Ret. Blackwater Operator Author Morgan Lerette
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- Опубліковано 11 чер 2024
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The world of private military contracting is wildly complicated. Take it from Morgan Lerette - he's a retired Blackwater Operator, Army Intelligence Officer, and the author of 'Guns, Girls, & Greed: I Was A Blackwater Mercenary in Iraq', an irreverently honest memoir that shows both the good and the bad of injecting private armies into active combat zones in the name of diplomacy, spread out over the early days of the Iraq War.
With gut-wrenching tragedy, dark humor, and absolutely insane party stories that make 'Animal House' seem like a Disney film, Morgan's memoir offers a firsthand perspective of how men act and react in war, for better or worse. It's a story of national incompetence, international collapse, and the search for blood and treasure that either helped - or hindered - the American war effort in Iraq. Was all the carnage worth it? Let's ask Morgan.
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Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
10:44 - Eat the Frog
18:29 - Moved in with Grandpa
22:53 - Air Force Enlistment, December '99
38:06 - Blackwater Bound
51:17 - Chaos Outside Green Zone
56:02 - Hindsight Morality
01:13:17 - Diplomats at the QRF
01:24:34 - Epic Animal House QRF Parties
01:36:24 - I Called Myself a Mercenary
01:40:50 - Writing the Book - Guns, Girls, & Greed by Morgan Lerette
01:57:03 - A Mutual De-Coupling, as Gwyneth Paltrow Would Say
02:01:35 - Back to Iraq, with Intelligence
02:12:11 - Time For An Out
02:17:31 - PTSD and The Great Complexity (or: Circuit Breakers - A Working Title)
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Support Morgan Lerette -
Get Your Copy of Morgan's Book, 'Guns, Girls, & Greed: I Was A Blackwater Mercenary in Iraq' at amazon.com/dp/B0C7P83DL6
IG - / blackwaterdude1
TikTok - www.tiktok.com/@blackwaterdud...
X - / blackwaterdude1
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Stellar episode - appreciate how he didn’t try to sensationalize his experience. 🤙 Looking forward to finishing it tomorrow at work.
John Negropnte was an aide to Henry Kissinger during the Paris Peace Talks and uttered the phrase “We bombed the North Vietnamese into accepting our concessions.” Ironic that he was involved in the Vietnam debacle and the Iraq debacle. History repeats itself I guess.
And he was a total butthole.
Ask Fauci how that works
Ngl I had to look that name up because there for a minute I thought maybe it was a play on words.
I love these Blackwater stories. Keep em coming Mike!
first episode im pumped for to be honest. finally getting some more blackwater stuff
Have you listened to the black water 4 on the Shawn Ryan show?
Very good
This reminds me of a movie script I was working on. A movie called the wasted war. It would be kinda like fear and loathing in Las Vegas in Iraq. Imagine if Hunter Thompson didn’t kill himself and went to Iraq to cover the war and spent his last days partying with contractors and sf covering the war and dies at the in end in a gunfight
I can get behind that script.
😂😂
@@morganlerette3209 thanks. Some of the major scenes would be of course, arriving in Baghdad with 10 of thousands of troops and then Hunter Thompson would catch up with a green beret team do some funny things with them while the place is being looted him trying to score drugs from locals and almost getting kidnapped. One of the last scenes would be him going in with Delta to the firefight of Uday and qusay. That, he would still a shit load of drugs from their mansion. He would party for a couple days until I think I would just have Hunter S Thompson, OD, and die there tell the story. That he was dying of cancer so he wanted it to be a one-way trip either way. The reality was he killed himself believe just a few months before the war started because he didn’t want to go through chemo.
