Foro de Inteligencia, Espionaje y Servicios Secretos

Kyle Defoor escribió:There never had been a place to shoot, and people to shoot with like BW, and there never will be again because of costs and personnel. From 2004-2009 we trained more people, shot more bullets, and developed more training stuff than anyone, anywhere, ever. That’s just fact. I felt very lucky to be the head of such a group of hungry guys. We pretty much invented the template for military after market training. I am given way more credit than I should be, I was just a figure head that marshaled everybody in the right direction and bitched to the bosses about guns, money, gear, ranges, pay, etc, it really was a team effort. Al Clark and Dale McClellen along with some AIs like Mark5pt56, Johnny R, Detmongo, and Epp had started a good thing in the late 90’s. Me and my crew just came along and made it better, so credit should be spread equally.

I was big on 2 things for the guys. One was performance, both shooting an instructing. Two was a passion to constantly get better. I was very proud of the fact that we gave a no-shit shooting test upon interview, as well as an oral board with problems to solve. We shit-canned way more dudes than we ever hired, hundreds of them. There were only 28 or so full time BW Firearms & Tactics Instructors, and I had a hand in hiring the majority. That number includes early guys before me too like Al, Dale, etc. It still cracks me up when guys lie about it on resumes. I get at least 4-5 emails a month about it. I guess that means we did something right since everybody wants on the train.

I also liked the fact that we had so many different backgrounds to draw experience from. That way, we could pair the right instructor with the right course tactics wise. At one point, we had dudes from all SO units, LE units, and some international flair as well. Early on, being smart enough to realize we would be a target, I sent guys to every shooting school possible to make sure we were on the right track. As far as I know, my guys were always the top shooters in every course. That in itself started talk that definitely didn’t hurt.

There were a few there that I learned a lot from;

Bill Go-

was with me the first time I broke 100, 90, 80, and got a low 70 on the IDPA classifier, and he was the reason why. Bill is a great competition shooter and instructor. I believe he came in top 10 in IDPA nationals more than once, third rings a bell one year I think. Bill invented the Advanced Skills Handgun course, brought the Hackathorn Standards to BW (which I used as instructor eval), and got me off the damn slingshot reload! I hired him away from the overseas side. One of the best and most consistent pistol shots I’ve ever seen, and that’s what he taught me- consistency.

Jason Falla-

Came to us via Johnny R. I think they met at SHOT one year at a bar or something like that. Jason was an Australian SAS guy (more on that later). I knew from his mil experience that he was gonna be our land warfare guru. He also knows ropes, climbing and airframe stuff better than anyone, so all helo evolutions(and there were a lot) involved him. The first time I watched him shoot pistol, which I think was during his interview test, I was speechless…..he sucked, he sucked bad. Carbine, no worries. Pistol, sketch. I say this not in a derogatory way because he worked so hard at getting better at pistol, that now he is one of the best pistol shots around. When I say work hard, I mean he was staying late, AFTER a full day of work to get the speed and accuracy that was needed. If we shot a drill and he didn’t perform up to his standard, he would shoot it again, and again, and again, and again. I missed a lot of lunches because of him.

After he had been at BW awhile we finally realized that we were in the same battle in Afghanistan. During Operation Anaconda there was an AUS SAS team to our Southeast. They were 4 or 5 clicks away, but we could see their strobes at night. It was a good feeling knowing that they were catching everything that was running their way. Jason’s team was decorated for their action.

Soon we were really doing some good things with shooting. We pushed each other hard. Jason was the first to come up with a 275 standard for all three big pistols on the Hack. That was difficult, Berretta, Sig, and Glock. Eventually, we all got it though. Jason was so good that I had no reservations about putting him on classes for Tier 1 and other SO units, all with rave reviews. One thing I noticed about Jase was that he was really professional as an instructor.

Larry Vickers’s asked us to be on a couple of shows with him on TV. After that, we noticed a few guys would come to BW and specifically ask to shoot against me and Jason. At first, we thought nothing of it, and then dudes got real serious. We crushed every one of them, some even on THEIR OWN shooting test.

Jason reworked all our tests, and course drills. He also had a hand in pretty much every mil class we did, and designed an assload of them (can’t list here). I learned how to present myself better as an instructor, and how to fine tune details for complicated classes.


