Archive for category Call To Action

Call To Action: Support Team Rubicon For Haiti Mission

Jan 17

Posted by Matt in Call To Action, Haiti | No Comments

   This is one of those deals where if you want to give money to a group of our own, so they can go out and save lives, here you go.  On their website, there is a donation button, and they can use all the help they can get.  Their idea is to team up medical folks who can protect themselves, and get them there by overland travel. Thanks to Blackfive for getting the word out and I wish the team all the best. -Matt

——————————————————————

Call To Action: Support Team Rubicon For Haiti Mission

Team Rubicon 

Family/friends,

I’m selfishly contacting you few out of pure necessity right now. I am headed to Port au Prince as part of the Haitian relief effort. Our 5-man advance team (Two Milwaukee firefighters/EMTs, two former Marines, one French/Creole translator) are flying to Santo Domingo this afternoon. We are liaising with Jesuit Brother Jim Boynton there, who Father Reuter from Loyola Med was kind enough to put us in contact with. On Sunday the six of us have bus tickets to Port au Prince, where we will set up a triage area in the courtyard of the the Jesuit mission and assess the security situation in preparation for a follow-on medical team from Chicago. I have been speaking directly with Brother Jim in Haiti and the Jesuits are preparing for our arrival (see email below). They have set aside a courtyard for us at the mission.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , ,

Legal News: Paravant Contractors Arrested For Self Defense Shooting In Afghanistan, Legal Fund Established

Jan 10

Posted by Matt in Afghanistan, Call To Action, Legal News | 4 Comments

   Well this sucks. Thanks to Cannoneer No. 4 for bringing this to my attention.  These guys have been through hell, and now they are being charged for murder because they actually defended themselves in a war zone.  What bothers me most, is how the company has treated them.  Paravant, a Xe subsidiary, has pulled some stuff with this case that enters the realm of abuse, and I highly suggest these guys to point their lawyers towards this amendment. If these men say they were given weapons by the company, and they were not drinking at the time, then it is up to the company to back them up unless the company has proof otherwise.

   The civilians that were killed or wounded in this incident, is tragic as well. But in war, there are numerous incidents where civilians are killed, and it is the unfortunate price that is paid by all in war.  No one wakes up one day, and decides they want to kill unarmed civilians.  And because the enemy uses vehicles for suicide bombing attacks, then I do not see how a jury could not find the logic with the defensive response of these men.  Oh, and did I mention that Justin is a former Ranger and not some mall guard who has no clue about threats in war zones?

   This stinks, and reminds me a lot of how the DoJ went after the Blackwater five in their case.  Of course this is all just my personal opinion, and because I wasn’t there, my opinion really doesn’t carry an weight.  All I can do is point any supporters of these contractors in the right direction.  I also want to remind my non-contractor/military readers that Afghanistan is not some city in the U.S., nor should people view it as such.  It is a war zone, and all actions taken by all parties have to be viewed with a war zone lens. There is a reason why security contractors are issued weapons in these areas. The way things have been going, any time a contractor uses that weapon in this war, it will be an automatic arrest and total career destruction. Pffft. -Matt

Edit: July 30, 2010 – Here is an update about these two guys.  It sounds like the judge is allowing them to face the witness in Afghanistan.

Edit: March 03,2011- The retrial for is happening this month.

——————————————————————

blackwater cannon cp 674832Legal News: Paravant Contractors Arrested For Self Defense Shooting In Afghanistan, Legal Fund Established

A wrecked contractor vehicle following a May 5 traffic accident in Kabul, Afghanistan. (Daniel J. Callahan/Associated Press)

The Story

Contractors Say Blackwater Armed Workers in Afghanistan

RALEIGH, North Carolina  — The security firm formerly known as Blackwater armed some of its workers in Afghanistan despite U.S. military documents that prohibited them from carrying guns, said two former contractors who were fired after they were involved in a fatal shooting in the country.

