Feral Jundi

Monday, September 27, 2010

Leadership: The Next Petraeus–What Makes A Visionary Commander?

Filed under: Building Snowmobiles,Jundism,Leadership,Military News,Strategy — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:43 AM

“One day you will take a fork in the road, and you’re going to have to make a decision about which direction you want to go. If you go one way, you can be somebody. You will have to make your compromises and … turn your back on your friends, but you will be a member of the club, and you will get promoted and get good assignments. Or you can go the other way, and you can do something, something for your country and for your Air Force and for yourself. … You may not get promoted, and you may not get good assignments, and you certainly will not be a favorite of your superiors, but you won’t have to compromise yourself. … In life there is often a roll call. That’s when you have to make a decision: to be or to do.”

-Col. John Boyd

*****

     As I read through this I was thinking ‘What makes a visionary PMC/PSC CEO?’ You really don’t hear much about that kind of thing in our industry.  Although there is plenty of good stuff to learn from the military community, and that is why I wanted to post this.

     I also had that famous quote running through my head ‘to be, or to do…’ from the mighty Col. John Boyd. One of the points of this article is that the military has a hard time producing leaders that are there ‘to do’ the job, primarily because the system really doesn’t lend itself for that.  It is more restrained and not very flexible.  Everyone has a specific career track, with boxes that must be checked off. God help you if you draw outside the lines in this world, or dare to take a different path.

     The other point made was that of life experiences and preparation for the real world of being in the high command. That these guys are having to not only be masters of the combat arms and strategy, but must also be the ultimate ‘everyman’.  They could be working with civilians, talking with Rolling Stone reporters, hanging out with Presidents that could care less about winning wars and more about politics, working with disaster relief organizations in disaster zones, trying to manage a massive civilian contractor force and ‘building snowmobiles’ on a daily basis just to win the numerous political wars, as well as the real wars. Being a general these days is no joke.

     I would also apply the same standard to today’s CEO of PMC’s and PSC’s.  This is an incredibly fast paced and technological world we live in. In order to stay competitive, a company and it’s leaders must always stay ahead of the game and their competitors. At least in our industry, CEO’s either do well and keep the company profitable, or fail miserably and be kicked to the road.  The free market is what produces our ‘visionary commanders’.

     Good article and check it out. –Matt

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The next Petraeus

What makes a visionary commander, and why the military isn’t producing more of them

By Renny McPherson

September 26, 2010

President Obama recently demoted General David Petraeus, the man who led the turnaround in Iraq and is widely acknowledged to be the most effective military officer of his generation.

In June, the president needed a new commander to lead the war effort in Afghanistan, after General Stanley McChrystal spoke too openly with a Rolling Stone reporter and was forced to resign. And, while few may realize this, when Petraeus was appointed to take over in Afghanistan, he was replacing a subordinate. Petraeus may yet be hailed for saving the day. But he also got a new boss and moved one step down the chain of command.

How does this happen to the best our military has to offer? Why was there no other general to take the job?

The short answer is that the US military has failed to produce enough leaders like Petraeus–the kind of broad-minded, flexible strategic thinkers needed to lead today’s most difficult missions. And a large contributor to this failure is the military’s inflexible system of promotion, which can actively discourage young officers from getting the mind-expanding, challenging experiences that could turn them into potent generals.

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Jundism: ‘Have The Courage To Do What Is Right’– Security Contractor Shane Schmidt Rest In Peace

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq,Jundism — Tags: , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 12:56 AM

     I wanted to post this story as an example to us all.  ‘Have the courage to do what is right’ is a Jundism concept that I have hit on before here on the blog, and Shane Schmidt is a prime example of what this means.

     For circumstances like this when a co-worker or leader has crossed the line, it is your responsibility and moral obligation to do what is right and turn that bastard in. If you don’t, who will?  And if you don’t, then these heathens will take you, your company, and your customer down with them and everyone in the company and industry suffers.

     Do not listen to those in your company who are weak minded and lack that moral standard to do what is right. Listen to your heart and listen to your soul and do what you have to do. That is all.

     Bravo to Shane Schmidt (and Charles Sheppard) and Semper Fi. –Matt

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Shane Schmidt

Shane Schmidt, shown in Iraq, and others with Triple Canopy said a colleague fired unprovoked into an occupied taxi and pickup truck. (Courtesy Of Shane Schmidt)

Sued U.S. defense contractor in Iraq

By Emma BrownFriday, September 24, 2010

Shane Schmidt, a private security guard in Iraq who raised questions about lax government oversight of U.S. defense contractors when he accused his boss of randomly shooting at, and perhaps killing, civilians in Baghdad, died Sept. 19 at a hospital in Marshfield, Wis. He was 33.

Mr. Schmidt, a Haymarket resident who was visiting family in Wisconsin, was crossing a road near Marshfield just after midnight when he was struck by a vehicle. He was taken to a nearby hospital, where he died, according to a news release from the local sheriff’s department. The incident was under investigation.

Mr. Schmidt was a Marine Corps sniper who served two tours in Afghanistan before taking a job in 2004 with Triple Canopy, a Herndon-based company and one of the largest defense contractors working with the U.S. military in Iraq.

For $500 a day, he provided protection for American bases and visiting military personnel and contractors.

On July 8, 2006, the former Marine was one of four Triple Canopy employees traveling in an armored sport-utility vehicle to the Baghdad airport.

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Sunday, September 26, 2010

Afghanistan: Gunmen Kidnap Development Alternatives Inc. Contractors

Filed under: Afghanistan,Kidnap And Ransom — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 10:20 PM

Ziayee said the woman was wearing a burqa when the party was last seen at around 10.30am travelling through the district of Chowki. He said that she was “kidnapped by the opposition” after a brief fight with local police, who gave chase into the mountains.

An official with the Kunar criminal investigation unit said local insurgents were responsible, led by a man called Mullah Basir and an associate called Qari Ruhullah. At midday, a group of 12 senior elders from the area were sent into the area where the hostages were believed to be to try to secure their release. 

*****

     I do not know any other details other than what has been reported.  My heart goes out to the friends and families, and I certainly hope the kidnapers do not do to these folks like what happened earlier this year to the medical team. DAI has not had very good luck these days and perhaps they should reevaluate their security protocols?

     If there was only one security guy for this entire party then I don’t call that very smart. Low profile is a great method of travel, but obviously this team was busted off the get go as having a British contractor in it. Perhaps someone sold them out or they got careless? Either way, tough deal and I hope they survive. –Matt

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Afghanistan: gunmen kidnap Briton and three co-workers

British woman and Afghan colleagues part of convoy intercepted by insurgents in Kunar province

Jon Boone in Kabul and James Meikle

Sunday 26 September 2010

A British woman working for an American company and at least three Afghan co-workers have been kidnapped by unidentified gunmen in Afghanistan. They were in a two-vehicle convoy intercepted by insurgents in Kunar province.

Neither the Foreign Office in London nor Washington-based Development Alternatives Inc (DAI) would confirm the woman’s identity, but DAI, a contractor with the US Agency for International Development (USAID), said it was working “on a suspected abduction” and would be issuing a statement. The FO said relatives had been told and appealed to the British media not to name her.

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Industry Talk: Dept. Of State Daily Briefing–Contractors And The Challenge Of Iraq

Filed under: Industry Talk,Iraq — Tags: , , , , , , , — Matt @ 3:30 AM

QUESTION: Does the Department intend to hire enough private contractors to make up the shortfall of what the military now provides in terms of security, transportation, communications, and all the other services?

MR. TONER: Well, Charley, the responsibility of security, obviously, on the ground there falls under our Bureau of Diplomatic Security. And it’s up to them, obviously, to provide a safe and secure environment. And that’s going to involve, obviously, the use and participation of contractors. These contractors will provide protective services, advice, training, support. And in terms of actual numbers on the ground, I’ll leave that for them to sort of decide what’s appropriate for the security situation. 

*****

     Despite the grilling that congress gave DoS the other day about this very ambitious new phase, it sounds like they are still pressing forward.  Some of the issues they are coming up against is that DoD has not committed to giving them the stuff they want (Blackhawks, MRAPs, etc.).  Their past history with managing contracts is giving congress a pause as well.  And finally, the missions that contractors could potentially be presented with is causing congress to raise some inherently governmental questions. David Isenberg had a post on the matter.

    No word yet on who got what for WPPS/WPS.  If this is the current position of DoS though, I would assume that it is all systems go. Although I am sure they would like to do as much as they can to give congress some confidence in their mission. Good luck. lol –Matt

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Mark C. Toner

Acting Deputy Department Spokesman

Daily Press Briefing

Washington, DC

September 24, 2010

(a portion of the briefing is posted below)

QUESTION: Can we stay on Iraq for a second?

