3 Review(s)

This is the tale of Rob Krott, a U.S. Army officer who after active duty found adventure in the early days of the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Somalia. Stripped of the glamour and mystique surrounding the mercenary profession, Save the Last Bullet for Yourself is a no-holds-barred look at private soldiering in the 1990's, pulling no punches in chronicling the role of modern day soldiers of fortune in the most violent, bloody, ethnic conflict of the past decade. Described in this book is a mixed bag of humanity's flotsam: the has-beens, wannabes, gutter-trash, homicidal psychotics, criminals, and the occasional professional soldier for hire. In the middle of all this is the author - an idealistic, Harvard-educated ex-Army captain who just wants to follow his true calling: leading troops in combat. Krott, a former Green Beret, travels to Croatia in early 1992 and joins the fledgling Croatian Army as a volunteer in the war against Serbia, which is backed by the former Yugoslav Army. Commissioned as an officer in a Croatian Commando unit, he leads combat patrols along the free-fire-zone border.He then sets up a training program for the Commandos, leads forays against Serb positions, snipes enemy soldiers, becomes involved in intrigue, helps plan a coup, and leaves Croatia shortly before the Bosnian conflict starts. He then undertakes a mission in Somalia during Operation Restore Hope as a contracted consultant to the U.S. Army, supervising 100 Somali speakers recruited in Washington. These SpecOps tasks in the Horn of Africa were described in Soldier of Fortune magazine. Krott then returns to the Balkans, this time to Bosnia, commanding a unit of multi-national mercenaries and serving as a brigade staff major with the Bosnian-Croat Defense Force. It was there that another mercenary attempted to kill him. With humour, insight, and a keen eye for the often-absurd world of ad hoc warfare, Krott's account provides the reader an inside look at the mercenary profession, for all its hardship and excitement.