America's Covert Warriors: Inside the World of Private Military Contractors

Private military contractors, especially those working in Iraq since 2003, quickly assumed duties that far exceeded their original mandates. Initially intended for combat support, they became full-fledged warriors, many with limited experience, and all with scant oversight and no accountability to the rules of engagement that constrained the U.S. military and Coalition forces. When the occupation of Iraq turned into a fight against an insurgency during the war's early years, nearly overwhelming U.S. and Coalition forces, the demand for private military contractors skyrocketed. The explosive growth of such firms as Blackwater and Crescent resulted in a relaxation of recruitment standards at precisely the same time that the U.S. military's own standards of recruitment began to falter, but the standards for private military contractors fell much further and faster. The predictable result included excessive civilian casualties a human tragedy whose full dimensions have yet to be seen by the American public.

Shawn Engbrecht has been training private military contractors for more than a decade. Acknowledging that some private military contractors are out of control, he argues that the oft-made suggestion to fire them all is not the solution. Instead, Engbrecht contends that with the proper training and development of recruits, along with enforceable regulation and oversight, private security companies can be successfully integrated into a total force package led by a professional operational staff.

Shawn Engbrecht is the founder of the Center for Advanced Security Studies, one of the premier training facilities for protection officers in the world. He has worked as a private contractor in Iraq on multiple occasions and has been deployed to the European Union and Africa. A veteran of the U.S. Army's 75th Ranger Regiment, he spent six years in the 1st Ranger Battalion of the Special Operations Command. He lives in Florida. For more information, visit his website, www.americascovertwarriors.com.