Coordinación entre PMCs y fuerzas regulares - Iraq

[Loopster]

Contratista de Dyncorp condecorado tras salvar la vida bajo el fuego enemigo a varios marines heridos en combate en Afganistán.



Wes Walker (uniforme Marpat y casco sin funda de camuflaje) junto a los Marines de la unidad en la que estaba empotrado.

Local awarded for saving Marines caught in firefight
Nov 26, 2008 By Jeff Gatlin


Chris Walker's husband, former San Benito County sheriff's deputy Wes Walker, often tells her this: "I was built for war, not peace."

He proved that in early June when he braved heavy enemy fire to assist two badly wounded Marines and received a prestigious DynCorp Presidential Medal of Valor award for his "extraordinary courage."

Walker left back in March on a one-year contract job with DynCorp, a United States-based private military contractor that seeks to "professionalize and support the national Afghan police," said Douglas Ebner, director of media relations at DynCorp.

Until a recent promotion that has him running an Afghan Training Facility, Walker had been embedded with a group of U.S. Marines. It was with that group that he encountered trouble in late October.

"It was a squad of Marines and myself walking through a field on a patrol," Walker told the Free Lance. "We were ambushed by the Taliban and during the ambush our squad leader was impacted by a rocket that detonated near him.

"He was out of commission as far as command, so I took command and led an offensive against the enemy."

Walker summarized that they "eliminated them and extricated ourselves from the area."

Walker said that "at least" 20 Taliban were killed in the three-and-a-half hour firefight in which the Marines used M-4 machine guns and eventually received support from United States "gun trucks" that arrived on the scene.

"Two brave Marines lost their lives in the incident," finished Walker.

The incident earned a rare honor from Walker's employer, DynCorp, which is "a highly successful provider of critical support to military and civilian government institutions," according to the company's Web site. That honor was presented to Walker at a lavish ceremony in Falls Church, Virginia, also attended by the CEO and president of the multi-billion dollar company.

"It was an honor and a privilege to receive the award, but I don't think I did anything above and beyond what those Marines did," said Walker.

But according to Ebner: "The reason we gave him the recognition was his extraordinary courage in bringing aid to the wounded Marines."

He added that Walker was practicing first aid while returning fire at Taliban combatants who were targeting him. Ebner also noted that only seven such medals had been awarded in the 62-year history of DynCorp.

DynCorp flew the entire Walker family out for the ceremony and, said Chris Walker, "It was wonderful."

"We weren't sure what to expect, but there was a nice dinner, and then a lot of speakers," she continued, noting that she "really learned a lot" about her husband.

"After the others spoke, Wes gave a nice speech, deflecting attention away from himself, and you could tell it was bittersweet for him because two of his buddies were killed," his wife explained, adding that she and her entire family then stood in front of the podium and "every single person there came and shook our hands, expressing their praise and thanks."

Mrs. Walker said she feels better now that her husband is out of active patrol.

"He is on a base now and relatively safer, but I know the kind of man I married, and I told him when he left, 'I can do this for a year.'"

Otra vez un contratista tiene que asumir el mando durante un combate, en este caso porque el lider de los marines quedó herido al principio y las bajas se acumularon más rápido de lo que la cadena de mando se reestablecía.

Ojo al dato de que Dyncorp es una empresa con 62 años de historia. Luego vendrán oficiales del ET a decir que las PMC son algo nuevo y que no durará.

[Loopster]

Nuevos contratos para las PMCs en Afganistán:

Private Contractors Sought As Guards In Afghanistan
By Walter Pincus

The U.S. Army is looking to private contractors to provide armed security guards to protect Forward Operating Bases in seven provinces in southern Afghanistan. In a recent study, Anthony H. Cordesman, an intelligence expert at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, described five of those provinces -- Helmand, Kandahar, Nimruz, Zabol and Uruzgan -- as among the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan.

