"A raw, riveting look into the hidden frontlines of the Iraq War and an indispensable first-person account of the secret lives of the mercenaries and contractors who fought and died overseas ... Rice does something few have attempted, taking us on an emotional journey that is at once unsettling and revelatory. Excellent." – Mark Boal, Oscar-winning screenwriter and producer of The Hurt Locker and Zero Dark Thirty "A riveting tale of a brotherhood of warriors and their descent into hell. Visceral, brutal, raw and very real, We Were Blackwater is a rollercoaster ride of combat on the frontline of death and bloodshed. Unputdownable. Unforgettable. The untold true story." – Damien Lewis, author of SAS Ghost Patrol and Churchill's Secret Warriors " We Were Blackwater puts your boots right on the ground – in a place you'd never want to be, except in the safety of a book. Barrie Rice is a natural storyteller: clear-eyed, funny, wise, honest and humble. Reading this book feels like making a new friend. Fresh and exhilarating." – Hugo Lindgren, former editor of the New York Times Magazine *** The aftermath of the 2003 Iraq invasion is a story that has yet to be told by those who fought their own war against a brutal insurgency: the private security contractors. Risking life and limb, often side by side with the US military but far more exposed, they were never to receive a hero's homecoming. They remained in the shadows, often with good cause, but that would change for ever on 31 March 2004, when a security convoy was ambushed in Fallujah and the charred bodies of two American operators were strung from a road bridge. Those events would ensure notoriety for the company involved: Blackwater. This is the untold story of the security industry and its private war, recounted by a man who witnessed it first hand: SAS veteran and New Zealand national Barrie Rice. His visceral, no-holds-barred account of his time with Blackwater is brought to life in scenes that lead to a reckoning with both the war and himself. This gripping account delivers a compelling slice of reality – the inside story of the private contractor's war.