For anyone who's ever considered a career as a warrior-for-hire—or who just wants to learn more about the lifestyle—How to Become a Mercenary is the ultimate guide to all the history, training, and equipment information you'll ever need! Mercenaries—who are often trained as part of the best Special Forces, including American Delta Force, British SAS, French Foreign Legion, Marines, SBS, SEALs, and many others—perform one of the most dangerous and feared jobs in the world. Their task is to go into remote locations and remove their targets by any means necessary. They are “hired hands,” and have no remorse for their actions. Now, along with Soldier of Fortune magazine, Barry Davies teaches you the training and knowledge that goes into being a mercenary, as well as the history of the profession and how it has evolved. How to Become a Mercenary will teach you everything you’ve ever needed to know about becoming a mercenary, and also how to excel at it with information on weapons, escape plans, and overall safety. You will learn: • Where and how to find work • How to understand and apply the most modern tactics • What languages to master • Which weapons are preferred • How to disappear after you’ve completed your job It’s always been about the money, but in this book, you will learn all the skills that you must acquire before you take your first job. Just remember: Article 47 of the Geneva Convention states that “a mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.” Getting caught is not an option, and in this manual, you will learn how to avoid that at all costs.

Mercenaries perform one of the most dangerous and feared jobs in the world. Their task is to go into remote locations and remove their targets by any means necessary. They are “hired hands,” and have no remorse for their actions. Along with Soldier of Fortune magazine, Barry Davies teaches you the training and knowledge that goes into being a mercenary. Davies will also go into the history of the profession and show how it has evolved. It’s always been about the money, but in this book, you will learn all the skills that you must acquire before you take your first job. You will learn: • Where and how to find work • How to understand and apply the most modern tactics • What languages to master • Which weapons are preferred • How to disappear after you’ve completed your job Mercenaries are usually trained as part of the best Special Forces, including American Delta Force, British SAS, French Foreign Legion, Marines, SBS, SEALs, and many others. This guide will teach you everything you’ve ever needed to know about becoming a mercenary, and also how to excel at it with information on weapons, escape plans, and overall safety. Remember, Article 47 of the Geneva Convention states that “a mercenary shall not have the right to be a combatant or a prisoner of war.” Getting caught is not an option, and in this manual, you will learn how to avoid that at all costs.

Sean McFate lays bare the opaque world of private military contractors, explaining the economic structure of the industry and showing in detail how firms operate on the ground. As a former paratrooper and private military contractor, McFate provides an unparalleled perspective into the nuts and bolts of the industry, as well as a sobering prognosis for the future of war.

An electrifying thriller – the first in a blistering series for readers of Brad Thor, Tom Clancy and Daniel Silva. Tom Locke is an elite warrior working for Apollo Outcomes, one of the world’s most successful private contracting firms. Pulled out of a mission in Libya, he is tapped for an unusual and risky assignment: a top secret black op in Ukraine. Given one week to rescue an oligarch’s family and pull off a spectacular assault, he soon realises his mission has repercussions for this imperiled Eastern European nation and the world. What Locke doesn’t know is that the operation comes with a dangerous complication: his enigmatic and ambitious boss, Brad Winters. One misstep could cost Locke – and the region – everything. Written by an army veteran with deep military expertise, Shadow War is an explosive and unputdownable thriller. Praise for Shadow War ‘I was blown away’ Mark Greaney, #1 New York Times bestselling author ‘Ex-mercenary Sean McFate has produced a first novel that's assured, authentic, timely, gritty, and most of all real’ C.J. Box, New York Times Best-selling Author of Badlands and Off the Grid ‘Shadow War has pace like a catapult, sudden and fierce, and it will hit readers straight between the eyes’ Ted Bell, author of Patriot

Whether you're a retired soldier, a seeker of adventure, or simply one who wants to gain insight into today's soldier of fortune, this manual covers everything you need to know: clients and accounts, how to assume the "chameleon mode," money and survival, psywar ops, shock warfare and classic SOF cities. Seasoned professional mercenary Paul Balor reveals the experiences, tricks of the trade and hard-learned lessons that have kept him alive for more than four decades.

