by Carr, Jack
Peshmerga: Military forces of Kurdistan. Meaning “the one who faces death,” they are regarded by Allied troops as some of the best fighters in the region.
PETN: Pentaerythritol TetraNitrate. An explosive compound used in blasting caps to initiate larger explosive charges.
PG-32V: High-explosive antitank rocket that can be fired from the Russian-designed RPG-32 rocket-propelled grenade. Its tandem charge is effective against various types of armor, including reactive armor.
PID: Protective Intelligence and Threat Assessment Division; the division of the Secret Service that monitors potential threats to its protectees.
PKM: Soviet-designed, Russian-made light machine gun chambered in 7.62x54R that can be found in conflicts throughout the globe. This weapon feeds from a non-disintegrating belt and has a rate of fire of 650 rounds per minute. You don’t want one shooting at you.
PLF: Parachute Landing Fall. A technique taught to military parachutists to prevent injury when making contact with the earth. Round canopy parachutes used by airborne forces fall at faster velocities than other parachutes, and require a specific landing sequence. More often than not ends up as feet-ass-head.
POTUS: President of the United States; leader of the free world.
PPD: Presidential Protection Detail; the element of the Secret Service tasked with protecting POTUS.
President’s Hundred: A badge awarded by the Civilian Marksmanship Program to the one hundred top-scoring military and civilian shooters in the President’s Pistol and President’s Rifle matches. Enlisted members of the U.S. military are authorized to wear the tab on their uniform.
Professional Hunter: A licensed hunting guide in Africa, often referred to as a “PH.” Zimbabwe-licensed PHs are widely considered the most qualified and highly trained in Africa and make up the majority of the PH community operating in Mozambique.
Protocols of the Elders of Zion: An anti-Semitic conspiracy manifesto first published in the late 1800s by Russian sources. Though quickly established as a fraudulent text, Protocols has been widely circulated in numerous languages.
PSO-1: A Russian-made 4x24mm illuminated rifle optic developed for use on the SVD rifle.
PTSD: Post-traumatic stress disorder. A mental condition that develops in association with shocking or traumatic events. Commonly associated with combat veterans.
PVS-15: Binocular-style NODs used by U.S. and allied special operations forces.
QRF: Quick Reaction Force, a contingency ground force on standby to assist operations in progress.
Ranger Panties: Polyester PT shorts favored by members of the 75th Ranger Regiment that leave very little to the imagination, sometimes referred to as “silkies.”
RFID: Radio Frequency Identification; technology commonly used to tag objects that can be scanned electronically.
RHIB/RIB: Rigid Hull Inflatable Boat/Rigid Inflatable Boat. A lightweight but high-performance boat constructed with a solid fiberglass or composite hull and flexible tubes at the gunwale (sides).
Rhodesia: A former British colony that declared its independence in 1965. After a long and brutal civil war, the nation became Zimbabwe in 1979.
Rhodesian Bush War: An insurgency battle between the Rhodesian Security Forces and Soviet-, East German–, Cuban-, and Chinese-backed guerrillas that lasted from 1964 to 1979. The war ended when the December 1979 Lancaster House Agreement put an end to white minority rule.
Rhodesian SAS: A special operations unit, formed as part of the famed British Special Air Service in 1951. When Rhodesia sought independence, the unit ceased to exist as part of the British military but fought as part of the Rhodesian Security Forces until 1980. Many members of the Selous Scouts were recruited from the SAS.
Rich Kid Shit: Expensive equipment items reserved for use by the most highly funded special operations units, usually part of XXXX.
RLI: Rhodesian Light Infantry; an airborne and airmobile unit used to conduct “fireforce” operations during the Bush War. These missions were often launched in response to intelligence provided by Selous Scouts on the ground.
Robert Mugabe: Chairman of ZANU who led the nation of Zimbabwe from 1980 to 2017 as both prime minister and president. Considered responsible for retaliatory attacks against his rival Ndebele tribe as well as a disastrous land redistribution scheme that was ruled illegal by Zimbabwe’s High Court.
ROE: Rules of engagement. Rules or directives that determine what level of force can be applied against an enemy in a particular situation or area.
RPG-32: 105mm rocket-propelled grenade launcher that is made in both Russia and, under license, in Jordan.
SAP: Special Access Program. Security protocols that provide highly classified information with safeguards and access restrictions that exceed those for regular classified information. Really secret stuff.
SCAR-17: 7.62x51mm battle rifle produced by FN. Its gas mechanism can be traced to that of the FAL.
Schmidt & Bender: Privately held German optics manufacturer known for its precision rifle scopes.
SCI: Special Compartmentalized Information. Classified information concerning or derived from sensitive intelligence sources, methods, or analytical processes. Often found on private basement servers in upstate New York or bathroom closet servers in Denver.
SCIF: Sensitive Compartmented Information Facility; a secure and restricted room or structure where classified information is discussed or viewed.
SEAL: Acronym of SEa, Air, and Land. The three mediums in which SEALs operate. The U.S. Navy’s special operations force.
Secret Service: The federal law enforcement agency responsible for protecting the POTUS.
Selous Scouts: An elite, if scantily clad, mixed-race unit of the Rhodesian army responsible for counterinsurgency operations. These “pseudoterrorists” led some of the most successful special operations missions in modern history.
SERE: Survival, Evasion, Resistance, Escape. A military training program that includes realistic role-playing as a prisoner of war. SERE students are subjected to highly stressful procedures, sometimes including waterboarding, as part of the course curriculum. More commonly referred to as “camp slappy.”
Shishani: Arabic term for Chechen fighters in Syria, probably due to “Shishani” being a common Chechen surname.
SIGINT: Signals intelligence. Intelligence derived from electronic signals and systems used by foreign targets, such as communications systems, radars, and weapons systems.
SIPR: Secret Internet Protocol Router network; a secure version of the Internet used by DOD and the State Department to transmit classified information.
SISDE: Italy’s Intelligence and Democratic Security Service. Their suits are probably even nicer than MI5’s.
SOCOM: United States Special Operations Command. The Unified Combatant Command charged with overseeing the various Special Operations Component Commands of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, and Air Force of the United States Armed Forces. Headquartered at MacDill Air Force Base in Tampa, Florida.
Special Boat Team-12: The West Coast unit that provides maritime mobility to SEALs using a variety of vessels. Fast boats with machine guns.
Special Reconnaissance (SR) Team: NSW Teams that conduct special activities, ISR, and provide intelligence support to the SEAL Teams.
SR-16: An AR-15 variant developed and manufactured by Knight Armament Corporation.
StrongFirst: Kettle-bell-focused fitness program founded by Russian fitness guru Pavel Tsatsouline that is popular with special operations forces.
S-Vest: Suicide vest; an explosives-laden garment favored by suicide bombers. Traditionally worn only once.
SVR: Russia’s foreign intelligence service, formerly known as the KGB.
Taliban: An Islamic fundamentalist political movement and terrorist group in Afghanistan. U.S. and coalition forces have been at war with members of the Taliban since late 2001.
TDFD: Time-delay firing device. An explosive initiator that allows for detonation at a determined
period of time. A fancy version of a really long fuse.
TIC: Troops in contact. A firefight involving U.S. or friendly forces.
TOC: Tactical Operations Center. A command post for military operations. A TOC usually includes a small group of personnel who guide members of an active tactical element during a mission from the safety of a secured area.
TOR Network: A computer network designed to conceal a user’s identity and location. TOR allows for anonymous communication.
TQ: Politically correct term for the timely questioning of individuals on-site once a target is secure. May involve the raising of voices.
Troop Chief: Senior enlisted SEAL on a forty-man troop, usually a master chief petty officer. The guy who makes shit happen.
TS: Top Secret. Information, the unauthorized disclosure of which reasonably could be expected to cause exceptionally grave damage to national security, that the original classification authority is able to identify or describe. Can also describe an individual’s level of security clearance.
TST: Time-sensitive target. A target requiring immediate response because it is highly lucrative, is a fleeting target of opportunity, or poses (or will soon pose) a danger to friendly forces.
UAV: Unmanned aerial vehicle; a drone.
UCMJ: Uniform Code of Military Justice. Disciplinary and criminal code that applies to members of the U.S. military.
UDI: Uniform Declaration of Independence; the 1965 document that established Rhodesia as an independent sovereign state. The UDI resulted in an international embargo and made Rhodesia a pariah.
