On this memorial day weekend, I have two groups of fallen that I want to remember. Those are the deaths of our military men and women, and the deaths of contractors. Both groups have equal importance in my view, and both have given equal sacrifice in this war.
But in the context of this blog, this is more of a dedication to the under reported and often forgotten sacrifices of my industry’s fallen. I am proud of our service in this war, and like most, I have lost comrades during this long fight. And I am not just talking about American deaths, I am talking about the sacrifices of contractors from all around the world. Just look down the list of Iraq (1,314) and Afghanistan (111) casualties and read the names and places of each fallen contractor.
I also want to talk about those that are not on this list as official casualties in this war. Because of how large and unregulated the industry has become, the accurate tracking of every contractor in the war has not happened. I am talking about contractors that are not working for the DoD or Coalition in some official capacity. We are talking about contractors that have worked for NGO’s or some private business that have died in the war. Their sacrifice should not go unnoticed, and to me, these are the unknown security contractors of the war that have truly been forgotten. Not to forget the hundreds of Iraqi or Afghan contractors that have died supporting the cause as well.
So to share a story that is personal to me, I want to highlight one of those individuals that are not on the list(s). His name is Dane Mortensen, and he was a former Marine and Idaho resident. I had helped him in his quest in becoming a contractor when he got out of the Marines via emails, and he was very excited to finally get his first break in the industry. He had worked in Qatar for Dyncorp for a bit, and then went on to work for Securiforce in Iraq. Here is his last email to me, and a month later he was killed. I also posted his obituary.
Below, I also found two stories of contractors recently killed in Iraq and Afghanistan. Rest in peace, and my heart goes out to the friends and family of the fallen. Semper Fi. –Matt
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10/25/07
Matt,
Hows it going bro? I just wanted to send you a quick note and see how you were doing back there in idaho and see if you’d started looking for contracts here. Have you ever heard of a brit company called securiforce? I’ve been talking to them for a week or so and it looks like i might be going with them on 1nov doing convoy security. They kinda look like crecent, rolling in pickups with iraqi drivers and nepelese gunners. anyhow the pay is good and the RR time is great just wanted to see if you knew anything about them. Take care
Semper Fi
Dane
*****
Dane Richard Mortensen died, in Iraq last Sunday, Nov. 25, 2007 while escorting a convoy supporting coalition efforts in the war. A memorial service will be held at 11 a.m. Nov. 30, 2007 at the LDS Meridian North Stake Center, located at 5555 North Locust Grove Rd. in Meridian, Idaho. Dane entered this world on March 31, 1984, weighing 10 lbs 7 oz in Boise. His physical size was perhaps necessary to hold his spirit, love of life, and mischief.