Feral Jundi

Monday, June 20, 2011

Books: The Profession, By Steven Pressfield

Filed under: Books,Cool Stuff,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 4:17 PM

Thanks to Mark from Zenpundit for the heads up about this book. Steven Pressfield is an outstanding author and he even has a novel on the Commandant of the Marine Corp’s reading list called Gates of Fire. The book is also taught at West Point, Annapolis, the Marine Corps Basic School at Quantico, the Virginia Military Institute and at Brophy College Preparatory.(I am sure there are others) So when an author gets that much respect for his written word, I tend to perk up when he writes a novel about private military companies in the near future.

You might also remember his discussion about solutions for the Afghanistan war. Him and Jim Gant were definitely promoting some interesting solutions, and it was a pleasure back then to read and follow along. I am still following his blog and he does a fantastic job of going over the process of writing, as well as discussing history’s military lessons.

I have not read this book yet, but I definitely would like to hear what others think about it. On Amazon there are reviews to check out, and Mark had a few readers on his site that chimed in.  Here is a product description from Amazon.

 

Product Description
The “master storyteller” (Publishers Weekly) and bestselling author of Gates of Fire, The Afghan Campaign, and Killing Rommel returns with a stunning, chillingly plausible near-future thriller about the rise of a privately financed and global military industrial complex.? ?The year is 2032. The third Iran-Iraq war is over; the 11/11 dirty bomb attack on the port of Long Beach, California is receding into memory; Saudi Arabia has recently quelled a coup; Russians and Turks are clashing in the Caspian Basin; Iranian armored units, supported by the satellite and drone power of their Chinese allies, have emerged from their enclaves in Tehran and are sweeping south attempting to recapture the resource rich territory that had been stolen from them, in their view, by Lukoil, BP, and ExxonMobil and their privately-funded armies. Everywhere military force is for hire.  Oil companies, multi-national corporations and banks employ powerful, cutting-edge mercenary armies to control global chaos and protect their riches.  Even nation states enlist mercenary forces to suppress internal insurrections, hunt terrorists, and do the black bag jobs necessary to maintain the new New World Order. ? ?Force Insertion is the world’s merc monopoly. Its leader is the disgraced former United States Marine General James Salter, stripped of his command by the president for nuclear saber-rattling with the Chinese and banished to the Far East.  A grandmaster military and political strategist, Salter deftly seizes huge oil and gas fields, ultimately making himself the most powerful man in the world.  Salter’s endgame is to take vengeance on those responsible for his exile and then come home…as Commander in Chief. The only man who can stop him is the novel’s narrator, Gilbert “Gent” Gentilhomme, Salter’s most loyal foot soldier and as close to him as the son Salter lost. As this action-jammed, lightning fast, and brutally realistic novel builds to its heart-stopping climax Gent launches his personally and professionally most desperate mission: to take out his mentor and save the United States from self destruction.? ?Infused by a staggering breadth of research in military tactics and steeped in the timeless themes of the honor and valor of men at war that distinguish all of Pressfield’s fiction, The Profession is that rare novel that informs and challenges the reader almost as much as it entertains.

The only commentary I have on this, just based on the description, is that Gilbert “Gent” Gentilhomme sounds like a practitioner of Jundism. lol Or basically, he had the courage to do what is right, and stop this out of control General–that he used to idolize.

So if anyone is interested in purchasing this book, you can find it in the Jundi Gear store here. You can also check out all the reviews on Amazon while on that page, and so far the book is getting good reviews. To give you a taste, Steven has even published a chapter of this book on his site. Check it out and let me know what you think. –Matt

 

Sunday, May 29, 2011

Books: You Have To Live Hard To Be Hard, By Dan Laguna

Filed under: Aviation,Books — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:58 AM

I remember when the Blackwater Little Bird (MD 500) went down in Iraq, and it was a shock to all of us working in the industry at the time. This crash and the deaths that resulted, hit home to a lot of folks, to include the brother of one of the dead–Dan Laguna. Dan’s book goes into some of the details of this crash, and the life and sacrifices of this 160th SOAR pilot and contractor Little Bird pilot.

