My library card is on fire! I have six books to read before the 14th of January when they are due back. Im trying to get most of my nonfiction out of the way early since later in the year I usually want to get lost in a world of fiction.
My first nonfiction read of the year is a book I highly anticipated. Its a personal part of my history so its no surprise that I wanted to dive right in the instant I found the book in the best seller section I scooped it up and added it onto the pile. So here it is:
2. CIVILIAN WARRIORS: THE INSIDE STORY OF BLACKWATER AND THE UNSUNG HEROS OF THE WAR ON TERROR by Erik Prince.
For many reasons, Blackwater is an extremely special place to me. I learned a lot about myself, my political beliefs, my understanding of War and diplomacy, and I made some amazing friends along the way. Those friends continue to touch my life today - even the ones with whom I no longer have contact. Those men and women are a very special group of people. They were not ordered into war zones, they went because they wanted to do the job.
I was often asked why I wanted to work there. My first thought was "who wouldn't?!". My standard answer was the truth, although few people believed my motivation was pure. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq could not be won on the ground alone. A big part of winning over a society that was ingrained with hatred towards the US would need diplomacy. There will be no end with just fighting. Diplomacy requires diplomats. Those diplomats, in order to do their jobs, need to be protected. Blackwater did that, and they did it well. Any support I could offer in furtherance of that mission was the LEAST I could do for them.
I had been in the thankless job of corrections in Camden, New Jersey when I decided to say screw it. Entering into corrections, I had all of these lofty ideals. My educational background was in Criminal Justice and in New Jersey Civil Service, County Corrections was a great starting point. Plus they hired faster than State Corrections or the local department in my town. I worked 12-8 and copious amounts of overtime... I mean copious. I was burnt out, and a different person at 22 than I was at 19 when I started. I had turned into someone who could not be shocked. I thought I had known the worst of humanity and nothing could shake me to my core. I was wrong.
When Fallujah happened, I was sitting in my living room at home watching the news with my parents. And I am not ashamed to say I sobbed. I felt such a sense of disgust and sadness that something so horrific could happen to men who just wanted to help keep people safe. So, when my best friend invited me to spend Easter with her in Virginia Beach, VA with another acquaintance from high school I said hell yeah! I packed a bag long enough to last me a week and headed down Route 13 from South Jersey to Virginia. I had no job, some money to live off and decided to just see what happens. The plan was for me to end up in Georgia with my bestie, but her now ex (thankfully) sent that plan down the toilet. Our choices were to go to Georgia where we had no ties, or head back home to NJ. With that in mind we decided we would learn to be grown-ups in Virginia Beach. I immediately knew I wanted to apply at Blackwater. I did, I interviewed, and within a week, I was hired. It was one of the best calls I ever received.
Perhaps more importantly, the other reason BW has such a special place in my heart, it is where I met my husband. Without me being there, I never would have met my best friend. Jonathan was training with the USCG on pre-deployment training before heading over to the USCGC Maui in Bahrain. His blue eyes won me over the minute we met but it was not until his return from the Middle East that we formed a relationship. Six months after he returned, we were married.
My interaction with Erik Prince while working at Blackwater was limited. I was impressed that after a few months of answering his calls he knew my name, although I doubt he could pick me out of a lineup if he was forced. My in-person time speaking to Mr. Prince was a hello and goodbye while he was on campus and a few minutes of conversation at a formal dinner in a hotel on the Virginia Beach oceanfront on my last day in the office after Hurricane Katrina before I left to work in Louisiana for BW. My most memorable experience was a scary and now funny one. He called asking for one of the executives, I could not locate said executive because he was not in the office. He in no uncertain terms demanded I "go in his office and get me this number (kicker: he did not tell me WHOSE number he needed). In a panic because you do NOT leave Mr. Prince on hold I tried getting in the office. Door was locked. My boss - an amazingly awesome man who I look up to and so enjoyed working for named Gary could tell I was freaking out and came to my rescue. He broke into the executives office and got "this number" while he had a little laugh at my expense because to me, it was the end of the world, and who wants to be the girl who has Erik Prince pissed because she cant find a phone number?
For me, I thought this book would give more insight into the things I did not know but honestly it didn't. I did however, learn more about Erik Prince the man than I did before. It was insightful and telling. The drive he had to turn something from nothing is inspirational.
I cried through the chapter on Fallujah - which was a sad testament to the state of affairs in Iraq. I was surprised it did not touch more on one of the named members of the law suit and his involvement, but this was Mr. Prince's story.
The background on how Blackwater came to be, the planning and hardwork to pull together a wonderful campus in the middle of the Dismal Swamp is inspiring to future entrepenuers. It really goes to show that you can make something amazing out of nothing.
The story also goes to show how the US government can turn a private company into its whipping boy, even though BW was not the only PMC in country and there surely were rumors running rampant about other corporations and their shady dealings. But, you take a man from a successful family, with conservative Republican ties and Catholic beliefs and put him up against a bunch of democrats and the story goes from building one of the worlds most elite training facilities to a group that is out for nothing but money. Since when is it anti-American to build a successful business model doing what the government could not? Is that not the cornerstone of Capitalism? And have these people ever stopped to think about the men who put themselves on the line? Why would they do it simply for money? What the hell good is money if your are dead? All questions no liberal dares answer for me.
There is a lot not in the book. It was touched on during the pages that there are still things Mr. Prince is not at liberty to share. Those are probably the things I wanted more insight about.
The book, in my opinion does not delve far enough into the deaths of the contractors who gave their life in service to BW and their country. There are unfortunately so many it would have taken pages and pages.
