Ashcroft - Making A Killing: the Explosive Story of a Hired Gun in Iraq

About the Book

The pay: $1,000 a day

The cost: Never knowing if youll make it out alive

When James Ash Ashcroft, a former British Infantry Captain, arrived in Iraq as a gun for hire, it was the beginning of an 18-month journey into chaos and blood.

From the midst of a war where private soldiers outnumber non-US Coalition forces, Ash gives a blow-by-blow account of the adrenaline-filled life of a security contractor. From days under mortar bombardment to the huge risks of operating deep within the Iraqi community, this is the real, unsanitised story of the war in Iraq and its aftermath direct from the front line.

Contents

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Version 1.0

Epub ISBN 9780753547748

www.randomhouse.co.uk

Published by Virgin Books 2010

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Copyright James Ashcroft 2006

James Ashcroft has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 to be identified as the author of this work

This book is a work of non-fiction based on the life, experiences and recollections of the author. In some cases names of people, places, dates, sequences or the detail of events have been changed solely to protect the privacy of others. The author has stated to the publishers that, except in such respects not affecting the substantial accuracy of the work, the contents of this book are true.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

First published in Great Britain in 2006 by
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ISBN 9780753512340

IN MEMORIAM

Philip

Jason

Mohanned

Hayder

Riyadh

Khaled

About the Author

James Ashcroft is a former British Infantry Captain who served in West Belfast and Yugoslavia, and trained with various elite US Army and Marine Units. He worked as a private security contractor in Iraq from September 2003 until spring 2005. His second book, Escape from Baghdad, was published by Virgin Books in 2009.

Clifford Thurlow is the co-author of Making A Killing and Escape from Baghdad. He has collaborated on numerous biographies, most recently Today Im Alice and Fatwa: Living with a Death Threat.

Also by James Ashcroft

Escape from Baghdad

How dull it is to pause, to make an end,

To rust unburnishd, not to shine in use!

Alfred, Lord Tennyson, Ulysses

The rain fell alike upon the just and upon the unjust, and for nothing was there a why and a wherefore.

W. Somerset Maugham, Of Human Bondage

Never, never, never believe any war will be smooth and easy, or that anyone who embarks on the strange voyage can measure the tides and hurricanes he will encounter. The statesman who yields to war fever must realise that once the signal is given, he is no longer the master of policy but the slave of unforeseeable and uncontrollable events.

Sir Winston Churchill

GLOSSARY

.50 cal 12.7mm calibre anti-materiel round; also a term used to refer to the Browning machine gun.

5.56 5.56 45mm calibre rounds, standard NATO calibre since 1979.

7.62 long 7.62 54mm round, Soviet rimmed cartridge fired in the PKM and Dragunov; also designated 7.62 x 54R.

7.62 NATO 7.62 51mm round used in the GPMG and rifles such as the G3 and FAL.

7.62 short 7.62 39mm round used by AK-47, RPD and SKS.

9 milly British Army slang for 9mm pistol.

AAFES American Army and Air Force Exchange Service, the welfare shopping organisation establishing shops for US Forces around the world on US bases. Commonly known as the PX.

Abrams US main battle tank M1A2, 120mm cannon, .50 cal machine gun and two 7.62mm GPMG.

AC-130H/U Military designation for Spectre aerial gun platform based on a C-130 airframe. It has a 40mm cannon, twin 20mm multi-barrelled Gatling guns and an automatic 105mm artillery piece. Computer guidance allows the aircraft to circle and maintain uninterrupted, accurate fire support on to target. Its radar can track its own 40mm and 105mm projectiles in flight, thus allowing pinpoint adjustment of fire. The software will allow two targets up to 1km apart to be engaged simultaneously.

Actions on Term used to describe standard operating procedures for any given scenario.

AGC Adjutants General Corps.

AH-64 See Apache.

AK-47 Soviet assault rifle firing 7.62 short, available folding or fixed stock with 30- and 40-round magazines or 75-round drum.

Apache US twin-engine attack helicopter military designation AH-64 with excellent long-range stand-off optics, armed with a wide variety of air-to-air and ground attack anti-personnel and anti-vehicular munitions.

B6/BVI Vehicle armour grading of a level to withstand a limited level of high-velocity rifle and machine-gun fire up to 7.62mm. Not proof against armour piercing rounds, .50 cal rounds or RPG.

BIAP Baghdad International Airport.

Blue-force tracker A GPS tracking unit that will display a vehicles exact location on a digital display both in the vehicle and in the operations room. Only issued to US Forces and PSDs carrying out CF taskings.

BMP Soviet tracked armoured personnel carrier with turret and medium-calibre weaponry varying according to model.

Bradley Bradley M2 tracked Infantry Fighting Vehicle, or M3 Cavalry variant, armed with 25mm chain gun, 7.62mm GPMG and TOW missiles. Some variants carry anti-aircraft Javelin or Stinger missiles. Three crew and six passengers.

Browning Browning Hi Power pistol, or GP35, a 9mm automatic pistol with a 13- or 20-round magazine. Made by Fabrique Nationale, the Belgian firearms manufacturer who also produced the MAG, the Minimi and many others. Sometimes also used to refer to the Browning M2 .50 cal machine gun.

Casevac Casualty Evacuation.

CF Coalition Forces.

Circuit The network of men working as Private Security Contractors.

COP Close Observation Platoon.

CP Close Protection, bodyguarding activity.

CPA Coalition Provisional Authority, the interim government installed by the US government after the invasion of Iraq. Also refers to the Presidential palace compound later to be known as the