Justin Cannon and Steven McClain said Thursday that they frequently asked superiors why the company distributed the AK-47 assault rifles without Department of Defense authorization.

“We were just told, ‘Continue doing your job. Don’t worry about it. That’s above your paygrade,”‘ Cannon, 27, of Texas, said in an interview with The Associated Press. The men were involved in a shooting earlier this month that killed an Afghan and injured two others, and they recently returned to the U.S., saying they were cleared to leave after an interview with military investigators.

Blackwater, now known as Xe, has said the company’s subsidiary, Paravant, fired the men “for failure to comply with the terms of their contract.” McClain showed a letter detailing his termination, and it listed a violation of alcohol policy as the only specific reason for firing.

Both men said they weren’t drinking and hadn’t drank since arriving in Afghanistan in November. Their attorney, Daniel J. Callahan, said he believes the company is making up the alcohol issue so it can avoid scrutiny over contractors being armed.

“Blackwater’s concerned about getting kicked out of Afghanistan as it got kicked out of Iraq,” said Callahan, with Santa Ana, California-based Callahan & Blaine. “They’re trying to use these four men as scapegoats.”

Blackwater spokeswoman Anne Tyrrell declined to immediately comment on the accusations.

McClain and Cannon said the company issued weapons to the contractors even though they were supposed to train the Afghan National Army on other styles of weapons used by NATO forces. And they said the company told them to carry the weapons, even when they weren’t training, and that it was no secret that they had the guns.

“These weapons pretty much went wherever we went,” Cannon said. “If we go to the classroom, we take our weapons. If we go to the range, we take our weapons. If we leave the compound at all, we take our weapons.”

They had the guns with them as usual on the night of May 5. The men said they had dinner with some interpreters and then went to drive them to a taxi stand several miles (kilometers) away. On the way, the men said a speeding vehicle slammed into the first car of their two-vehicle convoy, causing it to roll.

McClain, 25, of California, said he was hurt and that he and his passengers had to climb out of the sport utility vehicle’s back window.

Cannon said the people in his Sport Utility Vehicle got out to help but saw that the car that had caused the accident had turned and sped toward them. Cannon said he and another contractor, Chris Drotleff, fired their weapons. He wasn’t sure how many rounds were fired.

“At that point, the vehicle was the threat,” Cannon said. “I thought I was about to get creamed by a 2,000-pound car.”

The brother of one of the wounded Afghans has said the car was full of shopkeepers heading home from work and that the people in the vehicle misinterpreted one of the Americans hitting the car as an order to move.

A passenger was hit in the stomach and died two days later, said Shah Agha, whose brother Farid was driving the car. Farid was shot in the hand and another person was injured outside the vehicle, Agha said.

McClain said three of the men who were fired in the aftermath of the shooting have left Afghanistan while a fourth, Armando Hamid, is still there. Callahan had accused the company of holding the men against their will. But they said Thursday that Blackwater told them to stay but didn’t physically detain them. They left the compound Saturday night.

Xe, which is based in North Carolina, dumped its brand name Blackwater earlier this year as it tried to distance itself from its operations in Iraq. The State Department is not renewing the company’s lucrative security work in there, which comprises an estimated one-third of Xe’s revenues.

Story here.

——————————————————————

How You Can Help

While your taxpayer dollars are being used to prosecute Justin, we need your support to help FREE Justin Cannon.   His legal expenses are going to be considerable.  Please donate what you can.  He needs all the help he can can get.

If you prefer to mail your donation you can send a check or money order made out to:

Rodney CannonP.O. Box 3609Fort Polk, LA 71459

Also please WRITE and CALL your Congressional Representative and Senators!

Legal Defense Fund website For Justin H. Cannon here.

