Feral Jundi

     Thanks to Russ for sending me this one. I won’t say much, because I wasn’t there. One thing I will comment on is one aspect of contracting that we really don’t talk about.  What happens when you lose a contract or get terminated and the company refuses to ship you back home? Or worse yet, the company just disappears or you get caught up in an incident?        Good question, and hey, that can happen on these gigs.  You are working in war zones in usually really crappy countries, and anything and everything could happen in these sometimes lawless places.  Companies screw over their employees all the time, and it is always wise to have a ‘Go Bag’ set up, and a plan for how you will get out of that country.  

     The kinds of things you want to do are set up fixers and travel agents that can get things going in country with a call.  You also want lots of cash, so you can take a taxi or hire a driver and get across the border that way.  Have copies of your passport, visas, credit cards, etc. hidden all over the place on your person and kit. Same thing with the money, and the more you can strategically place that stuff on your body and kit, the better. Even have a throw wallet with a little cash in it that you can give to bandits to throw them off.  Make sure you have plenty of money though, because that is the stuff that is going to bribe checkpoint guards and pay for an escape through the borders or whatever.  Even some cigarettes will help as a currency, and have a few packs of those in your kit. Like I said, have a plan and talk it up with your buddies on a region specific Go Kit or Escape and Evasion Kit and don’t just trust that your company will do the right thing.  

     Also, if you are a criminal, I hope you get caught and rot in prison. And for those companies that have screwed over their contractors out there, by hanging them out to dry…. you will get yours one day.  –Matt 

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Two Blackwater-Affiliated Contractors Flee Afghanistan

By AUGUST COLE

MAY 19, 2009

Two of the four Blackwater-affiliated contractors involved in a civilian shooting incident in Kabul earlier this month have fled to the U.S. in order to avoid possible prosecution from Afghan authorities, according to their attorney.

The four men worked as military trainers for Paravant LLC, an affiliate of Blackwater Worldwide, whose parent company is now called Xe after a recent name change. Paravant was assisting Raytheon Co. on a Defense Department contract.

Armed contractors working for the Defense Department have been a touchy issue in Iraq as well as Afghanistan because of civilian deaths when fighting sometimes erupts. In Afghanistan, the recent incident risks further inflaming anger over civilian deaths caused by U.S. forces, and is a test of the Afghan government’s posture toward foreign contractors, who are set to dramatically increase as the Pentagon ramps up the number of troops there in the coming months.

Afghanistan does not have a formal agreement with the U.S. governing legal accountability for contractors, and issues about jurisdiction remain hazy. U.S. defense firms are very wary of subjecting their employees to legal systems in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Daniel Callahan, of Callahan & Blaine in Santa Ana, Calif., said that two of the men, Steve McClain and Justin Cannon, “slipped out” of their compound on Saturday and made it to a hotel in Kabul, where a friend helped them. Soon after they flew to Dubai, and then on to the U.S.

Their two colleagues, Chris Drotleff and Armando Hamid, were to follow, but Mr. Callahan has not heard from them since late Sunday. Paravant terminated the four men for contract violations following the May 5 nighttime shooting incident that left one Afghan bystander dead and wounded two others in a car.

He said his clients were held against their will by the company, a claim which Xe has denied.

“They didn’t want to take a chance but they felt they were going to get flipped over to the Afghans,” said Mr. Callahan, who previously representing the families of four Blackwater security guards killed in Iraq in a lawsuit against the company. “These guys called me on a Friday night and needed help getting free,” he said. Blackwater has been criticized in the past for spiriting away contractors who may have broken rules or run afoul of local authorities.

The U.S. military has almost wrapped up its investigation of the incident, according to Lt. Col. Chris Kubik, a spokesman in Afghanistan. He said Paravant cooperated with U.S. authorities. “They kept the guys here until their portion of the investigation was done,” he said. Afghan authorities have not asked for jurisdiction so far.

A Blackwater spokeswoman declined to comment.

According to Mr. Callahan, who had been in contact with the four men via an intermittent Internet phone connection, the contractors said they were traveling in the second of two company vehicles when a car came up behind them, passed, and then smashed into the lead vehicle. The four men got out of their vehicle when the Afghan car swerved toward them as if to run them over, prompting them to open fire.

The men were armed with AK-47 assault rifles because a manager told them to carry them, even though they weren’t supposed to have weapons at that time, according to Mr. Callahan. The weapons allegedly came from a captured stockpile, he said.

A person familiar with the situation said that several of the contractors, who are former military personnel, had been drinking that night, in violation of their contract. Mr. Callahan said an allegation alcohol played a role in the incident is untrue. “We believe Blackwater is trying to paint these men as out on a lark and drinking so that the company can maintain its ability to work in Afghanistan after losing its work in Iraq,” he said.

Write to August Cole at august.cole@dowjones.com 

Story here.