't illegal for him- or any other American- to join Kurdish fighters, and there are other Americans who have gone to Syria to take part in the civil war there.