The Truth About Blackwater: "Everybody Got K*lled!"

About this video

Ritland’s guest recounts his experiences as a private security contractor with Triple Canopy in Ramadi, Iraq in 2004. He describes protecting a State Department diplomat who was advising the new governor of Anbar Province, detailing the constant ambushes, vehicle tactics, and combat engagements his 16-man team faced. The guest shares specific incidents including a coordinated ambush on August 10th, 2004, and discusses how the contracting world evolved from selecting elite operators to choosing the lowest bidder.

Key takeaways

• The guest describes Triple Canopy initially recruiting only from special operations units and paying up to $30K monthly, deploying his team to protect State Department diplomats coaching Iraqi officials in Ramadi during intense insurgent activity in 2004
• He recounts his team’s primary mission as protecting their principal through mobile operations in armored vehicles, with the standard battle drill being to break contact rather than engage, though rooftop defense at static locations involved sustained firefights
• The guest details a major coordinated ambush on August 10th, 2004, where insurgents used jersey barriers to funnel their convoy into a kill zone with fighters positioned on rooftops, resulting in all vehicles taking heavy fire but no casualties on his team

Episode details: published May 4, 2026 · 461.3K views · 23:42 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Stories told by Mike Ritland’s podcast guests are the guests’ own accounts, attributed to them — not independently verified. Commentary is Ritland’s, presented as his analysis.

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