Aegis Defense LTD – Disturbing Message Board

It’s amazing to me that this site is still up. In case it goes away anytime soon, I’m archiving the entire thing. These guys are the ones who made the video in Iraq, shooting indiscriminantly to a soundtrack (I got the video before it was removed, but need to figure out how to upload it to the site). The message board captures that subject, as well as drug and alcohol abuse by Aegis people on the ground in Iraq.

YOU AND I PAY THESE CLOWNS MILLIONS! TO GET DRUNK AND GO ON A KILLING SPREE!

And some of them have been aparantly long accustomed to their elevated status in life, being paid to act as a sort of Grim Reaper. Thin out the population through random killing sprees. Who cares anyway, right? It’s only brown people.

We’re making good progress in Iraq. A couple hundred million more to these guys should just about get the job done. Maybe instead of talking about the troops right now, how about THIS company’s contract gets cut as well as those of any other companies who have been involved in this type of inhumanity. Here’s the message board and some other content from the site:

AEGIS DEFENSE LTD MESSAGE BOARD
NEW FORUM

Trophy Video Discussion

Author Message
Ghandi

Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 1

Posted: Wed Dec 07, 2005 9:40 pm Post subject: trophy vid

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hi
i think you guys help rich ppl geting richer by risking ur lives, u help em with theyr big robbery in iraq, you risk day by day ur ass, just to get em richer and fatter.

but im sure u dont see it that way, its just a job for you guys. you dont think about why you have to protect those ppl, you just do it. and propably do it darn good (at cost of many innocent ppl i think)

i hate voilence , why i never went to my countrys army (im swiss) its just not the way i like to solve problems.

when i saw the video i also was thinking u guys are just crazy rambos that abuse theyr “power” and shoot at innocent ppl. i still think some was innocent, and im sure even you still dont know if they was planning an attack or not.

but after reading almost the complete homepage i also can see your point.
its ur ass thats risked here, you have to decide if a car is “guilty” or not. you can shoot often at innocent ppl but propably only once you can decide to not shoot at a guilty guy.

my problem with the movie is, i cant see if those cars knew or saw that its a convoy, and if they was warned so they could understand it, if they knew they are not allowed to come close. show us movies where i can see that you convoy is clearly signed, and if ppl are warned correctly,
(yes i know you cant drive with too clearly signed cars, would be like an invitation to “terrorists”)

take care, i mean that (anyway i think your job isnt any better than those of the terrorists, both of you are murderers, lucky atleast one is oneuseonly )

greets from switzerland
ghandi

Bombing for freedon is like frogging for virginity

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Jericho

Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 6
Location: The zone
Posted: Thu Dec 08, 2005 8:13 pm Post subject:

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How very true Ghandi, its a catch 22, every thing you do out here has a flip side to it…which sometimes is a pain, but we have to live and deal with it!

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esmacd

Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Posts: 3
Location: Perth au
Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 4:07 pm Post subject: Murderer’s?

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I dont know what your definition of a murderer is ghandi but its different from mine and most of us who do or have done this job.
Insurgeants, indescriminant killing for no end, most they kill are thier own, we do not go out and hunt ! we go A-B and get our client safely to where ever he/she needs to be? if people decide to ignore our signs, waves, flares, warning shots and come at us aggressivly we have a duty of care to our client, and ourselves ..simple is right? murder is unjustified killing of somebody mate, and most people in this job feel that the saftey of our principle and team are in jeopordy then we react and how we do is how it is in Iraq, you think the bad guys are nice? they are assholes and thugs.
You sit in your comfy lounge chair and judge us Mofo? your a Raghead and dont ever think to even put me in the same bracket as an insurgeant you twit, but your entitled to an opinion even a stupid one.
_________________
Going fishing isnt Awol.

7.62 Solutions inc.

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Danny Casolaro

Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:34 pm Post subject: Re: Murderer’s?

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esmacd wrote:
I dont know what your definition of a murderer is ghandi but its different from mine and most of us who do or have done this job.
Insurgeants, indescriminant killing for no end, most they kill are thier own, we do not go out and hunt ! we go A-B and get our client safely to where ever he/she needs to be? if people decide to ignore our signs, waves, flares, warning shots and come at us aggressivly we have a duty of care to our client, and ourselves ..simple is right? murder is unjustified killing of somebody mate, and most people in this job feel that the saftey of our principle and team are in jeopordy then we react and how we do is how it is in Iraq, you think the bad guys are nice? they are assholes and thugs.
You sit in your comfy lounge chair and judge us Mofo? your a Raghead and dont ever think to even put me in the same bracket as an insurgeant you twit, but your entitled to an opinion even a stupid one.

Wow, I mean I can only imagine what it would be like if all the motorcades that zip around Washington DC just arbitrarily shot up every car that came within shooting distance.

I mean sure, you justify this by saying that you were hired to protect something or someone. But that still doesn’t answer the fundamental question of when is an object or a person more valuable than the general public, public order and civil society? Is it when that general public looks different from you? Talks different? Or when a certain percentage of that general public has reacted violently to your very presence in their land? How do we decide which country deserves this treatment and which deserve more civilized treatment? Surely you can’t believe that every Iraqi is uncivilized. I’m sure 90% just want to live their life and not bother or be bothered.

