Is anyone else surprised at how many young men are coming in as "refugees" I guess I expected mostly women and children and the elderly.?

Yes True Refugees are Woman and Children Not young men with smart Phones they are Just gate Crashers Using Syria as an excuse to get free Board and Lodgings in Europe

I think their goal is to get to a safe place for their families. We dont know which side they are on in Syria, for or against Assad. I think ISIL and the violent opposition to Assad were too much for them. The young men are thinking of their future. I am surprised how many average people speak a little English.

They could not fight against all the armed groups. And if a father or husband gets killed, the women and children have no way to take care of themselves.

ISIS is vicious and vindictive! They behead, execute, burn alive!

They are well armed! They have no scruples, no morals, all are fare game, even little girls!

Plus indiscriminate drones from above! Willy nilly. Can't seem to target ISIS!

The rebels/ others are happy to use chemical weapons.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-eas...

500,000 million people have died. Plus 6 million are displaced within Syria. Only 4 million have fled! Some have no guns with which to fight.

Those within are trapped.

Syrian war has been going on since 2011.

http://www.commondreams.org/views/2015/09/11/migra...

Not at all, of course it is easier for young men to travel the thousands of miles to reach Europe, (2,300 miles from Syria to Germany) than those men with wives and children and those women who have already seen their husbands killed.

Would I, or you, if faced with a civil war in our country have left or tried to persuade our teenage son to fight or stay behind, of course not, nor would any normal parent who cares about her children.

Living in that part of the world - life is not normal - there has been conflicts and wars there for over 2000 years - and most average people there do not have a RAMBO weapons catch 92 to use at the drop of a hat

A lot of teen boys are being sent out of Syria because the parents fear them being conscripted by the Syrian army or the rebels and want to save their sons. So they are sending them to Europe.

Somewhere i read that 51% percent of the migrants are women and children.

If you have no protection or equipment it matters not if you are brave or coward, young or old, male or female, a bomb or rifle will kill you. So it stands to reason that all will want to get the hell out, but the fittest, strongest, most able will survive and get furthest Kids like the poor little lad in Turkey stand less of a chance, poor thing

As a male, think about what your choices are if you stayed in Syria:

* Fight for ISIS, where you will be ordered to murder civilians.

* Fight for Assad, where you will be ordered to murder civilians.

* Fight for one of the militant factions, where you will be ordered to murder civilians.

Even if you somehow manage to avoid killing children and unarmed people, you will still be fighting your own countrymen. That is what a civil war entails. And if you are captured by any of the other factions, you will be suffer a most unpleasant death.

Imagine if civil war broke out again in the US and you are now tasked fighting against fellow Americans - some of whom could very well be your friends or family.

Now, do you blame those men for fleeing?

Well; if Their "Alternative" Choice- is being FORCED by ISIS to join Their murderous Ranks, - can You BLAME Them for fleeing with Everyone Else ??! :o