The hidden world of civilian contractor injuries
The Los Angeles Times and ProPublica spent more than 18 months examining the hidden world of civilian contractor injuries. Reporters and photographers tracked down and interviewed more than 200 contractors, family members, government, military and corporate officials. The Times also reviewed more than 10,000 pages of court documents, previously undisclosed government reports and internal corporate communications. Read more
GAO Questions Future of Contractors in Iraq
The Government Accountability Office released a report on March 24th, part of which dealt with the various issues facing the future use of contractors in Iraq. I have extracted the relevent material here. Read more
10 cities with the most defense jobs…(in case you come home)
Just in case you find yourself returning back to the US, Clearancejobs.com has released some information about the top ten cities with defense jobs. Read more
Overseas contractor jobs by the numbers
This new update reports on DoD contractor personnel numbers and covers DoD contractor personnel deployed in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the U.S. Central Command (USCENTCOM) area of responsibility (AOR) as of December 31, 2008. Read more
Introducing Combat Operator Radio and Ezine
Jake Allen, an American security contractor currently living in Norway, has launched CombatOperator.com, which includes an ezine called Sitrep and a podcast called Combat Operator Radio. Read more
My 20 Favorite Contractor Books (and 3 DVDs)
As I mentioned in a previous post, I plan to reread all my contracting-related books and review them here. In the meantime, here are my 20 favorite books plus 3 DVDs. There are certainly more than these, but this is a good starting point. They are in no particular order and the links go to Amazon (no affiliate links) Read more
PMCs, KBR and the Peanut Butter Crisis
There were two big stories that the media chewed on last week:
KBR announced it has been awarded a $35.4 million contract by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), Transatlantic Programs Center, Winchester, Va., for the Phase II design and construction of a convoy support center at Camp Adder in Iraq.
Escape in Iraq: The Thomas Hamill Story
I decided to reread and then review all the books I own that are related to private contractors. I will choose their order with a highly scientific method: by pulling them off the shelf from left to right.
First up is the story of Thomas Hamill, a KBR truck driver, who was kidnapped and held hostage in Iraq, until he escaped after 24 days. Read more
Good Background on the Big Picture
James Jay Carafano, an expert at the Heritage Foundation and West Point graduate, has written an interesting backgrounder article called Contracting in Combat: Advice for the Commission on Wartime Contracting. Read more
How many, who are they, what do they do?
The Congressional Research Service released a report in late December 2008 called Training the Military to Manage Contractors During Expeditionary Operations: Overview and Options for Congress (Adobe Reader required). The report offered several interesting facts about the number and make up of contractors in Iraq. Read more