You cannot justify killing a family driving along a relatively empty highway just because they accidentally, unknowingly, made you a little apprehensive by approaching other vehicles ahead on the road, probably because the convoy is moving much slower than they are in the first place, not because they are questioning your manhood, authority or driving skill. I mean, is it sorta like the idiots who get upset when you pass them on an american highway? Do you just get all hot and bothered by anyone who would dare show you up by driving faster than you? These people have exactly the same right as you to be alive, why should they die just because they crossed paths with you? That’s pretty arbitrary, don’t you think? Should your loved ones be subject to the same? I would hope not!

I would have to say, moral relativism is a nasty thing. You guys are all stricken by it. No offense, we all experience things differently and therefore your world view might not see these actions as anything worse than the price of doing business. But that is just sad, it would be a better place if people actually tried to be civil and humane, instead of copping out to the easy way. There’s always more than one way to do anything. Unfortunately, the world is dominated by people whose only measure of a way to do things is based on monetary concerns only. It’s cheaper or more profitable to just kill everything, send troops ill-equipped to a hot zone, occupy a country instead of just decapitating it’s government and being willing to let the chips fall where they may, etc etc. Sometimes the price of a human life should be entered into the equation, “us” or “them”, and a better solution can be found. For example, how many soldiers and civilians would die if instead of occupying Iraq for 5 or 10 years, we only had to deploy forces into the country a half dozen separate times to knock out the next undesireable regime until they finally figure out democracy would make everyone involved happy? It might cost more money to keep redeploying armor and air power to the region, but I think our past results would suggest fewer soldiers would be killed in each intervention than are killed by just sitting around p!ssing off people by their very presence alone. Sure, everyone says “but we’d have left Iraq exposed to it’s enemies” but that’s because we intentionally dismantled (destroyed) their military. We could have easily decapitated saddam if we were willing to. He’s not like Osama or Castro, the only mountians he has to run to hide in are crawling with people who would kill him on sight (granted, they’re affiliated w/ those idiots in Afghanistan, but who would care who killed sadam as long as he died, right?) If Western Military and Intelligence wanted Saddam dead, and was willing to pay any price, he’d be dead. No question. And so would every succeeding dick-tater until it became obvious that the only way to survive is to be a democratic government.

Or as far as convoy protection — take a lesson from the General Staff of the Russian Army’s synopsis of their war in Afghanistan. You can order it on Amazon, I believe, I found it in a local bookstore. There are chapters devoted to the things they learned about force protection in all areas, especially convoys. Artillery and armor overwatches, armored checkpoints, stand-off zones. Air support, air sweeps and QRFs. Closing routes either permanently or by the hour, day, week or month. Forward and rear protection forces that keep civilians away from passing convoys. The list goes on and on. The fact that a civilian car has even approached a convoy should be the fault of the people in charge of protecting that convoy, not the civilian driver. Killing the driver is correcting your mistake by taking someone else’s life. It would be so easy in most situations to have a rolling blockade in front of and behind a convoy as it passes through areas where civilians might enter the area unknowingly. They do it in downtown DC every day for official motorcades. Nobody gets killed. You just need enough vehicles in the protection package to rotate forward to close intersections and highway entrances as the convoy proceeds forward in a closed-off buffer zone. So you park a vehicle across the road, put up a big orange sign 300 yards back that says “Stop. You will be shot if you pass this sign”. Sit there for 20 or 30 minutes. Then move forward and repeat, inching along behind the main body of the convoy. In the meantime, any intersections or on ramps ahead are blocked in the same manner as the convoy moves forward, once the rear guard passes a side guard, that side guard advances ahead of the convoy to the next open entrance. Just keep moving your blocking forces forward, basically, creating a 1/4 mile or 1/2 mile zone where only the convoy operates. (then maybe you can call anything inside that zone an open target).

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Danny Casolaro

Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 5

Posted: Fri Dec 09, 2005 7:59 pm Post subject:

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Want to protect checkpoints from VBIEDs? This might work…

zig zag jersey barriers to slow approaching vehicles. Concrete blast walls line a 40+ yard length where an armored recovery vehicle pulls the vehicles through. Make the drivers get out and hook up the chain to their car, and then pass through a pedestrian checkpoint. Drag their car through the checkpoint in a protected area. Just don’t let them get up close with a car under their control. The checkpoint is the target, after all. If they get back in their car 40 or more yards down the road, who are they gonna maim or kill besides themselves?

Maybe that wouldn’t work, but from watching that video on this site of the checkpoint VBIED going off, it looks like the people manning that checkpoint let it get a little out of hand there in the first place, not that they deserved to get killed or wounded. There’s many logical ways to set up and control a checkpoint. That doesn’t appear to be one of them. That one appears to count on luck as the only real protection for the guy who has to approach a car to talk to the driver. make the driver come to you, at least. Park his car and approach on foot, identify himself, get frisked, etc. Then let him go back to his car, and you can duck behind some sandbags as he drives by. Make everyone wait while this goes on, fine, better than blowing up.