These Little Bird pilots and crews did some amazing and extremely dangerous work back then.  If you remember the battle of Najaf or the rescue of the wounded Polish diplomat, you get an idea of the type of missions and contracts they were involved with. Which by the way, I did not know that the Polish government awarded Dan their Silver Star for the rescuing of their diplomat? (see video)

But the other thing I wanted to highlight here is that Dan represents the kind of sacrifice that contractors make and have given in this war.  In this war alone, from 09/01/2001 to 03/31/2011, there have been 2,620 contractors killed.(Xe has lost 29 KIA according to the DoL statistics, 33 according to T. Christine Miller’s graph) That is 2,620 souls that had friends and families, all destroyed by the worst disaster they could ever experience–the loss of a loved one or friend. Not to mention entire towns mourned the loss of these men and women, and the memory of that loss is with everyone forever…

During this Memorial Day weekend, there will be many folks out there looking back on this loss and trying make sense of it all. For some, the pain and despair is a constant, and any and all sources of inspiration is needed to get through the days.  That is why I recommend books like Dan Laguna’s. He is a military veteran and contractor veteran, and he lost his brother and comrades to war. If you want to learn how he copes, or understand his struggle to better understand how you can work through your loss and struggle, then this book is for you.

This book is also a testament to the kind of every day heroic deeds that contractors performed in these wars.  It is also a testament to the heroic deeds of a 160th SOAR pilots. Which brings up another point.

A contractor is usually a military veteran.  Most often, they are military veterans with incredible backgrounds, multiple deployments in the war, and have lost comrades. Not to mention the hard lives of the families of veterans who had to keep things going at the home front all of those years.

These veterans make up a large contingent of contractors. Some are even retired military veterans who definitely gave their pound of flesh to country….and then some. And yet these same men continue to serve and die as contractors, and to me, that is inspirational and something to admire. –Matt

Dan Laguna’s blog here.

Buy the book here.

Facebook for book here.

Blackwater’s Little Birds blog here.

Find the book in the Jundi Gear Locker here.


Book Description from Amazon
On July 20, 1994, Dan Laguna and Carlos Guerrero of the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment SOAR were in a devastating helicopter accident. Carlos died and Dan spent months in the hospital recovering from 3rd and 4th degree full thickness burns and several broken bones. His story of survival is miraculous, inspirational and motivating. He returned to duty a year later and served seven more years in his unit before retiring.
After retiring from the Army and moving to Utah, Dan took a job working as a contractor for Blackwater USA in 2004. On January 23, 2007 his brother, Art Laguna, and four of his brothers in arms were killed when their helicopter was shot down over Baghdad, Iraq.
Dan Laguna’s helicopter had extensive damage due to small arms fire and was forced to land but after inspecting the helicopter and noticing dozens of insurgents racing toward them, he decided to take the risk and fly back to the Green Zone.
This book is a tribute to his fallen brothers whose, courage, bravery, and patriotism are what make this country what it is today.

—————————————————————-

Utah Helicopter Pilot Talks About Battle That Killed Brother
January 24th, 2007
First of all my brother is and was a HERO. All he ever wanted to do from the time I can remember as a child, was he wanted to fly. He became one of the most professional pilots you could have ever known. I recruited my brother to join us with Blackwater Aviation. We get a lot of resumes but only a few have the qualifications to join us. This is one of the most demanding jobs in Iraq. The military flies some every day, but we in Blackwater Aviation are up flying in the RED zone every day all day.

(more…)

Wednesday, May 25, 2011

Books: Gunship Ace: The Wars Of Neall Ellis–Gunship Pilot And Mercenary, By Al J Venter

Filed under: Aviation,Books — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:18 PM

Very cool. Al Venter has authored some fantastic books and is certainly dedicated to this subject matter. I have not read this particular book yet, and if any readers out there would like to add their two cents about the publication, please feel free to do so in the comments.

Also, this book is in the Jundi Gear store, and the link provided below will take you there directly. Or you can visit the JG store at any time and it will be there to check out or buy at your leisure.  It looks like it is priced at $21.75. Be sure to check out Al’s wikipedia I posted below because it will give you an idea of the kind of work he has done over the years. –Matt


Gunship Ace: The Wars of Neall Ellis, Gunship Pilot and Mercenary
By Al Venter
Book Description
A former South African Air Force pilot who saw action throughout the region from the 1970s on, Neall Ellis is the best-known mercenary combat aviator alive. Apart from flying Alouette helicopter gunships in Angola, he has fought in the Balkan War (for Islamic forces), tried to resuscitate Mobutu’s ailing air force during his final days ruling the Congo, flew Mi-8s for Executive Outcomes, and thereafter an Mi-8 fondly dubbed ‘Bokkie’ for Colonel Tim Spicer in Sierra Leone. Finally, with a pair of aging Mi-24 Hinds, Ellis ran the Air Wing out of Aberdeen Barracks in the war against Sankoh’s vicious RUF rebels.
For the past two years, as a “civilian contractor,” Ellis has been flying helicopter support missions in Afghanistan, where, he reckons, he has had more close shaves than in his entire previous four-decades put together.

