Rest in peace to these fallen guards. Afghan security contractors have definitely paid a high price in Afghanistan.
Although this attack is interesting in that it came out right after this bit of news about the Host Nation Trucking contracts. Was this an attack designed to take out the competition? Who knows, but maybe someone out there has a better idea?
The other thing I wanted to point out is that they stopped the attackers at the front gate. The two bombers may have blown up that front gate and killed four guards, but the other security forces were able to neutralize the third bomber in a firefight and stop them at the breach. A tragic loss of life, but they definitely stopped the attack from reaching the client. That is awesome and Til Valhall. –Matt
Four die in Taliban attack near Afghan NATO base
By Mamoon Durrani
8/15/2011
Four security guards died Monday as suicide bombers targeted a fuel depot for NATO-led forces close to one of Afghanistan’s biggest bases, where thousands of foreign troops are stationed.
The attack happened at a facility belonging to logistics company Supreme, near the sprawling Kandahar airfield, which acts as a hub for troop operations across south Afghanistan, the Taliban’s heartland and focus of the war.
The police commander for southern Afghanistan, General Salem Ihsas, said four Afghan guards working for a private security firm were killed in the assault, which happened at around 9:00 pm (1630 GMT).
He said eight other guards — three from Nepal and five from Afghanistan — were also wounded.
Taliban spokesman Qari Yousuf Ahmadi said the militant group was behind the attack in a telephone call from an undisclosed location.
The insurgents frequently target organisations, both foreign and Afghan, which work with the 140,000-strong foreign military in Afghanistan as well as fuel convoys and tankers supplying the international force.
The NATO-led International Security Assistance Force (ISAF) relies on contractors to provide a wide range of services in Afghanistan, particularly at large hub bases such as Kandahar airfield.
Ihsas said three suicide bombers were behind the attack, with two blowing themselves up at the compound gates and a third shot dead by security forces in a gun battle.
The fighting is now over and “we are in control,” Ihsas said, adding the suicide bombers had not managed to get inside the compound.
Very cool and it is about time. Although I do have a few misgivings about the blog itself, and this is stuff that can easily be fixed. First, there needs to be an RSS feed for the thing. I continue to see companies make this mistake, and it is just a simple little deal that makes a blog more useful. Guys like myself hunt for RSS feeds to put into our readers, and if you don’t have one then we just kind of forget about your site.
Some other ideas is to have a moderated comments section. If you check out my comments section on this blog, you will see that folks have the choice of entering a name and email, or signing in using Twitter or Facebook. This is the way to go, just because the easier it is for readers to sign in, the easier it will be for them to interact on the site. I use Intense Debate, but there are others out there.
Which is the other thing that kind of strikes me here. Who is the author? Is it Ashley Burke, the media relations person or who? So definitely sign off on who wrote the posts, and most of all, get that individual to interact with the readership. Especially if the CEO writes a post. Blogs are great tools for interacting with your readership. And the best thing with moderated comments, is that you can filter out those who have no interest in having a reasonable conversation or who are spammers.
Some technical issues would be to have a more complete site map at the footer, and have clear links going to the DynCorp corporate page, and clear links going to the blog. So really make it easy for the reader to know where they are at, and give them a map and clear signage as to where to go throughout your websites. An archives is important to, and put a search box on there so folks can search through your posts. Also, I did not see any tags, and that isn’t cool. All of this stuff is important to Search Engine Optimization (SEO), and if DI wants to own the story about the ‘their’ company, then they need to do the things necessary that pleases Google Search.
Which along those lines, DI should also set up an official Twitter and Facebook Page. Even a Linkedin Page would be cool, although they might already have that. Either way, get hooked up on all the top social networking sites, and then link all of them together so that every time you make a post on the blog, the post automatically goes to those sites. Google Search really likes that kind of stuff, and it will help in SEO. You would really be top notch if you linked your jobs to all of those sites, and put a RSS feed on your career section. That way, as soon as new jobs come up, folks can find out about them and jump on it. (US Training Center has an excellent jobs section, that has all of the important information and tools that job seekers like) Oh, and don’t forget about a newsletter or some kind of subscription service. Those are very easy to set up using stuff like Feedburner or whatever.
Just some ideas, and it’s a step in the right direction guys. It is also a challenge to the other PSC’s and PMC’s in this industry. If DI has a blog, where is your blog? –Matt
About Inside DI
June 10, 2011
Learn more about the people of DynCorp International, our most recent company news, key contract wins, the causes we support and other fun facts.
