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
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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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.
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
*****
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.
Ok guys and gals, this is a good one. I have always been frustrated with the lack of communications capability between all the companies and the military, while operating out there in war zones. If everyone in the theater of operations had a First InterComm System set up in one of their convoy vehicles or at their FOB, then everyone should be able to communicate with one another, yet still use their current radio systems.
Companies could be issued these boxes, or it could be mandated that all convoy operations and sites have them as part of the contract. That way, the company can still use their current communications systems, but with this device they can communicate with everyone else that has their own communications system, yet has the same device. That way, companies interacting with other companies or even the military, will be able to communicate. That is cool.
For convoys that pass each other on the road, these devices could allow them to communicate with each other. Especially if one convoy just blasted through an ambush or visually spotted a potential IED, and then they could pass on this information via radio–and instantly, yet not have to mess around with reprogramming or changing radios. That is much better than going through a third party TOC that is miles away that might or might not get the information, and more than likely will get it too late to make a difference for the here and now.
“So many factors have contributed to the success of the Sri Lankan forces. There was a clear aim and mandate from the political level to the official level and to the military level to destroy the LTTE at any cost. There was no ambiguity in that,” Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the BBC. “ The rebels thought the international community, especially neighbouring India, would intervene looking at the civilian suffering ”
And from Boyd’s Patterns of Conflict:
Break guerillas’ moral-mental-physical hold over the population, destroy their cohesion, and bring about their collapse via political initiative that demonstrates moral legitimacy and vitality of government and by relentless military operations that emphasize stealth/fast-tempo/fluidity-of-action and cohesion of overall effort.*If you cannot realize such a political program, you might consider changing sides! Page 108
An interesting little article about a long and brutal little war and it’s conclusion. The thing I picked up on was the split in leadership within the Tamils and how that helped to bring about their defeat in the Eastern Province. Actually there are all sorts of interesting little happenings that we can learn from in this conflict. Bravo to the Sri Lankan military. –Matt
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How Sri Lanka’s military won
By Anbarasan Ethirajan
BBC News
2009/05/22
Few believed him when Sri Lanka’s powerful defence secretary said he required three years to defeat the once invincible Tamil Tiger rebels.
When Gotabaya Rajapaksa made the assertion, the Tamil Tigers, or Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam [LTTE], controlled nearly one third of the country, had a well-organised, ruthless fighting unit, sufficient stocks of heavy weapons, a small navy and a rudimentary air force.
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