Feral Jundi

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Books: To Stop A Warlord, By Shannon Sedgwick Davis

Filed under: Books,Industry Talk,Uganda — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 5:44 PM

This is very cool and I wanted to get this book out there for folks to check out. It is on Kindle and hardcover and would be a great addition to your library on all things PMSC. What makes this story unique is that Eeben Barlow’s company STTEP was brought in by the author of this book to help in the hunt for Joseph Kony of the LRA.

Awhile back I was able to write about the deal and check out this post for more information. Eeben also filled in a few of the blanks about this contract and it was quite unique. STTEP was training Ugandan military to conduct pseudo-operations against the LRA! –Matt

 

 

One woman’s inspiring true story of an unlikely alliance to stop the atrocities of a warlord, proving that there is no limit to what we can do, even in the face of unspeakable injustice and impossible odds

“This compelling and inspiring book beautifully moves each of us to take action to help the most vulnerable among us.”—Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu 

Late one night in the summer of 2010, Shannon Sedgwick Davis, a lawyer, human rights advocate, and Texas mom to two young boys, first met a Ugandan general to discuss an unconventional plan to stop Joseph Kony, a murderous warlord who’d terrorized communities in four countries across Central and East Africa.

For twenty-five years, Kony and his Lord’s Resistance Army had killed over a hundred thousand people, displaced millions, and abducted tens of thousands of children, forcing them to become child soldiers. After Sedgwick Davis met with survivors and community leaders, aid workers and lawmakers, it was clear that the current international systems were failing to protect the most vulnerable. Guided by the strength of her beliefs and convictions, Sedgwick Davis knew she had to help other parents to have the same right she had—to go to sleep each night knowing that their children were safe.

But Sedgwick Davis had no roadmap for how to stop a violent armed group. She would soon step far outside the bounds of traditional philanthropy and activism and partner her human rights organization, the Bridgeway Foundation, with a South African private military contractor and a specialized unit within the Ugandan army. The experience would bring her to question everything she had previously believed about her role as a humanitarian, about the meaning of justice, and about the very nature of good and evil.

In To Stop a Warlord, Shannon Sedgwick Davis tells the story, for the first time, of the unprecedented collaboration she helped build with the aim of finally ending Joseph Kony’s war—and the unforgettable journey on an unexpected path to peace. A powerful memoir that reads like a thriller, this is a story that asks us just how hard we would fight for what we believe in.

100 percent of the author’s net proceeds from this book will go to organizations seeking justice and protection for civilians in conflict zones.

“This is an extraordinary memoir by an extraordinary leader—it’s impossible to read without feeling moved to do more to help those with less.”—Adam Grant, New York Times bestselling author of Originals and Give and Take

Buy the book here.

 

Wednesday, December 19, 2018

Books: Shotguns And Stagecoaches-The Brave Men Who Rode For Wells Fargo, By John Boessenecker

Filed under: Books,History — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 1:13 PM

Wells Fargo shotgun messengers.

 

Now this is the kind of history I like digging into. I have talked about how important private security was during the early years of the US, like the Pinkertons, and Wells Fargo is another one to add to the list.

When you think of today’s Wells Fargo, you think of a large bank. You really don’t think about the history of the company and it’s impact on the expansion out west in early America. This book digs into that history, and specifically on the company’s use of armed guards or ‘shotgun messengers‘ for protecting valuable shipments. These men were called that because they were typically armed with shotguns.

In Iraq or Afghanistan, a large portion of security contracting work involved protecting goods and people during transport through really bad places. The vernacular of these wars included terms like Trunk Monkey, or the guy in the back of the truck or suburban armed with a machine gun to cover the rear sector of a convoy or motorcade. Back in the wild west, it was ‘shotgun messenger’ or what the novelists and journalists coined as ‘riding shotgun’. Yep, next time you hear someone say ‘I get shotgun’, that is a phrase that was directly born out of  the wild west when Wells Fargo’s used armed guards on stage coaches and trains.

In popular culture, the shotgun messenger was definitely represented in film. Here is one called Tales of Wells Fargo that ran for 6 seasons back in the fifties and sixties.

