Feral Jundi

Thursday, April 15, 2010

Afghanistan: Afghan IEDs Show Rapid Adaptation

Filed under: Afghanistan,DIY,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 2:09 AM

   Mr. Grant put together a great summation of the research done on IED’s.  Bottom line, today’s booger eaters throughout the world are learning to make this stuff faster than their other booger eater predecessors. That is the down side of the internet and open source media.  Everyone can play bomb maker these days.

   There are some down sides to this for the enemy.  It still takes skill and experience to safely make these things, and this statistic below does not show how many ‘oops’ deaths have been caused by this explosion of open source IED manufacturing.  A prime example is the Frontline video on the Taliban, which showed this beautifully.

   One thing that bothers me about this, is that contractors continue to be killed by this stuff and there really isn’t an effort focused on protecting them like there is with the military.  Is this a case where it is every company for itself, or should there be an effort to coordinate the civilian operations or create a JIEDDO group for contractors so we can work to minimize our deaths as well? The irony is that contractors are used in this organization, but they really don’t do much to help out contractors.  Has anyone from JIEDDO talked with any of the expat companies to go over IED survival or the latest counter measures? Or how about collect information from contractors, to add to the matrix being set up at your JKnIFE shops?

   Personally, I know the answer to this question. The military could care less. So companies adapt and they have their own ways of learning how to deal with IEDs.  Everyone talks with everyone out there, and after a few hits on your company, guys really start focusing on and refining countermeasures for IEDs.  Some companies can afford all the cool gadgets to stop or detect this stuff, where others have to resort to other cheaper methods. Or you get some of the local national companies that just take the hits, and could care less about armor or gadgets–partly do to cost and partly do to a lack of any regulation for such a thing.  With that said, it would still be cool to hear about JIEDDO or someone similar address the issues that contractors face on the road. (by the way, check out their FB page here)  Contractors after all are bringing in the food, ammo, water, fuel, and everything else that the military needs to wage war, and with a little help we might actually get more of that stuff to the military in one piece. Not to mention save a few of those lowly contractor lives. –Matt 

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Afghan IEDs Show Rapid Adaptation

By Greg Grant

Monday, April 12th, 2010

At a New America Foundation sponsored event today in Washington, researcher Alec Barker presented an impressive collection of data on IED attacks in southern Afghanistan and western Pakistan that show not only more attacks but an acceleration of bomb making skill and use.

Thoroughly schooled in Iraq, where techniques were refined over the years, the IED bomber guild has increased in size and skill and taken their know-how on the road, compressing the training cycle. The rapid pace of innovation in consumer electronics which are used in most triggering devices, has allowed bombers to jump from one triggering method to another as soon as countermeasures show up in the field. With plenty of targets in the form of foreign troops, Afghan insurgents, as with Iraqi insurgents, are able to continually refine and evolve their tactics.

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Industry Talk: Contractor Deaths Accelerating In Afghanistan As They Outnumber Soldiers

Filed under: Afghanistan,Industry Talk — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 1:19 AM

   Lots of meat in this nice little post from Mr. Miller.  All of this is nothing new to those of us in the industry that know the real deal.  But I love posting this stuff and spreading the word to those readers who are looking for information about contractors in this war.  We are making great sacrifices and we outnumber today’s military, yet these facts are also the most ignored element of the war.

   The other factor I want to bring up is that when guys get killed on your contract,  that is the time when you see the great epiphany happen within a small percentage involved.  Those who were in it purely for the money are usually the ones that cut and run after seeing their co-worker blown up in front of them. But for those that are in the game not just for the money but because they actually believe in the cause and truly despise the enemy and all they represent is a different story. For them, to stay and press on is the only option.

   In my view, and from what I have seen in this war, the guys who stay and press on far outnumber that 1 percent of 1 percent who shouldn’t be there in the first place. Years of contracting in war zones, tends to weed out those that do not have the heart for this stuff–which is good. It is also an indicator to me, that there are more contractors driven by something other than profit.

    With that said, no one feels that their life is cheap.  Even soldiers do not ‘volunteer’ for military service.  The military and my industry have families to feed and no one does this work for free.  A soldier joins the military to fight for their country, but they also join the military to get a new and better life than the one they left behind. That includes sign on bonuses, paycheck, medical care, dental, housing allowance, insurance, valuable training or clearances, clothes, food, shelter, tax breaks, education, retirement plan, job security, veterans preference for federal jobs and the GI Bill. Wow, that doesn’t sound like volunteer work to me. lol. (I have actually heard of contractors going back to the military because it was a better deal for them and their family)

   I highly doubt that if the military was to ask a civilian population to work for free as a soldier in a long war such as this, that they could get anyone at all.  How would those soldiers feed their families, or would the military only hire single people with no life?  Yet again, tell me how that would work?  The point is with contractors and soldiers, is that the government and war planners don’t get our pound of flesh for free.  Our service has value, our deaths or injuries have value. At least that is how I view things. –Matt

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Contractor Deaths Accelerating in Afghanistan as They Outnumber Soldiers

by T. Christian Miller

April 14, 2010

A recent Congressional Research Service analysis [1] obtained by ProPublica looked at the number of civilian contractors killed in Afghanistan in recent months. It’s not pretty.

Of the 289 civilians killed since the war began more than eight years ago, 100 have died in just the last six months. That’s a reflection of both growing violence and the importance of the civilians flooding into the country along with troops in response to President Obama’s decision to boost the American presence in Afghanistan.

The latest U.S. Department of Defense numbers show there are actually more civilian contractors on the ground in Afghanistan than there are soldiers. The Pentagon reported [2] 107,292 U.S.-hired civilian workers in Afghanistan as of February 2010, when there were about 78,000 soldiers. This is apparently the first time that contractors have exceeded soldiers by such a large margin.

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Wednesday, April 14, 2010

Fish And Game: Feral Pig Explosion In Iraq?

Filed under: Fish and Game,Iraq — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 3:28 AM

   I read this thing and got a chuckle out of it. So the Christian hunters used to keep the pig population in check in Iraq back in the day? Interesting.

   My only message to the folks in Kirkuk is that if you want those pigs eradicated, then issue hunting licenses and tags.  Then allow the hunters to sell the pigs to someone who wants them for food. You could create an entire industry out of it, and harvest some pig.

   You could also bring in some folks to eradicate the pigs for you.  I know plenty of hunter/contractors out there that could easily take a dent out of your feral hog population.

   If you turned it into an exotic hunting reserve type deal, you might attract some tourists looking for something interesting.  Rich hunters go all over the world for safaris in places like Africa.  Iraq would be a very unique experience for this class of hunter.

   Another idea is to let your soldiers hunt and kill these things.  They can work on their marksmanship skills and squad movements through the mountains and flat lands.  Turn hunting the pigs into a military exercise of sorts, complete with navigation and tracking. Take lemons, and make lemon aide out of the deal. –Matt

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In this war, pigs are besting Iraqi farmers

By Michael GisickApril 13, 2010

KIRKUK, Iraq — Of all the calamities war has loosed upon Iraq, pigs are not among the most obvious.

Yet, there they are, across a growing swath of northern farmland, a scourge of feral swine risen from the reeds to root among the furrows and wreak havoc on the fields.

“We farmers don’t even want to plant anymore because the pigs just eat it all,” said Abdullah Abdullah, a farmer southwest of Kirkuk whose fields have been trampled by swine. “And this animal, he is not just eating like other animals. He also destroys.”

In better times their numbers were checked, in part, by hunting parties of Christians from Kirkuk who, unlike the Muslim farmers of the countryside, wanted the pigs for food.

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Maritime Security: India’s Government Suggests Shipowners Use ‘Private Armed Guards’ For GOA

Filed under: India,Maritime Security — Matt @ 2:07 AM

In 2009, pirates attacked 214 vessels and held 58 Indians hostage. India’s government is suggesting that Indian shipowners adopt an “anti-piracy drill” and use private armed guards and decoy vessels to boost sailors’ security in deep waters.

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“They hunt like lions, seeking weak and vulnerable prey,” says Mainstone.

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Hmmm. Private armed guards and decoy vessels? Is someone in India reading FJ and getting some ideas? (Q ships come to mind) Especially if pirates keep mistakingly firing on massive warships–what idiots. lol

The new conclusions I have been coming up with for today’s piracy issues, is that pirates have discovered a modern day business model of piracy that works and is profitable. Remember, these guys are operating in an entirely free market with no restrictions what’s so ever. No laws, no borders, nothing. All that matters is going after the weakest prey, and feeding their pride.

What I mean by that is that pirates do answer to one group, and that is their investors. That widowed Somali in the village that offered up one RPG round to the cause, is the share holder that the company has to answer too. Take it a step further, and if jihadists invested in their seaborne business venture, they really need be paid back. The only thing that will stop this free market based criminal venture and war, is organized and violent men that makes that venture too much of a risk.

As it stands now, just paying off ransoms to these guys only feeds this piracy machine. The pirate companies that are the best at taking down ships, will get the most investments and attract the most qualified pirates. Everyone loves a winner. Those successful pirate companies will also infuse innovation into the piracy game, and everyone will aspire to be like them. They will copy their operations, their tactics, their boats, and everyone will fight to out do the other guy and get rich. That is the allure of piracy to the Somali.

Until that venture becomes a zero sum game to the Somali pirate, or any pirate, things will only get worse. And because Somalia is a failed state, there is nothing of risk for the pirate back home. In essence, they only have to risk the violence of the assault at sea, but as soon as they get that boat, they can bring it back home and they know that their government can’t do a thing about it.

With that said, arm the boats. There is a talent pool of capable folks that the Indian shipping industry can draw upon throughout the world and I say arm the boats. If shipowners want professionals, there are a number of ways to find them and get them on their boats. Believe me, if a company put up an ad for what exactly the Indian’s wanted on their boats, they would get a massive reply from my industry. I am sure there are security specialists in India that would jump all over that stuff too. Like I said, there would be no problem at all in contracting this out and getting good people on your boats.

Shipowners can also draw up some excellent contracts, based on all the lessons learned from today’s conflicts. There is no excuse for writing a poor contract, or not moderating the contracts properly. There are plenty of mechanism that you could put into a contract these days in order to insure that you get a good service as well.

Most of all though, you have to decide how much you are willing to pay for such a thing? In my view, if you pay peanuts you will get monkeys. How important is your boat and the safety of your crew and what are you willing to pay to insure their safety? Or you can continue to pay ransoms or what I call ‘the pirate’s salary’. Not to mention that premiums will only go lower as less boats/hostages get taken and the insurance companies recognize the value of your security measures. –Matt

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India shipping firms seek new anti-pirate strategy

By Salil Panchal

April 11, 2010

MUMBAI — Alarmed by a big jump in pirate attacks, India’s shipping industry says it needs a new security strategy to safeguard vessels in the dangerous waters off Somalia’s lawless coast.

At least 95 Indian sailors are still being held by Somali pirates after they seized nine small ships in the Indian Ocean off the coast of Africa late last month, the Indian government says.

The attacks, targeting one of the world’s busiest maritime trade routes, were the latest in a string on Indian vessels in which dhows — slow-moving, mechanised boats — have been among the most vulnerable.

“(Dhow) piracy is becoming a major problem,” said Captain Harish Khatri, India’s deputy director general of shipping who attended an anti-piracy conference last week in Mumbai.

Publications: RAND–Military Capabilities For Hybrid War: Insights From The IDF In Lebanon And Gaza

Filed under: Israel,Publications,Strategy — Matt @ 12:55 AM

Furthermore, the introduction of sophisticated weapons (e.g., ATGMs, MANPADS) could radically escalate the challenges faced by U.S. forces in Afghanistan, as it did for the Soviet Union in the 1980s.

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That quote up top is the one part I really clued in on, and I have talked about this in the New Rules of War posts, as well as the Toyota Horde post. Of course Israel thinks they have a counter to these types of munitions and tactics, and it will be interesting if they can truly stop this stuff. But I am skeptical.

The thing with anti-armor is that small teams armed with smart munitions, could also be armed with the knowledge on how to properly deploy that stuff. The brain is the weapon here.

Think of it this way. For one Javelin ‘fire and forget’ missile, you could have ten distraction troops all slinging RPG’s at the vehicle. Worse yet, think of ten troops firing .50 call long guns at the anti-missile system on the tank to destroy it, and then go for the kill with the big gun. I don’t care how bad ass a counter missile system mounted on a tank is, you cannot defend against a swarm attack like this. And this is nothing new. If anyone ever cared to read all the numerous books and manuals on the various ways of using anti-armor munitions, they would know this.

Also, look at the use of Stinger missiles by mujahideen during the Soviet Invasion of Afghanistan. ‘Small and many’ teams armed with smart munitions were able to destroy many helicopters and cause all sorts of problems for the Soviets.

What limits smart munitions use amongst today’s enemies, is probably a number of factors. A better accounting of who makes it, and who they are selling the stuff too. Cost is another factor. Counter-terror operations are another factor. Training is definitely a factor, and an enemy force would either need a state sponsor to bring in these kinds of resources, or hunt around for some veterans of some military who know these new systems or knows anti-armor strategy at the small unit level.

I also think EFP’s are game changers. They are cheap to make and very difficult to defeat. An enemy who knows how to properly use these things and was a student of maneuver warfare, could very well do some damage to an advancing armored column. Especially if they were able to prep the battlefield. Or get this, how about suicide EFP bombers. Guys who run up to tanks at the perfect distance and direction, and trigger the munitions themselves. Of course they would be martyred, but they would also take out a tank or APC. If you think like today’s enemies, a tactic like this is not that far fetched. Below, I posted the conclusion of the paper, but I highly recommend reading the entire thing. Enjoy. –Matt

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Military Capabilities for Hybrid War: Insights from the Israel Defense Forces in Lebanon and Gaza

By David E. Johnson

Relevance of the IDF Experience for the U.S. Army

Although the U.S. security situation is much different from that of Israel, similarities do exist.

Both nations believe they must prepare for challenges across the range of military operations.

Therefore, the following insights from recent Israeli experience have relevance for the U.S.

Army:

• The basics of combined arms fire and maneuver are necessary for successful operations

against opponents with capabilities like Hezbollah and Hamas. These hybrid opponents

create a qualitative challenge that demands combined arms fire and maneuver at lower

levels, despite their generally small-unit structures.

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