BlackWater: Buy Stock, Now!

Blackwater USA, perhaps the most infamous private security/private military company in the United States today, is rapidly expanding its scope and mission. Other firms have tried to do things like this before - Blackwater may be the most likely of any of them to succeed.

http://home.hamptonroads.com/stories/story.cfm?story=102251&ran=202519&tref=po

Blackwater USA says it can supply forces for conflicts
Stepping into a potential political minefield, Blackwater USA is offering itself up as an army for hire to police the world's trouble spots.

Cofer Black, vice chairman of the Moyock, N.C.-based private military company, told an international conference in Amman, Jordan, this week that Blackwater stands ready to help keep or restore the peace anywhere it is needed.
Such a role would be a quantum leap for Blackwater and raises a host of policy questions.

Until now, the eight-year-old company has confined itself to training military and police personnel and providing security guards for government and private clients. Under Black's proposal, it would take on an overt combat role.

"We're low-cost and fast," Black was quoted as saying. "The issue is, who's going to let us play on their team?"
Unlike national and multinational armies, which tend to get bogged down by political and logistical limitations, Black said, Blackwater could have a small, nimble, brigade-size force ready to move into a troubled region on short notice.

Black's remarks were reported by Defense News, a military publisher that sponsored the conference where he spoke, the Special Operations Forces Exhibition.

Chris Taylor, a vice president at Blackwater's Moyock headquarters, confirmed the account.

"A year ago or so, we realized that we could have a significant positive impact with a small, professional force in stability operations and peacekeeping operations," Taylor said.

Blackwater is no stranger to volatile situations. As a security subcontractor escorting a convoy in Iraq in 2004, the company attracted worldwide attention when four of its workers were killed, mutilated and hung from a bridge in Fallujah.

Blackwater, most of whose workers are former members of elite military units such as the Navy SEALs, now provides security for the U.S. ambassador to Iraq under a contract with the State Department.

The reconstruction of Iraq has been hampered by insurgent activity, Taylor said, and Blackwater has the expertise to quell insurgent attacks if invited by the Iraqi government.

"We clearly couldn't go into the whole country of Iraq," Taylor said. "But we might be able to go into a region or a city."

Another place where Blackwater could help restore order, Taylor said, is the Darfur region of Sudan, where millions have been killed or displaced by civil strife. The company could send troops under the control of the United Nations, NATO or the African Union, he said.

Taylor and Black said the company would undertake such a mission only with the approval of the U.S. government.

Peter Singer, a scholar at the Brookings Institution who has written a book on private military companies, said the concept of private armies engaging in counter-insurgency missions raises myriad questions about staffing standards, rules of engagement and accountability.

"No matter how you slice it, it's a private entity making decisions of a political nature," he said.

"It gets dicey."

I encourage everyone reading here to go to www.BlackwaterUSA.com and look at their capabilities and services. BlackWater has in the past year developed a fairly impressive Air division, that is capable of providing multiple types of support, and their man-power and logistics abilities are nothing to scoff at either.
Considering the people directing the company, and their experience in the political field (not just the warfighting field, a mistake seen in African debacles in the last half century) Blackwater may very well be the first company in recent, modern, history to make a success out of private military services. The current political climate, the privatization of many services and the nature of globalization, and simply the pay difference between government militiaries and private militaries are all factors that create a ripe environment for Blackwater to be successful at this venture.
I dont know if Blackwater has made an IPO - I dont think they have. When they do, buy stock.

Its the second oldest profession - Someone will make a go of it as just that, a paying profession, sooner or later. My bet for the moment is on Blackwater to at least pave the road.

Vivre la mort!
Vivre la guerre!
Vivre la sacre mercenaire!

That Others May Live

I believe, in my heart, that every man and woman who believes in, or hopes for, their nation has a duty to serve it somehow. In the community, in the state or at the national level it does not matter so long as it is done: Volunteer librarians and fire-fighters to combat hardened Marines.
I am also a strong believer in fighting - Not that I want to glorify violence or propose it as the solution to every problem, it is most certainly not that, but I think it is a poor sort of person who will not fight for something, who does not believe in something enough to fight for it if necessary.
Show me a conscientious objector and I will claim to show you a cowardly and weak human being. Most of the time my claim will be right - Today I would be wrong.
On Thursday 87 year old Desmond T. Doss Sr. passed away surrounded by family and his pastor in Piedmont, Alabama. He was a Medal of Honor winner and a conscientious objector.
Doss won the MoH for his actions under fire as a medic on Okinawa during World War II. His Medal of Honor Citation is as follows:

The President of the United States
in the name of The Congress
takes pleasure in presenting the
Medal of Honor
to

DOSS, DESMOND T.
Rank and organization: Private First Class, U.S. Army, Medical Detachment, 307th Infantry, 77th Infantry Division. Place and date: Near Urasoe Mura, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, 29 April-21 May 1945. Entered service at: Lynchburg, Va. Birth: Lynchburg, Va. G.O. No.: 97, 1 November 1945.
Citation: He was a company aid man when the 1st Battalion assaulted a jagged escarpment 400 feet high As our troops gained the summit, a heavy concentration of artillery, mortar and machinegun fire crashed into them, inflicting approximately 75 casualties and driving the others back. Pfc. Doss refused to seek cover and remained in the fire-swept area with the many stricken, carrying them 1 by 1 to the edge of the escarpment and there lowering them on a rope-supported litter down the face of a cliff to friendly hands. On 2 May, he exposed himself to heavy rifle and mortar fire in rescuing a wounded man 200 yards forward of the lines on the same escarpment; and 2 days later he treated 4 men who had been cut down while assaulting a strongly defended cave, advancing through a shower of grenades to within 8 yards of enemy forces in a cave's mouth, where he dressed his comrades' wounds before making 4 separate trips under fire to evacuate them to safety. On 5 May, he unhesitatingly braved enemy shelling and small arms fire to assist an artillery officer. He applied bandages, moved his patient to a spot that offered protection from small arms fire and, while artillery and mortar shells fell close by, painstakingly administered plasma. Later that day, when an American was severely wounded by fire from a cave, Pfc. Doss crawled to him where he had fallen 25 feet from the enemy position, rendered aid, and carried him 100 yards to safety while continually exposed to enemy fire. On 21 May, in a night attack on high ground near Shuri, he remained in exposed territory while the rest of his company took cover, fearlessly risking the chance that he would be mistaken for an infiltrating Japanese and giving aid to the injured until he was himself seriously wounded in the legs by the explosion of a grenade. Rather than call another aid man from cover, he cared for his own injuries and waited 5 hours before litter bearers reached him and started carrying him to cover. The trio was caught in an enemy tank attack and Pfc. Doss, seeing a more critically wounded man nearby, crawled off the litter; and directed the bearers to give their first attention to the other man. Awaiting the litter bearers' return, he was again struck, this time suffering a compound fracture of 1 arm. With magnificent fortitude he bound a rifle stock to his shattered arm as a splint and then crawled 300 yards over rough terrain to the aid station. Through his outstanding bravery and unflinching determination in the face of desperately dangerous conditions Pfc. Doss saved the lives of many soldiers. His name became a symbol throughout the 77th Infantry Division for outstanding gallantry far above and beyond the call of duty.

What that doesnt say is that Doss was, in his words, a "conscientious cooperator" because of his faith. As a Seventh-Day Adventist Doss did not believe in killing or harming others, but he still felt the duty to serve his country and the fighting men of the United States Armed Forces.
I do not agree with Mr. Doss's morals, and I have much evidence against them, but unlike many people who are pacifist Desmond Doss did not cower in fear, did not stay at home and fire cheap shots in the press, did not use pacifism as a reason to avoid doing what was right. He stood up and took pride in his nation and his belief at the same time.
For a pacifist he did one hell of a job of fighting, in his own way, for what he believed in and what he knew was right. For that he has my infinite respect.

When I was younger I saw a custom knife made for a member of the United States AirForce elite ParaRescue - It was a deeply hot-blued blade, with an engraving of a pararescueman and the pararescue creed "That Others May Live". It was the most profound of small experiences, and moved me very deeply.
I am not a "people person", I do not like people on whole (the great collected teeming and screaming mass) and I find very little redeeming about them, however in my mind every individual has the chance to prove themselves and to be a positive contribution to their species. The individuals who choose to hold strongly to their goals and dreams, who find something to believe in strong enough to fight for it, who live the human experience for the pleasure of the journey, those individuals are worth putting up with the whole damn lot of people. Everyone has that chance, and that chance, above all else, is worth preserving. That chance, that opportunity, must be given its due in all people. That is a fight all its own, a thread through every battle and every war that has ever been fought.
There is no greater calling in life than that of helping others, working to preserve and encourage that opportunity under the harshest of conditions in the face of the most brutal of failures.
"No greater gift hath a man than this, that he would lay down his life for his brother." John 15:13

To Desmond T. Doss, A Healer, A Warrior - My respect.

A Great Day

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11943967/?GT1=7850

This is a great victory for horny 14-year olds and hot slutty manic teachers everywhere.

I cannot honestly believe this kid has suffered emotional trauma from any of this. Maybe a little embaressment at getting his sexual misadventues plastered all over the national news - when I was 14 I was worried people might think I was jerking off - but real emotional trauma, deep psychological damage? No way in hell.
If I was this kids father I would buy that young man a fucking beer!

Sure, La Fave has problems - no one in their right mind sleeps with an underage student like that - at the same time, its not like she held him down and raped him. Both parties agreed to it, both parties enjoyed it. Its a case of really bad judgement for an adult, and dumb luck aided by immaturity for the young man - But a criminal case? Nope.

And no, this opinion isnt at all biased by the fact that I'd bang La Fave like a retard with a drum set... not in the slightest.

Luck

Luck is simply being fortunate enough that the universe doesn’t notice what you're getting away with.