Monday, March 7, 2011
Publications: CRS Report-DoD Use Of PSC’s In Iraq And Afghanistan, February 2011
Saturday, January 1, 2011
Year In Review: 2010 Google Analytics Report For Feral Jundi
“Nation states no longer have a monopoly on military force, intelligence, diplomacy or anything else,” Mr. Clarridge said. “What’s going on in Somalia, where you have skilled contractors training a counter-piracy force, is an example of where the future of the military is going. No government or group of governments can get their act together to do it, but someone has to do it, and they are doing it.”- Duane Clarridge, From The Article “Private Firm Trains Somalis To Scuttle Pirates“, December 28, 2010
Interesting year and it is nice to see all the little changes have made a huge difference. Namely using Facebook as a means to promote the blog and using Google Reader for filtering stories. I also really liked using Google Alerts because that was bringing all sorts of good stuff into my inbox.
I added a Scribd profile to the website and that was a really nice place to put documents in. Expect to see more interesting documents and publications to be converted into this format, and I might even get into writing some papers to put out there via Scribd.
As you can see with the statistics below there has been a huge increase in visitors and page views this last year. So I am very happy with this and the trend line for the blog just continues to go up and up. Thanks to all of you out there for visiting, and I am glad you enjoy the site.
One statistic I thought was cool was the amount of time folks spent on the blog. Because there is so much information here a person could easily spend some time just browsing. From the history stuff, to jobs, to information about taxes–all of it is drawing the reader in and the blog is definitely accomplishing the goal of educating the masses. The average time on the site per visit, for the year, was about 3 minutes. That is 3 minutes of time that the reader could have easily spent elsewhere, and usually the averages in the past were about a minute in a half. Content is king.
The Top Ten Titles give you an excellent idea of what topics were popular for the blog. Viktor Bout, Haiti and all the jobs for that disaster, Jax Desmond, and all my classic Funny Stuff Posters. ‘Potential’ actually draws in some hate mail from the jihadist dorks from time to time, and that makes me happy. lol
The country and state visitor locations are no surprise to me. The key word stuff matches up with the popular titles as well.
I guess what Google Analytics is missing is what my favorite posts or subjects were this year. I enjoyed reading about the Saracen International stuff and the Insurance backed Private Navy. Those are two stories I am following and it will be interesting to see how it goes for them. The private navy story also grabbed my interest due to the potential there of using a Letter of Marque in modern times. Stay tuned there.
The history posts are always fun for me. When I find some interesting little tidbit that deals with contractors in the past, I love getting that stuff out there. All the Koevoet material was a favorite of mine (non-contractor related). The John Coffee Hays and his Texas Rangers post was fun, as was the Soldier of Fortunes of the Mexican Revolutionary War. The young George Washington and his involvement with mercenaries during the French and Indian wars was cool too.
Gary Faulkner popped up as the crazy bastard of the year that motivated the hell out of me. I just pictured this guy going to Pakistan year after year, wandering the wilderness looking for Osama Bin Laden and wanting to kill him. Gary gets an ‘A’ for effort.
Then there was Simon Mann returning to work for Obiang. This is the leader that originally imprisoned Simon and his gang for a coup attempt. I am still trying to figure that one out.
My best Building Snowmobiles posts were the Drone Archer and the Cyber Privateer ones. One post I continue think about from time to time is the Open Source Counter-Terrorism topic, and it is fun to think up new ways of promoting this empowerment concept. Also this was the first year I had a reader who came up with a Building Snowmobiles concept that involved economic/political theory and COIN, that he wanted to share with me. After looking at it I agreed that it was intriguing and put it up. So the innovation process here is influencing the readership out there to produce new ideas. That is awesome.
The big ticket stories were the State Department’s army of contractors, the massive contracts that companies have received, the contractors thrown in jails around the world (wrongly or not) and the excellent support network on Facebook that helped apply the pressure on governments to do the right thing . Notice how the UAE is one of my top readers this year, and especially after the Moody case? lol
Of course we cannot forget about Crazy Karzai and his attack on contractors in Afghanistan. It was such a stupid episode, and really highlighted how much of a corrupt idiot he is. Luckily Karzai and company realized how unrealistic it was to ban all PSCs by December of last year.