If you want an honest look at a company that rose to the top and then had a hard fall from the man directly at the helm, I recommend.
My first nonfiction read of the year is a book I highly anticipated. Its a personal part of my history so its no surprise that I wanted to dive right in the instant I found the book in the best seller section I scooped it up and added it onto the pile. So here it is:
2. CIVILIAN WARRIORS: THE INSIDE STORY OF BLACKWATER AND THE UNSUNG HEROS OF THE WAR ON TERROR by Erik Prince.
For many reasons, Blackwater is an extremely special place to me. I learned a lot about myself, my political beliefs, my understanding of War and diplomacy, and I made some amazing friends along the way. Those friends continue to touch my life today - even the ones with whom I no longer have contact. Those men and women are a very special group of people. They were not ordered into war zones, they went because they wanted to do the job.
I was often asked why I wanted to work there. My first thought was "who wouldn't?!". My standard answer was the truth, although few people believed my motivation was pure. The wars in Afghanistan and Iraq could not be won on the ground alone. A big part of winning over a society that was ingrained with hatred towards the US would need diplomacy. There will be no end with just fighting. Diplomacy requires diplomats. Those diplomats, in order to do their jobs, need to be protected. Blackwater did that, and they did it well. Any support I could offer in furtherance of that mission was the LEAST I could do for them.
I had been in the thankless job of corrections in Camden, New Jersey when I decided to say screw it. Entering into corrections, I had all of these lofty ideals. My educational background was in Criminal Justice and in New Jersey Civil Service, County Corrections was a great starting point. Plus they hired faster than State Corrections or the local department in my town. I worked 12-8 and copious amounts of overtime... I mean copious. I was burnt out, and a different person at 22 than I was at 19 when I started. I had turned into someone who could not be shocked. I thought I had known the worst of humanity and nothing could shake me to my core. I was wrong.
When Fallujah happened, I was sitting in my living room at home watching the news with my parents. And I am not ashamed to say I sobbed. I felt such a sense of disgust and sadness that something so horrific could happen to men who just wanted to help keep people safe. So, when my best friend invited me to spend Easter with her in Virginia Beach, VA with another acquaintance from high school I said hell yeah! I packed a bag long enough to last me a week and headed down Route 13 from South Jersey to Virginia. I had no job, some money to live off and decided to just see what happens. The plan was for me to end up in Georgia with my bestie, but her now ex (thankfully) sent that plan down the toilet. Our choices were to go to Georgia where we had no ties, or head back home to NJ. With that in mind we decided we would learn to be grown-ups in Virginia Beach. I immediately knew I wanted to apply at Blackwater. I did, I interviewed, and within a week, I was hired. It was one of the best calls I ever received.
Perhaps more importantly, the other reason BW has such a special place in my heart, it is where I met my husband. Without me being there, I never would have met my best friend. Jonathan was training with the USCG on pre-deployment training before heading over to the USCGC Maui in Bahrain. His blue eyes won me over the minute we met but it was not until his return from the Middle East that we formed a relationship. Six months after he returned, we were married.
My interaction with Erik Prince while working at Blackwater was limited. I was impressed that after a few months of answering his calls he knew my name, although I doubt he could pick me out of a lineup if he was forced. My in-person time speaking to Mr. Prince was a hello and goodbye while he was on campus and a few minutes of conversation at a formal dinner in a hotel on the Virginia Beach oceanfront on my last day in the office after Hurricane Katrina before I left to work in Louisiana for BW. My most memorable experience was a scary and now funny one. He called asking for one of the executives, I could not locate said executive because he was not in the office. He in no uncertain terms demanded I "go in his office and get me this number (kicker: he did not tell me WHOSE number he needed). In a panic because you do NOT leave Mr. Prince on hold I tried getting in the office. Door was locked. My boss - an amazingly awesome man who I look up to and so enjoyed working for named Gary could tell I was freaking out and came to my rescue. He broke into the executives office and got "this number" while he had a little laugh at my expense because to me, it was the end of the world, and who wants to be the girl who has Erik Prince pissed because she cant find a phone number?
For me, I thought this book would give more insight into the things I did not know but honestly it didn't. I did however, learn more about Erik Prince the man than I did before. It was insightful and telling. The drive he had to turn something from nothing is inspirational.
I cried through the chapter on Fallujah - which was a sad testament to the state of affairs in Iraq. I was surprised it did not touch more on one of the named members of the law suit and his involvement, but this was Mr. Prince's story.
The background on how Blackwater came to be, the planning and hardwork to pull together a wonderful campus in the middle of the Dismal Swamp is inspiring to future entrepenuers. It really goes to show that you can make something amazing out of nothing.
The story also goes to show how the US government can turn a private company into its whipping boy, even though BW was not the only PMC in country and there surely were rumors running rampant about other corporations and their shady dealings. But, you take a man from a successful family, with conservative Republican ties and Catholic beliefs and put him up against a bunch of democrats and the story goes from building one of the worlds most elite training facilities to a group that is out for nothing but money. Since when is it anti-American to build a successful business model doing what the government could not? Is that not the cornerstone of Capitalism? And have these people ever stopped to think about the men who put themselves on the line? Why would they do it simply for money? What the hell good is money if your are dead? All questions no liberal dares answer for me.
There is a lot not in the book. It was touched on during the pages that there are still things Mr. Prince is not at liberty to share. Those are probably the things I wanted more insight about.
The book, in my opinion does not delve far enough into the deaths of the contractors who gave their life in service to BW and their country. There are unfortunately so many it would have taken pages and pages.
If you want an honest look at a company that rose to the top and then had a hard fall from the man directly at the helm, I recommend.
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