Here is a description of the book.

The true stories of the Wild West heroes who guarded the iconic Wells Fargo stagecoaches and trains, battling colorful thieves, vicious highwaymen, and robbers armed with explosives.

The phrase “riding shotgun” was no teenage game to the men who guarded stagecoaches and trains the Western frontier. Armed with sawed-off, double-barreled shotguns and an occasional revolver, these express messengers guarded valuable cargo through lawless terrain. They were tough, fighting men who risked their lives every time they climbed into the front boot of a Concord coach.

Boessenecker introduces soon-to-be iconic personalities like “Chips” Hodgkins, an express rider known for his white mule and his ability to outrace his competitors, and Henry Johnson, the first Wells Fargo detective. Their lives weren’t just one shootout after another—their encounters with desperadoes were won just as often with quick wits and memorized-by-heart knowledge of the land.

The highway robbers also get their due. It wouldn’t be a book about the Wild West without Black Bart, the most infamous stagecoach robber of all time, and Butch Cassidy’s gang, America’s most legendary train robbers.

Through the Gold Rush and the early days of delivery with horses and saddlebags, to the heyday of stagecoaches and huge shipments of gold, and finally the rise of the railroad and the robbers who concocted unheard-of schemes to loot trains, Wells Fargo always had courageous men to protect its treasure. Their unforgettable bravery and ingenuity make this book a thrilling read.

Here is a clip from the introduction of the book. I thought this was interesting about actual numbers of armed guards.

 

 

 

From the introduction of the book.

Here is a review of the book by Criminal Element.

 

Tuesday, June 12, 2018

Books: Full Battle Rattle By Changiz Lahidji

Filed under: Books — Tags: , , , , , , — Matt @ 10:06 PM

The other day I visited Barnes and Noble and stumbled upon this book in the military history section. It came out last February and it is a great little book for folks interested in reading about special operations guys. What perked me up about the book was what this special operations soldier did after retirement. Changiz got out of the military in 2000, and immediately got into contract work like most SF guys do when they get out. When 9/11 happened, that is when his contracting career took off and the book transitioned from a story about life in special operations to a life of contract work.

This book chronicles that work and his story is familiar to a lot contractors that have been doing this awhile. Many veterans came back into the fold as contractors because of their desire to do something in the war effort after 9/11. What is interesting about Changiz’s story is that he was involved in some significant events in recent contracting history.

I don’t want to spoil it too much, but he was one of the first folks assigned to the Karzai detail when USIS fired that contract up. So it was cool hearing about the early days of the program, and it reminded me a lot of Frank Gallagher’s story about the Bremer Detail in Iraq (which is a fantastic book as well). Other companies Changiz worked for were DynCorp, PAE, and MPRI to name a few.

His book details 12 years of contracting and it is some cool history. I liked it because it dug into specific contracts that I had only heard rumors about, and it also detailed some contracts I had no idea about. Check it out, and there is a Kindle and audio version of the book if you are interested in that kind of thing. –Matt

 

 

Full Battle Rattle: My Story as the Longest-Serving Special Forces A-Team Soldier in American History
By Changiz Lahidji and Ralph Pezzulo

Over 100 combat missions, 24 years as a Green Beret—Full Battle Rattle tells the legend of a soldier who served America in every war since Vietnam.
Master Sergeant Changiz Lahidji served on Special Forces A teams longer than anyone in history, completing over a hundred combat missions in Afghanistan. Changiz is a Special Forces legend. He also happens to be the first Muslim Green Beret.
Changiz served this country starting with Operation Eagle Claw in 1980, when he entered Tehran on a one-man mission to spy on Iranian soldiers guarding the US Embassy where 52 US diplomats were being held hostage. Three years later, he was in Beirut, Lebanon when a suicide car bomb exploded in front of the US Embassy killing 83 people. Weeks after that, he was shot by Hezbollah terrorists on a night mission.
(more…)

Monday, July 6, 2015

Books: Composite Warfare, By Eeben Barlow

Filed under: Africa,Books,Cool Stuff — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 4:20 PM

Right on! This is the highly anticipated book written by Eeben Barlow about his thoughts on how to conduct warfare on the African continent. Be sure to check out his blog post about the book over at his site, because he certainly will be answering some questions about it there.

