LOS ANGELES — After three military combat tours in war-torn Iraq, Chase Millsap returned home to get on with a civilian life. But there was one thing he couldn’t do: leave a comrade behind, certainly not one who had saved his life.

Especially not the former Iraqi military officer who had worked with the Americans and was now living a precarious existence as a refugee dodging Islamic State militants seeking to kill him.

For the past two years, Millsap has been fighting a different kind of battle, one to gain asylum for the brother in arms he simply calls The Captain.

‘‘The Captain is the epitome of my personal commitment to take care of people,’’ said Millsap, who served in the Marine Corps and later joined the Army and became a Green Beret.

For the time being, The Captain lives in southern Turkey, seeking refugee status in what he hopes will be the first step toward seeking permanent asylum in the United States.

‘‘If I go back, I’m sure I die,’’ the 37-year-old Muslim and married father of two said recently during an interview. As he spoke, his 3-year-old daughter and 4-year-old son played in the family’s living room.

Millsap visited his friend last year at his cramped apartment, hoping he might help him expedite his refugee application.

After running into one obstacle after another, Millsap returned to the United States and formed the nonprofit Ronin Refugee Project with a handful of other military veterans.

It’s dedicated to helping those who fought alongside Americans find safe harbor in the United States or in other Western countries. After helping The Captain, they hope to turn their attention to others.

‘‘He’s one of millions that’s stuck in a system that is broken and he’s just going to continue to wait,’’ said Millsap, 33. ‘‘And so we decided to step up, me and a few other veterans.’’

He will be in Washington on Tuesday to meet with members of Congress and others to discuss just how the United States might go about doing that.

‘‘That’s really become my mission,’’ said the newlywed, who obtained his master’s degree from the University of Southern California and then went to work as a community liaison helping US veterans reintegrate into civilian life.

Friendly and outgoing, Mills was a fresh-faced second lieutenant when he arrived in Iraq in 2006 to lead a contingent of US Marines and Iraqi soldiers. The Captain, a lieutenant himself then, was among the latter group.

‘‘When I met The Captain, I was unimpressed at first,’’ Millsap said, chuckling now.

His attitude changed dramatically, however, after a sniper tried to take Millsap’s head off during a routine patrol.

‘‘He quickly pushed me down and ran towards the gunfire and because of that, saved my life,’’ Millsap recalled.

The sniper, seeing an angry Iraqi soldier charging at him, chose to run rather than shoot again.

‘‘And that,’’ Millsap added with a laugh, ‘‘is when I truly realized that this guy’s OK.’’