Friday, November 20, 2009
Afghanistan: Afghanistan’s Gray Line: The Education of “Combat Platoon”
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Industry Talk: FedBizOps–Security Guard Contracts for FOB Lightening, Wilderness, Herrera, and Zormat in Afghanistan
Interesting news, and I will let you know who picks up what for this. Part of the deal for these contracts is that part of the security has to come from local nationals that live in the area. This can work, if it is done properly and is actually managed well by whatever company has taken this on. The benefits of hiring locally is that guys tend to protect their cash cow, or the job that feeds their family. So it benefits them to know about any bad guys in the area. These local guards can also help to feed the base with any local info about IED’s or bad guys in the area. But that only works when you actually engage with your guards and work with them. If you treat them as if less than, then of course there won’t be any info obtained.
These guards can also identify bad guys within the worker units coming onto the base to do work. They will know who is local and who the foreigners are, so it is smart to really work with these guards and treat them with respect. More than likely though, these guards will first and foremost show loyalty to the local tribal chief, so it is important that the company works with that individual as well. Nothing new, but it all can go pear shape if you don’t be careful. The big one is just stay engaged with everyone.
If you are a guard force supervisor, you should be checking up on your guys often, learn a little language, and apply some Jundism to your connections. Know your stuff, have the courage to do what is right, and most of all, take care of your people. And that goes for the company as well. Do not hamstring your guard force commanders, by not giving them the tools necessary to be good leaders.
The kind of tools I am talking about are disciplinary tools (the ability to fire folks, or punish by withholding pay), or giving them the time and money necessary to train or equip their guard force. You are asking a lot of your guard force commanders, the least you can do is back them up and give them everything they need to succeed. Don’t be marshmallow eaters and take the easy way out by signing on to contracts that don’t allow for that kind of support for your guard force commanders. Or by purchasing crap equipment or weapons. pffft.
These men and women you put in charge of the local national forces, are the backbone of your contract–you should treat them as such, because the security of that FOB rides on their ability to effectively lead. Better yet, take the time to pick guard force commanders that will do a good job for you, and trust-yet verify that they are doing a good job for you, and stay involved with what is going on out there. Or you can pull a AGNA, and watch your company become the embarrassment of the industry. –Matt
——————————————————————
From FedBizOps (click on the blue links)
Air Force-Afghan Security Guards – FOB Lightening
Solicitation Number: W91B4P-10-R-0014
Agency: Department of the Air Force
Office: United States Air Force Europe
Location: 48 CONS/LGC – Lakenheath
Army-Afghan Security Guard Services – FOB Wilderness, Herrera, Zormat (WHZ)
Solicitation Number: W91B4P-10-R-0015
Agency: Department of the Army
Office: Joint Contracting Command, Iraq/Afgahnistan
Location: SALERNO RCC
Tuesday, November 17, 2009
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Afghanistan: U.N. Guard Louis Maxwell, Killed During The Defense of Guest House, Hailed as a Hero
I just came across this, even though it has been out for awhile, and I wanted to post it on FJ as a dedication. Louis Maxwell should receive a medal for his actions. (The U.N. does have such a medal, and it is called the Dag Hammarskjold Medal.) His actions are an inspiration to us all. Rest in peace. –Matt
—————————————————————–
UN guard killed in Afghanistan hailed as hero
By TAMARA LUSH
Oct 30, 2009
MIAMI — A United Nations security guard from Miami who died fighting Taliban attackers at a hotel in Afghanistan is being hailed as a hero by top U.N. staff for the lives he and another guard helped save.
Louis Maxwell, 27, and the other U.N. guard, Laurance Mefful of Ghana, held off the attackers for at least an hour, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said Friday.
“They fought through the corridors of the building and from the rooftop,” Ban told the U.N. General Assembly. “They held off the attackers long enough for their colleagues to escape, armed only with pistols against assailants carrying automatic weapons and grenades and wearing suicide vests.”
Friday, November 13, 2009
Afghanistan: How the U.S. Army Protects It’s Trucks–By Paying the Taliban
First off, bravo to the boys at Four Horseman International for at least taking a stand and not playing the ‘pay-off’s’ game, and fighting your way through the roads. As for NCL Holdings? Pffft.
One suggestion for the DoD is to use these convoys as opportunities to bring out the enemy and kill him. That, and give the convoys some fire power to deal with the threat. It should be costly for the enemy to attack these convoys.
We should also be using the pay off scheme to track where the money is going, and then kill the source that way. Where is the return on investment, when we just hand over money to the enemy for so-called protection services? Either way, there is no way in hell we should be paying off the Taliban or warlords in order to pass through those roads. The only thing we should be giving the Taliban for passage on those roads, is hot lead. That is my take on it. –Matt
——————————————————————
How the US army protects its trucks – by paying the Taliban
Insurance, security or extortion? The US is spending millions of dollars in Afghanistan to ensure its supply convoys get through – and it’s the Taliban who profit
Aram Rostom
Friday 13 November 2009
On 29 October 2001, while the Taliban’s rule over Afghanistan was under assault, the regime’s ambassador in Islamabad in neighbouring Pakistan gave a chaotic press conference in front of several dozen reporters sitting on the grass. On the Taliban diplomat’s right sat his interpreter, Ahmad Rateb Popal, a man with an imposing presence. Like the ambassador, Popal wore a black turban, and he had a huge bushy beard. He had a black patch over his right eye socket, a prosthetic left arm and a deformed right hand, the result of injuries from an explosives mishap during an old operation against the Soviets in Kabul.