Feral Jundi

Thursday, April 9, 2009

Film: Hollywood Attacks the PMC Industry–War Inc., 24 and the Movie State of Play

Filed under: Film — Tags: , , , , , — Matt @ 8:28 PM

   Disappointing news about ’24’, and I am sure the fans are crushed. Please write in and voice your displeasure with this crap.  And adding Janeane Garofalo to the cast?  What in god’s name were you guys thinking?  I guess they really wanted to kill the show, because that is a great way to do it.

   As for the movie State of Play, who knows how that will turn out.  But obviously Hollywood is in bash PMC’s mode, and to me, that is an extremely tired and way overplayed theme in today’s cookie cutter film industry.  

     How’s this for a unique idea… make a cutting edge movie that actually supports the concept of PMC’s and shows them saving the day for once? Now that would be some interesting film making, because it would actually take some courage to make.  Or you guys could continue to be cowards and take the easy way out with these poorly made and poorly received, PMC bashing flicks. Pffft.

    And what really kills me, is where is the profit motive for making these types of flicks?  I have yet to hear of a ‘PMC bashing flick’ that has been successful.  For example, here is the Wikipedia on War Inc., an absolutely terrible film that did not do well at all. –Mudeer  

—————————————————————- 

Critical reception of War Inc. (Wikipedia)

    War, Inc. received generally negative reviews from critics. As of May 24, 2008, the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes reported that 30 percent of critics gave the film positive reviews, based on 34 reviews — with the consensus that the film “attempts to satirize the military industrial complex, but more often than not it misses its target.”Metacritic reported the film had an average score of 37 out of 100, based on 21 reviews.

Box office performance

(more…)

Friday, March 20, 2009

Building Snowmobiles: Using Special Forces to Lead PMC’s in Darfur

Filed under: Africa,Building Snowmobiles,Sudan — Tags: , , , , — Matt @ 8:29 PM

   David knocked out a good one with this article.  I had no idea such a paper existed, about using Special Forces and PMC’s together for small wars like what is going on in Darfur.  Why not?  I am sure Special Forces units are used to working with far less capable forces, why not combine them with a western PMC.  It would be interesting to hear some perspective on this from the snake eater community.  Or better yet, I would love to hear this Major Jorgensen on Combat Operator Radio talk about this concept.  

   As for combining the two groups and creating some kind of unity of command?  Incident Command all the way.  Matter of fact, if all NGO’s and Government types could get on the same band wagon of the Incident Command System, then we could all be speaking the same language out there.  It would be the middle ground, and something that would have excellent application in wars and other disasters.  This example of Special Forces combined with PMC’s reminds me of my smokejumper days.

    On fires, we would parachute in with two possible missions.  If the fire was small, then we would put it out ourselves with minimum support.  If the fire was big, or got big as we were on the ground, then we instantly transitioned to Incident Command mode and start to organize.  We would make our assessments, and call into dispatch on what we would need to put out our fire–from man power, to equipment and logistical support, to air power.  During that process, we would find our selves managing a whole slew of varied agencies and private contractors.  It would not be odd at all, to have a Bureau of Indian Affairs hand crew, a Type 2 Private Contractor hand crew, a Type 2 Contractor Crew from Southern California that had maybe a few guys that spoke english, an Engine or two from the Forest Service, a Cop from a local PD, and some structure Engines from the Local Fire Department, all on one fire.  The key to organizing such a mess of folks, is simple.  They were all red carded forest firefighters, and new the common language of Incident Command.  And if they didn’t, it was so simple, that it could be explained to them on the scene.  

     All in all though, most folks on a fire knew the drill.  They had to have programable radios that were set up on scene to communicate for that fire, they had to have the fire clothing and equipment, they had to know plan of attack and who the Incident Commander was, they had to know their part in the battle, and who the adjacent forces were, and they had to have some knowledge of fires and the red flag and fire watch out situations.  If they had a red card, that meant they knew what a forest fire was all about, and they knew what the incident commander was all about, and they worked from that point. 

(more…)

Saturday, March 22, 2008

Jobs: Combat Medic, Afghanistan

Filed under: Afghanistan,Jobs,Medical — Tags: , , , — Matt @ 5:51 PM

COMBAT MEDICS
AFGHANISTAN

RONCO Consulting Corporation is currently seeking combat-trained medics for opportunities in Afghanistan.
• 18 Delta
• Combat medic / EMT
• Recent military experience in Iraq or Afghanistan
• Must be able to deploy for extended periods overseas
• Physically fit and in good health
May be subject to undergo a U.S. Government background investigation.

Forward cover letter, resume, DD214, and salary requirements to: jobs@roncowash.com or lwexler@roncowash.com

« Newer Posts

Powered by WordPress