Link to blog here.
This is important to put out there just because there might be some little tweaks to the way things were usually done. So what I would like to do is put this out there, and if anyone has any commentary on the document, you can say so in the comments section. And because FJ gets top search in Google for stuff like this, I guarantee that folks will read what you have to say if they are interested in the document. Here is a snippet of the Summary:
This Rule establishes policy, assigns responsibilities and provides procedures for the regulation of the selection, accountability, training, equipping, and conduct of personnel performing private security functions under a covered contract during contingency operations, combat operations or other significant military operations. It also assigns responsibilities and establishes procedures for incident reporting, use of and accountability for equipment, rules for the use of force, and a process for administrative action or the removal, as appropriate, of PSCs and PSC personnel. For the Department of Defense, this Rule supplements DoD Instruction 3020.41, “Contractor Personnel Authorized to Accompany the U.S. Armed Forces,” which provides guidance for all DoD contractors operating in contingency operations.Show citation box
This Rule was published as an Interim Final Rule on July 17, 2009 because there was insufficient policy and guidance regulating the actions of DoD and other governmental PSCs and their movements in operational areas. This Rule ensures compliance with laws and regulations pertaining to Inherently Governmental functions, and ensures proper performance by armed contractors.
Check it out and let me know what you think? I thought the comments and answers in this document were interesting. Although my first critique here is that I had no idea about the comments process, and that they would actually answer them in the document? I could have given a heads up here and on Facebook about this document and encouraged them to ask for clarification about rules. After all, it is our industry this thing impacts. As other articles and posts come up about this publication, I will make the edit. –Matt
I found out about this travesty of justice down in Mexico recently while watching this Dateline series. It is heart wrenching, and I am angry at the Mexican government and legal system there for letting down this mother and daughter. The system is also tainted by cartel influence and money, and this cowardly murderer named Sergio Bocanegra literally got away with murder. And the Mexican legal system helped him get away with it!
So if the legal system and the Mexican government is controlled and influenced by the money and killing power of the Los Zetas and other cartels, then what is the point of this bounty? Why would I even care to post this? Well actually, I want to help shame the Mexican legal system into doing what is right and to seek justice for the murder of these two women. To capture Sergio and execute him would be a fantastic symbolic gesture.
That, and to actually uphold the law and revamp the legal system so that the good people of Mexico can actually look up to their police and government as not corrupt. That they actually care to uphold the law. So if the government is serious now, after the mother and daughter were killed, and these two have basically become martyrs, then I will gladly help promote the capture of these guys and the story of what happened.
Like with a insurgency, the government must prove to the local population that is a good idea. So not only must they aggressively pursue these cartels, but they must also focus on the basic rule of law in the towns and cities. To actually use the military for war-like functions, and assign your police to do actual police work. Or at the least, make sure that you have enough police actually enforcing the basic rule of law in the cities and towns.
The other component is the corruption. Boy, if I was the government and I really wanted to clean up all the corruption, I would be checking bank accounts of all government employees and heavily using moles or mystery shoppers to find these despicable humans that have sold their souls to the cartels. Your justice system is broken, and it is time for serious and extreme measures.
Another idea is to actually take the weapons that you have captured from the cartels, and issue them to town and city defense forces that are being terrorized by the cartels. I look at Mexico much like any other counter-insurgency operation, and if there are local populations who want to fight the cartels, then the government needs to recognize how much of a gift that is, and support them. Get the population involved in this fight. But the government will not get anyone to join that fight, if they are as bad as the cartels or they are as heavily intertwined with the cartels. So eradicate cartel influence, and co-opt with the population-become the better idea.
To finish up here and get back to the main topic, I sincerely hope that these individuals are caught and correctly prosecuted and justice is served. Sergio actually confessed to the murder! The other guy was caught on tape, with several witnesses–to include the brother/son of these two murdered women. And with any luck, if Sergio and this other bastard made it up to the US somehow, that one of my readers potentially spots one of these guys and calls it in to collect the bounty. Or one of you might see Sergio down in Mexico and you never know? Let’s help catch these guys and hopefully the Mexican government will be serious this time. Oh, and here is my latest Letter of Marque catch phrase when referring to the rich cartel clowns.’Dish out the plomo, and take their plata! Arrrrrgh! –Matt
Mexican Federal PGR Raised Rewards For Suspects In Mother And Daughter Escobedo Homicides In Chihuahua
Rewards for murder suspect in sketch has been raised to $3 million pesos ($230,770 U.S.) and Bocanegra has been raised to $5 million pesos ($384,616 U.S.), the Mexican government announced.