Facebook page for Justin Cannon here.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , , , , , ,

Call To Action: A Fraud On Facebook, By Eeben Barlow

Jan 4

Posted by Matt in Call To Action | 2 Comments

   Hey gang, get the word out.  Whomever is posing as Eeben on Facebook, is not cool.  So if you are a part of that group or fan page or whatever, that is not him who is running it.  So definitely flag it, definitely drop yourself from it, and do not give them any information. -Matt

—————————————————————–

A FRAUD ON FACEBOOK

By Eeben Barlow

Normally, I tend to ignore imposters as I have personally met several people over the years impersonating me or claiming to have started Executive Outcomes or even to have commanded it, managed it or planned its actions.

However, I was recently alerted to my apparent Facebook page. The person impersonating me on Facebook is using both my name and the company logo of Executive Outcomes.

I have tried to contact Facebook to report this issue of “identity theft” but have not been successful. Additionally, many people who visit this blog have written and asked me why I don’t respond to them on Facebook. The answer is quite simply: I have never had a Facebook profile.

To those of you who have tried to contact me on Facebook, I am sorry that someone has been using my name and EO’s logo to bait you. This lurker and identity thief must have a very devious and nefarious reason for doing this.

But, given my inability to have Facebook take action against this waster, I have decided to do so myself and expose this dishrag as both a fraud and an imposter. Added to that is his apparent attempt to use the name of a once-great company to either gather intelligence or generate business for himself. One can sink no lower than that, especially as I doubt if he would have had the moral fibre to have been part of EO.

Due to my own self-imposed blog policy (to refuse the use of foul language), I am forced to only tell this fraud to stop using my name and the logo and name of Executive Outcomes and to get a life.

Link to Eeben’s blog post here.

This is the link to the Facebook page here.

Edit: 01/05/2010 – Here is another page that Eeben identified here. Here is another one here.

Tags: , ,

Call to Action: ISS Call for Abstracts for a Monograph–The Involvement of the Private Security and Military Companies in Peacekeeping Missions

Nov 27

Posted by Matt in Africa, Call To Action, Industry Talk | No Comments

   Hey guys and gals, this is pretty cool.  I know a few reading this are pretty up on their Africa/PMC history, and this is a great way to show your knowledge of said subject by helping these guys out. The reason I have made this a Call to Action, is because these guys are wishing to enhance the understanding of what it is we do, and can do in Africa. It is just another way to fill that void of information that I keep talking about. -Matt

——————————————————————

20060405indextop 02Call to Action: ISS Call for Abstracts for a Monograph The Involvement of the Private Security and Military Companies in Peacekeeping Missions

Call for Abstracts

ISS Monograph

The Involvement of the Private Security and Military Companies in Peacekeeping Missions

The Institute for Security Studies (ISS) through the Security Sector Governance (SSG) Programme initiated a project on 3 November 2008 on “The Involvement of the Private Security Sector in African Conflicts, Peacekeeping Missions and Humanitarian Assistance Operations”. The project seeks to investigate the involvement of the private security sector in African conflicts, peacekeeping missions and humanitarian assistance operations to inform the development and application of appropriate norms and standards, including the revision of the 1977 OAU Convention on the Elimination of Mercenaries in Africa.

This is a call for abstracts for a Monograph titled The Involvement of the Private Security and Military Companies in Peacekeeping Missions. The main objective for this monograph is to enhance an informed understanding of the role of the private military and security companies in Africa’s peacekeeping missions. Its main focus is to critically explore the trend(s) in the outsourcing of core and non-core military functions as well as the increased role of the private sector particularly in UN and AU peacekeeping missions in Africa.

Abstracts for the Monograph chapters may be submitted to Mr Sabelo Gumedze at sgumedze@issafrica.org by December 11, 2009.  They must include the following details:

1. Title of the proposed paper.

2. Name of the author, organization to which he or she belongs and email address.

3. If there are several authors, please give the particulars of each of them.

Abstracts should average between 500 and 1,000 words.

Authors of accepted abstracts will be notified by December 18, 2009 regarding acceptance of abstracts and will have to submit the definite text of paper. Accepted papers should average between 5, 000 and 10, 000 words and must be submitted by March 31, 2010. Early submission of articles is strongly encouraged. Authors should as far as possible adopt the ISS style guideline.

If you have any queries regarding the submission of abstracts and papers, please contact Mr Sabelo Gumedze at sgumedze@issafrica.org

Link to add here.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Call to Action: Contractors Should Review USA and USMC COIN Lessons Learned Slide Show

Nov 4

Posted by Matt in Afghanistan, Call To Action, Military News | 2 Comments

   Please take the time to review these excellent slide shows about COIN lessons learned in Afghanistan.  They are simple to understand, and each slide communicates clearly what principle they are trying to convey.  These are all recent lessons learned, and contractors and military can all learn from this.

   Especially for contractors, because the companies nor the military is doing anything to teach us about this stuff.  In order for there to be a ‘unity of effort’, we all need to be on the same sheet of music out there. Contractors work around the local populations all the time.  Your convoy mission, PSD mission, or static security operation all have an impact on the war effort, and how you interact with the local populations can either win the day for us, or damage the fragile efforts of the troops. Plus there are some vital lessons about the operational environment of Afghanistan, and what you have to prepare for to be effective there.

    Get on board, take the time to review the slides, and pass it on. I also highly recommend getting the blog I posted below on your RSS reader. I also advise the companies to pass this around to your contractors, and communicate how important this. The purpose is to ensure that we don’t screw up the current war strategy. It is free, it is excellent knowledge, and there is no reason in the world why you shouldn’t pass this around to get the word out. -Matt

——————————————————————-

coin 5F00 helmand 5F00 prov 5F00 lessionslearnedCall to Action: Contractors Should Review USA and USMC COIN Lessons Learned Slide Show

USA and USMC Counterinsurgency Center Blog

Lessons Learned in Pictures

We obtained two great PowerPoint presentations that are just right for the troops: lessons learned matched to photographs. One lesson learned picture tells a thousand stories? One is from the 1st Battalion, 5th Marines titled “COIN in Helmand Province, After the Clear – Thoughts and Tips on Non Kinetic Actions.” See it here. The second is from Afghan National Army, LTG Zazai, the Corps commander for the ANA 205th Corps, titled “The Counterinsurgency Fight in 205th Hero Corps”. Click here to view.

Blog post here.

Tags: , , , , , , ,

Call to Action: We Need Salary and Benefits Information On the Companies!!!!! Go To Glassdoor.com

Oct 25

Posted by Matt in Call To Action, Company Spotlight, Technology | 1 Comment

   Ok ladies and gentleman, this is a call to action of the most urgent kind.  There is practically no data at all about any of the PMC or PSC salaries and benefit packages out there.  We need to collect this information on one convenient and easy to access site, so everyone knows what everyone else is getting paid right now.  The reason being, is that the companies and government will keep lowering salaries and expecting the little guys like us, to just accept it for the way it is. Pee shaw I say!

   If everyone is armed with the knowledge of what everyone else is getting paid, then you have ammunition to negotiate salaries and benefit packages.  As it stands now, there is no ‘push back’ to regulate these dropping salaries.

    The question to ask is how much is your life worth in a war zone? How much is the life or property you are protecting worth in a war zone? If you are ok with mall cop salaries in war zones, then don’t do anything about it and just take it like a chump. Hell, work for free, because that will really make the companies happy!

   But if you want to do something about it, then post your pay and benefits anonymously on Glassdoor.com, and get this knowledge passed around so everyone knows what is what.

   There is a review section, and probably you should stay away from that.  But if you feel it is appropriate, then review away. Just keep in mind, your non-disclosure agreements and OPSEC/PERSEC.

   With company salaries and benefits, they post it on websites and job ads all the time.  But what is not put up on these ads, is  what you are really making and getting out there.  So let’s give the companies and other contractors some ground truth and shared reality on this sucker.

   The other reason I like Glassdoor, is that it is free to use, and way more organized than putting this information up on some forum.  Over the years, there has been tons of information shared in casual conversation on the forums, but most of it is kind of lost or extremely difficult to find in the search features. And don’t even try going to wikipedia to learn anything about the companies, because that is vacant too.  That’s too bad, because that kind of information could have helped a lot of folks who are just getting into this industry, or transferring from one company to another.

    So pass this around, and get that information out there.  It is anonymous, and posting salary info or benefit package info is not a violation of OPSEC or PERSEC.  You are simply posting what the companies are currently offering as far as pay and benefits, and at that particular time.  It is quick and easy to post that info, and let’s get it out there and keep it up to date!

     Also, I am not affiliated at all with Glassdoor.com, and they are not paying me anything for this review and post.  Glassdoor.com is a technology/website that makes sense, and if everyone gets on board with this, it will totally become a source of excellent information for the industry. That is my view on the whole deal.

    By the way, I did notice a few DynCorp jobs and salaries posted.  Let’s fill out the rest of the info on companies and make Glassdoor.com the place to rally at. -Matt

——————————————————————

glassdoorCall to Action: We Need Salary and Benefits Information On the Companies!!!!! Go To Glassdoor.com 

Post a Salary or Review

What is Glassdoor.com?

Glassdoor.com is a career and workplace community where anyone can find and anonymously share salary details about specific jobs for specific employers or company and interview reviews describing life on the inside of an employer — all for free. What sets us apart is that all our information comes from the people who know these companies best — either the employees who work there or the candidates who have interviewed there. In the spirit of community, we ask our users to share with each other. That is, before you can access all of the information shared by others in the Glassdoor community, we first ask that you post an anonymous salary, company review or interview review of your own. By working together to offer an inside look at companies, we can open up access and bring greater transparency to information in one of the most important parts of our lives — our work.

How did we get here?

It was the summer of 2007, and Glassdoor.com co-founder Robert Hohman was busy taking time off after having left his position as president of Hotwire.com. His long-time friend Rich Barton called up with an interesting question:

“What would happen if someone left the unedited employee survey for the whole company on the printer and it got posted to the Web?”

The two had previously worked together at Microsoft and then Expedia, which Rich founded in 1994. Expedia ultimately transformed travel by opening up information once available only to travel agents and insiders. Rich then went on to transform real estate with the launch of Zillow.com, allowing anyone to find and research home values from their personal computer.

Robert and Rich contemplated why it’s so difficult to find helpful information about jobs and workplaces. Robert called on good friend Tim Besse and they expanded the survey concept to include salary details down to the job level and CEO approval ratings, just like politician approval ratings. And thus, Glassdoor was born to deliver new transparency to an incredibly important part of our lives — our work.

What Makes Us Different?

Glassdoor.com is the only site that provides a complete, real-time, inside look at what it’s really like to work and interview at a company — salaries, reviews, and ratings — for free. We’re still in the early stages, but Glassdoor is already providing what we think is very compelling information, including:

• Real-time salary/compensation details by title and company. We don’t roll-up our salary information by job category or by industry like many sites and sources. You can see details on salary, bonuses, commissions and more for titles within companies that you’ll immediately recognize. See exactly what a Software Engineer at Google or a QA Engineer at eBay makes. With information posted every day, users can be sure they’re seeing the latest.

• Detailed company reviews. See what employees on the inside really think with reviews and ratings that hit on the good, the bad, and a lot more in between. We encourage constructive feedback in our company reviews and ask respondents to provide “pros” and “cons”, along with “advice to senior management.” In addition, we also collect & calculate a real-time CEO approval percentage to provide a pulse of how employees think the CEO is doing at any given time.

• Insightful interview reviews. Allows anyone to get the inside scoop on a company’s interview and hiring process, including actual questions for any job or company. In addition, interview reviews provides a unique perspective into the overall experience and difficulty of an interview.

It’s all FREE. The only cost to see all this information on Glassdoor is to post an anonymous salary, company review, or interview review of your own. We’re using this “give to get” model to get started, and since it will only take a few minutes to complete and get access to what’s behind Glassdoor, we hope you’ll give it a try.

Why Glassdoor?

We were hoping the name was obvious, but just in case it needs some explanation — Glassdoor was selected because we’re helping people look inside a company, through the closed doors and office walls to get better insight into jobs and workplaces and the interview process to get there.

Learn More about Glassdoor

Whether you’re looking for a new job or you’re completely satisfied where you are – your work matters – and we want you to have all the information you need to make the most of your career. Anonymous salaries, company reviews, and interview questions and reviews for over 30,000 companies – all for free!

Post a Salary or Review

How do I see all salaries or reviews?

Glassdoor is completely free – there are no subscriptions or data fees. Instead we ask you to post a salary or review of your own to get access to all the salaries or reviews posted by the community.

So if you’re interested in seeing salaries, simply post an anonymous salary for your current or former job and you’ll get access to salaries for all companies. The same goes for reviews and interviews – simply post an anonymous review of your current or former employer or post an anonymous review of a recent interview experience, and you’ll get access to all reviews and interviews for any company.

How can this really be anonymous?

If you work at a small company or are the only one with your job title, you can post without giving us the information that may allow others to identify you. For example, when posting a salary you don’t even need to tell us your company (which means it will not appear on the site). And when you’re posting a review, we don’t require you to tell us your job title or location (i.e., your review can be from “anonymous”). That should allow you to post while still maintaining your anonymity.

How do you know the posts are really from employees?

Because all of our salaries and reviews are anonymous, we require all our users to verify their account via email before any of their posts are shared with the community. This verification allows us to put measures in place to identify any suspicious users or posts (even if those cases are the exception rather than the rule). These measures, combined with an active employee community and our commitment to review every post before it appears on the site, allow us to have the confidence that our information is really from employees. See for yourself, read a few reviews and you’ll see that those insights can only come from those on the inside.

Go here for to check it out.

Tags: , , , , , , , ,

Books: Security Contracting, by Jake Allen

Sep 24

Posted by Matt in Books, Call To Action, Industry Talk | No Comments

     Hey guys and gals, this is pretty cool. Normally, I am always promoting some book of an author that I don’t know.  In this case, I know the book and the author, and I am really excited to promote both.

    Jake has been working hard on this book over the last year or so in regards to starting and maintaining a career in security contracting. Not to mention doing that, along with all of his work setting up and maintaining Combat Operator and the Private Military Herald. This book is a compilation of information accumulated only from years of experience, from industry information saturation as a writer, and from learning the hard lessons that go along with this industry. If you are looking for a book that is written by a security contractor, for security contractors, then this is it.

     I often wish I had a book like this to help me out in the early days. Like most, I just fumbled along and built my knowledge base from hours of reading bits and pieces at the forums. There are not too many ‘DIY’ manuals for overseas security contracting, and Jake’s book is a great resource for your career.

     For you guys that have websites or online stores, Jake has an affiliate program for this book as well. (which I am a member of)  This is a great way to spread the word on how to get into security contracting, and make a little a coin on the side. It is very easy to sign on with this program, and Jake and the affiliate company will totally help you out in setting your stuff up right. Follow the link below for more information.

     Finally, two dollars from each sale of this book will be going to the Wounded Warrior’s Foundation. I like that, because these guys have provided a lot of help to the wounded and their families in this war, and that is something I can rally around. Check it out and pass it on. -Matt

——————————————————————

Security Contracting

Start and Maintain Your Career in the Private Security Industry

By Jake Allen

Finally the ‘How to…’ ebook you’ve been looking for.

Security Contracting is written by security security contractors and for private security contractors.

