Matthew VanDyke, Libyan Rebel?

I am not sure what to make of this. Matthew VanDyke, a writer, left his Maryland family and went to go fight with the Libyan rebels against Moammar Gadhafi:

Matthew VanDyke, Libyan Rebel, Runaway Boyfriend

LINTHICUM, Md. (AP) — An American writer who went missing in Libya for months returned to the United States on Saturday night, telling reporters he went to the north African nation to participate in the uprising against dictator Moammar Gadhafi and was on a reconnaissance mission when he was captured.

But Matthew VanDyke, 32, said his mother and girlfriend didn’t know when he set off from Baltimore for Libya that his goal was to support the revolution.

“You don’t tell your mother that you’re going to go fight in a war,” he said. “When I got out of (a Libyan) prison, I was going to finish what I came to do. So the past several weeks I’ve been in combat on the front lines in Sirte fighting Gadhafi’s forces.”

Okay. So he blows out of town to go holler his rebel yell. I imagine his girlfriend is a little t’eed off. Let’s check her out.

And blogging has again proven that my grasp of human relationships (and how a girlfriend will act if one jaunts off to Libya to see the fall colors) is tenuous at best. She looks absolutely enamored. My gaunt rebel.

So what did he do in solitary confinement?

VanDyke spent more than five months in solitary confinement in Libyan prisons. He said he sang Guns n’ Roses songs to himself and tried to name all of the “Star Trek” characters to pass the time. He said he also suffered from the psychological effects of solitary confinement.

Welcome to the jungle. . .