@@morganlerette3209 I actually talked to a place in Las Vegas about filming it there they do rides in little birds and allow you to shoot machine guns and shit in the desert at broken down cars and shit. They were very interested in helping me get the funds but I got sidetracked. I’m also trying to end this opioid epidemic, I’m the creator of metatytechnologies. I created the Lazarus which anyone who uses any type of opioids if they’re wearing it, they will not die. It detects overdose. Tries to wake them up with sound and vibrations if that doesn’t work, it automatically hits them with the Narcan and send an SOS signal to their choice either 911 friends, etc. with their GPS location and what has happened to come check on them
Sounds interesting. Keep working
I was in Afghanistan and was at a blackwater base for a mission. I wasnt impressed with their attitude. I was being nice and they were extremely rude and self-centered. They were just glorified mercs who at one time were investigated.
We were not the nicest. Sorry bro. Wasn’t me but I apologize for them.
That was a great interview! Well done Mike!
This one was great Mike , good job.
As a former contractor prior service military this was a very refreshing listen most people don’t understand the contractor life.
Thanks man. I call it like it was.
Thank you both, Gentlemen, for the great podcast! Getting Morgan's book.
Government cheese definitely was spectacular 🤤
“We thought J-Lo was dead” 😂everyone back then thought she died. I remember they included that in the show “Generation Kill” 😂
Life in Iraq before the internet was set up. So many rumors.
For those curious, a bullet in a bonfire isn't a huge deal. The casing is usually lighter than the bullet, so the casing has more velocity coming out of the fire. It comes out already tumbling and it bleeds velocity pretty quick. It will break a window...maybe. If it's close and if it hits it at the correct angle. If it hits you, it might sting a bit. If you're nervous, just turn your back to the fire and wait for the rounds to cook off, so you won't take the hit to the face or eye.
At some point iraq did have chemical weapons as its well accepted that they used this on the kurds. Maybe that was the only stuff they had.
Yeah, the narrative around this war is beyond fubar. You can think the war was a mistake and also not necessarily believe it was for "muh oil" or that there was never any reason to think there were chemical weapons.
I've seen some arguments that there was some reason to think they didn't actually have chemical weapons, but obviously, it's hard to be sure. When people make the argument that we should have known there wasn't any, they often also leave out the point that was made here, that Saddam had in the past absolutely postered like he had them. From what I understand, Saddam finally got nervous, and he had the weapons and equipment to manufacture the weapons destroyed, but they didn't keep any records or evidence to prove they did it.
Great show!
Great ep!
i waited for the weather to pass before i started this one so now im 30 min in and a gd ninja june bug has started crashing into my tv... i love you, mike ritland, but i fight june bugs for no man. i think the universe is telling me to catch this one on spotify.
John 11:35 just FYI. Great show as always!
Good to see someone is looking into suicides.... my dad did so while holding me at the age of three... I worked part time at BW for ten years... I new two vets there that took their own lives....so sad!!! I just ordered the book..tks for another great guest!! Semper Fi
Great episode! Solid perspective from his experience without the theatrics that I’ve seen on others.
Humor is the best coping mechanism. Never take anything to heart or you’ll never get over it. Plus, pee drinking is just funny
"Book, book, in my book, the book, the rest in the book, book, get the whole story in the book "
A cousin Brother and a Sister Aunt. My wife was adopted by her Grandparents because her Teenage Mom, was not a stable home environment. It’s always weird at our family reunions. Yes we are from Louisiana lol.
You left a lot out Morgan!!!
Can’t get it all in with 2 hours. That’s why there’s a book…that also can’t get everything in.
THE BOOOOOOK!
Excellent 👍🏻💯🇱🇷💪
That was such a great episode, I'm about to go drink me a big ol' glass of homemade Mountain Dew. 😜
Check twice and drink once my man.
85 grand as a Lieutenant?! I was happy to make 25 to 30 grand as an E4.😅
Have to add in the BAH and overseas pay. Maxed out O2E
Nice.
So you mean to tell me that a blackwater guy doesn't know what a EDC is? I don't think so
I was nervous my dude. Called down as it went. But I don’t have an EDC. I’ve got what I like and that chills in my safe.
