Now this is something we all can appreciate and get involved with. This would also give one more source that the media and the government can use to get a true accounting of civilian contractor casualties. From the US plumber killed in a rocket attack in Afghanistan, to the South African security contractor killed in an IED attack on the roads of Iraq. We are all civilian contractors and our sacrifices must be counted in this war.
Check it out and be sure to go over to Death Valley Magazine or the website for this project and read about how you can get involved. Bravo to James and company for getting the ball rolling on this project. –Matt
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The Civilian Contractor Casualty Accountability Project
By James G
September 15, 2010
Civilian Contractors remain the unmentioned (and often times demonized) cog that has helped keep our Military fighting and defensively strong for over 200 years, doing everything from highly skilled scientific duties to Cooks to High-Risk Security Operations, thereby allowing our Armed Forces to free-up their soldiers for important direct combat tasks.
Back when I first started working as a Civilian Contractor I was curious as to how many of my fellow contractors had made the ultimate sacrifice while supporting our armed forces.
But at that time there wasn’t a resource online where I could find that information – flash forward almost 10 years now there still isn’t, even with all the wars and conflicts the U.S. has been involved in these brave men and women have still not been accounted for properly.
Some people online have attempted to keep track of Civilian Contractor deaths (most notable for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan) as best they can, but these resources are still quite incomplete. And Civilian Contractors who have been killed, kidnapped or are missing in action in other parts of the world have simply not been accounted for outside of some old news articles archived on news sites.
I have lost several friends, former co-workers and acquaintances who have been killed while in contracted service to the DOD or U.S. State Department. It pains me that these brave men and women (many not even U.S. Citizens) have not been recognized for their sacrifices – or even accounted for.
So after much thought I have decided to found a web-based project to do exactly that – The “Civilian Contractor Casualty Accountability Project” or “CCCA-Project” for short will not only account for all of the Civilian Contractors who have been killed in service of the U.S. Government around the world (regardless of nationality) – but also to account for those Civilian Contractors who are Missing in Action, currently being held as Prisoners of War or Unjustifiably Held in Captivity.
To say this will be a monumental task is an understatement, the U.S. Government does not maintain any detailed public records of Civilian Contractors who have been KIA, are MIA or are currently being held as POW’s. That means the majority of these records are on a hodgepodge of independently run websites and blogs, with the majority of the information on online news websites.
I would not even attempt to do something like this alone, so that’s where you all come in. The Project will need a substantial amount of volunteers to do everything from research to graphic arts to Project Management.
How You Can Help:
Right now we are only looking for volunteers for the positions that have “*WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING VOLUNTEERS” after the Volunteer Title.
For all other Volunteer Positions please stand by, we will announce when we are recruiting for these volunteers on our Facebook Group, Here on DVM and the CCCA-Project Website.
We really hope to make a small contribution to the contractor community and honor the Civilian Contractors who have bravely made the ultimate sacrifice – And with your help I am sure we will accomplish that and more.
If you would like to volunteer for any of the active positions below please Contact Us Here
– The project is currently looking for people to volunteer to assist us with the following functions:
CCCA Project Researchers – 50 Volunteer Positions Open *PENDING:
These folks will be the backbone of the project, they will search the internet for any mention of Civilian Contractor Deaths, Civilian Contractors who are Missing in Action (presumably kidnapped) and are currently being held as Prisoners of War or Unjustifiably Held in Captivity.
They will then take each instance of the above and present it to a Research Coordinator in a standardized format.
This will be a tedious job, but it is by far one of the most important jobs.
CCCA Project Research Coordinators – 5 Volunteer Positions Open *Pending:
The CCCA Project Research Coordinator will take the Civilian Contractor KIA, MIA and POW data provided by the CCCA Project Volunteer Researchers, confirm the accuracy of the data and then pass it to the CCCA Project Quality Control Researchers.
Organizational and interpersonal skills are of great importance here as you will be overseeing 10 Project Volunteer Researchers who will send you data on a daily basis.
Previous related research management experience is preferred. A Resume with verifiable references is required for this position.
CCCA Project Quality Control Researchers – 5 Volunteer Positions Open *Pending:
The CCCA Project Quality Control Researchers will double check and verify the data sent to them by the CCCA Project Research Coordinators then pass the data on to the CCCA Project Data Entry Clerks
CCCA Project Data Entry and Database Engineer – 1 Volunteer Position Open *WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS POSITION:
The CCCA Project Data Entry Clerk will input the data they receive from the CCCA Project Quality Control Researchers onto the CCCA Project Website (this will be a simple process that will only take about 5 minutes per entry) and make daily backups of the CCCA Project Website.
The CCCA Project Data Entry Clerk will also develop and maintain an offline database to prevent duplicate entry’s and for legacy archival purposes.
Previous experience as a Database Engineer and Data Entry required – A Resume with verifiable references is required for this position.
CCCA Project Lead Research Coordinator – 1 Volunteer Position Open *WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING VOLUNTEERS FOR THIS POSITION:
The CCCA Project Lead Research Coordinator will oversee all of the above projects and volunteers. Additionally the CCCA Project Lead Research Coordinator will interview, pre-screen and select all CCCA Project Researchers, CCCA Project Research Coordinators and CCCA Project Quality Control Researchers.
You must have substantial previous project management or military leadership experience, HR experience is also a plus – A Resume with verifiable references is required for this position.
– We are also looking for volunteers that can help out with the following things – *WE ARE ACTIVELY SEEKING VOLUNTEERS FOR THE FOLLOWING:
Logo Design:
We need someone to design a CCCA Project logo, please submit your logo ideas to: admin@cccaproject.com
Legal Counsel:
We are looking for a Bar licensed lawyer who will be available for us to bounce law related questions off of.
Additionally we are looking for a Lawyer who is experienced with forming a registered non-profit organization.
Accountant:
We will need a registered CPA that has experience with non-profit groups to maintain our books for us.
Board of Advisors Members:
We are looking for veteran contractors (over 5 years of contracting), industry representatives, current and former military (Senior NCO’s and Officers who are Major and Above) and industry bloggers. – A Resume with verifiable references is required for Board of Advisors Members.
www.cccaproject.com
Link to post on Death Valley Magazine here.
