Contractors- the Prince of Blackwater (Xe)

IMO, Prince is a patriot and businessman. I believe he cares about our country and really tries to do things in its best interest. Everything I have read, he's a stand up guy. Admits he's f'd things up a time or two, but understands war is nasty business and Mr. Murphy will, on all accounts, pop his head up anytime he can.

Xe is doing what they are asked to do, they have their hands in everything with DoD. They even supply the SEAL Motivators that help recruit spec war candidates. Train police in Astan and Iraq. Provide security to those that need it. Air resupply in indian country on the outskirts of Astan. They put brave Americans to work. Respect that.

Its a never ending debate on Xe/BW, but it is what is. Prince built his company when the opportunity was there. Maybe there were some bad seeds along the way that gave them a bad name, Prince, like a true leader, stepped up and took responsibility, even mingling with the CIA. It would be nice if figuring out the contractor/.mil/DoD relationship was simple, but this problem is so complex on so many levels. Right now, Xe has the men and resources for the job, until someone comes a long a provides better service, we're going to live with it.

 

For those of you that are saying that the high salary should go to the troops, what does it cost to train, outfit, and maintain a soldier in Iraq or Afghanistan? How much to the future liabilities for after service care cost? How does this compare to the cost of hiring contractors? I'm not familiar with all the cost, but it seems that it is possible for it to be cheaper for the taxpayers to hire contractors, than to hire full time soldiers. The salary of the contractor probably doesn't reflect all the costs and future liabilities that go into the cost/benefit analysis.

 

So the FACT that quite a few of these guys are in everything from drug trafficking to murder is ok? Heh, times really are changing.

 

Good post, the bottom line is if there wasn't a need for them they wouldn't be an issue today. It's so easy for people to scrutinize any agency if they look hard enough, this guy could have just as easily retired, flew under the radar and enjoy his family's wealth, since they are worth what several billions, is it?
But no, the guy chose to be a patriot, saw an opportunity for services needed by this country in the security sector and jumped on the opportunity and has put himself in harms way to make a difference.
Are there bad apples in his firm, obviously, yes it looks like there has been and may even have more but that doesn't make his outfit any different than any other branch of our government, the bad apples exist. Deal with it.

Weren't there guys doing the same thing during every war?

PC, do you recall hearing anything about that from the Vietnam era????

Not condoning it, of course, but one should put things into perspective.

 

Executive Outcomes is one of the more famous ones that comes to mind. They did with $3 million what the UN couldn't do with about $300 million!!!

 

A lot of the cost invested in troops went to Blackwater/XE when the soldiers left for a better paying job. With that you lost some of the more experienced soldiers.
Whats funny to me is that you mention the future liabilities. I wonder where all that money really goes since for the most part the VA is a giant bureaucracy which is not very effective at taking care of the soldier. Of course this is second hand knowledge from many retiress that I know and a neurosurgeon that volunteers for the VA. I'll be able to comment on that if I make it to retirement.

 

yeah, yeah, but you dont know until you have been there, blah, blah, war calls for tough things, blah, blah, armchair quarterback, blah, blah

 

I don't know many contractors YOU know, but the ones I knew/know were ex-mil guys/LEO that are there to get paid to use thier skills to help the good guys. The ones I know were there to continue to support thier country using what experience they had to make a good salary.

Most firms now require contractors to have gov't clearance and fairly extensive background checks to get a job. You also need some reputable job skills and not just be a thug with a gun. Sure, some just do it for the money or are bad apples, but that is the case in the military or any other business for that matter.

The standards were more loose when the war in Iraq really first started but now companies are much more selective just to keep down issues like what happened to BW.

General stereotyping not withstanding.....

 

You guys are ruining the 'painting with a broad brush' course they took in grade school.

 

I work with a former Spec Forces guys. I'm stunned at what our government DOES have the stomach for.

This guy was a Spec Ops guy for 15 years. Just got out not too long ago. He's on disability. Finally got shot so much they wouldn't let him continue. Some of the ops he's been on sound fairly insane. He won't give classified information but they are allowed to do some serious shit that the pussified public would lose their minds over.

 

Sure you do.

Can you PLEASE just tell him to stay away from those 'tactical' websites so we don't have to hear shit about it down the road?

 

Its easy to vet guys/check their backgrounds.
There are a lot of stories that people think are BS about what has happened or been happening over there that are not BS. Some people just can NOT get it! I've done some far out stuff and seen some tragic and amazing things over here in Iraq.

There are such things as dead or alive ask David Staffel! He is a great guy, I knew him from Fort Benning. What happened to him is just the tip of the iceberg on what is screwed up with the military these days and why soldiers/leaders leave the military to work for agencies who try to take care of their people.

BTW, I knew a Blackwater Team when I was in Baghdad. Great group of guys! We used one of the Blackwater Little Birds to evacuate a casualty so that he wouldn't bleed out because the combat support hospital UH-60's were tied up in a mass casualty evac and it would have taken us hours to get through mid day traffic in Baghdad! They went out of their way to help US soldiers when they didn't have to and I believe they got into some hot water for it also because the CSH (combat support hospital) didn't want to let them land on their helo pad since they were not a US military aircraft. The little bird pilot did it anyways and as far as I'm concernd he helped to save a US soldiers life!
So is Blackwater/XE a bad organization? Not in my book. They had a couple of retards that slipped through the cracks like any organization.

 

But he might want to take a Tactical Response course.....

 

He actually laughs about the technical websites because of all the bullshit that is on them.

 

Thank you for sharing that, I would have never thought people could lie about their profession on the interwebs.


Oh boy, I crack myself up sometimes.

 

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/201...warned-blackwater-conduct-prior-to-2007-iraq/

Is the Blackwater fan club still here?

"A manager with the security contractor formerly known as Blackwater Worldwide reportedly threatened to kill a State Department investigator in 2007 -- shortly before the investigator was pressured to abandon his probe despite finding serious problems with Blackwater's work.
The New York Times reported Sunday that Jean C. Richter wrote in an Aug. 31, 2007 memo to State Department officials that Blackwater contractors "saw themselves as above the law" and described a situation in Baghdad where "the contractors, instead of Department officials, are in command and control."
The investigator reportedly warned his superiors that lax oversight of the firm had created "an environment of liability and negligence," just weeks before a group of guards allegedly opened fire on Iraqi civilians at a Baghdad traffic circle in 2007."

 

This

....with this sprinkled on top

With that comment are you talking about contractors or our own Attorney General's office, I couldn't tell. Oh wait..........

Why the hate for PMC's? It's a business like many others. It just happens to be in a really dangerous field that gets a lot of scrutiny by people who don't know how that big wheel works. Lots of people ready to "report" on how nasty the business is though. When the Pres isn't able to send more troops everywhere (again), who do you think is going to get tapped to support, provide security, protect assests and ultimately be responsible for evacuating the trillions of dollars and US citizens that are invested in hot spots like the middle east?

Ex-vets, like me.

 

So, Hollywood, you are a fan of this?
"But the inquiry was abandoned after Blackwater’s top manager there issued a threat: “that he could kill” the government’s chief investigator and “no one could or would do anything about it as we were in Iraq,” according to department reports."

 

We don't want to know the details...

 

Lol left out the part where they lied about personel so they could over charge us. Us being you and me since we paid for it. Also disclosed in the NYT article. What's that line? Stand up guys! :up: