W
Jay Slater takes the opportunity to interview a man who really has “been there, done that.”
eapons are like cars,” says Lewis Steiner,
an ex-Army soldier and Mercenary for
Hire (or “Security Contractor” as the
industry prefers to call him these days).
“I think everyone has their favourites and
I know many who rave about the AK-47.
Personally I hate it, not because it’s crap
but because it has no finesse. It’s not
super-accurate and yes, it does have man-
stopping power but when you consider
most are made under licence in shithole
countries with no quality control, I rather
put my life in the hands of something a bit more refined.”
Steiner sits in the corner of a pub in Lower Clapton Road,
his back to the wall and eyeing the locals, the saloon door
and a means of escape as if routine. Located on a stretch
of tarmac that lays claim to the unwanted title of “Britain’s
Deadliest Road” in terms of gangland killings, Steiner feels
at home despite the clientele and air of graphic violence.
Images of the Kray brothers hang from walls as if shrines to
the departed and suit the pub well. Its wallpaper, tarred by
fading nicotine and the occasional splatter of claret just do
not catch the eye - unless, of course, you are Steiner.
Lewis Steiner is currently serving with a major US news
outlet in Baghdad and has returned to London to promote
his book Trunk Monkeys: The Life of a Contract Soldier in
Iraq (Fonthill Media, 2014). The book, unlike many other
titles that fabricate the author’s role in the Middle East, tells
Steiner’s true story as a mercenary working in Iraq shortly
after the second Gulf War.
From the perspective of a grizzled veteran who left
the British Army to join the gold rush in the living hell that
was war-torn Iraq, this fascinating and often extremely
violent book encompasses the highs and lows of operating
throughout the country; from Basra in the south up to Mosul
in the north. Steiner recounts stories of friends lost due to
negligence and poor planning, to the realities of conducting a
private war surrounded by civilians who might be the enemy.
Injured in an incident that left two dead, Steiner accepted
a contract located near Tikrit, where the missions rapidly
become a death sentence to many of the contract soldiers.
In some cases the missions were pointless, costing men,
vehicles and the sanity of his brothers in arms. Steiner was
in the thick of it, from dodging enemy ambushes, to taking
out a suicide bomber and narrowly escaping death in “Sniper
Alley” - collecting cranberry sauce for the US on Thanksgiving Day!
IS ST
TRUNK MONKEY
Forget the fictionalised works of Andy McNab, Tom Clancy
and Chris Ryan: this is the real deal and tells a story that the
government does not want you to know. Think of The Wild
Geese (1978) on steroids and you have the picture.
Before becoming a security contractor, Steiner spent
twenty-two years in the British Army as an infantry soldier. His
first tastes of combat were in Northern Ireland, although he
claims what he does now is an almost laughable introduction
to the battlefield after his service in Afghanistan and Iraq.
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