Buy and read this ebook if you want to:

-Get an insider’s perspective on what life is like as a private security contractor in a war-zone

-Learn insider tips on how to build a network and find contracts

-Get insider advice on training and skills building

-Learn how to structure and write your resume to get more responses from recruiters

-Get lists and links to PSC sites that are hiring, many of whom are hiring right now for work in places like Iraq and Afghanistan

-Get answers to many of the most Frequently Asked Questions of people trying to enter this expanding industry

-Learn how the business actually works from the inside by an insider who’s personally been there and done it

-Get tips and insight on how to increase your personal and professional network across the industy

-Get a complete list of nearly all of the major Private Military and Security Companies in the industry today

-You get over 70 pages of insight, advice and information!

*****

Contractor Reviews…

“I sincerely wish a book like this existed when I started contracting almost 10 years ago!  Bravo Jake for assembling a guide to this unique career path.”

Martin M, United Kingdom

“This book covers more than just the tactical aspects of the contracting industry.  He talks about everything from contingency and financial planning to how to tailor your CV for maximum exposure.”

Eric H, Chicago, IL

*****

About the Author

Jake Allen served as an Infantry Officer in the United States Marine Corps before embarking on a career as a private security contractor.  He has worked extensively throughout Iraq as well as in other hostile and high threat regions.  Jake is known across the private military and security circuit for his strait forward, no-nonsense, assessments of both the capabilities and the limitations of private security companies.  Many of his views on contracting can be found at the popular contracting blog The Combat Operator.  His articles have also appeared on sites such as Feral Jundi, Free Range International and DefenseTech.  Jake has been a guest on numerous radio programs and podcasts and he continuously serves as a source of ‘ground truth’ information for journalists, authors and academics covering or studying the private security sector.  Jake continues to work as a security consultant as well as serving as a contributing editor at-large for the Private Military Herald.  All who have served with Jake in the Marines or who have contracted with him hold him in high regard and can attest to his integrity and professionalism.

*****

$2.00 from each sale of Security Contracting will be donated to the Wounded Warrior Project.

*****

This ebook is made available to you via immediate and direct download following your successful payment.  Security Contracting is an ebook, not a paper book.  It is delivered in digital document Adobe PDF format.   If you do not have Adobe Reader you can get it for free here.

Plimus is the internet’s leading online commerce platform that allows you to pay securely with all major credit and debit cards in your local currency.

Please see Affiliates

To Purchase the book, go here.

Read more about the book here.

Tags: , , , , , ,

Call to Action: Petition For The President To Award the Medal of Freedom to Cyril Richard Rescorla

Sep 11

Posted by Matt in Call To Action, Leadership | No Comments

    I think this would be a fantastic tribute to a man that gave so much and saved so many lives on that tragic day. Rick also exemplifies what true leadership is all about, and we should all take notice and be inspired.  Rest in peace. -Matt

—————————————————————–

 

RickRescorlaCOLArmyPhotoCall to Action: Petition For The President To Award the Medal of Freedom to Cyril Richard Rescorla

 

“Men of Cornwall stop your dreaming

Can’t you see their spear points gleaming?

See their warriors’ pennants streaming

To this battlefield.

Men of Cornwall stand ye steady

It cannot be ever said ye

for the battle were not ready.

STAND AND NEVER YIELD!”

- “Men of Harlech”

Sung by Rick Rescorla in the Ia Drang Valley 1965 and in the stairway of WTC Tower 2 on September 11, 2001

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , , , ,

Call to Action: Wounded Warrior Cruise II

Aug 19

Posted by Matt in Call To Action, Military News | 2 Comments

    This was sent to me by Frank over at Secure Aspects.  What a great deal for our wounded vets out there, and definitely get the word out on this. -Matt

——————————————————————

yhst 50863389838911 2054 6745493 1Call to Action: Wounded Warrior Cruise II

Bionic Shirt from Ranger Up.