MR. TONER: Yeah. Go ahead. Yeah.

QUESTION: Yesterday on Capitol Hill, the State Department came up against some pretty sharp criticism about its ability to oversee reconstruction once the U.S. military pulled out. Special Inspector General Bowen said the State Department had failed so far to oversee a lot of these projects. And today he repeated that and said as far as he could see, the State Department did not have the core ability to oversee reconstruction at, say, tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money. What’s the State Department going to do?

MR. TONER: Well, we cooperated, actually, on that report and have made every effort to keep Congress informed of additional resources needed or required, rather, for the transition. That is, in fact, ongoing. Certainly we recognize the enormous challenge of, and are devoting considerable effort to, the military-to-civilian transition, working in close collaboration with the Department of Defense. And we’re – obviously, our overarching goal is to ensure the safety and security of our personnel in Iraq, but also ensure an appropriate level of contract and operational oversight, and then thirdly, to make sure that the mission there – our mission, rather, succeeds.

And then finally, I just would say that this is a tremendous challenge, but the State Department does have experience in this. Looking back from an historical perspective, from post-war Germany and Japan, to the unrest in Central and South America in the 1970s, to more recently East Timor and Bosnia, we’ve put staff, personnel in these challenging locations. Their goals were to stabilize the governments, provide foreign assistance, promote stable and functional host governments. And so we believe that we are up to the challenge in Iraq.

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Aviation: Air Power On The Cheap

Filed under: Aviation — Tags: , , , , , , , , , — Matt @ 1:14 AM

In aerial combat, then, low tech may be the new high tech. And there is one other advantage that the turboprop has over the jet, at least according to Mr Read—who flew turboprops on combat missions in Cambodia during the 1970s. It is that you can use a loudspeaker to talk to potential targets before deciding whether to attack them. As Winston Churchill so memorably put it: “When you have to kill a man, it costs nothing to be polite.” 

*****

     Warfare on the cheap is all the rage these days and this is an excellent little article from the Economist on the subject of cheap air power.  I just talked about Colombia’s use of these types of aircraft in their war against the FARC and I thought I would add further information behind the concept. I should also note that PMC’s like Executive Outcomes had their own air assets for operations, and that too could be classified as ‘air power on the cheap’.  If it gets the job done and you are dealing with an enemy that has no air power, then these ideas make sense.

     The one thing I keep thinking about though, is that I like cheap air power that has a high probability of survival. Or better yet, is cheap and unmanned. I think as soon as we can put robotics into these cheap propeller type aircraft, then we are effectively creating cheaper drones with built in supply and maintenance systems. Imagine an unmanned Cessna Caravan doing these types of military missions?

     Or an unmanned cargo carrier like a 747 with a payload of JDAM type munitions that could be dropped from extreme heights? There are plenty of these old, yet still working aircraft that could be outfitted with robotics. Cheap drones produced from such aircraft could be a market all by itself, and especially as smaller nations join the larger nations in their desire to have this capability– for a fraction of the price.

     Not to take away from the value of having a human in the cockpit, which to me is still the smartest computer out there. I think there will always be a need for this man and machine relationship, and especially if future small wars will require extreme discipline and precision, along with common sense and a feel for the battle field. Only a guy in the plane can really get that feel for their little patch of war and how to dominate the enemy and work with other forces. We might get there one day with UAVs, but I still think humans will have a place. –Matt

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Super Tucano

The Super Tucano, made by Embraer.

Air power on the cheap

Small, slow and inexpensive propeller-driven planes are starting to displace fighter jets

Sep 20th 2010

JET fighters may be sexy in a Tom Cruise-ish sort of way, but for guerilla warefare—in which the enemy rarely has an air force of his own with which to dogfight—they are often not the tool for the job. Pilotless drones can help fill the gap. Sometimes there is no substitute for having a pilot on the scene, however, so modern air forces are starting to turn to a technology from the yesteryear of flying: the turboprop.

So-called light-attack turboprops are cheap both to build and to fly. A fighter jet can cost $80m. By contrast the 208B Caravan, a light-attack turboprop made by Cessna, costs barely $2m. It also costs as little as $500 a hour to run when it is in the air, compared with $10,000 or more for a fighter jet. And, unlike jets, turboprops can use roads and fields for takeoff and landing.

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