Let’s not forget the heroes and the dead this year. We read about how Louis Maxwell defended his UN compound, and was later shot by Afghan police because they wanted his gun. Shane Schmidt passed away this year, and this guy defined a key jundism– ‘have the courage to do what is right’.
Finally, the big story that needs to be mentioned from last year was the Code of Conduct signed by all the companies. I have noticed less negative attention on all the work done by contractors and companies this last year. That could be a sign that there are more pressing issues, like the economy or whatever. Or maybe we are starting to get squared away, and the governments using us are getting squared away? Maybe.
We will always be scrutinized out there by the media and others, and that comes with the territory. But honestly, I have seen an overall increase in the use of security contractors world wide, and I have seen an increase in the willingness to use security contractors for all types of jobs. It is a dangerous and complex world out there, and this industry will continue to be called upon to do what is required. –Matt
January 1, 2010 to December 31, 2010–
307,256 people visited this site, with 436,213 page views.
January 1, 2009 to December 31, 2009–
129,409 people visited this site, with 187,698 page views.
January 1, 2008 to December 31, 2008–
21,427 people visited this site, with 37,841 page views.
Top Ten Most Popular Titles
1. Feral Jundi
2. Funny Stuff: Potential
3. Jobs Category
4. Funny Stuff: Panzerhaubitze 2000 155mm Schaldampfer!
5. Mexico: Exclusive-Los Zetas Responds To Jax Desmond, And Puts A Hit Out On Company
6. Jobs: Personal Security Detail And Medical Personnel, Haiti
7. Weapons: The VSS Vintorez Russian Sniper Rifle
8. Jobs: Static Security And Mobile Security Positions, Haiti
9. Funny Stuff: Strength
10. Gear Review: Electronic Hearing Protection-MSA Versus Peltor
Top Ten Most Popular Keywords
1. Feral Jundi
2. Funny Stuff
3. Jax Desmond
4. Security Jobs In Haiti
5. Viktor Bout
6. Haiti Security Jobs
7. Jax Desmond Worldwide
8. Paravant
9. Electronic Hearing Protection Reviews
10. What Does Feral Jundi Mean?
Top Ten Visitors By Country
1. United States
2. United Kingdom
3. Canada
4. Germany
5. Australia
6. India
7. South Africa
8. France
9. Finland
10. United Arab Emirates
Top Ten Visitors By State In The US
1. California
2. Texas
3. Florida
4. Virginia
5. New York
6. North Carolina
7. Georgia
8. Illinois
9. Washington
10. Arizona
Friday, June 11, 2010
Call To Action: Help iCasualties.org Update Their Statistics On Contractors
Ok, this pisses me off. I totally respect what Michael White has done over the years as far as counting the deaths in this war. But to depend on a hobbyist to keep this record as to whom has died is not right, and his list is not complete. This should be a function of the US government and every death should be counted in my opinion.
I say every death, because the icasualties.org list is missing a ton of contractor deaths, and especially in Afghanistan. It counts US deaths, and Coalition deaths, but it is lacking in contractor deaths. Especially this year. I have listed several deaths that were sourced in the media on this blog, and there has been no mention at icasualties about it. This supports the idea that depending on just one lone hobbyist to count these deaths does not work.
We are basically counting on the poor guy to keep up, and for him to fund his own little show. Meanwhile the entire world links to his website for their stories and studies, and holds his website as the top source for casualties. Even governments link to iCasualties.org, and it pisses me off that this is what we have for accountability. Contractor deaths count for something, as do all deaths in this war, and there must be a better effort to do this.
My suggestion is for the US government to take it upon themselves and start a casualty count website of their own. It should be an organization that strives to be current, complete, and staffed with the appropriate amount of people and funds to keep it running properly. This crew’s job is to count every single death coming out of the war. I say count the civilian deaths too and there should be no question what so ever as to how much blood has been spilled. But for the sake of this conversation, at the very least, contractor deaths should be counted.
I also believe that this contractor death count should include expats, third country nationals, and local nationals. Local nationals are never counted, yet they died in that convoy operation supporting our war effort and the least we can do is recognize their sacrifice. Why do we ignore the sacrifices of an Afghan or Iraqi contractor?
The other thing that gets me is that I know why we are not counted. Politically speaking, the less numbers of deaths on ‘the list’, the better.