The proposed contracts would be for a minimum of one year, beginning Jan. 1, but with options to continue for four years. The move to hire contractors to provide armed guards comes as the United States is deploying more American
troops to Afghanistan and lookingto double the size of the Afghan National Army from 80,000 to 162,000 over the next five years.

Ironically, a year ago, there was a crackdown on private security contractors in Afghanistan, including a U.S.-based company, because of complaints of fraud. At that time, however, the private guards were protecting U.S. Agency for International Development employees and their contractors, not U.S. military bases.

In a Nov. 26 notice, the Army said the proposed guards would protect the entry control points of the bases to prevent "threats related to unauthorized personnel, contraband, and instruments of damage, destruction and information collection from entering the installation."

The hired guards would be required to carry out surveillance of the perimeter of the base from fixed positions to see whether someone is attempting to sneak inside. They are also to engage in counter-surveillance, watching to see whether someone is monitoring who enters and leaves the base. The contractor guards are also to be available to protect supply
routes, facilities, convoys and property.

The guards would be required to employ "the appropriate force to neutralize any threat," particularly from individuals trying to enter illegally "with the intent to harm personnel or damage facilities and equipment . . . but are NOT authorized to undertake offensive operations."

According to the proposal, the guards are to wear unique uniforms that are "easily distinguishable" from those of U.S. forces, coalition forces, the Afghan National Army, the Afghan national police or International Security Assistance Force units -- or any other contractor performing a similar function.

The contractor would, when required, provide vehicles for the armed guards and be responsible for maintenance and repair. As with uniforms, the vehicles must be "distinct in both color and markings" from those of U.S. and other official armed services, as well as Afghan police units.

The solicitation offers four hypothetical pricing scenarios for contractors.

For example, a Forward Operating Base in Farah province would require 32 guards, 30 male and two female, to operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week. They would be given billeting space, water, potable water and a kitchen for food preparation.

For the Baylough Forward Operating Base in Zabol province, the solicitation estimates that 34 guards, plus supervisors and a program manager, would be needed, but no vehicles. About 10 guards at a time would be needed to man the Baylough observation post, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. The government will supply communications equipment for the personnel at the observation post.

The guards will be armed, "at a minimum," with AK-47s and 120 rounds of ammunition with four magazines that have 30-round capacity. They all must carry identification documents and a letter authorizing the carrying of a
weapon, but off-duty personnel "shall not carry concealed weapons," the solicitation specified.

Control de accesos, protección de instalaciones, contravigilancia, protección de convoyes, ... todo lo que no sean acciones ofensivas (excepto por los RRT que habrá que establecer en las bases grandes). El número orientativo de guardias por turno resulta esclarecedor si lo comparamos con los 800 hombres que tenemos en Afganistán.

Interesante el detalle de los uniformes, guardias de sexo femenino y vehículos identificativos.

[Loopster]

35 guardias por turno, dos turnos de 12 horas, dejamos un 33% más para cubrir bajas e imprevistos.

Al menos 22 instalaciones a proteger.


Para Afganistán hay que cubrir al menos 1870 plazas de contratistas dedicados a protección, de los que 1400 se centrarán en la seguridad estática y más de 400 a la móvil (PSD).

Y para este contrato sí que pueden presentarse españoles, tanto empresas como contratistas.

[Loopster]

Ojo a las pintas de los de Aegis, ya quisieran muchos militares disponer de ese equipamiento., por no hablar de los REVA.


Halloween en la IZ... todo un clásico

[Loopster]

Interesante artículo sobre Aegis y los ROC:

Contractors fulfilling a contract -- imagine that
Published: Jan. 30, 2009 at 6:26 PM By DAVID ISENBERG



WASHINGTON, Jan. 30 (UPI) -- Is it possible that a private security contractor can actually do a good job -- do what it contracted to do without waste, fraud or abuse? Of course, the answer is yes. And the vast majority of security contractors do just that. Yet to read and watch much of the media coverage of their work, it would be easy to get a different impression.

As an example, consider Aegis Defense, a British private security firm. In March 2004, in a move to make the U.S. military presence less visible after the handover of sovereignty back to Iraq, the Coalition Provisional Authority awarded Aegis a $100 million contract to protect the Green Zone.