By H. Nelson Goodson?June 23, 2011
Mexico City, Mexico – On Thursday, the Mexican Federal Attorney General’s Office (PGR) announced that it had raised the rewards for several suspects connected to the homicides of a mother and daughter. The PGR had released the sketch of the alleged 30-year-old suspect who shot Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, 52, several times including a fatal shot to the head.?The PGR is now offering $3 million pesos ($230,770 U.S.) from $200,000 pesos ($16,000 U.S.) it had previously offered for information leading to the arrest of the suspect. The suspect is believed to have been working with Sergio Rafael Barraza Bocanegra, 24, the alleged boyfriend and confessed killer of Ortiz’ daughter Rubi Marisol Frayre Escobedo, 16, from Ciudad Juarez.?Bocanegra is accused of taking part in the planned killing of Ortiz on December 16 and the September 2008 murder of Rubi Marisol. He had confessed to killing Rubi Marisol and even led police to a hog farm where her dismembered body was found. Mexican authorities are now offering $5 million pesos ($384,616 U.S.) from $500,000 pesos ($41,000 U.S.) it had previously offered for information leading to the arrest of Bocanegra. They issued an international warrant because Bocanegra could have left the country, but family members of the Escobedo’s believe he is leaving with his girlfriend and several kids in Fresnillo, Zacatecas, Mexico.?Bocanegra is an alleged member of Los Zetas and the Cartel de Sinaloa has also joined in the manhunt for Bocanegra, according to several large hand written poster signs discovered around Ciudad Juarez and the Chihuahua Capitol city.?Ortiz had struggled for two years to bring Bocanegra to justice for the murder of her daughter Rubi Marisol in 2008. The day Ortiz was killed, she was outside the Chihuahua state government building in the city of Chihuahua for nine days staging a protest and demanding justice from Governor César Duarte and the Chihuahua Attorney General’s Office.
Story here.
————————————————————— Mexican Mother who Sought Justice for Murdered Daughter is Herself Assassinated
Diego DiGhero
December 21st 2010
A chilling video, taken by CCTV camera, captured the assassination of Marisela Escobedo Ortiz, a Mexican human rights activist who – for more than two years – has demanded justice for her murdered 16-year-old daughter, Rubí Marisol Frayre. Rubi was shot to death, allegedly by a lover, and her body later burned and left at a garbage dump.
Marisela was arranging on the evening of December 16 her protest signs in front of the government house in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, preparing for yet another demonstration, when a man emerged from a car and shot her in the head. Falling to the ground, she was soon taken by local police to hospital while she still showed signs of life. However, she was finally pronounced dead despite medical attention.
This is very cool. This vessel is a recreation of the original privateer schooner called the Lynx. The reason why I like this, is that this boat is a real representation of private industry during war time. This vessel is also a symbol of what an Offense Industry can create during times of war, and this boat is beautiful. This thing was designed for commerce raiding, and it is just neat to see it sail and exist.
The other deal I wanted to bring up is definitely go to the website and check out their schedule if you want to see where they are going next. They are sailing all over the world and their intent is to educate people about the history of privateering in America’s early wars. So they do tours on the vessel and this would be a fun way to spend a day. So definitely take the time to check this bit of contractor history if they happen to be in your area. –Matt
Lynx– America’s Privateer
HISTORY OF THE LYNX
Lynx is an interpretation of an actual privateer named Lynx built by Thomas Kemp in 1812 in Fell’s Point, Maryland. She was among the first ships to defend American freedom by evading the British naval fleet then blockading American ports and serving in the important privateering efforts.
At the outbreak of the War of 1812, the American Navy consisted of only 17 ships – eight frigates, two brigs, and seven assorted smaller vessels including a few schooners which saw service in the Barbary Wars. When a nation went to war, owners of private vessels were granted special permissions, called “letters of marque,” to prey upon the enemy’s shipping; thus, “privateers.” While rarely engaging enemy warships, their impact was felt by English merchants who insisted on warship escorts for their vessels. To perform this duty, warships were drawn away from engaging the scant American Navy and blockading our coast, and thus did the privateers, motivated by profit, assist in our national defense. Among the Baltimore privateers was the sharp-built tops’l schooner, LYNX.
