What do you think?
Rate this book
Guns, Girls, and Greed: I Was a Blackwater Mercenary in Iraq
Guns, Girls, and Greed is an unvarnished, behind-the-scenes, tell-all account of the scathing and dangerous life of mercenaries at war in Iraq.
Experience the world of private contractors conducting high-threat missions for a nascent Iraqi government in the hopes of rebuilding after the fall of Saddam Hussein. With limited support, the men of Blackwater protected US diplomats as the country descended into sectarian violence. It was a hazardous mission complete with rockets, mortars, improvised explosive devices, and not knowing who or where the enemy was.
Morgan Lerette’s irreverently honest memoir shows the good and bad of injecting private armies into active combat zones in the name of diplomacy and digs deep into the bonds of brotherhood created by war. With gut-wrenching tragedy, dark humor, and parties that make Animal House seem like a Disney film, this memoir offers a firsthand perspective on how men act and react in war.
Lerette, a private contractor employed by the notorious Blackwater in the early days of the Iraq War, pulls no punches in calling out the incompetence of both the US military and the Department of State during the collapse of Iraq. You can decide if the insertion of private contractors in Iraq assisted or detracted from the war effort and if the costs in blood and treasure were worth the carnage.
Experience the world of private contractors conducting high-threat missions for a nascent Iraqi government in the hopes of rebuilding after the fall of Saddam Hussein. With limited support, the men of Blackwater protected US diplomats as the country descended into sectarian violence. It was a hazardous mission complete with rockets, mortars, improvised explosive devices, and not knowing who or where the enemy was.
Morgan Lerette’s irreverently honest memoir shows the good and bad of injecting private armies into active combat zones in the name of diplomacy and digs deep into the bonds of brotherhood created by war. With gut-wrenching tragedy, dark humor, and parties that make Animal House seem like a Disney film, this memoir offers a firsthand perspective on how men act and react in war.
Lerette, a private contractor employed by the notorious Blackwater in the early days of the Iraq War, pulls no punches in calling out the incompetence of both the US military and the Department of State during the collapse of Iraq. You can decide if the insertion of private contractors in Iraq assisted or detracted from the war effort and if the costs in blood and treasure were worth the carnage.
304 pages, Hardcover
Published February 6, 2024
46 people are currently reading
147 people want to read
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
March 14, 2024
"You’ve heard about Blackwater. I venture you have a negative view of us. That’s fine. It’s a view we cultivated and nurtured. It’s well deserved..."
Guns, Girls, and Greed was a pretty gritty read. In the end, I did enjoy hearing this account - for better or worse, although I'd wager that many of the readers of this book will be left clutching their pearls after the first page or so. More below.
Author Morgan Lerette was first deployed to Iraq in 2003 to provide security for the first aerial supply route in Iraq at Tallil Air Base, which was the staging point for the Jessica Lynch rescue. He joined Blackwater in 2004 and was sent to Iraq to protect diplomats.
Morgan Lerette:
I will say right up front that the scope of this review will only comment on the content of the book, as it was presented, to be read. The scope of this review will not include any personal commentary about the broader situation -ie; the politics of the war, the ethics of using PMCs, and the ramifications of their lack of formal rules of conduct.
Lerette has an extremely raw and "unpolished" (for lack of a better term) writing style. Accordingly, this book is not for the feint of heart. It is mostly a collection of raunchy and incredibly graphic stories depicting his day-to-day life as a Private Military Contractor (PMC) for the company Blackwater, circa 2004-2005; after the fall of Saddam Hussein in the American-led invasion of Iraq.
The book is written in the very low-brow, knuckle-dragging style you might expect from a gun for hire in a foreign land. The dialogue unfolds like you were a troop on active combat deployment alongside him. The author makes countless crude and lewd jokes, references, and drops about enough anti-PC rhetoric to give the average purple-haired SJW a heart attack.
The writing here is full of raunchy talk about sex, masturbation, shit, piss, getting drunk, and being reckless and wild. The author refers to the people in Iraq as "dirt worshippers." It would be an understatement to say that he had a high level of disdain for the people of Iraq.
During the war in Iraq, the US gov't decided to use the private sector heavily to fill roles traditionally assigned to the military. All kinds of jobs that the military used to provide became outsourced. This ranged from cooking and cleaning, to administration, to convoy security for the passage of supplies, and the transport of VIP diplomats around various sites.
The motivations for this can only be speculative, but PMC casualties are not usually included in stats of American war dead, and they have no formal accountability, unlike their public sector counterparts. They were typically not prosecuted for any wrong-doings, and were free to conduct themselves almost as they pleased over there. Chaos predictably ensued...