V-22: Tilt-rotor aircraft that can fly like a plane and take off/land like a helicopter. Numerous examples were crashed during its extremely expensive development.
VBIED: Vehicle-Borne Improvised Explosive Device; a rolling car bomb driven by a suicidal terrorist.
VC: National Liberation Front of South Vietnam, better known as the Viet Cong. A communist insurgent group that fought against the government of South Vietnam and its allies during the Vietnam War. In the movies, these are the guys wearing the black pajamas carrying AKs.
VPN: Virtual Private Network. A private network that enables users to send and receive data across shared or public networks as if their computing devices were directly connected to the private network. Considered more secure than a traditional Internet network.
VSK-94: Russian-made Sniper/Designated Marksman rifle chambered in the subsonic 9x39mm cartridge. This suppressed weapon is popular with Russian special operations and law enforcement units due to its minimal sound signature and muzzle flash.
War Vets: Loosely organized groups of Zimbabweans who carried out many of the land seizures during the 1990s. Often armed, these individuals used threats and intimidation to remove white farmers from their homes. Despite the name, most of these individuals were too young to have participated in the Bush War. Not to be confused with ZNLWVA, a group that represents ZANU-affiliated veterans of the Bush War.
WARCOM/NAVSPECWARCOM: United States Naval Special Warfare Command. The Navy’s special operations force and the maritime component of United States Special Operations Command. Headquartered in Coronado, California, WARCOM is the administrative command for subordinate NSW Groups composed of eight SEAL Teams, one SEAL Delivery Vehicle (SDV) Team, three Special Boat Teams, and two Special Reconnaissance Teams.
Westley Richards Droplock: A rifle or shotgun built by the famed Birmingham, England, gunmakers that allows the user to remove the locking mechanisms for repair or replacement in the field. Widely considered one of the finest and most iconic actions of all time.
Whiskey Tango: Military speak for “white trash.”
Yazidis: An insular Kurdish-speaking ethnic and religious group that primarily resides in Iraq. Effectively a subminority among the Kurds, Yazidis were heavily persecuted by ISIS.
YPG: Kurdish militia forces operating in the Democratic Federation of Northern Syria. The Turks are not fans.
ZANLA: Zimbabwe African National Liberation Army. The armed wing of the Maoist Zimbabwe African National Union and one of the major combatants of the Rhodesian Bush War. ZANLA forces often staged out of training camps located in Mozambique and were led by Robert Mugabe.
Zimbabwe: Sub-Saharan African nation that formerly existed as Southern Rhodesia and later Rhodesia. Led for three decades by Robert Mugabe, Zimbabwe ranks as one of the world’s most corrupt nations on Transparency International’s Corruption Perceptions Index.
ZIRPA: Zimbabwe People’s Revolutionary Army. The Soviet-equipped armed wing of ZAPU and one of the two major insurgency forces that fought in the Rhodesian Bush War. ZIRPA forces fell under the leadership of Josh Nkomo, who spent much of the war in Zambia. ZIRPA members were responsible for shooting down two civilian airliners using Soviet SA-7 surface-to-air missiles in the late 1970s.
Zodiac Mk 2 GR: 4.2-meter inflatable rubber boat capable of carrying up to six individuals. These craft are often used as dinghies for larger vessels.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
“There are only two plots in all literature: a person goes on a journey, a stranger comes to town.” Though its original source is debated, this quote is often attributed to Fyodor Dostoyevsky, Leo Tolstoy, or American novelist and professor John C. Gardner. Throughout my life I naturally gravitated to books and movies that echoed those two narratives. In no small way was I influenced by Joseph Campbell’s The Hero with a Thousand Faces, which details the similarities in the hero’s journey across cultures. During my high school years, I became enthralled with Campbell’s work after watching his series of interviews with Bill Moyers which aired on PBS in 1988, called The Power of Myth. What many consider to be Campbell’s seminal work still occupies an honored place on my shelf. As a lifelong reader and student, I’ve always been captivated by the hero’s journey: The Epic of Gilgamesh, Beowulf, the Iliad, the Odyssey, and The Aeneid. The reluctant hero, his journey, and resulting transformation resonated with me. Just as they have since time immemorial, those myths and their modern incarnations inspired me to undergo my own formative journey in the military. Did I emerge transformed? Perhaps. Wiser? One can hope.