Friends and Wounded Warrior supporters,

We need help in finding “Wounded Warriors” that have won the Purple Heart for wounds received in Iraq and Afghanistan that are able to go on our Wounded Warrior Cruise II.

Reed (our Director) and I have sent emails to the Commander of Walter Reed AMC and to other Commands with very little results. We are offering free cabins for those selected and their spouse (or significant other).

The Cruise sails from Fort Lauderdale, Florida on 28 November and returns on 5 December 2009.

Transportation to the ship and returning home is at the expense of the participants and in some cases we may be able to provide some assistance.

We have contacted a lot of large government contractors and asked for support but we have not had much of a response.

***We need the names before the end of this month*** so that we can reserve the cabins.

We still need corporate sponsors and we could also use some help in selling additional Raffle Tickets which are $2.00 each or 3 for $5.00 and we still have about 2000 remaining.

Any assistance would be greatly appreciated as 100% of the money our organization collects goes to the program and everyone in our organization is an unpaid volunteer.

Thanking you in advance and please pass the word throughout the workplace.

Read the rest of this entry »

Tags: , , ,

Call to Action: E-petition to Create an Award to Recognize the Work of UK Private Security Contractors

Aug 6

Posted by Matt in Call To Action, Industry Talk, United Kingdom | No Comments

     Pretty cool, and please pass this around to your friends and comrades in the UK.  I posted this on Facebook as well, and be sure to share it with friends across the pond.  This would be an excellent way to recognize the sacrifice of contractors in this war, and the symbolism of such a thing would be excellent.  I hope it goes well for you guys.  Cheers. -Matt

————————————————————-

We the undersigned petition the Prime Minister to Create an award to recognise the work of Private Security Contractors.

You must be a British citizen or resident to sign the petition. Please enter your name only; signatures containing other text may be removed by the petitions team.

*****

Submitted by Chris Jones of None – Deadline to sign up by: 04 December 2009 – Signatures: 116

More details from petition creator,

We would like the government to take the following action and to recogize the work of Private Security Contactors, In the form of a letter or award for those who have proof of service.

And to express our deepest sympathy for the four Close Protection Officers who were captured in 2007 in Iraq, which as the news emerges are all dead now.

We all know that we are not recognised as former Soldiers for the work we carry out as security officers worldwide and in hostile areas, such as Iraq and Afghanistan today.

Although the vast majority of all Security Contractors are long serving and with distinguished military carriers. I am sure you will agree it is high time that we should all be recognised for our services.

After all it is the government who require us to work in these areas for them, yet still it is the same government who do not recognize these services, without us the work would not go on.

The war in Iraq for example would not have been won without the security contractors.

God bless all the the men that have died serving there country and as private security officers, our deepest sympathies go out to their families.

*****

Introduction to e-petitions

Downing Street is working in partnership with the non-partisan charitable project mySociety to provide a service to allow citizens, charities and campaign groups to set up petitions that are hosted on the Downing Street website, enabling anyone to address and deliver a petition directly to the Prime Minister.

my Society is a charitable project that runs many of the UK’s best-known non-partisan political websites, like Hear From Your MP and They Work For You. mySociety is strictly neutral on party political issues, and the e-petition service is within its remit to build websites which give people simple, tangible benefits in the civic and community aspects of their lives. For more information about my Society and its work, visit its website.

The e-petition system has been designed to be transparent and trustworthy. For legal and anti-spam reasons this site cannot host every petition submitted, but the rule is to accept everything that meets the terms and conditions of use.

No petition will be rejected unless it violates these terms. And even when petitions cannot be hosted No10 will still publish as much of rejected petitions as is consistent with legal and anti-spam requirements, including the reason why it could not be hosted.

If you have any questions about the service, please contact number10@petitions.pm.gov.uk.

Follow this link for petition.

For cut and paste, put this in the address bar.

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/Securitycontract/

 

Tags: , , , , , ,