As for the compensation factor for those deaths, if no one knows about the death, then a company can say that it never existed, and thus not pay any compensation. Now of course contractors are smart enough to know, that if the company does not have a life insurance policy for them, or that they know that DBA is not afforded to them (for local nationals, etc.), then obviously the family of that dead contractor will receive nothing. That is the contractors choice when they sign the contract. I would like to think that we could compensate the families of these men in some way, but that is the way things are at this point. Private industry in those countries is not forced to provide this kind of compensation or insurance, and many industries in the global economy operate with this kind of dynamic.
But at the least, a contractor’s death(expat, third country national, local national) should be counted and we should not be depending on some hobbyist who might be able to put up a contractor’s death on his website, if he catches it or decides to put the effort into it. I commend Mike for doing as much as he has, but if there was ever anything that should be a function of government, this is it.
Another idea is for the government to issue a grant to this guy. Help him do the job that government should be doing anyways. Hell, contract him out and put him on the payroll to do what he is already doing. Or if the IPOA or similar association wanted to do something cool, they could kick some money into Mike’s fund, just so he gets the hint to count ‘contractors’. Also, if folks wanted to individually give iCasualties.org a hint to count our dead, just send Mike an email with a link to the media source that lists the death. What I will try to do in the future, is list Mike’s email under each death I find, and I will ask the readership to send the link of contractors deaths to him to make sure these deaths are counted. I am sure if he gets a couple emails from several guys that he will add it. If you find stuff that has not been posted here, feel free to send it to him first. –Matt
Emails for Michael White and icasuatlies.org here:
michaelw@icasualties.org
michaelw@speedfactory.net
or try this one.
icasualties@bellsouth.net
—————————————————————–
As a hobby, he counts the war dead
By Moni Basu, CNN
Stone Mountain, Georgia (CNN) — Fall leaves blanket Michael White’s deck at his suburban Atlanta, Georgia, home. In the cluttered attic study, the software engineer slouches over his Hewlett-Packard laptop.
A full-length floor lamp stands on top of his desk — the overhead light went out a while back. Next to him is his 1960s Stratocaster, a reminder of the rock-star career that never blossomed.
Jillian, his Vivaldi-loving, violin-playing 10-year-old, has gone off to school. Wife Ashley is at work. The house is quiet except for the occasional mew from Izzy, the atypically friendly Tonkinese cat.
And yet, from the humdrum of this ordinary subdivision home comes an arresting daily statement.
For six years, White has faithfully produced a number that is critical to shaping the legacy of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan: the death toll.
Every day, White, 51, updates a Web site he launched in 2003, icasualties.org, to keep count of the dead: American troops, coalition troops, contractors and Iraqi civilians. He eventually began documenting deaths in Afghanistan as well.
He knew the wars would carry on, but he did not anticipate casualties continuing at this pace. October proved to be the deadliest for U.S. troops in Afghanistan since the beginning of that conflict in 2001.
Monday, February 23, 2009
Industry Talk: DoD Contractor Numbers as of December 2008
It’s always nice to see just exactly where the numbers sit in this industry. This report does not include all the NGO’s or other companies using security or contractors in the war, but it is an interesting look at DoD related contracts. The numbers are interesting, and especially in Afghanistan. –Matt
—————————————————————–
U.S. Department of Defense Contractor numbers as of December 2008
CONTRACTOR SUPPORT OF U.S. OPERATIONS
IN USCENTCOM AOR, IRAQ, AND AFGHANISTAN
BACKGROUND: This update reports DoD contractor personnel numbers in theater and outlines DoD efforts to improve management of contractors accompanying U.S. forces. It covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) as of December 31, 2008.
KEY POINTS: Ending 1st quarter FY 2009, USCENTCOM reported approximately 259,400 contractor personnel working for the DoD in the USCENTCOM AOR.
Total DoD contractor numbers in Iraq: 148,050
*9,218 are doing security (about 6%)
*782 of those security contractors are American/Coalition citizens, 7,226 are Third Country Nationals and 1,210 are Local Nationals.
Total DoD contractor numbers in Afghanistan: 71,755
*3,689 are doing security (about 6%)
*15 of those security contractors are American/coalition citizens, 23 are Third Country Nationals and 3,651 Local Nationals.
Go Here to Read the Report