(more…)

Sunday, May 8, 2011

Bounties: The Truth About Geronimo…And Usama Bin Laden, By Benjamin Runkle

Filed under: Books,Bounties,History,Letter Of Marque — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:19 PM

The original Geronimo campaign and the hunt for bin Laden share plenty of similarities. On May 3, 1886, more than a century before a $25 million reward was offered for information on bin Laden’s whereabouts, and almost 125 years to the day before the al-Qaeda leader’s death, the U.S. House of Representatives introduced a joint resolution “Authorizing the President to offer a reward of twenty-five thousand dollars for the killing or capture of Geronimo.”

Excellent little article about the comparisons between these two manhunts. But what is really interesting to me is that back then the President was authorized by congress to issue a bounty for the killing or capturing of Geronimo.  So does that mean that a bounty was paid to the members of Lt. Charles Gatewood’s small five man party that sealed the deal on Geronimo?  Mind you that this party was composed of ‘two Apache scouts, an interpreter and a mule-packer’.  Not bad for such a small team, and it reminds me of the effectiveness of the small teams required for the capture of UBL.(on a side note here, no one has been awarded the millions in bounties that UBL had on his head)

Which brings me to my next point.  It is not the size of force or intelligence apparatus, but the quality and effectiveness of such a thing.  In both cases, it was not a large army that was able to find these guys and put them away.  It was small teams. And in both cases, these teams were tipped off to the location of their guy by a local or a detainee.  So what does that say?

Could this indicate that small companies or units are more capable of finding people, than large cumbersome armies? I think so.  I also think that bounties can work, if they actually support a vibrant ‘offense industry’.  The bounty for Bin Laden did not support the kill or capture by companies or individuals, and only depended upon an individual to come forward with a tip.  That’s if they would come forward.  If a company was tasked with finding and capturing/killing UBL or any of the other leaders, then they too could use a bounty system to get their information locally. Or use whatever means, based on the guidelines and laws of a issued license.

The other point I wanted to make is how long and how costly this manhunt has been.  According to this author in the Atlantic, the total time for the hunt of UBL was 15 years at a cost of 3 trillion dollars. I cannot even imagine what 3 trillion dollars looks like, but I do know what cost effective is.  This hunt for UBL was not cost effective, and I definitely think that there is another way to go about this task. Not to mention the lives lost in this long war.

Finally, there is the question of violating a country’s sovereignty in order to go after an individual(s). We definitely crossed Pakistan’s border with military force, landed on their territory, killed UBL and several others, and took materials from this compound.  All of these acts were done without the permission of Pakistan, and I am sure it will have it’s repercussions.(logistics for Afghanistan come to mind) But my point is that the US authorized this act at the highest levels.  So the US has now set a precedence and has deemed this a necessary act for national security.  I agree and applaud the President for making this move, but the US must also consider that Al Qaeda is still operating and still out there.

It will take many raids, and many small teams to reach all of these groups and violate the sovereignty of many countries out there in order to accomplish what we just did in Pakistan.  If such acts are this important to the national security of the US, then I do not see how issuing Letters of Marque and Reprisal to private industry to help in this endeavor would be considered that much more of a stretch? Or we can continue to spend trillions of dollars on large scale military deployments in places like Iraq or Afghanistan, violate those country’s sovereignty with large scale occupation, all to find these people? Something to think about when talking about waging war efficiently and using the right tool/strategy for the job.