Subsequently Aegis won another contract, valued at a maximum of $293 million over the next three years, to provide anti-terrorism support and analysis and to serve as a clearinghouse for information between coalition forces in Iraq and security contractors.

Before Aegis was awarded that contract, coordination between the U.S. military and civilian contractors was handled through the Regional Operations Center. In June 2005 the Pentagon extended the contract for a second year and expanded it. The new deal was worth about $145 million.

To date Aegis has completed two contracts and has five ongoing. Make no mistake: Collectively these are the mother of all security contracts in Iraq. The Pentagon had obligated $679.7 million and spent $612.8 million on the contracts as of last November.

For its money Aegis initially had to pay a staff of 500 based all over the country, organize the coordination of intelligence from all the security firms and the military, and also provide a central emergency hotline, so that if contractors are ambushed on the road, there is one number (or radio frequency) they can contact for help.

It operates one national and six regional command centers in cities across Iraq. Staff acts as a link between coalition forces and civilian contractors on security issues, passing on information on the activity of insurgents. Aegis provides a daily intelligence service to contractors and tracks the position of their vehicles.

Aegis has received much criticism over the years -- not so much for anything it has done but because of its founder, Tim Spicer, who had founded one of the earlier private military firms, Sandline, back in the early 1990s. It was involved in conflicts in Papua New Guinea in 1997 and in Sierra Leone in 1998.

Life for Aegis since first winning the contract has not been without controversy. In 2005 the Office of the Special Inspector General for Iraq Reconstruction criticized Aegis for its work, saying the British firm had failed to verify that employees were properly qualified for the job. Among problems cited in the audit were that Aegis could not provide the correct documents to show that its employees were qualified to use weapons and that many Iraqi employees were not properly vetted to ensure they were not a security threat.

But that was then. And now Aegis is considered to be a model contractor. Consider a report released Jan. 14 by SIGIR. It found "well-supported contract awards to Aegis; appropriate governmental oversight of Aegis' bills, inventories, performance and operations; and contract performance assessed as satisfactory to outstanding."

With regard to the security contracts, formally known as Reconstruction Security Support Services, SIGIR found that the two largest were competitively awarded and that the bridge contract between the two, although non-competitively awarded, was appropriately justified as a sole-source award.

An assessment of Aegis' performance for the period June 1, 2004, through May 31, 2006, showed it had received ratings of either satisfactory or very good in the five areas for which it was rated: quality of product or service, schedule, cost control, business relations, and management of key personnel.

This is not to say that Aegis has reached perfection. SIGIR found that contract administration could be improved. The report found there was "no central location for the contract-related electronic records that provide a history of Aegis' performance and the government's actions to oversee the contractor."

The report also found that communications between U.S. agencies and the U.K. agency auditing Aegis' invoices have broken down, and that Aegis has not shared in the cost of replacing government-provided vehicles lost because of the negligence of Aegis personnel, because this cost-sharing is not required by the contract.

Still, overall, Aegis is doing what it is supposed to, and by so doing, it is improving control and accountability of all contractors operating in Iraq. The report notes that as part of DoD's new process to coordinate private security operations with military units -- meaning after the September 2007 Nisoor Square shootings -- Aegis personnel assisted in tracking more than 55,000 private security operations since February 2008. And it has reported about 80 of the 380 serious incidents reported by all security contractors since February 2008.

What is noteworthy about the SIGIR report is not that Aegis is acting in a professional fashion -- that is what we expect them to do when they are awarded the contract. Rather, the report shows that the oversight and monitoring process can and (in this case) does work.

Precisely why is the question that should be asked, so the answers can be applied to other contractors.

--

(U.S. Navy veteran David Isenberg is a researcher at the International Peace Research Institute, Oslo. He is an adjunct scholar with the Cato Institute and the author of a new book, "Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq." His "Dogs of War" column, analyzing developments in the private security and military sector, appears every Friday.)