Lerette writes this about the grim nature of the high-paying job he signed up for:
And says this about the lack of judicial oversight of their missions:
Although the book was interesting, I was not really a fan of the style it was presented in. Ya, I get that a book about military life as a PMC might be a little rough around the edges. However, the writing here far surpassed anything that could be considered "a little rough around the edges" very early on. And although it wasn't that the tone and language offended me, it did become tiresome as it went on...
The author goes out of his way to be as offensive and vulgar as he can here, and it started to annoy me. Just tell the fucking story, and save the juvenile pee pee poo poo jokes. I'm sure there was enough source material here without having to fill the pages with endless stories about guys jerking off. No one wants to hear that shit.
Not one to try and buck the stereotype of PMCs being loud-mouthed, obnoxious blowhards, the author seems to embrace it here, and takes every opportunity to be as offensive as he can be. I get why he did this, though. He wanted to be as authentic as possible to how that period of his life was. And back then, that's who he was. Personally, I would have preferred a little less shock value, and more story-telling. God knows, he's got some great source material to work with...
To his credit, he does dial it back in the afterword, and gets serious. He drops this quote:
He also comments on the ethics of the US using PMCs in a war zone:
********************
Despite my above criticisms, Guns, Girls, and Greed was still an interesting look into the daily life of a Blackwater PMC in Iraq, circa 2004.
4 stars.
Guns, Girls, and Greed was a pretty gritty read. In the end, I did enjoy hearing this account - for better or worse, although I'd wager that many of the readers of this book will be left clutching their pearls after the first page or so. More below.
Author Morgan Lerette was first deployed to Iraq in 2003 to provide security for the first aerial supply route in Iraq at Tallil Air Base, which was the staging point for the Jessica Lynch rescue. He joined Blackwater in 2004 and was sent to Iraq to protect diplomats.
Morgan Lerette:
I will say right up front that the scope of this review will only comment on the content of the book, as it was presented, to be read. The scope of this review will not include any personal commentary about the broader situation -ie; the politics of the war, the ethics of using PMCs, and the ramifications of their lack of formal rules of conduct.
Lerette has an extremely raw and "unpolished" (for lack of a better term) writing style. Accordingly, this book is not for the feint of heart. It is mostly a collection of raunchy and incredibly graphic stories depicting his day-to-day life as a Private Military Contractor (PMC) for the company Blackwater, circa 2004-2005; after the fall of Saddam Hussein in the American-led invasion of Iraq.
The book is written in the very low-brow, knuckle-dragging style you might expect from a gun for hire in a foreign land. The dialogue unfolds like you were a troop on active combat deployment alongside him. The author makes countless crude and lewd jokes, references, and drops about enough anti-PC rhetoric to give the average purple-haired SJW a heart attack.
The writing here is full of raunchy talk about sex, masturbation, shit, piss, getting drunk, and being reckless and wild. The author refers to the people in Iraq as "dirt worshippers." It would be an understatement to say that he had a high level of disdain for the people of Iraq.
During the war in Iraq, the US gov't decided to use the private sector heavily to fill roles traditionally assigned to the military. All kinds of jobs that the military used to provide became outsourced. This ranged from cooking and cleaning, to administration, to convoy security for the passage of supplies, and the transport of VIP diplomats around various sites.
The motivations for this can only be speculative, but PMC casualties are not usually included in stats of American war dead, and they have no formal accountability, unlike their public sector counterparts. They were typically not prosecuted for any wrong-doings, and were free to conduct themselves almost as they pleased over there. Chaos predictably ensued...
Lerette writes this about the grim nature of the high-paying job he signed up for:
"Tomorrow I may be blown up by a rocket. Maybe an IED punctures the armor of my Hummer and rips my kidney apart. If I’m not wearing a colostomy bag at the end of the day, it’s a win..."
And says this about the lack of judicial oversight of their missions:
"In a military deployment, the first thing you’re told are the Rules of Engagement (ROE). Not here. We’re told through the grapevine we don’t have any because our mission is transporting diplomats by any means necessary.
Platitudes of not making enemies arise but if we get in trouble, Blackwater will get us out and claim diplomatic immunity. This is backed up by the State Department passports we have.."
Although the book was interesting, I was not really a fan of the style it was presented in. Ya, I get that a book about military life as a PMC might be a little rough around the edges. However, the writing here far surpassed anything that could be considered "a little rough around the edges" very early on. And although it wasn't that the tone and language offended me, it did become tiresome as it went on...
The author goes out of his way to be as offensive and vulgar as he can here, and it started to annoy me. Just tell the fucking story, and save the juvenile pee pee poo poo jokes. I'm sure there was enough source material here without having to fill the pages with endless stories about guys jerking off. No one wants to hear that shit.
Not one to try and buck the stereotype of PMCs being loud-mouthed, obnoxious blowhards, the author seems to embrace it here, and takes every opportunity to be as offensive as he can be. I get why he did this, though. He wanted to be as authentic as possible to how that period of his life was. And back then, that's who he was. Personally, I would have preferred a little less shock value, and more story-telling. God knows, he's got some great source material to work with...
To his credit, he does dial it back in the afterword, and gets serious. He drops this quote:
"Contractors are stuck in a precarious position. They carry scars of war, but aren’t afforded public support given to military veterans. Yet contractors became critical in the Iraq war because no one planned for a protracted conflict.
Blackwater filled the void. With limited supervision and no repercussions, we became the epitome of mercenaries: highly paid men with a mission but no rules of engagement—Guns, Girls, and Greed drove us. Erik Prince stated repeatedly that we conducted over forty thousand missions with only two hundred shots fired. What he doesn’t report, and likely never knew, is the carnage we wreaked by smashing into cars and the actual number of shots we took because we never reported them.
I don’t blame Prince or Blackwater for how contractors acted, but future wars can’t be fought using unsupervised PMCs. The repercussions for local populations are too severe. This is not to say private security contractors don’t have a place in combat, but DoS and DoD need to get out of their ivory towers, get in harm’s way, and be part of missions. Until then, private security contracts will be a net negative."
He also comments on the ethics of the US using PMCs in a war zone:
"Do private contractors belong in combat? I doubt anyone entertained the idea until the US handed sovereignty to an interim Iraqi government, because we didn’t want to be seen as occupiers. The toppling of one government with replacement by a hastily-created, propped-up interim government created a gray area where no one understood where wars end and diplomacy began. To fill the leadership gap, we threw money at the problem with private security companies happy to profit. Blackwater wasn’t the only PMC—though it got much of the blame... ...My position is PMCs should never be in a place where US troops are not. If the government doesn’t have the balls to commit troops, they shouldn’t’ wage war by PMC proxy."
"US Government agencies, including private military contractors, must be held to strict standards and accountability in combat zones just as US Military forces are, as their conduct reflects US foreign policy and national defense.
There are PMC’s in Syria, Ukraine, and at the US / Mexico doing jobs no one has defined. This illustrates PMC’s have become a federal government line item with zero oversight. Nothing has changed in 22 years of the GWOT. It’s time for accountability."
********************
Despite my above criticisms, Guns, Girls, and Greed was still an interesting look into the daily life of a Blackwater PMC in Iraq, circa 2004.
4 stars.
May 29, 2025
Wild memoir about your average Lad who signs up with the infamous Mercenary outfit and a descent into near Apocalypse Now madness of war. Pretty cool. Also dogs.
December 3, 2024
great read , an insider’s guide into the Blackwater’s history in Iraq.
The author has written a compelling book on his experiences as a gun for hire combat security agent. The author takes the reader into his world, filled with A type personalities, egos, and daily challenges to their lives. The author has a great sense of humor and I hope that he writes another book because he is very talented. I highly recommend this book.
The author has written a compelling book on his experiences as a gun for hire combat security agent. The author takes the reader into his world, filled with A type personalities, egos, and daily challenges to their lives. The author has a great sense of humor and I hope that he writes another book because he is very talented. I highly recommend this book.
April 4, 2025
When I initially started reading this book, it was the "macho man" tone and bravado that initially turned me off to the author. Overall, he details a lot of serving with Blackwater and the hijinks that went on with that PMC. You won't find some diatribe of Dope, Guns, and Screwing in here, but the vagaries of living with a lot of dudes and being a dude. Overall, the book was informative, which is one of the reasons I stuck with it. More or less, he's a tragic character, and his post-contract life reveals that war inevitably affects one in some form or fashion. It was mental health issues, and he went through a troubled divorce and wanted to get back into the game whenever he could, when I left Iraq and Afghanistan, I was ready to go back into battle. Only in some cases did I get lucky in active duty compared to the National Guard, where I served a peaceful deployment rather than another combat deployment; such is life. Overall, it is a good read, and some of the machoness becomes more understood rather than an excuse by Morgan to prove how big his balls are.