Looey Gines-

Was the left handed wonder child we stole from driving. I never understood what he was doing there? A certified gun doctor, he showed me a lot about how to, and what to do to guns. He is a great IPDA/IPSC competitor, and crushed me more than a few times on stages. Looey opened my eyes to different techniques, especially left handed, with both pistol and rifle and showed me some really sweet things to do to guns to make them run better. Best left handed shooter I know. Looey showed me how to take advantage of time when shooting IDPA/IPSC stages.

Tony Reeves-

Came to us via Bill Go meeting him at some match. Tony was a Texas State trooper and was partially responsible for Texas Troopers getting EOTechs on their rifles. That should tell you what kind of dude he is. He gave up the State job to come and work for us. Tony knows guns and taught me a lot about building, putting together, taking apart, Etc. When he was on shoting, it was a magical thing to watch. He really loves shooting and guns. He got hurt pretty bad one day and lost the use of an arm for awhile. So what did he do? Became the best one handed shot I’ve seen. He taught me a love and passion for shooting.

SPIEGEL ONLINE escribió: 12/01/2010 08:30 AM
Helicopters to Afghanistan - Blackwater Subsidiary Flouted German Arms Export Laws
By Cordula Meyer

A subsidiary of the US private security firm Blackwater flouted German arms export law,
the US diplomatic cables have revealed. The company, Presidential Airways, didn't want to
wait to get the proper export permit, so it simply transported the aircraft to Afghanistan
via third countries.

The controversial US private security firm Blackwater, which is now known as Xe Services,
has mainly been criticized in the past over the use of excessive force in Iraq.
Confidential American diplomatic dispatches now show that another company belonging to
Blackwater founder Erik Prince exported German military helicopters to Afghanistan with
scant regard for German law.

Presidential Airways purchased three SA-330 J "Puma" helicopters in Germany for use in
providing logistical support to US forces in Afghanistan. But because it was taking too
long to get the necessary German export permit, and its employees didn't want to wait,
they simply took the helicopters out of the country in October 2008, first to Britain, and
then on to Turkey.

In so doing, Presidential ignored advice from both the German Economics Ministry and the
US Office of Defense Cooperation that their actions were illegal under German law. A
concerned William Timken, the then US ambassador to Germany, warned the State Department
that "the issue could become public in Germany and would take on proportions well beyond
the significance of a few helicopters given the widespread public skepticism about
Germany's engagement in Afghanistan." He therefore called for the relevant US government
agencies "to examine this matter immediately" and to "encourage" Presidential to keep the
helicopters in Turkey for the time being.

But Presidential ignored all the warnings and transported the military hardware to
Afghanistan via Georgia and Azerbaijan while the German Foreign Ministry was apparently
still trying to get cabinet approval for the export of the helicopters. Imagine what would
happen, US diplomats in Berlin wrote to Washington, if German companies were to sell
American weapons to Iran. Under that scenario, they wrote, "we expect that US authorities
would react strongly." They warned of "negative reactions" in the German media.

Presidential Airways was also suspected of conducting secret "extraordinary rendition"
flights on behalf of the CIA, taking terror suspects to third countries to be
interrogated.

Fingers in Many Pies

The embassy cables show Blackwater has its fingers in many different pies around the
globe. Its security experts trained special forces and police units in the United Arab
Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan and Azerbaijan as well as in Afghanistan, where they worked
alongside German police trainers. In Chile, Blackwater apparently subcontracted a company
called Red Tactica to recruit former Chilean police officers and soldiers, which it then
sent to Iraq as mercenaries.

When the Iraqi government withdrew Blackwater's license following the Nisoor Square
massacre in 2007, many of the company's employees simply went to other firms. In January
2010, the US Embassy in Baghdad reported that it "understands" that Triple Canopy, a
contractor working for the US government, "currently employs several hundred former
Blackwater employees," while DynCorp, another private security firm, also employed "dozens
of ex-Blackwater employees".

In November 2009, suspicions arose that Blackwater had spent about a million dollars
bribing Iraqi officials to ensure that it could remain in the country. At the time, a
State Department spokesman claimed he knew nothing about the bribes.

The leaked diplomatic dispatches now reveal, however, that American representatives in
Baghdad knew full well about Blackwater's shady dealings, and had attempted to distance
themselves from the company a year earlier. The deputy US ambassador in Baghdad even
stressed that "under no circumstances could the Embassy approve of or in any way be part
of a bribery effort."