An American Fighter's War in Chechnya

"I don't want to sound corny, but I consider myself a warrior," Collins said in a recent interview.

He talked about the history of human combat -- knights fighting for their kings, mercenaries for profit, volunteers for a cause. "People have this idea that only a certain type of official in uniform -- a cop, a soldier -- only that person has a right to fight, and only that person has a right to kill someone," he said. "I even think that [as a volunteer] I'm better than a soldier in a uniform. My commanding officer is right and wrong. I go to Chechnya and fight against the Russian army because it's right."

Treacherous moral ground that, asserting a man's right to kill others as per his conscience. But Collins shares it with Russians who have shipped out to fight for Serbia in the Yugoslav wars; with Ernest Hemingway, George Orwell and others who joined the Communist International Brigade's fight in Spain against Franco's fascists. Even one of the great heroes of the American Revolution, the Marquis de Lafayette, was also once a punk kid in his 20s who defied his king to volunteer with secessionist rebels.

Matt Bivens, The Moscow Times, Jul. 21, 2003