Overview

The detritus of 20th-century conflict litters the African continent. Scars and irreparable destruction characterize both the physical and human dimensions of these bitter wars, reinforcing the stereotype that nothing good comes of war. As the armed conflict in South Africa gravitated toward political accommodation and compromise, a group of highly skilled and experienced South African Defence Force soldiers, tempered by decades of success, and some failures, on the battlefields of South West Africa, Angola, Rhodesia and Mozambique found themselves out of political favour. In effect they became the human detritus of the political compromise that spawned the South Africa we know today. Unwanted, unrecognized and facing a static garrison life in the reconstituted South African military and police forces, these men, in the prime of their lives, opted rather to seek other opportunities where the application of their military skills and the associated life of adventure might continue. The simmering conflicts in Angola and Sierra Leone offered two hitherto unavailable opportunities to the men to continue their warrior lifestyle and Executive Outcomes, the pioneering private security company of the late 20th century, was born. Vaunted as efficient force multipliers and heroes in the countries in which they fought, the men of Executive Outcomes faced stark accusations of treason and prosecution at home in South Africa. An Executive Outcome casts the political rhetoric aside and focuses on a description of the major military operations undertaken by these men as they sought to rekindle the sense of achievement, the lift and exhilaration a soldier experiences during and after an engagement with the enemy, particularly at close quarters, which is and will always be unmatched in any other profession.

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9781909384644

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Andrew Hudson majored in military history at the South Africa Military Academy and after two decades as an infantry officer in the South African Defence Force, ten of which were spent in the operational areas, he moved into the private sector. Still a soldier at heart he divides his time between earning an income, indulging his passion for collecting books on conflict in Africa, and road running in weird and wonderful locations. He is co-author of Four Ball, One Tracer: Commanding Executive Outcomes in Angola and Sierra Leone.

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