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I just finished reading Civilian Warriors by Erik Prince, the founder and former CEO of Blackwater Inc. Mr. Prince presents the "other side" of the story of the infamous company that according to him was made a scapegoat for doing what it was contractually obliged to do. Blackwater, whose employees served in some of the toughest theaters of war, Afghanistan and Iraq had been the very ugly face war profiteering over the last decade. Critics of the company have always pointed to the military-industrial complex that seeks out wars that throw up huge opportunities for companies including "mercenaries" such as Blackwater to profit from the outsourcing of war activities (training, supply, search and rescue, security, intelligence, and mundane administration etc.) The author presents Blackwater's side of the story, the history of "civilian warriors" in not just famous battles but the exploration and settlement of the new world, the constantly changing and ever evolving nature of warfare, the founding of Blackwater to address particular training needs of security forces, the nature of the contracts that the company had with the State Dept and Department of Defense, the company's track record in never failing to protect anyone under their cover, the explosive growth of the company, the tragedies in Iraq that led to civilian deaths, the incessant attacks from the left and the media, the gradual erosion of public faith and the end of the company as we know it.  Although Blackwater was not the only company in the business of "battle" (there are other famous names such as DynCorp, Executive outcomes, Blue Mountain etc.), it earned the ire of the public, the Iraqi govt, and the democratic regime in Washington for reasons not just confined to their battlefield actions but also from partisan politics that needed a whipping boy.