Welcome to Blackwater - Flying In To Chaos with Author Morgan Lerette | Mike Drop #186

About this video

Morgan Lerette recounts his chaotic arrival in Iraq as a Blackwater contractor, describing a harrowing flight with extreme evasive maneuvers and landing without body armor or adequate weaponry. He describes his initial missions protecting diplomats and transporting evidence for Saddam Hussein’s trial, gradually realizing the ambiguity of his role in the war effort. Lerette shares early experiences with rocket attacks in the Green Zone and extended deployments in northern Iraq that lasted months longer than planned.

Key takeaways

• Lerette describes his first flight into Iraq involved extreme evasive maneuvers by Blackwater pilots, with minimal safety equipment and a gunner hanging from the aircraft with legs dangling.
• According to Lerette, contractors were given unarmored vehicles, a single magazine of ammunition, and makeshift metal plates for protection while driving the heavily-attacked Irish Road from the airport to the Green Zone.
• Lerette recounts that what was supposed to be a three-day deployment to northern Iraq lasted two and a half months, and he gradually questioned whether contractors were truly helping the war effort.
• Lerette describes regular rocket attacks on the Green Zone, recounting one incident where successive rockets landed closer until everyone fled to a shelter area.

Episode details: published May 7, 2024 · 4.9K views · 8:35 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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