Blackwater and Bureaucratic Betrayal With Nick Slatten

T.REX TALK

T.REX ARMS

Technology

4.6 • 732 Ratings

🗓️ 19 August 2025

⏱️ 96 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

The early days of the Global War on Terror, the U.S. Government was heavily dependent on Private Military companies. The Defense Department leaned on them for support, the State Department relied on them for protection, and the Justice Department attacked them for easy virtue signaling. Today we talk to Nick Slatten, a member of the Blackwater Tactical Support Team Raven 23. He moved from the 82nd Airborne unit to contracting work just in time for the 2007 troop surge, and just in time to become the central scapegoat of political prosecution designed to appease international journalists.
It took three trials before the Obama administration finally convicted him, and he spent six years in prison before Trump finally pardoned him, but he is telling his story now in hopes of raising awareness about others who have been prosecuted and punished for political expediency.

https://www.amazon.com/Raven-23-Department-Betrayed-American/dp/0063370603

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	So on the T-Rex podcast, we have done a lot of different things. We've talked about military history.
0:05.4	We've interviewed guys with military experience. We have reviewed books. We've talked to the authors of books.
0:11.7	Today, we're actually bringing all those things together.
0:19.9	Welcome back to the T-RX Talk podcast.
0:22.7	Today I'm going to be talking about a book, but I'm going to be doing it with my guest.
0:26.9	I want to introduce you, Nick Slatin, who you've probably heard about in a number of different places,
0:34.0	even if you don't immediately remember his name.
0:37.3	You were in the news a lot in 2007. You were in the news a lot in
0:38.8	2007. You were in the news a lot more after that, and then you were in the news a lot during
0:44.2	2016. And now there's a book out. You didn't write this book, but you worked with a journalist
0:50.8	to write this book. So welcome, Nick, to the podcast. I do recommend
0:55.1	this book, even though you didn't write it. And I'm just really happy to have you on the show.
1:00.6	We've been talking for a little bit about your story. And let's talk about it. Let's talk
1:07.0	82nd Airborne, Blackwater, Federal Prosecutions, Presidential Partons. How do you want to start?
1:15.2	I'd like to start just by saying God is good. If you put your faith in Jesus, anything as
1:21.2	possible, I don't think we can go wrong starting out with that. That sounds like a great start.
1:25.5	Yeah. But yeah, I grew up in a family that pushed military service.
1:32.3	You know, there's a long history of service in my family, pretty much every war.
1:36.8	We have somebody that volunteered and stepped up.
1:39.7	So it was a given at an early age.
1:42.1	I wanted to be a sniper and went to infantry training,
1:47.0	went to the 82nd, and then deployed twice to Iraq. First tour was in the Sunni triangle.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from T.REX ARMS, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of T.REX ARMS and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.