When Neil Reynolds was first asked whether he’d like to work in Iraq as a private military contractor, he didn’t even know where it was on the map. But he would quickly learn the lay of the land and what it entails working in one of the world’s most violent conflict zones. When he left for the Middle East at the end of 2003, he was part of one of the first groups of South Africans to start private military security companies in Iraq. In this honest and often humorous account he tells of all the everyday and major challenges they had to face: from finding a braai-able chop, a safe hotel to stay in and buying guns on the black market and dodging bullets on several hair-raising protection missions. He also tells the story of four South African colleagues who were kidnapped and killed in Baghdad in 2006.