# Blackwater placing ads in magazines



## 48over4000 (Dec 28, 2018)

They are placing ads in magazines simply stating "We are coming". Anyone know what that's about?


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## Cookie_ (Dec 28, 2018)

I remember reading something the other day in a fox news opinion piece that was arguing we should hire contractors to replace troops in the middle east; I imagine that Blackwater is repositioning itself for new contracts should that happen.


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## Gunz (Dec 29, 2018)

Erik Prince wants Trump to buy into the 6000-contractor plan for AFG... which he might just do and why Mattis has unassed the AO, IMV.

I'd be wary of this...it smacks of hype and two years of Prince courting Trump. Not exactly the low-key, professional approach.


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## DC (Dec 29, 2018)

Contractor=mercenary. After awhile it will get messy.


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## DA SWO (Dec 29, 2018)

DC said:


> Contractor=mercenary. After awhile it will get messy.


Is it legal?

IIRC BW and MPRI contracted via DoS and not DoD.


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## Kraut783 (Dec 29, 2018)

It would be interesting to see what their role would be....regardless, it will be a criminal investigation nightmare. It wasn't until 2008 that contractors came under DOD jurisdiction, in the form of Army CID (both A-stan and Iraq), in 2007 there was a ton of issues with civilian contractors...and I'm not just talking about the armed personal protection teams out there, the contracting offices had people making millions of dollars in fraud....when a lot was discovered in 2007, it turned out no one had jurisdiction on them and a lot walked out of Iraq with lots of money.


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## Florida173 (Dec 29, 2018)

Kraut783 said:


> It would be interesting to see what their role would be....regardless, it will be a criminal investigation nightmare. It wasn't until 2008 that contractors came under DOD jurisdiction, in the form of Army CID (both A-stan and Iraq), in 2007 there was a ton of issues with civilian contractors...and I'm not just talking about the armed personal protection teams out there, the contracting offices had people making millions of dollars in fraud....when a lot was discovered in 2007, it turned out no one had jurisdiction on them and a lot walked out of Iraq with lots of money.



If only there were competent government personnel looking after us contractors...


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## ThunderHorse (Dec 29, 2018)

People read recoil?


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## 48over4000 (Dec 29, 2018)

ThunderHorse said:


> People read recoil?


It seems strange that they would place an advertisement in a magazine.


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## Kraut783 (Dec 29, 2018)

Florida173 said:


> If only there were competent government personnel looking after us contractors...



Heh, you know what I mean....there was a loophole that was exploited in all the money dumped into the OCONUS contracts.


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## DC (Dec 30, 2018)

Florida173 said:


> If only there were competent government personnel looking after us contractors...


This is the messy part. There isnt.


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## BloodStripe (Dec 30, 2018)

Kraut783 said:


> Heh, you know what I mean....there was a loophole that was exploited in all the money dumped into the OCONUS contracts.



Not really a loophole. Contingency funding was probably used to pay for those contracts. Congress sets aside x number of dollars per year in Contingency funding. I would be curious to see the contract folder though to see all the pre and post award documentation.


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## Devildoc (Dec 30, 2018)

I used to work for one of Blackwaters's competitors, had a couple of short-duration contracts and I did some teaching. That whole industry, oh my goodness....

One of my best friends has had multiple contracts with a couple of organizations, most of which was as a flight medic in Iraq, a DoS contract. The waste and lack of oversight, and free rein contractors get is incredible.


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## BloodStripe (Dec 30, 2018)

Devildoc said:


> I used to work for one of Blackwaters's competitors, had a couple of short-duration contracts and I did some teaching. That whole industry, oh my goodness....
> 
> One of my best friends has had multiple contracts with a couple of organizations, most of which was as a flight medic in Iraq, a DoS contract. The waste and lack of oversight, and free rein contractors get is incredible.



I would venture to say that 99% of security contracts are DoS contracts, even though they support the DoD.


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## Devildoc (Dec 30, 2018)

BloodStripe said:


> I would venture to say that 99% of security contracts are DoS contracts, even though they support the DoD.



I agree, I would say 9:10 of ours supported other agencies (not just DoS), but 1:10 were DoD contracts.  But regardless of who they were for, the cowboy mentality reigned supreme.


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## Kraut783 (Dec 30, 2018)

BloodStripe said:


> Not really a loophole. Contingency funding was probably used to pay for those contracts. Congress sets aside x number of dollars per year in Contingency funding. I would be curious to see the contract folder though to see all the pre and post award documentation.



Well, not exactly. There were several contracting offices in Iraq that would work with the local business men to bid contracts, manufacturing T-Walls, crane companies...etc, well....one enterprising person was a European and was hired to do contracts and could also speak Arabic, so he would spearpoint the bids for the contract office. Over three years he took bribes totaling 3+ million dollars....a few Hilux Toyotas. His theft was discovered, but he couldn't be prosecuted due to the craziness, Army CID didn't have jurisdiction, DCIS tried but couldn't bring charges....he was fired and left the middle east flying back to Europe to his millions. 

He was actually a pretty nice and personable guy.


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## Bunsickle (Dec 31, 2018)

Tons of money getting Government contracts, all the way to contractor services fighting wild land fires in the US. IOMAX out of NC does neat stuff. Rumor on the streets is there’s an investment group all made up of former military big wig Generals/Admirals, planning on buying Thrush Aircraft, the same company IOMAX builds their aircraft from. Hhhhmm.


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## Kraut783 (Dec 31, 2018)

From Soldiers Systems Daily....interesting.

"*And now, for the rest of the story*
                December 31st, 2018                 

Last week, the main stream media lost its collective mind (yet again) when they created a narrative that Erik Prince was bringing Blackwater (the PMC) back because President Trump announced a withdrawal of US military forces from Syria and signaled a desire to pull out of Afghanistan combined with a teaser full-page ad in the latest issue of Recoil magazine. They were just sure that US troops would be replaced with mercenaries in the employ of former Navy SEAL and Blackwater founder, Erik Prince. “We Are Coming” was the proof they offered the public.

But as more ads begin to appear in firearms magazines, it’s quite apparent that the speculation is what refer to in the business as “fake news.” 

What the press doesn’t know is that Erik Prince may have sold Blackwater years ago, but he retained ownership of the name and associated trademarks. We first encountered Blackwater Ammunition during IWA, back in March. Maybe it’s availability in the US is something new, but the brand’s existence isn’t exactly news.

I often ponder. If the MSM gets so much wrong that I know about, what are they misleading me on in subject areas where I have no visibility?"


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## ThunderHorse (Dec 31, 2018)

Eh, I disagree with Eric Graves take there.  Eric Prince posted that image to get a reaction. All for an ammunition company?


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## Gunz (Dec 31, 2018)

I disagree also. Prince has been lobbying Trump for two years about this 6,000-contractor plan for AFG. The money is about worldwide protection service contracts, not selling boxes of ammo. And about the return of BW after exile in the wilderness.


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## Kraut783 (Dec 31, 2018)

I have no idea, but thought I would post it up.


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## Gunz (Dec 31, 2018)

Kraut783 said:


> I have no idea, but thought I would post it up.



It's all good, brother.


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## Diamondback 2/2 (Dec 31, 2018)

The name Blackwater is tainted in the PMC community. He has another company under another name hq'ed in the UAE,  and it would take him all of a week to establish 10 companies in the same business, effectively when BW lost all their contracts they did a shirt swap and the same people were doing the same business. 

As for pmc's taking the FID/security aspects over in Afghanistan. Mehh,  whatever,  don't care. It will take a company with air assets the likes of what BW had, and they might have some short gains in transitioning the country over to full Afghan control. But the end state is still the same. Once air support is gone that country falls to the Taliban within months. Even with limited air support regions will fall within months.  

I can't remember the quote all that well, but something about having to kill the children's children to change the culture and win...


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## Florida173 (Dec 31, 2018)

Isn't Blackwater under constellis? I know that the holdings company has acquired most others, including academi... Which is Blackwater from my understanding. Academi has had plenty of contracts in my industry, although they are generally low experience butts in seats types.


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## Gunz (Dec 31, 2018)

Florida173 said:


> Isn't Blackwater under constellis? I know that the holdings company has acquired most others, including academi... Which is Blackwater from my understanding. Academi has had plenty of contracts in my industry, although they are generally low experience butts in seats types.



Constellis  bought up everybody--Triple Canopy, Clayton Consulting, Academi etc--and was itself up for sale a few years ago. I don't think Constellis is partnered with this new Blackwater revival (?) ... Prince is pushing very hard for privatizing AFG with Blackwater being cited as the main beneficiary...and not much mention of other Constellis holdings.


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## SpitfireV (Dec 31, 2018)

Diamondback 2/2 said:


> The name Blackwater is tainted in the PMC community.



I think that's probably true in the wider world too, accurate or not. That was the first thing I thought when I saw it- why use what's now a bad brand? I mean he renamed it in the first place.


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## ThunderHorse (Dec 31, 2018)

Florida173 said:


> Isn't Blackwater under constellis? I know that the holdings company has acquired most others, including academi... Which is Blackwater from my understanding. Academi has had plenty of contracts in my industry, although they are generally low experience butts in seats types.


Prince kept the Intellectual Property for Blackwater, so he could use it for pretty much any new venture.


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## Bunsickle (Jan 1, 2019)

There was a Thing a few years ago shooting Pirates, ducks in water. Using The Archangel. Mr P. Had something to do with it.


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## BloodStripe (Jan 3, 2019)

Kraut783 said:


> Well, not exactly. There were several contracting offices in Iraq that would work with the local business men to bid contracts, manufacturing T-Walls, crane companies...etc, well....one enterprising person was a European and was hired to do contracts and could also speak Arabic, so he would spearpoint the bids for the contract office. Over three years he took bribes totaling 3+ million dollars....a few Hilux Toyotas. His theft was discovered, but he couldn't be prosecuted due to the craziness, Army CID didn't have jurisdiction, DCIS tried but couldn't bring charges....he was fired and left the middle east flying back to Europe to his millions.
> 
> He was actually a pretty nice and personable guy.



Yea, I'd venture to say he was probably just the tip of the iceberg with regards to contingency funds and bribes, theft, etc. 

Just look at building projects in Afghanistan. CORs were not doing their jobs and now there are multimillion dollar buildings incomplete and missing contractors.


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## AWP (Jan 3, 2019)

BloodStripe said:


> CORs were not doing their jobs



Arguably, this is the biggest problem with contracting. I'm still baffled that the DoD doesn't know how to manage contracts after all of these years and the buttloads of money spent. People bitch about contractors and their companies, but rarely will anyone complain about the contracting office abrogating its responsibility to oversee the contract. I've seen commanders complain about a contractor and do nothing, either unaware they can or unwilling to remove them from the base. "I trust Company X will do the right thing." Company X will not offer a guy the "chicken or pasta" option, instead it will keep him in place because that's how they make money. You know this, but so many people don't; they have this silly, romantic notion a company will behave honorably. It will behave like a business that is responsible to its shareholders, no more and no less.

When the COR is absent and/ or lazy, when a commander doesn't have the backbone or knowledge to deal with a person, it emboldens the contractors and companies.


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## BloodStripe (Jan 4, 2019)

AWP said:


> Arguably, this is the biggest problem with contracting. I'm still baffled that the DoD doesn't know how to manage contracts after all of these years and the buttloads of money spent. People bitch about contractors and their companies, but rarely will anyone complain about the contracting office abrogating its responsibility to oversee the contract. I've seen commanders complain about a contractor and do nothing, either unaware they can or unwilling to remove them from the base. "I trust Company X will do the right thing." Company X will not offer a guy the "chicken or pasta" option, instead it will keep him in place because that's how they make money. You know this, but so many people don't; they have this silly, romantic notion a company will behave honorably. It will behave like a business that is responsible to its shareholders, no more and no less.
> 
> When the COR is absent and/ or lazy, when a commander doesn't have the backbone or knowledge to deal with a person, it emboldens the contractors and companies.



I keep telling my boss to let me go on more training trips in order to conduct contract surveillance since we don't use CORs. I'm going to tell her that the war profiteer said so.

In all seriousness, I'm all for empowering the contracting office more to do contract surveillance, but sadly we dont have the time and most importantly aren't given the resources to do it, because we all know contracting isn't a concern or a priority until something is fucked up or we don't execute timely enough. CORS are critical to the process and yet most of them are working in that capacity in as an ancillary duty.


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## AWP (Jan 4, 2019)

BloodStripe said:


> In all seriousness, I'm all for empowering the contracting office more to do contract surveillance, but sadly we dont have the time and most importantly aren't given the resources to do it, because we all know contracting isn't a concern or a priority until something is fucked up or we don't execute timely enough. CORS are critical to the process and yet most of them are working in that capacity in as an ancillary duty.



Our COR visits once or twice a year. Maybe. Usually one of those visits is "we're in the neighborhood and wanted to pop in" kind of thing. Our "COR" is an Air Force senior NCO who attends some type of COR training. As you stated, that is an ancillary duty for him. While our CORs are generally good, some phone it in or like to focus on one area like logistics/ inventory control than our more technical aspects.

Our previous COR, I won't name the organization in the open, was pure trash. They had a rep onsite for a week every month....and they did nothing. When they did an inspection, it was half-assed one month and down to every single dot in the regs the following month. No consistency, no follow-up, just garbage "check the block" inspections. We went 3 years without them inspecting our tool program. One visit, we took an absolute beating over our tools. The PM got involved, really over-the-top stuff. 

They did one more tool inspection in the 2 years before I left the contract.

Sometimes contractors aren't lazy, they don't know any better. They don't know the regs inside and out or you have a former soldier working on an Air Force program so the standard he's used to isn't the AF standard. Inspections not only serve to keep a contractor honest, but they can identify shortfalls in knowledge and experience, thus improving the program. A COR can also explain to the customer that a "shitbag" contractor isn't lazy, he's working within the confines of his contract and the customer is asking too much of them. "Manage customer expectations." CORs are absolutely vital to the contracting process, but sadly the DoD has no clue how to manage a monster that it created.


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