Venter Al J. War Dog: Fighting Other Peoples Wars: The Modern Mercenary in Combat

London: Casemate, 2006. — 609 p.Mercenaries have been with us since the dawn of civilization, yet in the modern world they are little understood. While many of today's freelance fighters provide support for larger military establishments, others wage war where the great powers refuse to tread. In War Dog, Al Venter examines the latter world of mercenary fighters effecting decisions by themselves. In the process he unveils a remarkable array of close-quarters combat action.Having personally visited every locale he describes throughout Africa and the Middle East, Venter is the rare correspondent who had to carry an AK-47 in his research along with his notebook and camera. To him, covering mercenary actions meant accompanying the men into the thick of combat. During Sierra Leone's civil war, he flew in the front bubble of the government's lone Hind gunship-piloted by the heroic chopper ace "Nellis"-as it flew daily missions to blast apart rebel positions. In this book the author not only describes the battles of the legendary South African mercenary company Executive Outcomes, he knew the founders personally and joined them on a number of actions. After stemming the tide of Jonas Savimbi's UNITA army in Angola (an outfit many of the SA operators had previously trained), Executive Outcomes headed north to hold back vicious rebels in West Africa.This book is not only about triumph against adversity but also losses, as Venter relates the death and subsequent cannibalistic fate of his American friend, Bob MacKenzie, in Sierra Leone. Here we see the plight of thousands of civilians fleeing from homicidal jungle warriors, as well as the professionalism of the mercenaries who fought back with one hand and attempted to train government troops with the other, in hopes that they would someday be able to stand on their own.The American public, as well as its military, largely sidestepped the horrific conflicts that embroiled Africa during the past two decades. But as Venter informs us, there were indeed small numbers of professional fighters on the ground, defending civilians and attempting to conjure order from chaos. In the process their heroism went unrecorded and their combat skill became known only to each other.In this book we gain an intimate glimpse of this modern breed of warrior in combat. Not laden with medals, ribbons, civic parades, or even guaranteed income, they have nevertheless fought some of the toughest battles in the post- Cold War era. They simply are, and perhaps always will be, "War Dogs".Helicopter gunships in Sierra Leone's warNeal Ellis: jungle warriorStrike on Makeni and British involvementCombat flights into the interiorRadios intercepts and the inevitable SAMsThe United Nations debacle in West AfricaStrange bedfellows in mercenary warsMore mercs: more warsMercenaries in Bosnia, Lebanon and elsewhereEarly mercenary activity in the CongoSoldiers of fortune during Mobutu's ruleNellis and his war dogs in the CongoZimbabwe's mercenaries in Congo's warBiafra's war and more foreign interventionExecutive outcomes in AngolaHow executive outcomes ran its warsThe mercenary air war in AngolaTaking Angola's diamond fields from the rebelsAn American warrior dies in AfricaExecutive outcomes moves northGunship combat in West AfricaSierra Leone's diamond warWar dogs hit a rebel base in the jungleA future for private military companies