March 26, 2024
Is this post millennial stream of consciousness literature coming out of a mercenary? Hmm. How about a stream of obscenities, wise-cracked bullshit from a mercenary that just spits out rapid-fire comments about whatever comes to the attention of his attention deficited addled brain. Ok, now i got that out the way; intermittently at least, he manages to smuggle in some interesting information that actually matters to the setting that is 🇮🇶Iraq post-2004.
So, pay attention lest you miss them few morsels of mouthy-language wrapped bits of wisdoms. If you do miss them, no matter just lose yourself in mostly meaningless blabber as you distract yourself with whatever works for you while reading or listening to this here book.
If that all sounds like I want you to stay away from guns, girls and greed, then in a literal sense, hell no - Enjoy your life. Lerette’s book Girls, Guns and Greed though, well that is an entirely different matter.
So, pay attention lest you miss them few morsels of mouthy-language wrapped bits of wisdoms. If you do miss them, no matter just lose yourself in mostly meaningless blabber as you distract yourself with whatever works for you while reading or listening to this here book.
If that all sounds like I want you to stay away from guns, girls and greed, then in a literal sense, hell no - Enjoy your life. Lerette’s book Girls, Guns and Greed though, well that is an entirely different matter.
January 23, 2025
One of the funnier books I've read in a LONG time. Absolute potty humor while dealing with a real tough topics. I'd assume there's a group of people who won't care for the stream of conscious along with the crass nature of the language but I got it and I enjoyed it. Quote from my wife, I haven't see you laugh out loud some many times while reading a book. That's how good it is. It reminded me of John Corey from Nelson DeMille's Plum Island. Every single chapter had me guffawing at one point or another. Self deprecating and brutally honest, Lerette does an excellent job of providing a on the ground, up front and in your face depiction of life as a PMC. A quick read and I admire his sense of humor.
April 28, 2024
A really good book….
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into but this book went from awesome humor, dark but funny, to wtf moments. Take a shot of bourbon or two and step back into 2004…. If you have been in the military you know every character in these war tales. You will probably even run into yourself…
I wasn’t sure what I was getting into but this book went from awesome humor, dark but funny, to wtf moments. Take a shot of bourbon or two and step back into 2004…. If you have been in the military you know every character in these war tales. You will probably even run into yourself…
March 11, 2025
Be warned there is a bunch of GI humor in this book. I found it hilarious, but those without the E4 mindset may be turned off or disconnected from where the author was going. It’s not your typical astute book that generals pump out where they bloviate about themselves. Just a book about a guy and his journey with Blackwater
April 12, 2025
I really enjoyed it! Morgan does a great job of keeping the reader/listener entertained through numerous stories (both the good and the bad) from his time as blackwater contractor. With a ton of comedy throughout, I could also actually feel the raw, more serious emotions that he went through as I listened to this book.
May 7, 2024
4, 5 stars
behind the scene story is always appealing to me and add the fact that author wrote about such hard and serious topics with so much humor, i like it...
behind the scene story is always appealing to me and add the fact that author wrote about such hard and serious topics with so much humor, i like it...
May 14, 2024
Entertaining and full of dark humor. He stayed true to what the job actually and kept it neutral for reader to decide.
January 4, 2025
Amazing story. I have never laughed so hard in my life. This guy can definitely find humor in anything.
January 14, 2025
Pretty fascinating perspective, a bit crude, but still a interesting glimpse
August 1, 2025
Crass, obscene, vulgar and awesome!
August 13, 2025
Knowing and training with a few Blackwater dudes I wasn't too impressed with this book. It didn't shine a very good light on the Organization tbh.
August 11, 2024
With only a few glimpses of the wider world this is too biographical to offer much of interest to people who don't connect directly with the author and I'm too old to even understand him let alone connect.
July 15, 2025
This is not something your lady friend will want to listen to. It's a total guilty pleasure read/listen. Spotify premium users can download it for free.
It's a guy telling stories he only tells other guys about the terrible things he heard, saw, and did in Iraq. And you'll laugh aloud. Tell me when you get to the part of about the Waffle House waitress.
It's a guy telling stories he only tells other guys about the terrible things he heard, saw, and did in Iraq. And you'll laugh aloud. Tell me when you get to the part of about the Waffle House waitress.
April 18, 2025
The best ground perspective of war I’ve read. It gets into the mind of young men at war. Humor balanced with action. Not what I’d call an educational book unless you read through the lines about PTSD and how war changes people.
September 18, 2025
Excellent story.
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews