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In his first battle serving on the front lines against ISIL, Dillon Hillier engaged the enemy in a firefight, helped liberate a town, and almost certainly saved a fellow fighter’s life. It was, he said after, the greatest day of his life.

Hillier, who used to be a corporal in the Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry, is a volunteer with the 1st North American Expeditionary Force, a private organization that is providing aid to anyone who wants to help the Kurds in their fight against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), also known as ISIS or simply Islamic State.

Hillier has been with the Kurds in northern Iraq since late November.

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In the Nov. 26 battle, Hillier had one main objective when he reached the town of Tel al-Ward.

It was to take the hill.

He was with the Kurdish Peshmerga, and though he cannot speak their language, he fought alongside them.

The hill was fortified, according to Hillier, who disclosed information about his experience from an unknown location somewhere in northern Iraq.