Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves

The Inside Story of How a Team of Renegades Broke Rules, Shattered Barriers, and Launched a Drone Warfare Revolution

By: Alec Bierbauer, Col. Mark Cooter USAF (Ret.), Michael Marks

Narrated by: David de Vries

Length: 10 hrs and 7 mins

Publisher's summary

The inside story of how a CIA officer and an Air Force officer joined forces to develop America's most powerful tool in the war on terror.

Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves is the character-driven story behind the origins of the Predator drone program and the dawn of unmanned warfare. A firsthand account told by an Air Force team leader and a CIA team leader, Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves takes the listener into the back offices and secret government hangars where the robotic revolution went from a mad scientist idea to a pivotal part of global air power.

The story will reveal the often conflicting perspectives between the defense and intelligence communities and put you inside places like the CIA's counterterrorism center on the morning of 9/11. Through the eyes of the men and women who lived it, you will experience the hunt for Osama Bin Laden and the evolution of a program from passive surveillance to the complex hunter-killers that hang above the battlespace like ghosts.

Poised at the junction between The Right Stuff and The Bourne Identity, Never Mind, We'll Do It Ourselves will document the way a group of cowboys, rogues, and bandits broke rules and defied convention to change the shape of modern warfare.

©2021 Alec Bierbauer, Mark Cooter, and Michael Marks (P)2022 Tantor

Superb book!!

Loved it! Never boring! It culminates with a rarely seen or written about view of one of the most harrowing battles in Afghanistan.

Great History of the Predator Drone

This was a great history of the Predator Drone told through the eyes of those who were there.

One of the best 

This is one of the best audiobooks that I have listened to. It kept my interest at a high level through the entire audiobook. The speaker was top-notch. 

MacGyver Ingenuity Saving American Troops

I lean toward diplomacy over blowing up bad guys. Still, this book, written like a "hold-your-breath adventure," made me grateful for what these men and women did to protect embattled troops from 20,000 feet and eight thousand miles away in real-time.

Smart, funny, absolutely true

Good for this team in the ability to push the beuracrucy aside and make it happen. What a great story, the narrator did a great job as well.

Excellent story

Witty, well narrated, entertaining from beginning to end. Hey superbly well documented narration. If you’ve been in the service, you will chuckle with its military wittiness.

This reminds me of the fighter mafia's story

I previously listened to the John Boyd book, and learned about how the fighter mafia was able to get the F-16 and A-10 built, even though the Air Force did not like them. This book reminds me of how they had to maneuver past the Air Force and were able to create one of the most important weapons in modern day warfare.

Thank you for telling this story…

Someone very special to me worked on this program and I am privileged to have met a few of the men in this book. This is an incredible testament to who you all are and what you went through. Thank you for telling this story. My heart is broken for the loss of Americans, both civilian and military. But my heart is also swelling with pride of what you all had accomplished against all odds. May God Bless you for being there for us and our country.

An amazing story

I am so happy this story was captured as part of our history on the War on Terror. Having been witness to many of the events recounted in this book from the cheap seats, I was able to relive many of the old feelings and emotions that overtook many of us working through complimentary technologies that were a part of making this program more effective. Thank you to the authors for sharing this important story.

Outstanding, nuff said.

The narration of this book was perfect. The attitude of the various main characters was admirable and often left me chuckling even in the most intense moments of the book. Excellent pace for the stories unfolding. An ending you can feel and one that fills you with pride to stand beside men and women this brave. You don't need a military background to follow this book, everyone should read this book if for nothing more than to relive our history and understand the depth of our power in interrogative and electronic warfare.