This was the rule in Vietnam for the vietcong insurgents. This might even be one of Mao’s tenets. “The western military’s strength is distance. To defeat them, you just have to get up close, grab ’em by the belt and eliminate their technological advantage”. So inversely, our best defense is still to maintain control of the situation and insist on distance between them and us.

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Mr.Mom

Joined: 09 Dec 2005
Posts: 10
Location: Buffalo, New York
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:18 am Post subject: Logos and Ergon

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I taught a Humanities course at my Undergraduate Alma Mater. In it we read selections from Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War. It’s dry if you can’t past the details. Get to the underlying ideas of Force and Words (an over-simple rendering of the Greek: logos and ergon). I’d like to agree with our Swiss contributor. beinga teacher by trade it’d be nice if we got the percent of the Gross National Product that defense gets.

However, the world is not simple or safe.

There is even scholarly debate about whether Jesus meant to simply accept violence when he said “turn the other cheek.” Some say it was a sign of defiance as in “try it again %$#er.” Well, maybe that’s too far.

Read this article by Fredrick Kagan in the Wilson Quarterly. http://www.wilsoncenter.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=wq.essay&essay_id=135778
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Last edited by Mr.Mom on Sat Dec 10, 2005 3:31 am; edited 1 time in total

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Just another Brit PSD

Joined: 08 Dec 2005
Posts: 10
Location: Iraq/Jockland
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:51 am Post subject:

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Danny,when the flip was the last time a SVBIED went off in downtown New York?
Iraq is like no other place on the planet,not even the Israeli’s had it this bad,and until you’ve put feet on the ground,or sat in that rear seat,stop second guessing.
Even the Russians in Afghanistan didn’t have the fundamentalists blowing themselves up……..You haven’t got a flipping clue mate,keep reading the books,the Russians were not PSC’s,they had everything at their disposal,comparing PSD convoys to the Russian Military is like comparing water and sand…………there isn’t any!!…rolling blockades……..what the flip…..man you’ve no idea what PSD in Iraq is all about!!

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esmacd

Joined: 06 Dec 2005
Posts: 3
Location: Perth au
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:12 am Post subject: right of reply

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Danny what ever , have you ever left your own State or read past your own news reports?
Motorcades in Washington DC …are you seriously trying to compare Iraq with the mean streets of an American city??
Mate last time i checked ..the Russians didnt do to well in Afghanistan..perhaps you know better.
Go back to your play station mate , your full of shit, if you havnt experienced this work and have knowledge of what and why things are done then you have no business making ill informed judgements based on a video where you didnt see any of the other drills warnings etc, I wasnt there and cant comment even if i agree or disagree with the clip.
All the hits on Psd convoys are from Vbied’s getting in the convoy , your suggesting we allow the traffic to join in and take the chance its Abdul going to the corner shop?
Since the badguys look like every other bugger there and Vbieds dont have signs on them what do you suggest we do, does tv tell you that? is there anything on Ps2 with a senario to help us out?
Good advice on the checkpoints too , Im surprised the State Department hasnt pulled you out of Imajerk County and put you in charge of IZ sercurity, dont be surprised by the responses you get mate , your full of crap.
_________________
Going fishing isnt Awol.

7.62 Solutions inc.

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airzonk

Joined: 10 Dec 2005
Posts: 1

Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 5:29 am Post subject:

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Hi! I just saw the “trophy video”. I just wanted to ask a few questions.

1. Are the signs clearly visible at the distance that you are firing at those vehicles?

2. Why are you using suppressed firearms? I’m sure you’d be more accurate without the firearm being suppressed.

3. Also. It looked that you where using M4 Carbines. Perhaps a more accruate rifle could be used to disable the vehicles without possible injury to the motorist, such as the Springfield Armory M 14 or other .308 caliber rifles. It would also be better for penetration and it looks like you could use more of that in this type of situation. Any thoughts?

4.Whats with the music? Can I recommend some Nine Inch Nails for the next one? : P

I don’t have the balls to do your job and I respect your courage. I know you are doing the best job you can. Please be safe.

God Bless

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Bash72

Joined: 05 Dec 2005
Posts: 5
Location: UK
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 9:51 am Post subject: Signs are about

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Take a look and tell me what you think ??

http://www.aegisiraq.co.uk/images/Victory3.jpg

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Bossdog

Joined: 07 Dec 2005
Posts: 3
Location: N.Ireland
Posted: Sat Dec 10, 2005 2:43 pm Post subject:

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Danny Casolaro wrote:
an armored recovery vehicle pulls the vehicles through. Make the drivers get out and hook up the chain to their car, and then pass through a pedestrian checkpoint. Drag their car through the checkpoint in a protected area. Just don’t let them get up close with a car under their control.

So what part of the intergalactic space federation are you from?

Nice imaginative idea but VBIED’s arent just initiated by the driver, they can be remotely detonated too

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DJM

Joined: 12 Dec 2005
Posts: 2

Posted: Mon Dec 12, 2005 12:42 am Post subject:

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“There’s many logical ways to set up and control a checkpoint. That doesn’t appear to be one of them. That one appears to count on luck as the only real protection for the guy who has to approach a car to talk to the driver. make the driver come to you, at least. Park his car and approach on foot, identify himself, get frisked, etc.”

