Chris Jeon, UCLA Student, Joins Libyan Rebel Fight

Update: According to Al Jazeera English's Evan Hill, rebels got "fed up" with Jeon and sent him packing back to Benghazi.

Original story:
There are many untraditional ways to spend your summer vacation from college, but perhaps UCLA student Chris Jeon has found the most surprising: buying a one-way ticket to Cairo, hitching to Libya and joining the rebel fight against Colonel Muammar Gaddafi.

According to the National, the 21-year-old doesn't really know how to use a gun. He doesn't even know Arabic. But he said he "thought it would be cool" to fight alongside the rebels trying to gain control of the war-torn African country. So he did.

The National has more on Jeon's rebel assimilation:

Nevertheless, the rebels have clearly taken to the mathematics student with no obvious political leanings who decided to slum it as an Arab Spring revolutionary before going back to his calculator for fall semester.

[...]

His new mates have even bestowed on him a moniker that is a mish-mash of the names of local tribes and areas: Ahmed El Maghrabi Saidi Barga. When communication invariably reaches an impasse, he merely repeats his name and the rebels erupt in raucous cheers.

National reporter Bradley Hope wrote that he "couldn't believe his eyes" when he and a Christian Science Monitor correspondent spotted Jeon on the frontline in Sirte, the one remaning village under control of Gaddafi loyalists.

The Christian Science Monitor reports that Jeon, who is due to graduate in May, fights wearing "a cobalt basketball jersey emblazoned with the words 'Los Angeles' and the number 44, camouflage pants, and black and white Converse sneakers."

“I just go and see what happens,” he told the Monitor. “At spring break I told my friends a 'sick' vacation would be to come here and fight with the rebels.”

And the cost of his plane ticket? $800, paid for by credit card. Just don't tell his parents.

Comments

[escribacat]

04:49 PM on 09/05/2011

Knucklehead.

[ScttBatchelder]

11:59 PM on 09/03/2011

It just seems a little condescending that many of the rebels are fighting in their street clothes because they can't afford body armor and the like while this kid is walking around with an assault rifle and a Lakers jersey. I would've had a lot more respect for the kid if he had said he did it because of some deeply held convictions he has, rather than because he "thought it would be cool."

[Reikoku Jaken]

02:13 PM on 09/03/2011

Got to give this kid credit for panache.

[dbrett480]

11:22 PM on 09/02/2011

Many veterans are college students, let's give them some credit instead of praising this knucklehead.

[Adam L Brinklow]

01:36 AM on 09/03/2011

What's the difference?

[dbrett480]

02:11 AM on 09/03/2011

The veterans are fighting for our country on multiple deployments overseas, this guy is taking a vacation to fight for some other country.

[MrEdster]

04:58 PM on 09/02/2011

Wow...he's got a whole month ahead of him before he starts fall quarter at UCLA..that's way too long to be in the middle of fire although it's not so bad now that the rebels have taken control of most of the region. It's nowhere near the level like that of Afghanistan or Iraq. He will be very popular among the arab/muslim comminities in the U.S (especially in LA) when he returns, maybe land him a good career with wealthy arabs (there are so many rich arabs in the US)...he just needs to stay alive for 1 more month! GO CHRIS GO!.......

GO BRUINS!

[DanSc]

05:25 PM on 09/02/2011

You think some bRuin who had no combat experience and was sent back home from the front lines for being useless will be popular in Arab communities?

[lawrence of america]

04:47 PM on 09/02/2011

I guess i appreciate the gesture, but really what the hell is he doing there, its not a joke.
when i saw the battlefield in ajdabiya it was chaos, just bullets and grads flying and falling with our fighters shooting in the direction of the enemy..it aint a video game.

[richar5795]

04:00 PM on 09/02/2011

If he gets his leg or arms blown off, do they patch him up and send him back to the US for the tax payers to support the rest of his life? Even more amzaing is giving this untrained person a weapon.....he probably uses 'spray and pray' in shooting at something.

[Adam L Brinklow]

01:39 AM on 09/03/2011

Most of them are untrained fighters. That's what they've got to work with.

[bredlaum]

03:49 PM on 09/02/2011

UCLA, not surprising ..
If he really had a brain and a desire to help, he'd join the Military.
Wait for him to get crushed by a tank (i.e. the Jewish spoiled brat girl) and for the other spoiled brats to call him a "hero".
Hey kid, Libya ain't CA and they don't give a rat's if you end up dead.

[Adam L Brinklow]

01:41 AM on 09/03/2011

Why didn't he join the military? I don't know, because then you get handed wars by politicians on the basis of nothing at all? Or because he's in college and they don't really have a summer tour program in the Marines? Or maybe because he honestly thinks the Libyan rebels are doing important things and joining the American military wouldn't really contribute much to their cause.

[joeshop8]

03:42 PM on 09/02/2011

WOW, No formal basic or AIT ...................Not playing with a full deck. It wont be the computer game Call to Duty. All I can say is good luck and DONT get to far ahead of the pack or You will get shot from behind.

[elderlygent]

06:41 PM on 09/02/2011

Playing Call to Duty is probably better prep than most of the rebels received when this began. Those left from the beginning had to learn on a real steep learning curve.

[wyldthings]

03:09 PM on 09/02/2011

Sorry I have to say any college student that thinks it's cool to Kill or watch the slaughter of Innocents is way wrong. I understand the sentiment but believe me there is NOTHING COOL about war. Now if he actually saw Combat or used his weapon, trust me in a while he won't think it COOL! Take it from a man that at 18 years old experienced a years vacation in a foreign land not just a summer. Let's see what he says after he see's the thousands of Dead Bodies, the stench of fear and Death. Not COOL

[SIMPLICIMUSS]

06:01 PM on 09/02/2011

Wonder who hisparents are going to sue, when he gets his bun blown off. ?

[wyldthings]

09:37 PM on 09/02/2011

Well who could they sue we're no even there Are We???? I mean were there but not there!!

[tdcsuz]

03:08 PM on 09/02/2011

Why am I not surprised about this???? I wish the young man well.

[svvalkyrie]

02:54 PM on 09/02/2011

If the kid would be from that country is one thing; however, isn't it against the law for a US citizen to fight for another country?

[Adam L Brinklow]

01:43 AM on 09/03/2011

Not really, no. The Lincoln Brigade did it.

[dendimelo]

02:52 PM on 09/02/2011

for some reason I get a feeling he is looking for fame, once he comes back, there will be all sorts of people interviewing him what it was like there and all

[baseNbeats]

02:45 PM on 09/02/2011

Good for him, he joined a just cause and did not break any laws doing so. more people should get the courage to be like him.

[jpm2350]

02:44 PM on 09/02/2011

I wouldn't hire Chris. A college student with a clear lack of sound judgement. That's "sick" dude!