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The late John Milius was a big fan of my Dangerous Places book and gave them out as presents. Here is to John and Francis Ford Coppola and their ability to capture the essence of war.
Millius' original script for the movie Apocalypse was very different than the film and based on Joseph Conrad's novella Heart of Darkness. A story based on Conrad's trips to West Africa. dailyscript.com/scripts/apocol…
The metaphor for film and novella is man's descent into savagery as they get further away from civilization and deeper into the primal world. What is often missed is that Conrad's world is a privatized entity that imparts great powers to an insane person. gutenberg.org/files/219/219-…
A Russian trader revers Kurtz as a man of great genius who understands how the world really works. Narrator Marlow feels he is in "a vast grave full of unspeakable secrets" A war photographer based on Sean Flynn, played by Dennis Hopper plays the part.
Marlon Brando's version of Kurtz, a Special Forces Colonel who has gone rogue, is loosely based on CIA officer Anthony Poshepny aka Tony Poe who ran field operations with Hmong mercenaries in SE Asia during the 50s and 60's. unredacted.com/2016/08/30/sta…
The Agency still hires Paramilitary Operations Officer/Specialized Skills Officers. The CIA used to call and ask when new editions of my book were coming out. I bump into these folks in the field and we get along fine. cia.gov/careers/opport…
In 2010 the Kabul Station Chief found out I had been helping the four stars solve serious problems for over a year... so I magically ended up above the fold in the New York Times. Cute trick. nytimes.com/2010/03/15/wor…
Disappointed to discover that the government spends more time fighting each other rather than the enemy, I focused my efforts on tracking every hostage and hijacked ship in Somalia to create Somalia Report. outsideonline.com/1900846/interv…
Erik Prince repeatedly pestered me to help him fight pirates by becoming a major subscriber to Somalia Report, After numerous emails, I agreed to meet with him. He signed a contract and told me to get going. That was the beginning of my journey into a heart of darkness. 