On a side note, Benjamin Runkle has put together an excellent blog to coincide with the topic of his book called Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to bid Laden. I have put his blog in my RSS reader, and this is an area of study that everyone should take a look at if they are interested in the method behind ‘finding’ bad guys.-Matt

The truth about Geronimo .. and Osama bin Laden
By Benjamin Runkle
May 6, 2011
“Geronimo!” That was the call that went over the command net on May 1, indicating that Navy SEALs had found their man. And that code name for Osama bin Laden has angered some Native Americans, who have demanded a formal apology from the Obama administration.
Their complaints are understandable, but misguided. The code name doesn’t denigrate the Apache war captain, a hero to some students of Native American history, through comparison to the Saudi terrorist leader. The similarities are not in the men themselves but in the military campaigns that targeted them.
In May 1885, Geronimo led the breakout of 120 Chiricahua Apache from the San Carlos Reservation in what is now Arizona, creating mass hysteria in the American Southwest. The Chiricahua had legitimate grievances: Civilian “Indian agents” were corrupt and consistently cheated the Apache on their rations, while the land the tribe had been given was almost worthless for farming but still encroached upon by miners. (more…)

Saturday, February 26, 2011

Books: The War That Never Was, By Duff Hart Davis

Filed under: Africa,Books,Egypt,Yemen — Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 11:15 AM

By 1967, there were still a dozen British mercenaries in the Yemen, training the royalists, laying mines and setting up ambushes. More than 20,000 of Nasser’s troops had been killed, while the Yemeni royalists had lost 5,000. 

In June that year, as Nasser and his allies prepared to go to war with Israel, the Israelis launched pre-emptive air strikes, destroying the Egyptian, Syrian and Jordanian air forces. 

With their total air superiority, they were able to decimate Nasser’s army as it advanced, wrecking its tanks and killing more than 15,000 men. Thousands more surrendered.

The Six Day War was a resounding victory for Israel — and spelt the end of Nasser’s dreams of dominating the Arabian peninsular. He withdrew from Yemen and after four years the Egyptian occupation was over. 


I have not been able to get my hands on this book and read it, but it definitely caught my eye after reading this review below.  These guys remind me of such famous and highly effective private fighting forces like the Flying Tigers or Executive Outcomes. This private army had a huge impact on events in the region as you can see from the quote up top, and this book supposedly lays it all out.

Probably the one story in this article that caught my eye was the event where they cut out the lungs of a poison gas victim, to send it back to Britain and prove that Egypt was using poison gas in Yemen.  That is news to me and I did not know that Egypt was using WMD’s during that war.

I also thought it was funny that Saudi Arabia Royalty funded the operation, which also included an Israeli air supply contingent.  Like the article mentioned, Saudi Arabia did not know this little fact and I am sure they would have cut off funding if they had found out. lol Cool book and if any of the readership has anything to add, please feel free to comment. –Matt

Buy the book here.


Jim Johnson, the leader of this private army.(he passed away in 2008)


How a rag-tag team of SAS veterans changed history in a secret war Britain STILL won’t admit

By Annabel Venning17th February 2011

Crouching behind rocks in the rugged mountains that rose abruptly out of the Yemen desert, were three British soldiers, former members of the SAS, together with their commander, Lieutenant Colonel Johnny Cooper.

They had lain in wait, machine guns at the ready, all through the cold desert night. At 9am the first Egyptian soldiers advanced into the wadi (gully), their infantry packed shoulder to shoulder, followed by tanks and artillery.

Behind the rocks, nobody moved. The success of the ambush depended on surprise. Then, as the enemy reached a small plain that Cooper had designated as the ‘killing ground,’ he gave the signal.

A rattle of machine gun fire cut through the wadi, bullets sending geysers of sand into the air, amid screams of pain and terror.

The Egyptians’ front ranks tumbled, Cooper remembered: ‘Like ninepins. Panic broke out in the ranks behind and then their tanks opened fire. Their shells were exploding?.?.?.?among their own men.’

In the ten-minute firefight that ensued, many of the Egyptian casualties were from their own guns. All day they fired on Cooper’s positions. But he and his men, with their Yemeni comrades, were dug well into their ‘funk holes’. As night fell the Egyptian force withdrew back to their base in the Yemeni capital of Sana’a, leaving 85 bodies behind.

It was a rout, the first of many successful engagements that over the next four years would see a small force of British soldiers fight fiercely in a desert war of which most of their countrymen were unaware.

Wearing Arab dress, like latter-day Lawrences of Arabia, the men, mostly ex-SAS, fought in a savage, dirty war of poison bombs, secret airdrops and desert shoot-outs.

It was an operation that began with a deal made over gin and tonics in a Mayfair gentlemen’s club and progressed into arms smuggling, ambushes and the existence of a private army, directed from a one-room basement headquarters in Chelsea by a debonair former Army officer and his sidekick, a beautiful former debutante.

(more…)

« Newer Posts — Older Posts »

Powered by WordPress