I trace my life through the novels I was reading at various stages along the path. It may have all started in a hammock under the pines of the Sierra Nevada mountains. With a mother who was, and is to this day, a librarian, I grew up surrounded by books, imagining a day when I would enter the real world I was visiting on the written page. That literature would lead me into a twenty-year odyssey in special operations and eventually catapult me into the world of publishing.
I distinctly remember my parents reading Frederick Forsyth, Ken Follett, Robert Ludlum, John le Carré, Ian Fleming, and former British Royal Marine Commando John Edmund Gardner when he picked up the torch. I longed for the day when I could pull those books from the shelves of our old cabin and, truth be told, I’ve been training to write thrillers since I tipped that first spy novel from its perch.
As we entered the 1980s, I began my early education in storytelling. My professors in those formative years were David Morrell, Nelson DeMille, J. C. Pollock, Tom Clancy, Louis L’Amour, Mark Olden and A. J. Quinnell. I’d spend all day immersed in the pages of Centrifuge, Man on Fire, Oni, The Charm School, Last of the Breed, The Hunt for Red October, and what is now called the Abelard Sanction series. In fact, it was David Morrell’s classic espionage thriller The Brotherhood of the Rose that confirmed I wanted to serve my country as a SEAL and then follow his footsteps into the writer’s fray. That early reading, two decades in the SEAL Teams, time in combat, and an academic study of war, terrorism, and insurgencies now provide ample fodder for the pages of my political thrillers.
I started reading Tom Clancy in the sixth grade, and since his first appearance in The Cardinal of the Kremlin, I have been a John Clark fan. Without Remorse would hit shelves while I was in college, and, already having my sights set on the SEAL Teams, I was there to purchase it on publication day. That novel remains an old friend.
&n
bsp; Just prior to enlisting in the Navy, I discovered the great Stephen Hunter, whose work continues to influence me today. In the days following 9/11, I rushed to print calling cards inspired by Point of Impact, pirating Steve McQueen’s famous line from The Magnificent Seven: “We deal in lead, friend.” I had long been fascinated by the sniper, but it was Stephen Hunter’s personification of “Bob the Nailer” that cemented it as my future specialty in the profession of arms. The idea of the lone man with a rifle appealed to me: alone, outnumbered, behind enemy lines, only wits and skill with the great equalizer keeping him alive. The ultimate test. The Most Dangerous Game. For his magnificent work, for his inspiration and friendship, and for giving the world Bob Lee Swagger, I thank you.
My experience with the CIA in the pre-9/11 days was primarily informed by popular culture to include the three remarkable Daniel Silva novels I had read before my August 2001 CIA phone interview (I have since read them all and eagerly await the next installment in the evolution of Gabriel Allon). The world would change just a few weeks later, and after serving and fighting alongside the quiet professionals of CIA’s Ground Branch, they extended an invitation, though this time I decided to stay in the fight as a frogman. This very novel was inspired by events in Iraq in 2006 when I was attached to a CIA covert action program which ended up being one of the highlights of my time in uniform. The mission behind that inspiration will remain known only to the team that was there and those who read the classified cables. That experience, coupled with Peter Zeihan’s The Accidental Superpower, provided the basis for True Believer.
The events of September 11, 2001, ushered us into a new age of prolonged warfare, and as a young SEAL, I was in the thick of it. I wouldn’t emerge from a combat-focused posture for more than a decade, during which time I devoted myself to the study of war and of our enemy. I devoured books, articles, and interviews by and with counterinsurgency specialists Dr. David Killcullen, Dr. Kalev Sepp, Dr. John Arquilla, Dr. Hy S. Rothstein, Dr. Heather S. Gregg, Dr. Anna Simons, Ahmed Rashid, John A. Nagl, Thomas X. Hammes, Antonio Giustozzi, Eliot A. Cohen, Martin Van Creveld, H. R. McMaster, and the classics from David Galula, Robert Taber, T. E. Lawrence, Vo Nguyen Giap, Roger Trinquier, Mao Zedong, George K. Tanham, Che Guevara, Napolean D. Valeriano, Alistair Horne, Charles T. R. Bohannan, Bernard B. Fall, B. H. Liddell Hart, and Walter Laqueur. It was my responsibility to immerse myself in the word of asymmetrical warfare in order to make the best decisions possible under fire.