Why do ordinary people take extraordinary risks and join an armed rebellion? The paper seeks to understand why individuals risk their lives and join an armed rebellion when avenues for lower risk political activism are abundant. More specifically, I address the puzzle of why three generations of Kurdish youth have joined the insurgency despite significant changes in economic, social and political circumstances in Turkey in the last three decades. Arguments based on selective material inducements, forced recruitment, state repression, and preexisting social networks do not provide satisfactory explanations. I develop a theoretical synthesis linking micro-dynamics at individual level with macro-dynamics at society and polity. I offer three central arguments. First, the formation of a collective threat perception (i.e, the Kurdish people deprived of their sovereignty and facing an existential struggle) is central to the construction of identities conducive to high risk political action. Second, emotions of remorse, revenge, and solidarity with fallen friends and relatives strongly affect individual’s decisions to choose the path of mountains. Ironically, observing the death of militants (e.g., participating in funerals) generate emotions that overwhelm fear and passivity. Finally, increased opportunities for low risk political activism do not necessarily make the option of armed struggle obsolete. To the contrary, cultural frameworks that are cultivated in legal political settings glorify guerilla warfare. I conducted around 70 in-depth interviews with people who were either active in the Kurdish rebellion or had close relatives (e.g., son, daughter, brother, husband, etc.) who fought in the ranks throughout the fall of 2012. The interviews took place in many different locations including Batman, Dargeçit, Diyarbak?r, ?stanbul, K?z?ltepe, Kozluk, Lice, Midyat, Nusaybin, Yüksekova, Van. I reached these individuals through associations representing the families of deceased militants and my personal contacts. Interviews with these individuals help me construct paths to the insurgency. What were the primary motivations? Was the individual aware of the risks involved? Was the participation in the insurgency a “rational decision” given the threats to individual’s well-being? How did cognitive and emotional experiences affect rational calculations? Were there less-risky paths available? I also attended many events such as memorials and funerals of deceased militants. Besides, I combine ethnographic work with information from an original dataset. The Kurdish Insurgency Militants (KIM) dataset includes biographical information of around 7,500 militants who lost their lives between 1984 and 2011. This dataset allows me to identify broader historical and geographical patterns characterizing the insurgent recruitment.