MERCENARY MUM

Mercenary Mum is the true story of a young single mother who went from working at her local Woolworths store to serving as a soldier in the Australian army's elite close personal protection unit. She then left the army to become a high-risk security contractor, where she was responsible for protecting high-threat targets from assassination and opportune attack in Iraq.

Neryl reveals the silent prejudices and disadvantages of a woman in a private army trying to survive in a man's world. She is exposed to a life of alcohol-fuelled parties, drugs and rampant sexism. Neryl's professional and personal resolve is pushed to its outermost limit when she is confronted by a shocking ambush and death on the world's most dangerous road in Iraq, and when she becomes a victim of sexual abuse. How did a naive little girl go from playing with Barbie dolls to playing with guns and working for the most powerful security company in Baghdad, and manage to survive with her sanity intact?

Neryl Joyce served as a commissioned officer in the Australian army in its close personal protection unit. She also worked as a private security contractor in Iraq for both Edinburgh Risk and Security Management and the infamous Blackwater Security Consulting.