As for an actual shipping date for the book, that is still to be determined and the publisher will have more on that I am sure. The date below says September 19 for the published date, so perhaps in September some time? But you can pre-order now and definitely get in line. Check it out. –Matt

Edit: 09/18/2016 – The book is now for sale and shipping at 30 South Publishers. You can buy the book here.

Website for STTEP is here. (Eeben’s company)

 

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Composite Warfare: The Conduct of Successful Ground Forces Operations in Africa
By Eeben Barlow
Price: $49.95
Product Description
As a continent, Africa presents her armies with a vast, dynamic and multidimensional operating environment. It has numerous complex and diverse ethnic, religious, cultural and tribal interests and loyalties, along with many multifaceted threat-drivers coupled to varied and infrastructure-poor terrain plus vast climatic variations. The continent is, furthermore, characterized by numerous half-won conflicts and wars fought by incorrectly structured, inadequately trained and ill-equipped armies. For many reasons, these forces have difficulty adapting to the complex, demanding and rapidly changing environments they do battle in. Similarly, the armies have difficulty in decisively defeating the various threats they face. Many of these problems stem from the fact that numerous modern-day African armies are merely clones of the armies established by their once-colonial masters, their Cold War allies or their new international allies. Many of the principles and tactics, techniques and procedures they were – and still are – being taught relate to fighting in Europe and not in Africa. Some of these concepts are not even relevant to Africa.

This book is intended as a guide and textbook for African soldiers and scholars who wish to understand the development of hostilities, strategy, operational design, doctrine and tactics. It also illustrates the importance of nonpartisanship and the mission and role of the armed forces. Officers, NCOs and their subordinates need to, furthermore, understand their role in defending and protecting the government and the people they serve. They additionally need to know how to successfully accomplish their numerous missions with aggression, audacity, boldness, speed and surprise. The book provides the reader with valuable information relating to conventional and unconventional maneuver. It also discusses how African armies can, with structured and balanced forces, achieve strategic, operational and tactical success. It covers the role of government along with operations related to war, operations other than war and intelligence operations and how these operations, operating in a coordinated and unified manner, can secure and strengthen a government. ## Composite Warfare draws on the author’s experiences and lessons in Central, Southern, East, West and North Africa where he has served numerous African governments as a politico-military strategist, division commander, division adviser, battalion commander and special operations commander.

Product Details
• Amazon Sales Rank: #437301 in Books
• Published on: 2015-09-19
• Original language: English
• Dimensions: .79″ h x 6.14″ w x 9.21″ l, 2.15 pounds
• Binding: Paperback
• 576 pages
Buy the book here.

Thursday, February 19, 2015

Podcasts: Sean McFate, Author Of The Modern Mercenary On NPR

Filed under: Books,Podcasts — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 2:17 AM

This is interesting. Sean McFate is the author of the book The Modern Mercenary: Private Armies and What They Mean for World Order and he is making the rounds promoting his book. He will also be at several speaking events in the near future. One will be at the Atlantic Council on March 3 and the other will be at the World Affairs Council on March 24. His background is that he worked for DynCorp International in Africa on a unique project to rebuild Liberia’s army back in 2004.

In the podcast, he gets into the nitty gritty of what this industry is currently involved with, and where he thinks it is going. Check it out. –Matt

Listen to the podcast here.

 

 

 

From NPR

In World War II, contractors made up just 10 percent of the military workforce; by the Iraq war, that number had risen to 50 percent. And that number is climbing – not just in the U.S. but worldwide, as governments look to save money and keep casualty numbers down for their own militaries. But what does this trend toward private-run warfare mean for the future of international relations? One former contractor warns that armies-for-hire will soon be the norm, making it easier than ever to wage war. What an increased reliance on private armies could mean for modern warfare and global security.

Guests

Sean McFate senior fellow at the Atlantic Council and professor at Georgetown University’s School of Foreign Service. Former paratrooper in the U.S. Army’s 82nd Airborne Division, and former private military contractor in Africa.

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