Friday, December 17, 2010
Florida: Security Guard Mike Jones Saves The Day
This is an incredible video to watch, and it is a miracle that none of the innocents involved were hurt or killed. Mike Jones saved the day by taking out this animal with his pistol. There is another hero in this whole deal, and that was the woman with the purse that actually stepped up and tried to take out this nut case with her purse. Unfortunately though, the panel of men just sat there while this woman was courageously trying to stop this guy. Good on her and good on Mike Jones.
The other point about this is the amount of time this took to go down. Active shooters can do much damage in a very short period of time. It is the people and any security near by that will have the best chance of executing an escape or even stopping the shooter in those mad seconds. As you can see in the video below, the SWAT guys came in after the smoke and dust settled. Meaning, people have to think in terms of preservation of life and doing something about it, and not depending on law enforcement or some random hero to save the day. –Matt
Fla. shooting hero admired for his generosity
December 16, 2010By BRENT KALLESTAD
TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – The security guard credited with saving the lives of several Panama City school board members got back to his holiday role Thursday, working as Santa Claus on behalf of the poor children in his area.
Mike Jones, who is well-known locally as “Salvage Santa” for his work providing refurbished Christmas gifts for needy children, shot a gunman Tuesday after the man began firing at members of the Bay County School Board.
Jones had just arrived at the building before Clay Duke interrupted the meeting. After being hit several times, Duke shot himself in the head. School board members were not injured.
“I wasn’t there five minutes and I was in a gunfight,” Jones, 57, said at a news conference. “They said the gun battle lasted 13 seconds but it seemed like it was forever.”
Jones, a former school board member who serves as the school district’s security chief, said he was supposed to be on vacation but was in the building to be available to answer some questions during the meeting.
Industry Talk: Army To Award 1.6 Billion Dollar Training Contract For Afghanistan Before New Year
Wow, this contract is a big one. Also, thanks to Danger Room for posting an update on this contract. In the past I posted a deal about the transition of this contract from CIVPOL to CNTPO, and how DynCorp got edged out of the party when they were excluded under the new program. Then they protested and won the right to be a vendor, and this is where we are at now. It is a battle of the titans for a huge training contract.
This is also important to the war effort because as I have reported in the past, NATO tends to make promises it cannot keep. There are 900 training positions still open because of this lack of commitment. That is not good, and especially if the war strategy is highly dependent on getting the Afghan forces to a size and level of competency where they can take over the security of their country. Yet again, it will be contractors picking up the slack as NATO falters. –Matt
Edit: 12/21/2010- Here is the latest with this contract. DynCorp just got hooked up. Here is the quote:
“Danger Room has confirmed that DynCorp, one of the leading private-security firms, has held on to a contract with the Army worth up to $1 billion for training Afghanistan’s police over the next three years. With corruption, incompetence and illiteracy within the police force a persistent obstacle to turning over security responsibilities to the cops by 2014, NATO has revamped much of its training efforts — except, apparently, the contractors paid lavishly to help them out.
The details: DynCorp will provide security personnel to train the Afghan cops at 14 different locations across the country. Those trainers will support the NATO training command run out of Kabul by Lt. Gen. William Caldwell in getting the police into an “independently functioning entity capable of providing for the national security of Afghanistan,” the Army’s Research Development and Engineering Command says in the award. The contract runs for two years and earns DynCorp $718.1 million, but an option to re-up for a third year brings the total price to $1.04 billion.”
Quote From Danger Room:
“Before the New Year, the Army will finally award a much-delayed $1.6 billion-with-a-b contract for a private security firm to supplement that NATO training command’s efforts to professionalize Afghan cops. That bid touched off a bureaucratic tempest between Blackwater/Xe Services and DynCorp, which held an old contract for the same job, as well as the State Department and the Army.
But not for much longer. The Army’s Contracting Command is in “the very final stages” of selecting the firm for the bid, Col. John Ferrari of the NATO training command tells Danger Room. “We’re expecting an announcement before the end of December, sometime in the next week or two.”
The contract is for “mentoring, training, and logistics services” to backstop Ferrari’s efforts, placing security contractors in embedded positions with the Afghan interior ministry and police units themselves, according to the terms of the bid. More than 80 firms have registered as “interested vendors” on the federal website announcing the contract. NATO is trying to build a 134,000-strong Afghan police force by October, and it’s short 900 trainers promised by U.S. allies.”
——————————————————————
R–NATO Training Mission Afghanistan/Combined Security Transition Command Afghanistan (NTM-A/CSTC-A) Afghanistan Ministry of Interior (MoI) & Afghan National Police (ANP) Support Requirement
Solicitation Number: W91CRB10R0059
Agency: Department of the Army
Office: Army Contracting Command
Location: RDECOM Contracting Center – Aberdeen (RDECOM-CC)
Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Job Tips: Close Protection PSD Jobs Widget
This is a treat. I stumbled upon this blog recently and it is filled with tons of jobs that the author has found over the last year or so. It is a basic blog format and it has RSS and a Feedburner subscription. So you have those two options for getting the latest scoop on jobs.
Also, as a service to the readership here, I have made a widget out of this blog and you can find it with the other widgets below and to the right. This will be an excellent addition to FJ and be sure to check in on it from time to time.
The other thing I wanted to mention is that authors of sites like this put in a lot of effort to collect this information and post it for all to read. Be sure to reward them by either thanking them in the comments section, forwarding their blog link to friends or on Facebook, or by clicking on their Adsense ads. All of these are an excellent way to show your appreciation, and especially if you got one of those nice paying jobs they posted. –Matt
Close Protection PSD Jobs blog here.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Legal News: Charges Dismissed Against Nicholas Moody In UAE Weapons Case!
Excellent news and thanks to everyone out there that applied the necessary pressure on our US Embassy in the UAE, and for your support in this case. This will certainly be a wonderful holiday gift to Nicholas and his friends and family. –Matt
Charges dismissed against American in UAE weapons case
December 14, 2010
The charges against an American soldier who had been detained for more than two months in the United Arab Emirates have been dismissed, authorities said.
Cpl. Nicholas Moody, from Nevada, was arrested September 29 during an 18-hour layover in Abu Dhabi while heading back from his job as a private security contractor in Iraq.
Moody was charged with possession of weapons accessories — parts that could accompany a gun, though no firearm itself — which is illegal in the UAE.
Charges against Moody, were dismissed Monday said Melhem Sharrouf, one of Moody’s attorneys.
Moody, who has served in Iraq and then Afghanistan as part of the California and then Nevada National guards, had been released from jail on bail, but it was uncertain when he would be allowed to leave the United Arab Emirates.
Moody’s visa expired while he was in jail and his passport was being held by the government, his attorneys said. He would need to renew his visa before he could leave.
Those who created a support website on Facebook rejoiced about the development in the case. More than 2,500 people have expressed support to the “Help Bring Nick Moody Back Home” site on Facebook.
“NICK’S CASE WAS DISMISSED!!!!!!!!!! The paperwork will take a couple days, then travel arrangements will be made for Nick to come home! THANK YOU EVERYONE FOR THE LOVE, LETTERS, SUPPORT, PRAYERS AND POSITIVE ENERGY!” the site said.