I will say right off the bat, that I am not a BTDT.

At the same time..
Frisking the driver wont find the explosives in his car.
At some point the car must be inspected.
So basically what does your suggestion prohibit?

zonk :
“Perhaps a more accruate rifle could be used to disable the vehicles without possible injury to the motorist”

There is no such thing as shooting into a vehicle and not possibly injuring someone inside.Doesnt mean it will happen,but you have no guarantee it wont.

FAO: Mr. Tim Spicer
From: Just another number!
Date: 26 Oct 2005
Time: 20:14:54
Remote Name: 66.18.212.54

Comments
Dear Mr Spicer, I am assuming by now you have read all of the antics of the so called amazing head shed of Baghdad. I’m sure I dont need to mention how seriously life threatening the last stunt could have been. I mean its not like Route Irish (Airport Road also known as the most dangerous road in the world) is dangerous, its perfectly safe according to some personnel, funny how its only the personnel who only travel on it once every 10 weeks to go on leave, oh no I forgot every 6 weeks as the admin staff seem to go on leave when they want and not when they are told. Anyway this is not what I am writing to you about, I have asked for your E-Mail address several times and for some reason no-one wants to give it to me, strange! Mr Spicer I think aside from the problems you clearly have with your admin staff in Baghdad and the problem that in fact you have lost all respect of SET/LT members who are on the ground and in fact keeping this company and contract stable. You also have the problem of alcohol and drugs within the regions, Regional Directors, Operations staff and even SET/LT Team leaders have the knowledge that there is clearly an alcohol problem within the regions and dne nothing about it, DIWANIYAH ESPECIALLY. This is not just SET/LT Team members who incidently are armed 24 hours per day and probably drunk for 12 hours per day it is a problem within the management of the regions for the following reasons: Not only are they drunk almost every night they are getting drunk with the guys who are on the ground, the guys who are protecting Aegis’s clients and each other. You should also maybe ask about the missions to Baghdad from Diwaniyah just to collect alcohol, I myslef have been on some of those missions even though I expressed my opinion at the time and was told there are plenty more CV’s in London. Also maybe you might want to ask where certain members of Diwaniyah managment and SET/LT members spent the night of the 12th May, Im sure you wont get the truth which is they were arrested by Polish soldiers for being very drunk and violent. The second major problem you have is, why is it the Army have CDT’s? Im sure you can think of a dozen reasons right now. Shouldnt Aegis be having CDT’s aswell for the exact same reasons, drugs is becoming a problem in Iraq especially performance enhancing drugs. This is not necessarilly drugs on the ground but definately when personnel are on leave, Im no doctor but im pretty sure if it has been in your system then it definately effects you for longer than a few days. I know for definate of a handful of personnel who take hard core drugs on leave. Well Mr Spicer I have said my piece, I really hope that you don’t just take this as another ex-Aegis member throwing his teddy, this is something I truly beleive is a major problem and something I definately beleive is going to result in the loss of life. Just for your information also it is not just Aegis personnel who know the address to this message board, I know directors of other major companies in the sand pit are finding it very interesting reading. Sincerly,

Re: FAO: Mr. Tim Spicer
From: PSD Operator
Date: 05 Nov 2005
Time: 03:40:48
Remote Name: 62.253.128.13

Comments
I came across this by accident and as I dont work for Aegis have found the comments on here very interesting to say the least! As I’ve said I dont work for Aegis but another of the Bigger players in the PSD world and although we all have our gripes I find it alarming to read about the (Quote) Alcohol and drug problem (unquote) there seems to be in Aegis. I would hate to think that in a contact situation there would be operators, shall we say “a little less effective” because of a night on the P*ss. The answer would be “Royal Jordanian outbound” if that was us. Please dont see this as a dig at the majority of good operators (some are very good mates)I know you have with you but I ask the question “what are the so called managers” doing about it? or is it a case of “head in the sand” excuse the pun. Stay safe and see you around the regions. AB

Re: Access Control to this Forum
From: Administrator
Date: 11 Oct 2005
Time: 05:17:58
Remote Name: 216.139.137.138

Comments
If it is indicated to me that the PSD would like a more secure message board, then I will pursue that. meanwhile if you have a gripe then also please have the courage of your convictions and post your name. (Lets see how it goes)

The PSD Site
From: DW (out station)
Date: 12 Oct 2005
Time: 01:50:22
Remote Name: 216.139.177.178

Comments
I think this site is a good idea as long as all photos have the consent of all persons in it and there is no security breach. We operate overtly anyway so why the big fuss from Baghdad?

Re: The PSD Site
From: An Operator (Out Station)
Date: 12 Oct 2005
Time: 09:06:58
Remote Name: 216.139.177.178

Comments
Well done on the site its a good idea for the operators to stay in-touch with the goings on around the regions? Don’t let the bully boys take this away from us? Where are You?

Re: The PSD Site
From: Team Member (Out Station)
Date: 12 Oct 2005
Time: 10:22:08
Remote Name: 213.136.147.148

Comments
well done keep it up, I think it is just what is needed around hear don’t let them get at you Now they might think about the guys on the ground also. all good fun thank u.

