Jonathan Keith "Jack" Idema (May 30, 1956January 21, 2012) was an American mercenary and former United States Army reserve non-commissioned officer, known for his vigilante activities during the War in Afghanistan. Formerly a member of the U.S. Army Special Forces, Idema never saw combat and left the military in 1984 to form several companies centered around counterterrorism and internal security. Idema made numerous unverified claims about his military service and supposed terrorist threats, and experienced several lawsuits over various feuds. In September 2004, Idema was found guilty of running an unlawful and unsanctioned private prison in Afghanistan and torturing Afghan citizens. At the time, Idema had been falsely portraying himself as a U.S. government-sponsored special forces operative on a mission to apprehend terrorists. The U.S. government repeatedly denied most of his claims. Idema served three years of a ten-year sentence. He was released early by Afghanistan's then-president Hamid Karzai in April 2007, and left Afghanistan in early June for Mexico, where he died of AIDS in late January 2012. Early life Idema was raised in Poughkeepsie, New York, graduating from high school there in 1974. His father, former Marine and World War II veteran H. John Idema, believed that his son was a "dedicated American". H. John Idema died in November 2008. Military service Idema enlisted in the U.S. Army in February 1975. Two years after his enlistment, in 1977, he trained and qualified for the United States Army Special Forces. The nature of Idema's military service in the Special Forces is contentious. Tod Robberson of The Dallas Morning News noted that there was a discrepancy between what Idema claimed his military experience was and what is stated in his official military record. Idema repeatedly stated that he acquired 12 years of Special Forces service, 22 years of combat training, and 18 years of covert operations experience. However, per official records, Idema's military career was short and contained several reports of poor performance, with no recorded combat experience. According to his military record obtained in the course of his 1994 fraud trial, after serving one term in the Special Forces, Idema was not allowed to reenlist, likely due to poor performance. He had received numerous negative remarks from superior officers, in addition to participating in three non-judicial punishment proceedings between April 29, 1976 and April 28, 1977. Idema was cited for "failure to obey orders, being derelict in the performance