Scott Helvenston Stephen " Scott " Helvenston ( June 21 , 1965 – March 31 , 2004 ) was a former United States Navy SEAL . He was working as a security contractor for Blackwater Security when he was killed in the 31 March 2004 Fallujah ambush within days of arriving in Iraq . Helvenston was formerly a personal trainer for Hollywood celebrities such as Demi Moore ( for " G . I . Jane " ) , and was also featured in the reality shows " Combat Missions " and " Man vs . Beast " ( in the latter , he completed an obstacle course faster than a chimpanzee ) . He also starred in a reality series called " Extreme Expeditions : Model Behavior " months before he left for Iraq . The series was shot in Mexico and is finished , but has not yet aired . Helvenston ' s great - great - uncle was Secretary of War Elihu Root . He joined the Navy at 17 and became the youngest person to complete Navy SEAL training . He spent 12 years in the Navy SEALs until he left in 1994 as an E - 6 ( Quartermaster First Class ) . Helvenston began training at Blackwater USA ' s facilities in March 2004 , and developed a personal conflict with head trainer Justin " Shrek " McQuown . Helvenston arrived in Kuwait on March 18 , where he was under the management of John and Kathy Potter , whom he knew from " Combat Missions " . Contract . Employee John Potter had helped Blackwater win the contract to provide security for kitchen equipment convoys for the Kuwait company Regency Hotel and Hospital Company and Eurest Support Services ( ESS was a subcontractor of Halliburton KBR ) . The contract billed Regency $ 815 a day ; Helvenston and the other contractors were paid $ 600 a day . The original contract called for at least three men per vehicle on security missions " with a minimum of two armored vehicles to support ESS movements " . In addition , the contract called for a heavily - armed rear gunner , and time before any mission to review the route and conduct a risk assessment and pre - trip inspection . Blackwater signed a revised contract with Regency on March 12 , 2004 that removed the word " armored " . Potter insisted that his men be given armored vehicles , however , and was removed as project manager on March 24 , replaced by Justin McQuown . McQuown . On March 27 , two days before Helvenston ' s scheduled deployment to Iraq , McQuown reassigned him to a team leaving on the 28th , over the objections of numerous other Blackwater employees . Helvenston believed McQuown resented him and deliberately reassigned Helvenston at the last minute . In one of Helvenston ' s final emails before his death , he wrote to the owner of Blackwater , claiming McQuown ' s behavior was " very manipulative , duplicitive [ sic ] , immature and unprofessional , " with the hidden agenda " Lets [ sic ] see if we can screw with Scott . " On March 30 , McQuown sent Helvenston out with three other contractors , Jerry Zovko , Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague , to guard a convoy for ESS traveling from Baghdad to a military base west of Fallujah . They were in two unarmored vehicles and had no map . Death . Along with squad members Jerko " Jerry " Zovko , Wesley Batalona and Michael Teague , Helveston was transporting food and other equipment in unarmored vehicles to the center of the city of Fallujah when the team was ambushed by insurgents . The four contractors were killed with grenades and small arms fire . Their bodies were dragged from their vehicles , beaten and set ablaze . Their burned and mutilated corpses were then dragged through the streets , and two of them hung from a bridge crossing the Euphrates . Photos of the event were released to news agencies worldwide . Aftermath . The families of the four dead contractors , led by Helvenston ' s mother Katy Helvenston - Wettengel and Jerry Zovko ' s mother Donna Zovko , filed suit against Blackwater with lawyer Daniel Callahan on January 5 , 2005 ( " Helvenston et al . v . Blackwater Security " ) , alleging wrongful death . Blackwater responded by counter - suing for $ 10 million . In January 2011 , both cases were thrown out of court by a federal judge . Counsel for the plaintiffs announced they would appeal the ruling .