Product Description

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.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #69359 in Books
• Published on: 2008-04-15
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 664 pages

Review
A remarkable read with thriller moments that take you into the heart of the action... This book should be on the must-read list... --Raider Magazine. 11/2008

About the Author
AL J. VENTER has been an international war correspondent for nearly thirty years, primarily for the Jane's Information Group. He has also produced documentary television films on subjects from the wars in Africa and Afghanistan to sharkhunting off the Cape of Good Hope.

Customer Reviews

The Way Of The Warrior
Al Venter made his name with books like CHOPPER BOYS which were essentially photographic collections for rotorheads with some text. In WAR DOG he starts to deliver the sort of text that makes for a more rounded book. Venter is never going to be producing works of political and military analysis (there are plenty of academics doing this) but he does produce exciting accounts of military operations and within these some gems of analysis.

This book centres on three areas of "mercenary" involvement (Sierra Leone, Angola and the DRC) and on a review of how the mercenary world has altered since Les Affreux were in the Belgian Congo to the world of Blackwater in Iraq. The main theme is a tight band of Venter's South African chums who served in the Border War and now fight across Africa. Sierra Leone takes the biggest page count as Venter warms to three themes; firstly, the ineffective performance of UN forces, secondly, the effectiveness of Executive Outcomes (the then South African company), and thirdly, the derring-do of Neal Ellis, the South African pilot of a Mi-24 Hind who acts as a force multiplier for the local forces. This is good well-paced adventure writing, except that it is also what actually happened.

Venter's heart has always been with his South African and Rhodesian friends, but he is perfectly happy to compliment some UNITA units, and to give due weight to the views of the black (as against white) Africans who make up the majority of these mercenary forces (and even the Hizbullah supporting door gunner).

The events covered by Venter are often incredibly savage, savage not because of an inherent African brutality but because of the tactics of a few men whose skill is terror. You may have doubts about whether mercenary armies are the best way forward (Venter has some solid arguments for you to consider) but there can be no-one in favour of the slaughter that has struck so many African nations from the new resource-based insurgent movements.

An Excellent and Disturbing Account of Modern Africa
The rules in Africa are different. When faced with the degree of corruption, greed, cruelty and homicidal mania prevalent in some parts of the continent it takes a more than a bunch of incompetent buffoons in UN blue berets to impose control. Thanks to the mercenaries, the war dogs, the paid security professionals - not a rag tag bunch of adventurers but a highly trained, disciplined and vastly experienced combat unit capable of routing the rebels and imposing some law and order. This is not fiction - it is told as it actually happened and the truth will astound and horrify some of us soft, spoilt Westeners. What a great book! Highly Recommended!

War Dog
Very detailed and informative look into the world of the Contract soldier.Shows that in many cases peoples idea of the 'Dogs of War' is completly wrong.Yes they are fighting for money but then why not.Their skills were saving peoples lives and defending countries when the True Governments were unable to or just didnt have the heart to do it themselves.A great read and one that will change your views on Merceneries.