What does an elite Navy SEAL Team operator trained to kill the United States’ most dangerous enemies do when he realizes his skills aren’t being properly utilized? He leaves the Navy.

In American Mercenary, Daniel Corbett takes readers on a wild ride through the unadulterated, morally ambiguous, and riveting world of being a hired gun. From Abu Dhabi to Washington, DC, Cairo to San Diego, Belgrade to places that must remain secret, this is a world where money rules, and where adventure, danger, and absurdity often follow.

A star high school athlete, Corbett passed on a Division I football career and opted for the US Navy.  He began his career at SEAL Team 5 and eventually checked into SEAL Team 6. The navy spent millions teaching him and his fellow Team members how to sneak, subvert, recruit, disappear, survive, resist, and exert. And of course, how to shoot, a discipline at which Corbett excelled.

What the navy did not do was prepare these men for post-military lives beyond the usual suite of veterans’ benefits and unimaginative job-training programs. So what does Corbett do? He goes private. There are still plenty of bad men in the world, and the only sin worse than wasting talent in dead-end pursuits is not using it at all. He starts small, but quickly moves up. The work is simultaneously familiar and foreign. The command structure is shady. The clients are dubious. The equipment is subpar. But what the fuck: the pay is good.

Then things change in 2017 when Corbett is arrested on a job in Belgrade, Serbia. When the authorities discover he’s a Navy SEAL, they imagine the worst: he’s in Belgrade to assassinate the Serbian president. They throw Corbett in jail, where he spends the next 18 months making international headlines and fighting for his freedom in a kangaroo court.

Ultimately, American Mercenary highlights the struggle of many veterans: how to reconcile military service with civilian life. For Corbett, becoming a mercenary isn’t just the best option, it feels like the only option. It’s a lot better than drowning in a bottle or holding a pistol under your chin and pulling the trigger, but is it enough?

Daniel Corbett served as an elite Navy SEAL operator part of SEAL Teams 5, 6, and 17. He’s now an ex-military operator for hire. He joined the Navy shortly after graduating high school in 2002 and was deployed to Iraq in the summer of 2005. Upon completion of this deployment Daniel was asked to screen for Development Group. Daniel screened positive and left for Development Group Selection, or “Green Team,” after his second deployment to the Philippines where his mission profiles were less direct combat and more clandestine. Daniel checked into his squadron at Development Group in 2008. During his time at Development Group Daniel was recalled for two Nation mission taskings as well as deploying twice as part of a strike force. After his time at Development Group, Daniel returned to the West Coast and began instructing at the Naval Special Warfare Basic Training Command (NSWBTC). Daniel ended his active-duty career after two years with NSWBTC and quickly fell into the world of private military contracting. After two years of contracting Daniel joined the active reserves in 2014 and maintained his active reserve status until 2019. In 2017, Daniel made international news after he was thrown into jail for 18 months after traveling as a private contractor to Serbia to track a terrorist financier. Daniel still monitors international news and continues to entertain phone calls and meetings from those that need unique solutions to unique problems.