Feral Jundi

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Iraq: Roadside Blast Kills 3 Americans in Western Iraq

Filed under: Iraq — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 3:31 PM

    Not good, and the last couple of days have been a bad one for contractor deaths. RIP. –Matt

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Roadside blast kills 3 Americans in western Iraq

By ROBERT H. REID

May 126, 2009

BAGHDAD (AP) — A roadside bomb blasted a U.S. convoy west of Baghdad, killing three Americans, including a top reconstruction official who once headed the Illinois Commerce Commission, U.S. authorities said Tuesday.

The attack occurred Monday on the eastern outskirts of Fallujah, which used to be the main stronghold of Sunni insurgents until U.S. troops overran the city in November 2004 in the bitterest urban fighting of the Iraq war.

Since then, Fallujah, 40 miles (70 kilometers) west of Baghdad in Anbar province, has been among the most heavily guarded cities in Iraq. A fatal attack in such an area illustrates the resilience of the insurgents despite major setbacks on the battlefield during the past two years.

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Afghanistan: Coalition Forces Seize Single-Largest Drug Cache to Date, Kill Dozens of Militants in Helmand

The combined total in illicit narcotics seized since operations began three days ago stands at 92,271 kilograms, including 16,850 kilograms of black tar opium, 38 kilograms of processed morphine, 201 kilograms of processed heroin, 182 kilograms of hashish and 75,000 kilograms of poppy seeds. 

    Now that is a haul.  Bravo to those who were involved with this one and way to stick it to them. The other part of this story that caught my eye was the multipurpose suicide/ammunition vests they captured.  So let me get this straight, the booger eaters actually have manufacturers making dual purpose vests for the jihadist? That is funny.

***** 

     “If you buy our Jihad Tactical DP-AF Vest™ now, we will throw in a free pair of 5.11 socks .  If your order is larger than 1000 Afghani’s, the shipping is free!”  lol-Matt

Jihad Tactical DP Vest

Jihad Tactical DP-AF Vest™. 

5.11 socks

 5.11 Socks. 

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Afghan, Coalition forces seize single-largest drug cache to date, kill dozens of militants in Helmand

DATE POSTED: MAY 22, 2009

BAGRAM AIRFIELD, Afghanistan (Courtesy of CJSOTF-A Public Affairs, May 22, 2009) – Afghan National Army Commandos of the 205th Corps assisted by Coalition forces killed 47 militants and seized the single-largest drug cache by international forces in Afghanistan to date during ongoing operations in the city of Marjeh, Nad Ali district, Helmand province, in the past three days.

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Monday, May 25, 2009

Jobs: Executive Security Services Professional, New York

 

Executive Security Services Professional

Hot job, which is either high priority or requires unique or specialized skills.

Job ID CHQ-0222057 

Job type Full-time Regular

Work country USA 

Posted 06-Mar-2009

Work city Armonk 

Job area Legal

Travel up to 50%; travelling 3-4 days a week, home on weekends

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Technology: Google Earth–Map the Fallen

Filed under: Technology — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 10:53 AM

   You have to download Google Earth first, but it is worth it for this application. On the downside, I am not sure if this thing will work on all computers out in the various war zones.  –Matt

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 Google Earth

Interactive map tool creates online memorial to U.S., coalition troops

By Peter Lanier

May 24, 2009

(CNN) — Each year on Memorial Day, tens of thousands of Americans visit Arlington National Cemetery just outside Washington to pay tribute to the men and women who died serving the United States.

For people who are unable to make the trip, a new online memorial provides a unique way to honor those service members who have fallen in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The new Google Earth layer, called Map the Fallen, enables the user to pinpoint where, when, and how each service member died since the beginning of the war in Afghanistan. A line connects the service member’s approximate location of death to his or her hometown.

The interactive tool — available at mapthefallen.org — also offers a detailed profile of each person.

Sean Askay, a Google engineer with no military affiliation who developed the layer in his free time, explains the project on his blog.

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Saturday, May 23, 2009

Industry Talk: Memorial Day and Contractors

     On this memorial day weekend, I have two groups of fallen that I want to remember.  Those are the deaths of our military men and women, and the deaths of contractors.  Both groups have equal importance in my view, and both have given equal sacrifice in this war.

    But in the context of this blog, this is more of a dedication to the under reported and often forgotten sacrifices of my industry’s fallen.  I am proud of our service in this war, and like most, I have lost comrades during this long fight.  And I am not just talking about American deaths, I am talking about the sacrifices of contractors from all around the world.  Just look down the list of Iraq (1,314) and Afghanistan (111) casualties and read the names and places of each fallen contractor.  

   I also want to talk about those that are not on this list as official casualties in this war.  Because of how large and unregulated the industry has become, the accurate tracking of every contractor in the war has not happened.  I am talking about contractors that are not working for the DoD or Coalition in some official capacity. We are talking about contractors that have worked for NGO’s or some private business that have died in the war. Their sacrifice should not go unnoticed, and to me, these are the unknown security contractors of the war that have truly been forgotten. Not to forget the hundreds of Iraqi or Afghan contractors that have died supporting the cause as well.    

   So to share a story that is personal to me, I want to highlight one of those individuals that are not on the list(s).  His name is Dane Mortensen, and he was a former Marine and Idaho resident.  I had helped him in his quest in becoming a contractor when he got out of the Marines via emails, and he was very excited to finally get his first break in the industry.  He had worked in Qatar for Dyncorp for a bit, and then went on to work for Securiforce in Iraq.  Here is his last email to me, and a month later he was killed.  I also posted his obituary.

   Below, I also found two stories of contractors recently killed in Iraq and Afghanistan.  Rest in peace, and my heart goes out to the friends and family of the fallen.  Semper Fi. –Matt  

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10/25/07

Matt,

Hows it going bro?  I just wanted to send you a quick note and see how you were doing back there in idaho and see if you’d started looking for contracts here.  Have you ever heard of a brit company called securiforce?  I’ve been talking to them for a week or so and it looks like i might be going with them on 1nov doing convoy security.  They kinda look like crecent, rolling in pickups with iraqi drivers and nepelese gunners.  anyhow the pay is good and the RR time is great just wanted to see if you knew anything about them.  Take care

Semper Fi

Dane 

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Dane Richard Mortensen died, in Iraq last Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007 while escorting a convoy supporting coalition efforts in the war. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Nov. 30, 2007 at the LDS Meridian North Stake Center, located at 5555 North Locust Grove Rd. in Meridian, Idaho. Dane entered this world on March 31, 1984, weighing 10 lbs 7 oz in Boise. His physical size was perhaps necessary to hold his spirit, love of life, and mischief. 

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