Road trip! UCLA student goes to Libya to fight with the rebels for a 'sick' summer break







Most students settle for Mexico, at the very least a good old-fashioned road trip across America would do.

But UCLA math student Chris Jeon, 21, embarked on a summer break to remember after he bought a one-way ticket to Cairo and sneaked his way across the border to Libya to fight with the rebels.



The China native has no actual affinity for the Libyan soldiers of course, but said he simply wanted a 'sick' vacation.

Sick break: Chris Jeon, 21, decided to travel to Libya to join the rebels for the last month and a half of his summer vacation

He said: 'It is the end of my summer vacation, so I thought it would be cool to join the rebels.

'At spring break I told my friends a "sick" vacation would be to come here and fight with the rebels.'

Standing in a circle of cheering rebel soldiers near Colonel Gadaffi's hometown of Sirte with an AK-47 in his hand, it seems he got his wish.

Though the jury is still out on how much use the 21-year-old is to the rebels.

On Wednesday, as a bearded soldierhanded him an AK-47 he said: 'How do you fire this thing?' before being shown the safety switch, pulling the trigger and firing a few shots into the air.

'I want to fight in Sirte!' he proclaimed, using hand gestures and pointing west. Whether the rebels understood him was far from clear. 'It's hard to communicate. I don't really speak any Arabic,' he told the National.



Travels: Chris Jeon is entering his senior year at University of California - Los Angeles, where he is studying math

Whether his soldier skills were of any use to the Libyans or not, they appeared to be very taken with the math major and even gave him a warrior name and a rebel outfit.

Wearing his own blue basketball Los Angeles vest, Ahmed El Maghrabi Saidi Barga - as he has been christened - has also donned a pair of camouflage trousers, a grey and black kaffiyeh on his head and a bullet necklace.

'It's hard to communicate. I don't really speak any Arabic'

When communication invariably reaches an impasse, he merely repeats the name given to him and the rebels erupt in raucous cheers.

He told The National he has been sleeping in the homes of local families or in the open air with the insurgents.



Mr Jeon was carrying a Russian-made 12-gauge shotgun when he was discovered by reporters, not a typical accessory for a student strolling the country-club campus of the University of California, Los Angeles, where he expects to graduate next May.

In the thick of it: Rebel fighters carry ammunition as they clash with loyal followers to Libyan leader Gaddafi

Dangerous: Hardened fighters patrol the streets in a neighbourhood south of the capital Tripoli on August 25

But sadly, all good things come to an end and was reported earlier today that Chris is now making his way back to LA.

A reporter for Al Jazeera English tweeted an update saying: 'Our team in east #Libya said rebels fed up with Chris Jeon, US kid who tried to join, told him 2 go, last seen on pick-up going 2 Benghazi.'

It is not clear who would be funding his trip home as he revealed he had spent all his money on the $800, one-way ticket to get there, and his parents wouldn't be dishing out the cash, because they don't know he is there.

He said: 'I didn't buy a round-trip ticket in case I got captured or something. I don’t want to waste another $800.