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.

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