Captain Philips testifies before congress about his thoughts on how to deal with piracy. Watch it here. –Matt
Thursday, April 30, 2009
Afghanistan: U.S. Takes Dutch Military as Role Model in Afghan Operation
“The Obama administration, however, is having trouble finding civilian experts at the State Department to send to Afghanistan.”
Thanks to Master Gunner for this article. He brought up the key sentence of the article, that made us both laugh. There should be no trouble finding civilian experts, if the Obama administration is willing to tap into the free market system, as opposed to limiting the mission to only those he can find in government. Face it, we are here, we are available and want to work, yet we just don’t want to be government employees. We will gladly perform contracting services though, and it is a system that works if the government takes the time to just referee the whole thing to make sure everyone plays by some sound and effective rules.
Also, I will give a kudo to the administration for at least giving the perception of trying to find the best model of operation. That is what learning organizations do, and if in fact the Dutch have the best model of operation, then that is great that we want to use it. But I will wait until we get some real experts on the subject to talk about it. I am sure Tim Lynch and others have some ideas about this, and I look forward to any input. –Matt
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U.S. Takes Dutch Military as Role Model in Afghan Operation
By JAY SOLOMON
APRIL 30, 2009
STROE, the Netherlands — The Obama administration, which wants to send hundreds of additional civilian personnel into Afghanistan, is looking at the Dutch military’s operations there for lessons on how to combat the Taliban.
The civilian deployment is part of a U.S. focus on economic development meant to weaken support for the Taliban and dry up finances it derives from the opium trade. The civilians will complement the deployment in the coming months of 21,000 new troops, many of whom will be posted to southern provinces where the Taliban are thriving.
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Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Crime: Drug-Sub Culture
“You ever try to build something in your backyard? They’re building these in the jungles.”
This is a building snowmobiles concept, and very innovative. I give them high marks for working the problem and coming up with something like this, but it is still criminal.
Perhaps the counter to something like this could be the good ol’ Letter of Marque? I have talked about it before for land operations, and this problem is a prime opportunity to use the LoM for a sea based operation. We would have to break out all the old U-Boat hunting ‘lessons learned’ from WW2 for this one. I also think this would be an excellent task for a private naval company, and this stuff along with the piracy deal, could keep companies very busy. –Matt
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Drug-Sub Culture
By DAVID KUSHNER
April 26, 2009
THE CRAFT FIRST surfaced like something out of a science-fiction movie. It was November 2006, and a Coast Guard cutter spotted a strange blur on the ocean 100 miles off Costa Rica. As the cutter approached, what appeared to be three snorkels poking up out of the water became visible. Then something even more surprising was discovered attached to the air pipes: a homemade submarine carrying four men, an AK-47 and three tons of cocaine.
Today, the 49-foot-long vessel bakes on concrete blocks outside the office of Rear Adm. Joseph Nimmich in Key West, Fla. Here, at the Joint Interagency Task Force South, Nimmich commands drug-interdiction efforts in the waters south of the United States. Steely-eyed, gray-haired and dressed in a blue jumpsuit, he showed me the homemade sub one hot February afternoon like a hunter flaunting his catch. “We had rumors and indicators of this for a very long period beforehand,” he told me, which is why they nicknamed it Bigfoot.
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Sunday, April 26, 2009
Industry Talk: Panel Investigating Wartime Contracts Finds Private Guards Lack Essential Equipment, Training
Wow. We’ll see how this works out, and hopefully these companies will correct the deficiencies. Although having a commission and all of this media attention is a terrible way to manage this stuff. If the government was actually involved with quality control, maybe the wartime commission wouldn’t have had to call this out. Or better yet, if the companies actually held to the contract terms and provided this stuff in the first place, this wouldn’t have never gotten this far. –Matt
Edit: Check out David Isenberg’s article about the SIGIR report that came out last week as well. The report discusses some more stuff about TWISS, and David discussed some of the high lights.
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Panel investigating wartime contracts finds private guards lack essential equipment, training
RICHARD LARDNER
Associated Press Writer
April 26, 2009
WASHINGTON (AP) — A commission investigating waste and fraud in wartime spending has found serious deficiencies in training and equipment for hundreds of Ugandan guards hired to protect U.S. military bases in Iraq, The Associated Press has learned.
The problems at Forward Operating Bases Delta and Hammer include a lack of vehicles used to properly protect the two posts, a shortage of weapons and night vision gear, and poorly trained guards. Both bases house several thousand U.S. military personnel.
Concerned the shortages leave the bases vulnerable, the Commission on Wartime Contracting alerted military officials in Iraq and at U.S. Central Command in Tampa, Fla.
Building Snowmobiles: The Useful Contractor
I was flipping through some military history the other day, and found what I think is another excellent building snowmobiles topic. What defines the ultimate security contractor out there? Is it someone who is just really good with a pistol, or someone that drives really well, or what? Or better yet, what kind of contractor really has value in the grand spectrum of this kind of work?
Well, from what I can gather in history, it pays to know how to do a lot of different things if you want to do this kind of work and be successful.
For example, a guy that knows how to fix weapons, is a very valuable asset out on contracts. Most companies do not provide armorers, and if they do have them, they seem to never make it out to your location when you need them the most. So eventually, you either learn to fix your own weapons, or you take it to the guy on that contract who has armorer skills and the tools to do the job. That guy tends to be very popular on contracts, and they increase in value with every repair they do. And if the site manager has to make some cuts, and he has to choose between the ‘useful contractor’ or the guy that just gets along, then he will cut the non-useful contractor and go with the guy that can fix weapons.
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