Feedback…
From: Former SET member (resigned)
Date: 26 Oct 2005
Time: 13:24:54
Remote Name: 83.67.212.27

Comments
The great thing about this site is that it allows the operators to air grievances without fear of disciplinary action and reprisals from power hungry regional hierarchy whose main objective seems to be their own agenda. In Tikrit it was quite amusing to see the smoke and mirrors show go on from the hierarchy there when the CEO visited in August. The only chance the guys on the ground have to take it to the top, and a gag order was effectively placed on the operators. Questions were not to be asked of the CEO unless the Regional Director could not answer them first??? This smacks of a man clearly trying to cover his rear end. I would hope that Mr. Spicer would view this forum with interest, an opportunity for him to get an honest, non trumped up SITREP of what is happening on the ground at each of the locations, not the sugar coated perceptions which are put out by the people on star salaries. The guys on the ground aren’t the ones running around with delusions of grandeur, they simply want to be listened to from time to time…

Work
From: chilly
Date: 27 Oct 2005
Time: 08:38:44
Remote Name: 62.254.64.16

Comments
hey fellas ive been reading the threads on here and have noticed a lot of them are from resigned team members like my self and I don’t know about the rest of the lads but I am finding it hard to get more work at the moment so if any of you lads can help myself or any of the other out of work lads by keeping your ears to the ground and letting us know of anyone that is hiring at the moment we would be very grateful. many thanks, stay safe fellas. chilly.

Re: Work
From: A Good man
Date: 05 Nov 2005
Time: 12:26:47
Remote Name: 81.159.242.250

Comments
Hi Guys , If u want work ,if I was you I would give SECURIFORCE LTD a try. these guys are well sound, no bitching here, and if there is its quickly sorted out, no hard feelings here . its mainly convoy protection but they the best in the business .

Cost ??
From: Way out station !!LOL
Date: 30 Oct 2005
Time: 07:53:55
Remote Name: 195.93.21.33

Comments
Looking at the pic’s of the SUV’s it must cost the firm an arm and a leg to replace those screens and other body panels. I suppose you have to think urself lucky compared to some other Comps who don’t provide Armored Vehicles! to there PSD/SET/CPO/ OR whatever the discription is this week !! I hear lads talking about the training that is required to become an Operator out there in the sand. it don’t matter what training you have cause when that RPG or even worse the ied/vbied no training is going to stop that, the training only comes into play if you manage to survive the initial attack ! Anyway I have enjoyed looking through the post on here and hope the site stays around a bit longer get some more pics on here !!

Appalling Behavior
From: Baghdad (PSD)
Date: 25 Oct 2005
Time: 05:56:29
Remote Name: 216.40.86.198

Comments
I am appalled at yesterdays antics where a Victory PSD team where given a fabricated mission to pick up the CEO of the company from Baghdad, only to find that the mission was just a rouse to lure the owner of this website into the clutches of the company higher achy. I believe the team member resigned and an attempt to detain him was made. The rest of the team stood firm by his side and attempted to return him to Victory. This was blocked by threats of serious repercussions to the team should they assist in this mans return to Victory. Armed Guards where called for to assist in keeping the team from leaving and so the team decided to stay alongside the team member. This they did, sleeping in the Vehicles. I can not believe that the higher achy of this company think they have the power to detain anyone that gets up there nose and more so they would out right lie about a mission just to try and get there own way. This could of turned very ugly.

Re: Appalling Behavior
From: chilly former psd tikrit
Date: 26 Oct 2005
Time: 05:32:43
Remote Name: 62.254.64.16

Comments
well done to the victory team! loyal and that’s how a team should be, and as far as it goes for Baghdad for setting up a false mission well it just says it all really how do they expect to get the trust of the blokes on the ground when they put them at un-necessary risk, for the sake of a chat with a man who is bringing out good points and flaws with the company witch if ironed out would make the company run a lot better. in the mean time stay safe and take care lads.

Re: Appalling Behavior
From: SETmember in out station
Date: 26 Oct 2005
Time: 07:54:14
Remote Name: 216.139.177.178

Comments
I can only congratulate the Victory SET for standing by their team mate. Let there be no bones about this,very few operational teams would have done the same for a fellow team member. The unfortunate thing of this tragic event that occurred, has demonstrated that certain management members were unable to break the spirit of a strongly bound team. Management should endeavor to learn by this lesson, and know that teams rely on each member, in trust and comradeship. To the contrary, the trust and comradeship with Security directors has been broken, how are SET members suppose to operate in an environment of distrust and an atmosphere where they are lied too and their lives put at risk, where this situation could have been resolved diplomatically & professionally on a individual manner. The news has come down that security directors had this flow over on the team members, who were and had nothing to do with the incident, thereby involving the SET and playing them up against their own mate. Security directors, if you are not able to manage and work a simple office related matter out, God help the teams if they entrusted you to resolve any matter on the ground. Stop living with your heads up in the clouds and come down to earth and on the ground with your SET members, listen and work with them, remember if it was not for the fact that there were SET’s you would not have a job here either. Get involved and stop hiding behind beurocrasy, and stand behind your men. Become leaders as expected and not dictators and instigate rivalry that you know you can’t handle.

