Airborne Combat Engineer

Inside look at Blackwater

If the Iraq war lasts long enough, North Carolina's next $1 billion-a-year company will be a relatively obscure outfit tucked away on the edge of a swamp where stray bullets from a .50-caliber sniper rifle won't blast a hole in the neighbor's den.

Blackwater USA, a private security contracting firm near the tiny town of Moyock in the northeast corner of the state, is already pulling in between $600 million and $800 million, writes Robert Young Pelton in his new book "Licensed to Kill."

The most compelling passages are built around Pelton's time with the contractors on the front lines of this privatized chunk of the war, and at their trade conventions and training facilities. The book is perhaps the clearest picture yet of this odd little subculture.

[Jay Price, News & Observer, 05 NOV 2006]

ISI setting up shop in Texas

ISI of Israel has been awarded some contracts by the US Government and is building a antiterrorism training facility in Texas.

See more details at the ISI website.

PMCs recruiting in Columbia

Recruiters working for U.S. contractors [aka Private Military Companies or PMCs] are hiring former Colombian soldiers and luring away active-duty ones for security jobs in Iraq, according to a former army officer who met with the recruiters.

The work: to protect oil pipelines and shipments of crude oil in a country where attacks by insurgents occur daily.

Your mission, loyal ACE readers, should you decide to accept it, is to find out which PMC it is. I'm thinking we can guess.

1247Z FRI 17DEC04. AP.

RIP, Chris Neidrich of CIS (Clearwater, FL)

MON 21JUN04. CIS.

At approximately 10:30 am, June 5, 2004, CIS special operations officer Christopher Neidrich (RAVEN 18) was killed in an ambush near Badghad International Airport. [A detailed report of the attack is at the link.]

Chris was on temporary assignment for CIS (a private military company) in Iraq providing executive protection for American diplomats.

He'll be buried in Dunedin, Florida this Friday, 25 JUN 04.

NC contractors head to Iraq

WED 02JUN04. Fayetteville Online.

According to a Washington Post story this week, more than 200 U.S. civilians have died in Iraq, where U.S. companies are increasingly relying on private security guards with military experience.

From $18K/yr as court baliff to $150K/yr security guard

Private military firms concerns Dems

0900Z TUE 27APR04. AP.

The blurring of lines between active-duty U.S. soldiers and contracted security personnel is causing unease in Congress, as violence continues to rise in Iraq (news - web sites). Some lawmakers worry that private security forces operate too far outside U.S. military control — and laws. And experts wonder what would happen if a contractor did something tragically wrong, like shoot an Iraqi child.

Thirteen Democrats wrote Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld this month to argue that providing security in a hostile area is a classic mission for the military.

Private Military Companies (PMCs)

11AUG03. Financial Times.

The death of four Blackwater contractors brought the subject of Private Military Companies (PMCs) to the public's attention. The linked 11 Aug 03 article sheds some light on the subject.

NOTE: Sandline, a PMC located in the Virgin Islands which is mentioned in the article, was not planning to go out of business at the time of the article, but has since decided to.