In 2004 I watched 4 gruesome charred bodies hanging from a bridge in Fallujah and assumed - like many others - that these were soldiers caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. After discovering these men were in fact ?private security contractors?, I became determined to in find out everything I could about this previously secretive world of military contracts and contractors.

A close lawyer friend from university gave up his job in a prestigious law firm to become one of these soldiers for hire. I discussed this decision with him at length and I found myself wanting to understand, not only what kind of people these men are, but what motivates them to put their lives in harms way on a daily basis. And how exactly did 20,000 of them come to be stationed in Iraq? While there were articles, books and news reports that touched on policy, history, and specific conflicts over the past 20 years, there was very little investigation of who becomes a private soldier today.

We traveled the world - from Iraq to Washington, from England to Sierra Leone - talking to politicians, journalists, soldiers and contractors themselves. While exploring the blurred lines between soldier and mercenary in today?s conflict resolution, it became clear: The Rules of War Have Changed. The modern US army cannot go to war, cannot even have dinner without these civilian contractors and their role is unlikely to go away any time soon. War is more and more in the public eye and yet held more and more in private hands. This sort of trend - without the right legal framework and more open business practices ? has dire implications. It is vital for the general public to better understand the risks and rewards of operating this way

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