Meet Blackwater USA, the private army that the US government has quietly hired to operate in international war zones and on American soil. Its contacts run from military and intelligence agencies to the upper echelons of the White House; it has a military base, a fleet of aircraft and 20,000 troops, but since September 2007 the firm has been hit by a series of scandals that, far from damaging the company, have led to an unprecedented period of expansion. This revised and updated edition includes Scahill's continued investigative work into one of the outrages of our time: the privatisation of war.

"The story behind the ultimate American privatization, which has taken place gradually and almost invisibly: how we privatized our national security"--

From acclaimed spy novelist Paul Vidich comes a taut new thriller following the attempted exfiltration of a KGB officer from the ever-changing—and always dangerous—USSR in the mid-1980s. Moscow, 1985. The Soviet Union and its communist regime are in the last stages of decline, but remain opaque to the rest of the world—and still very dangerous. In this ever-shifting landscape, a senior KGB officer—code name GAMBIT—has approached the CIA Moscow Station chief with top secret military weapons intelligence and asked to be exfiltrated. GAMBIT demands that his handler be a former CIA officer, Alex Garin, a former KGB officer who defected to the American side. The CIA had never successfully exfiltrated a KGB officer from Moscow, and the top brass do not trust Garin. But they have no other options: GAMBIT's secrets could be the deciding factor in the Cold War. Garin is able to gain the trust of GAMBIT, but remains an enigma. Is he a mercenary acting in self-interest or are there deeper secrets from his past that would explain where his loyalties truly lie? As the date nears for GAMBIT’s exfiltration, and with the walls closing in on both of them, Garin begins a relationship with a Russian agent and sets into motion a plan that could compromise everything.

“Intensely vivid story of war and the peculiar breed of warriors who fight in 21st-century Africa . . . and tribute to an extraordinary comrade-at-arms.” —Kirkus Reviews In February 2002, British journalist James Brabazon set out to travel with guerrilla forces into Liberia to show the world what was happening in that war-torn country. To protect him, he hired Nick du Toit, a former South African Defence Force soldier who had fought in conflicts across Africa for over three decades. What follows is an incredible behind-the-scenes account of the Liberian rebels—known as the LURD—as they attempt to seize control of the country from government troops led by President Charles Taylor. In this gripping narrative, James Brabazon paints a brilliant portrait of the chaos that tore West Africa apart: nations run by warlords and kleptocrats, rebels fighting to displace them, ordinary people caught in the crossfire—and everywhere adventurers and mercenaries operating in war’s dark shadows. It is a brutally honest book about what it takes to be a journalist, survivor, and friend in this morally corrosive crucible. “A classic story of intrigue, greed, and violence in one of the most dysfunctional countries in the world. It is a gripping story that I couldn’t read fast enough.” —Sebastian Junger, New York Times–bestselling author

“Has an enjoyable, realistic feeling…will appeal to action junkies and armchair diplomats alike.” — Kirkus Tom Locke must track a missing Saudi prince deep inside ISIS territory in this second military action thriller from the authors of Shadow War. Disillusioned after a mission in Ukraine goes tragically wrong, military contractor Tom Locke is on the run from Apollo Outcomes, a private military corporation run by the treacherous Brad Winters. While working undercover with his surviving team members on the frontlines of ISIS-infected Iraq, they are approached by a Saudi middleman who offers good money to find the missing son of a high-ranking government official. What Locke doesn’t know is that the missing young Prince may have been carrying the result of a secret agreement made with the Pakistanis in the 1960s, and that his father may or may not be trying to topple the Saudi government. As he pushes deeper into ISIS territory, Locke must figure out both the on-the-ground battle lines and the larger Deep State war he has stumbled into yet again. Who is the mysterious Saudi who hired Locke’s team? Is the prince’s disappearance personal or political? And how many sides are being played against each other in a Middle East torn apart by overlapping and contradictory alliances? To complete the mission and keep his men safe, the battle-hardened Locke must use every skill he has to defeat a fanatical enemy on the ground—while a duplicitous adversary much closer to home waits for his chance to strike. . . .