Monday, January 9, 2012

Book Post #5

As we get to the end of the book, we learn more and more about the secret world of private military contractors. The reader has learned that being a private military contractor its only for a fit certain few. As we learned even the country's elite doesn't always make the cut. Retired Army Rangers, SEALs, Marines and Special Forces soldiers are good enough to become a private military contractor. After 9/11 the need for private military contractors soared. What was once a field were you could profit roughly $10 million a year, private military contractors now produce profits soaring into the hundreds of millions. Wealthy oil tycoons, diplomats, and other very important people pay out millions for the best security detail one can buy. They fight the same battles as our soldiers fighting over seas. The only difference is that they can do as they please and don't have to listen to a commanding officer. They are free to move out where ever they please and if attacked, will unleash a hell no man should ever experience. This book was one of the most interesting books I've ever read. You really get to realize what goes on over there that's usually swept under the rug over here. This book sheds light onto the CIA's dirty wars that don't get published and reported. It takes you back to Fallujah when the contractor murders took place. But in the end you have to realize that they're just doing what they love: fighting for their country.

Sunday, January 8, 2012

Book Post #4

 In this blog I have included some of the pictures that are included in the book. All of these pictures are off Blackwater soldiers over in Iraq. After 9/11, the private military contracting business sky rocketed. Since then, companies like Blackwater and Triple Canopy have an army of thousands. 








This book goes through in immense detail the operations that have been carried out over time mainly in the Middle East. The are hired mainly by the United States government to protect a person of interest such as a senator or congressman or ambassador. When they travel to the Middle East, private military contractors are to do nothing but transport and protect their client. They are sort of the unsung hero's in the War on Terror. They put their lives on the line every waking moment to protect the person they are defending and kill the enemy trying to attack their client. A lot of times they are not so lucky and end up giving the ultimate sacrifice. 











Book Post #3

As we get towards the middle of the book, the author describes the training and the "try out" in order to become a private military contractor. It goes through the thoughts of all of the instructors and their view on their candidates. All of the candidates need to be excellent marksmen. If you're going to be a private military contractor you need to know how to shoot a gun. Knowing how to fire a weapon is one thing, but being able to shoot a target long range and eliminating him is another. A private military contractor also needs to be able to know how to unjam a gun. If their weapon backfires, also known as a "stovepipe" they need to know the proper procedure without endangering their fellow comrades. As the author goes on he tells the story of one recruit named Don Stout. Don is an ex cop who really needs this job. He recently just got married and tells us, "I've never had to support anyone before." A cop salary just wouldn't be enough for him to support a family. So he made the decision to become a private military contractor. However, the instructors don't think that he is mature enough. But they give him another shot and he ends up making it. In contrast to that, the author tells us about a retired Army Ranger who didn't make the cut. He tells the author that he needed the money in order to try and get custody of his daughter who he never gets to see. He was very upset because two ex cops made it over him and an ex Special Forces soldier. I see where he is coming from and I feel bad for him because he might not see his daughter. However when you're up against 24 year olds, it's hard to match up. 

Book Post #2

Right before the actual book begins, the author adds a page of the Contractors Creed. It goes as followed: 

I am a U.S. contractor. I look out for myself, the operators to my left and
right, and no one else. I will always take advantage of the fact that I
can finally tell military officers to pound sand, and will do so at every
opportunity.

I am my country's scapegoat, the "plausible deniability"
warrior, and I love it.

Less than $700 dollars a day is unacceptable.

I am trained to eat things that would make a billy goat puke, but will
refuse anything less than 60 dollars per diem because I am greedy.

I care not for ribbon's and awards for valor. I do this job for the
opportunity to kill the enemies of my country, and to finally get that
boat I've always wanted.

I will be in better shape than 99% of the active duty personnel, although
this is not hard.
I will equip myself with the latest high speed gear, and will trick out
my M4 until it weighs more than 24 lbs, not because it works better, but
because it looks cool in the photographs.

I will carry more weapons, ammunition, and implements of death on my
person, than an infantry fire team, and when engaged I will lay waste to
everything around me.

In any combat zone, I will always locate the swimming pool, beer, and
women, because I can.

I will deploy on my terms, and if it ever gets too stupid,

I will simply find another company that pays me more.

I swear!

This creed really shows the dedication to their country. The creed shows the difference between a soldier in the U.S Military, and a private military contractor. A U.S soldier is very proper. They follow orders from their higher officers, and are very clean cut. Private military contractors don't have to listen to high ranking officers in the United States military because they are not affiliated with them. They have one goal and one goal only: kill the enemy. As we get towards the middle of the book, the author starts to talk about the different private military contractor companies. The one that the talk about in chapter 7 is the one in which my family friend has recently been hired too; that company is Triple Canopy. It is described in the book as new and aggressive contractor. Triple Canopy was derived from two Delta Team members (Army Special Forces) Matt Mann and Tom Katis. They started from scratch and now run a business that's worth over $100 million dollars. 

Book Post #1

The book, "Licensed to Kill, is a riveting book about the untold world of private military contractors in the Middle East. While reading this book you get an up close and personal view of the secretive world that goes on in the streets of Iraq and in other places of interest all around the world. The first part of the book starts off with the narrator telling the story of a former Army Special Forces soldier by the name of Billy Waugh. Billy is a true hardcore fighting American. In the last year of World War II he tried to sign up to fight was was rejected and sent home because he was only fifteen. In 1947 when Billy was seventeen he became an Army Paratrooper. Seven years after that he joined the two year old Army Special Forces and worked off and on with the CIA. Through out his United States military career he was awarded the Purple Heart award for being shot 8 times which included having his knee cap shattered by a bullet. Even at his age of 82, he says that he would gladly go wherever his country needs him to kill or help and support the soldiers fighting. One of the most interesting things that Billy talked about was his involvement in Sudan when he was keeping an eye on an exiled wealthy Saudi by the name of Osama Bin Laden. Billy tells the reader how, "he thinks of how things could have been different if he would have been allowed to kill Bin Laden in the Sudan years." For me that would be hard to live with knowing how much you could have changed the course of history and theoretically save the lives of thousands. "We could have killed Bin Laden innumerable times. Every day I put in fifteen contingency plans for killing him. Our idea was to kill him and dump him over the Iranian embassy wall." Unfortunately he was never given the authorization to kill bin Laden.

This book in a way hits home for me. I have a family friend who is a former Marine and has just been hired as  a private military contractor Triple Canopy. Triple Canopy is one of the largest and most well known private military contractors. There are a few reasons why soldiers would want to go into being a private military contractor. As a private military contractor you don't have to follow and take orders from a commanding officer. You also can grow your hair out and have facial hair. Another reason is that you are allowed to bring and use your own weapons and firearms. But the main reason money. A private military contractor can make his previous monthly salary as a soldier in one day. Being a private military contractor allows them to do what they love by fighting for their country and killing the enemy for a much much larger salary.

The Triple Canopy Website:
http://www.triplecanopy.com/