Irregular Warfare Podcast Foreign Fighters in War
Jan 24, 2026
Colin Freeman, British journalist who reported from conflict zones and wrote about Ukraine’s foreign volunteers. Dr. David Malet, scholar of foreign fighter recruitment and transnational conflict. They trace a long history of foreign fighters, explore varied motivations from mercenary pay to ideological calling, compare recruitment tactics across theaters, and debate the mixed battlefield effects and policy implications.
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Hotel Register Revealed Early Foreign Fighters
- Colin Freeman recounts seeing foreign terrorists listed at his cheap Baghdad hotel in 2003.
- He later tracked volunteers to Ukraine after Zelensky's appeal, noting 20,000 early applicants.
Foreign Fighters Are Historically Common
- Foreign fighters are a persistent feature of wars, present in at least a quarter of civil wars since 1815.
- Historical examples range from Lafayette in the American Revolution to volunteers in the Spanish Civil War and modern conflicts.
Motivations Shift From Pay To Purpose
- Modern foreign volunteers often join for idealism, adventure, or redemption rather than pay.
- Private security work now offers safer, better-paid alternatives to frontline volunteering.