Re: Appalling Behavior
From: SET member
Date: 25 Oct 2005
Time: 14:27:30
Remote Name: 81.31.200.110

Comments
After hearing and witnessing some of the antics by Baghdad over the last year the treatment of this websites owner should come as no surprise to the majority of operators in the outstations as we have witnessed the inane stupidity and inflated sense of ego that emanates from Baghdad. Baghdad needs to realize that they are there to service the outstations and not the other way around and if it wasn’t for the men on the ground they wouldn’t have a job! Who would do it them I DON’T THINK SO! Take the IZ blinkers off and appreciate and respect the job we do. On a more positive note well done to the victory team for supporting there colleague and standing by him, maybe some people in Baghdad should take a look at this and realize that a good team show loyalty not because they have to but because they want too.

Re: Appalling Behavior
From: Mistreated in the past
Date: 26 Oct 2005
Time: 09:13:14
Remote Name: 64.191.210.139

Comments
I fully understand the situation that has developed here having suffered in the past at the hands of inept management, who, because of a regimental tie and not merit get put in charge of professional operators. What is the answer, I don’t know but stick together as a team, work it out, many voices work better than one. Well done the Victory team and the webmaster.

Skate Board Helmets
From: Admin
Date: 20 Nov 2005
Time: 06:19:32
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
Some of you may of seen AEGIS personnel walking around with skate board helmets on but there is one individual who has a light bulb and a Thruway phone attached to his, yes you know who you are you Wally! who is putting up with you at the moment? Basra?

Re: Skate Board Helmets
From: just another Brit PAD
Date: 20 Nov 2005
Time: 07:53:08
Remote Name: 217.43.194.231

Comments
He isn’t SA by any chance?……seen a few of the guys at Adder wearing them, kept looking for the skateboard park, but couldn’t find it anywhere, they might have their uses in a vehicle for bumps and bangs etc,but on the ground, a plastic bag offers as much protection!! Too many re-runs of Blackhawk Down with some of your guys, the Skater helmets and pads for PSD work makes you the brunt of a lot of jokes from other companies and I can assure you it’s nothing to do with jealousy either!! Stay safe guys

Site Administrator
From: Site Administrator
Date: 28 Oct 2005
Time: 10:43:47
Remote Name: 216.139.177.178

Comments
Thank You for all your support with regards the site, judging by the feedback this would be as good a time as any to shake the company up and get things running. I hope you will all agree all we would like is to be able to get on with the job in hand knowing that the company are looking after us whilst we do it. Myself I am still being stalled when it comes to leaving the country; apparently I have to answer to the Americans for the site. My internet access has been shut off (hooray for internet cafes) and I am just waiting to be confined to my room (bed blocks and all). I enjoyed working with all the men of this company and it is just a shame that unless Mr. Spicer shakes up the command structure the only way is down. This company has lost a lot of very good PSD Team members. To finish on a good not I hope the South Africans saw the funny side of my farewell song and if you didn’t please sign out a sense of humor from the stores. Yours Faithfully Snake Pliskin (STILL TRYING TO ESCAPE FROM BAGHDAD)

Re: Site Administrator
From: Former SET member (resigned)
Date: 28 Oct 2005
Time: 10:56:13
Remote Name: 83.67.212.27

Comments
The way you have been treated is disgraceful, it should be an honor to you that your team stood in with you when things got hot. The need to start a site like this would not have arisen if ignorant individuals in the middle management had bothered to listen to the men on the ground. Keep your chin up, and remember there are plenty of other gigs around.

Team Loyalty
From: Former SET member (resigned)
Date: 03 Nov 2005
Time: 15:38:34
Remote Name: 80.255.40.168

Comments
Typical, a strong, cohesive team, backing up one of their members and what do these fossil’s do…….sack the guys. Spicer approved the website, he knew that there were going to be gripes, made the point that the chain of command was there to be used to address these issues (even though it falls on deaf ears – mainly on the Regional head shed level). Sacrificing quality for quantity is a sure fire way of putting the lives of other personnel (and their own) in jeopardy. The company seems to be quite happy in letting good operators resign, and fire others on the behest of regional head shed, often due to a personality clash, or the fact that the operator has raised concerns about tactical issues that the middle management don’t experience/understand. It does not mean a pinch of shit whether or not you fought in the Falklands, Angola, Northern Ireland 25 years ago etc…Iraq is not any of these places. IAF are constantly evolving TTP’s against the co-alition including us (PSC’s). It is time that people in the company in these positions i.e Regional Security Director,2ic,OPS manager, CISO etc…are hired for WHAT they know, and not WHO they know.

