BOOK REVIEW - Killing Sheep: The Righteous Insurgent

This book briefly accounts one of Mark Blackard's most memorable overseas experiences.



Mark, a former narcotics agent, took a government contracting job as an overseas counter-terrorism adviser. He was sent to Afghanistan to help local Afghan para-military contingents identify and confiscate stolen weapons and homemade explosives devices in the local Afghan community.



Mark put forth a huge effort to live and learn among the Afghans he worked with in order to earn their respect and trust as an outsider working within. Through his persistence and expertise in organized crime, he was able to lead several successful raids against local terrorist groups with limited resources and backup.



There were a few things I took from this book that I think are worth mentioning.



First, Mark reiterated the word "fear" several times in reference to how the US government and media portrays the Middle East. He also mentioned that this subliminal messaging is how America is able to justify such a large defense budget to support a military force that seems to always be supporting a foreign occupation campaign.



I really enjoyed Mark's account of his interactions with the local Afghans he worked with. His Afghan interpreters were a huge help to his success. Mark mentioned the importance of letting an interpreter translate freely as to not force a word for word translation that may alter the original meaning.



In this book Mark explains how he never worked with Afghans before but used the common interest of "getting the bad guys" to create a camaraderie that set his team up for overall success.



Lastly, Mark made a point to never take the words "it's fine" or "it's okay" at face value from Afghan locals. He goes on to say that those are terms used to avoid a subject all together, not to confirm a current status.



Overall this book was an easy read, very well put together, insightful, and well written.