@@morganlerette3209 So though you do not have a EDC, you don't know what a EDC is? That's my point.
This may be one of the funnier ones since Clark I.
🔥🔥
This guy is funny af
Funny ass episode
I think that it was either conveniently not explained or I wasn't listening to well; but what got him fired from BW?
What's up skid Marks
Never accept a handle.
Our dumbasses would cut open chem lights and throw them on guys. Lit them up. 😂
Did anyone else click on this bc you thought it said Arthur Morgan?
I thought I was the only one
I’ll bite. Who is Arthur Morgan? I know Google exists
@@morganlerette3209 don't judge but he's the main character in Red Dead 2. I thought this was gonna be some cowboy shit haha
this was some funny ass shit
Have to keep it light. There are plenty of serious stories out there. Mine is a mix.
My question is Why Did we destroy Iraq, but give pallets of Cash to Iran?🤨 every war is sold as a Humanitarian mission! By the end of every war we have a hard time identifying what we have gained from participating! I want the real reasons I was sent over there!
These are the questions no one wants to answer. We try to morally justify every stupid war decision.
Is it me or is this the very first guest on Mike Drop that might be a tool...maybe I need to watch more than 10 mins but I'm heavily leaning that direction and I think Mike agrees.
Really? That's funny, because I was thinking he might be one of the more humble guests I've seen on here lol. I have listened to almost the whole thing though.
Opinion at the end? I think he's the most straight talking guy on here in a while. Totally different character to the norm and a welcome break. Mike seemed to totally enjoy this dude. Funny and articulate and talks total sense. 10 minute judgement? I've made my mind up about you in a couple of seconds reading your comment 😂
I thought he was great
Cowpoke!
SAVE THE WATCHES ! At 37:04 the bullshit is so deep I can't breathe. Giving him a bit more... something about, "You can bullshit the fans, but you can't bullshit the players" comes to mind. At 1:37:08.... "It's in the book if ya want the rest of it, you can get the book..." Mike has the patience of Job. Don Shipley would tear him up in seven minutes!
He forgot to say in the interview that most former BW guys have ostracized him for using “mercenary” in his book title in order to boost sales. A mercenary is “a professional soldier hired to serve in a foreign army.” We were hired by our own country to protect US government personnel. We were not hired to fight and we fired our weapons in 1% of over 9000 missions. We were not mercenaries and this sell out forwarded the stigma that has plagued us. Even now, the only reason he is here is to plug his book sales. This guy was nothing special in the BW teams.
Seems like the brotherhood is having trouble accepting themselves for who they are. Just finished the episode and started audiobook. It’s hilarious and entertaining. You absolutely were/are mercenaries! Don’t blame you for going after $$$, but don’t gaslight the public. You could’ve gone over with the military
@@colinh6980 your personal definition doesn’t override that of every English dictionary. Especially that set forth by the UN. The one that also mandates that an individual meet all criteria in order to qualify. Your opinion doesn’t cancel truth, no matter how strong your bias. We were adjunct DSS agents filling a role the DSS couldn’t staff. For our own country, on our own country’s mission. Nothing you can say or attempt to label or shout into silence as is the method of so many these days, will change that truth. Sorry bro. Go sit down.
You must’ve missed Webbster’s definition then and what the general public thinks. SMH. Unfortunate this guys correct use of the term has you hating on him. He didn’t even put BW in a negative light. Hope he sells lots of books.
@zeck8541 semantics. Contractor, mercenary, security, grunt, police. It's all a Gun job. No need to put one on a pedestal over another. Work is work
@@colinh6980 you mean this one from Websters? “one that serves only for wages. especially : a soldier hired by a foreign country to fight in its army. mercenary. 2 of 2 adjective.”
Sorry broseph. That’s not applicable and you know it. Not soldiers. Not hired by foreign country. Not in an army. Not sent to fight. Keep trying. This is entertaining.
sounds like an anti american book.
Not necessarily I don't think.