Re: Team Loyalty
From:
Date: 03 Nov 2005
Time: 09:43:50
Remote Name: 203.110.194.42

Comments
Why does every one not look at the overall picture, this is still a war zone and it should be treated as such. There has been enough death and destruction in this country to last a life time. You do not put peoples lives at risk if there is no need to. Money is money that’s a fact but PSC’S as well as commercial companies operating in Iraq should have and respect due diligence to their employee’s, I am afraid that Aegis does not. I resigned from Aegis as my life was being put in danger by the incompetence of a team leader. I complained, reported it on numerous occasions for what nothing happened. Look at your contracts page 2 Para 8 I think it clearly states that Aegis will do every thing to achieve it they have failed completely. Has any one wondered why TS won the contract and its not because Aegis could do it, they where a nobody company, its because of who you dine with. Wake up people if you are here for the money good but remember this, money does not bring people back from the dead and Management should protect and respect their staff not endanger them to fulfill their own ego’s and agendas

Ridiculous
From: al Capone
Date: 03 Nov 2005
Time: 16:30:39
Remote Name: 216.139.177.178

Comments
One team operating for a YEAR with the same vehicles, needless to say (obvious) same members. Shot to hell by incompetent high rake. NO 1.team directed to IZ ROC under false pretences’ NO 2.As a consequence of ridiculous management site manager RESIGNED from AEGIS NO 3 Team Leader SACKED NO 4 Fellow member SACKED (Apparently spoke too much) N0 5 How long until rest of team goes?? N0 6 How strange? A whole team erroneously sent down to H.Q,(under false pretences) To be involved in a one on one company issue involving one man. No 7 Apparently Tim ( whom sanctioned the website) never once had a face to face with the owner of this site??> No 8 This site was initially made for a hit and giggle of the ” real” guys on the ground to banter. No 9.I am positive that at no stage did the OWNER of this website ever think that local Out and In station insecure directors would really react as they did. No 10.Upon good authority the remnants of an extremely VERY EXPERIENCED team is no more. No.11 Please can anybody help a simple mind out? I really am confused. A.A whole team was lied to. By Some one?) BOA very experienced and competent member of that same team was threatened to be sacked (for an innocent website with Mr.Spicers blessing) He resigned. C.The same team was told that all was over and no sackings would take place. D.Not just any body was sacked.The team leader had 24 years Army experience with (obviously) many years covert experience in Ireland. E.He was sacked for not physically removing a (resigned) ex team member from a vehicle F.Sorry I am still confused what did this team or team leader do wrong???? No 12. I am not legally minded BUT seemed to me that it is mighty fine for the larneys to lie and get away with it? But for honest team leaders and bonded team there is no option, (GO OR BE SACKED) No 13 Obviously the team that has been together for a year, with the same vehicles (ABSOLUTELY NO ACCIDENT DAMAGE) Strange what happens with good leadership.(PLEASE TAKE NOTE PRACTICING DIRECTORS No. 14 How long are the high rake noses??Hopefully close to their eyes as this absolutely disgusting ridiculous state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue No 15.Lastly we on the ground do a course before being deployed.The team leaders must also do this.What course (if any does Aegis have for Region Directors??)We just want to know if they are able and capable for handling our lives. No 16.Lastly can anybody please explain why high rake can blatently lie to us and there are no repercussions???(NO SACKS ALLOWED)

Re: Ridiculous
From: PSD Team
Date: 05 Nov 2005
Time: 14:29:14
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
I have heard that not only where these two men sacked but also it was pre planned. On the morning the Victory director had the TL and Team take him to Baghdad for a meeting (The Sacking), the team returned to Victory and where tasked to return and pick the director up after the meeting, Meanwhile a tip off had come down from Baghdad that the whole meeting was about sacking the TL and one other. I believe the TL told the Director to find some one else to pick him up, talk about driving yourself to your own hanging.

Feed Back
From: SET Out Station
Date: 26 Oct 2005
Time: 11:41:12
Remote Name: 81.154.244.235

Comments
Just wondering what Mr Spicers thoughts are now after reading the following threads!..and of course following up on them and investigating them properly……..I belive that this will show how much we are thought of? and how much he values the people at the business end of the Aegis ops who at the end of the day are the face of Aegis..( and not the faceless!!!) …well done that man who started this site!!!!!!! ( can anyone shed any light on where he is now???

Escaped from Baghdad
From: Snake Pliskin
Date: 31 Oct 2005
Time: 17:00:18
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
Home at last but I still can’t quite figure it all out. I put together a web site full of information for the PSD teams and a message board for us to moan on, I made it clear all material on the site was already available on the Internet and I would keep an eye on the message board. I also made it clear that the site could not be accessed from a web search, as the site had not been submitted to any search engines. You could only access the site if you had the address and unless there is any AlQueeda working amongst us I think its pretty safe. However it would appear that the Directors got there knickers all in a twist and wanted desperately to have the site taken down. I went from an OK letter from TS to being tricked into going to Baghdad to be blackmailed (site down and handed over or my job lost and me handed over to the Americans). Well its quite clear I resigned, I didn’t wish to work for Aegis anymore however that was not the end of it, the head shed decided not let me home and try and bring in the Americans. So I decided to let you blokes post your messages of discontent on the message boards for all to see that now also includes GRD thanks to the head shed for giving them the site address (Shoot yourself in the foot or what). To conclude: before I left I spoke to the American Military Lawyers with regards the site, they where more than happy that everything on the site was already available on the internet and they confirmed that they could not reach my site via any search engines (told them so). The Lawyer wished me well and thanked me for being of assistance. So why did the head shed get so steamed up over it? I think because now you all have a means to air your views, a means that they cannot control. That’s right AJ it doesn’t matter how far you throw your rattle out of the pram, its mine hands off.

