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U.S. veterans return to Mideast to battle past and present demons

In this Feb. 26, 2015 photo, Jamie Lane, 29, an American veteran originally from Mt. Pleasant Michigan, poses for a picture in front of an Iraqi Army Humvee captured and later abandoned by Islamic State militants in Tel Hamis, Syria. Lane is among growing number of Iraq war veterans returning to the battlefield, this time without the American military, to join in the fight against the Sunni militants who now hold territory in a third of Iraq and Syria. (Courtesy Jamie Lane via AP)
In this Feb. 26, 2015 photo, Jamie Lane, 29, an American veteran originally from Mt. Pleasant Michigan, poses for a picture in front of an Iraqi Army Humvee captured and later abandoned by Islamic State militants in Tel Hamis, Syria. Lane is among growing number of Iraq war veterans returning to the battlefield, this time without the American military, to join in the fight against the Sunni militants who now hold territory in a third of Iraq and Syria. (Courtesy Jamie Lane via AP) In this Feb. 26, 2015 photo, Jamie Lane, 29, an American veteran originally from Mt. Pleasant Michigan, poses for a picture in front of an Iraqi Army Humvee captured and later abandoned by Islamic State militants in Tel Hamis, Syria. Lane is among growing number of Iraq war veterans returning to the battlefield, this time without the American military, to join in the fight against the Sunni militants who now hold territory in a third of Iraq and Syria. (Courtesy Jamie Lane via AP)

By Associated Press 5 min read

BAGHDAD (AP) – A decade after his first Iraq tour, former U.S. Marine Jamie Lane has returned to the battlefields of the Middle East to fight a still unvanquished enemy and wrestle with the demons of his past.

The 29-year old from Mt. Pleasant, Michigan served as a machine gunner from 2004 to 2008, mainly in the western Anbar province, where he saw fierce fighting against al-Qaida in Iraq. Now, as a private citizen suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, he is back in the region to battle its successor, the Islamic State group.

“In order to aid my recovery from PTSD, I have taken it upon myself to fight on my terms, against an enemy I know is evil,” said Lane, who joined Kurdish militiamen in Syria. “It is redemption, in a sense.”

He is one of a small but growing number of Iraq war veterans who are making their way back to the Middle East, not as uniformed soldiers, but as individuals waging their own personal battles.

Many describe feeling a sense of unfinished business as they watched the Islamic State group rampage across the country last summer, seizing territory they had fought and bled for during the U.S.-led intervention. Some express remorse for taking part in that war, while others say they are driven by the same sense of moral obligation that brought them here in the first place, joining their fate to that of a deeply troubled country.