Ones Ready
A team of active duty Combat Control (CCT), Pararescue (PJ), and Special Reconnaissance (SR) leveraging our 69 years of special operations experience to make the next generation of operators smarter, faster and stronger than we ever were. We are the PREMIERE resource for all things Air Force Special Warfare. The Ones Ready Podcast is honest talk about what it is like to go from a know-nothing high school graduate to an elite Special Operator. We will cover important practices for success including physical training, nutrition, recovery, and mindset traits essential to any team. Join us in The Team Room to get all your questions answered!! With battle-tested operators from across USAF SPECWAR and far-reaching web of recruiters, subject matter experts, and friends, there are no questions we can’t answer- and if we can’t, we know exactly where to look. See you in The Team Room!Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed by the OnesReady team are those of the team and do not reflect the official policy or position of the DoD. Any content provided by our Podcast guests, bloggers, sponsors, or authors are of their opinion and are not intended to malign the DoD, any religion, ethnic group, club, organization, company, individual, or anyone.
Ones Ready
Ep 508: Blackwater: The World’s Most Infamous PMC with Morgan Lerette
This episode is only available to subscribers.
Ones Ready MBRS Only
Exclusive access to bonus episodes!Ones Ready sits down with Morgan Lerette —author of Guns, Girls, and Greed—to talk about life as a Blackwater mercenary during the chaos of Iraq and Afghanistan. From getting recruited as a broke Air Guard kid, to standing on flight lines wondering if forklifts win Bronze Stars, to suddenly pulling convoys through Route Irish with Navy SEALs and Rangers, Morgan lays it all out: the absurd, the grim, and the downright sketchy. We dive into the wild days of unarmored Peugeots with body armor for window panels, hooker stories from Jordan, and the not-so-fun reality of PMCs running missions with zero backup. And just when you’re laughing at zebra-striped POW underwear, Morgan drops the hammer on the modern PMC industry moving kids across the border. Buckle up—this one goes from hilarious to horrifying in record time. Part two is going to be even spicier.
⏱️ Timestamps:
00:00 – Welcome back to Ones Ready
02:00 – Blackwater mercenary origins and pipeline discounts
05:00 – Morgan’s “construction worker” to Air Guard journey
09:00 – Forklift heroes and Bronze Stars
13:00 – How a Security Forces guy landed at Blackwater
18:00 – Fallujah, no backup, and calling Bragg from a Nokia brick
22:00 – Corkscrew flights, Peugeots with steel plates, and sweaty armor
27:00 – Protecting diplomats with “creative” ROE
32:00 – Contractors vs State Department nerds
38:00 – QRF reality: escort service and car bomb season
42:00 – The flashbang fail and Iraqi cell-jammer pranks
44:00 – Guns, Girls, Greed—why Morgan’s book pissed off Blackwater
47:00 – Hooker tales and Harvard economics majors
49:00 – Custer’s Battles and the Wild West of PMCs
53:00 – The ugly truth: PMCs moving kids at the border
58:00 – Durable goods, cartels, and why trafficking beats drugs
1:02:00 – Why foreign-funded PMCs are a ticking time bomb
1:04:00 – Zebra-striped underwear POW story to close it out
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