TL Cadre and Training Team
From: Fustrated
Date: 27 Oct 2005
Time: 01:20:44
Remote Name: 216.40.86.26

Comments
Go on the Team Leader Cadre, this intensive 3 day course will qualify you to be a team leader in no time at all. You will be able to give a set of reconfigured British Army Orders, Take a British Army Battle lesson and Run a shooting Range British army Style. It doesn,t matter if you have been running teams around this country for a couple of years, It doesn’t matter that you have done 22 years in the British army, It doesn’t matter that you have paid out over 4000 Quid for a five week course and qualified as a fully trained CP officer. It doesn’t matter that you are already a 2/ic and have run the teams for three months of the year without pay It does not even matter if you have earned the trust of the men and they will follow you to hell and back, none of this matters. YOU HAVE TO DO THE CADRE.

Re: TL Cadre and Training Team
From: Just another Brit PSD
Date: 28 Oct 2005
Time: 14:13:55
Remote Name: 202.5.190.69

Comments
Do you also have to press your 5.11’s Guards fashion?….I’m interested in how a cadre enables one to run a range,when we’re all civvies,and Military range quals for the guys who’ve done Seniors and SAA,seem moot in a civilian world,because we’re not squaddies anymore incase anyone hadn’t noticed,and what happens to those guys who’ve come from the circuit without Range quals,such as ex RUC/non military…what makes your range quals legal should an accident occur on the FP? Spicer wasn’t kidding when he stated in his article he wanted his own Private Army..what next ,march pasts under the crossed swords,in full 5.11 order with Lt.Col Spicer taking the salute? Like I’ve said in the dirty laundry post,this website is getting passed around other companies,and they’re passing it onto mates and what not,it’s in the public system…the words out fellas

The way this site was handled
From: Spike
Date: 03 Nov 2005
Time: 05:55:09
Remote Name: 212.10.167.231

Comments
It occurred to me, while talking to another PSD about this site that if management had have kept their heads instead of resorting to old army discipline in a blind panic, that things could have been much different. If they had maturely realised they are dealing with fellow civilians now, and taken the site owner aside and said “thanks for pointing out our shortfalls, this is what we are going to do about them. In the meantime can you shut the site down or at least password protect it to make it less public”, then surely it would have been to the overall benefit of the company. The problem of a public site detailing company shorfalls would have been contained and the glaring flaws could have been addressed, to everyones satisfaction, improving the company in the process.

Re: The way this site was handled
From: Site Admin
Date: 03 Nov 2005
Time: 06:55:14
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
Spike, Thank you, you have hit the nail on the head. I went from an OK statement from Mr Spicer (posted on the home page) to being lured to Baghdad and given the ultimatum (Blackmail) Hand over the site or lose my job. So as stated in one of the other posts it was my ball and so I took it home. The problem was there was no bit in the middle it went from OK to NO. They only needed to give me call or send me an email for that matter using the contact link.

Rear Video Footage
From: Way Out Station
Date: 11 Nov 2005
Time: 16:46:04
Remote Name: 195.93.21.33

Comments
Just watched the Movie clip, jesus it must be bad if all Cars that advance towards you at speed get the hell shot out of it, is it generally known to stay back from PSD Teams ?? a certain distance ? by the Local populace! Not that I suppose it matters, being that your’s and the client’s safety come first. but how many cars have been shot up where a husband has been trying to get his wife to the Hospital ?? in the process of dropping a sprog. Like I say to be honest I recon i would be popping off a few rounds in order to get through the run of that day. What an existance to be in.

Re: Rear Video Footage
From:
Date: 15 Nov 2005
Time: 20:31:43
Remote Name: 84.64.182.244

Comments
Although i havent viewed this footage ive read a lot of posts condenming it. All i can say is if you havent been there you dont have a say. It may well have been “over the top” but unless you can sit in the rear gunners shoes and view the entire incident unfolding you will never know. Ive been in the sandpit for 2 years, my first 9 months as a “trunk monkey”. Its the lonliest job on the planet as im sure guys will agree. You and you alone have to make the decision wether to open fire or not. The vast majority of decisions are well made however there will always be one or two not so. Well, shit happens but at least you and your team get to go home. What we dont want is guys too worried about repurcussions and failing to open up when they need to. Then some nutcase slams a car full of explosives into your convoy! As for filming for the head shed, well the vast majority have never fired rounds in anger, so having to explain your decisions to them is difficult enough without filming it. I wouldnt bother, if youve got a decent team behind you theyre the ones that will always back you up in the end.

Re: Rear Video Footage
From: Admin
Date: 16 Nov 2005
Time: 06:29:42
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
Thanks for your comments, Never a truer word spoken, unless you where there to watch the whole event unfold who is anyone to judge the duties of the rear gunner. The head shed has scared a lot of rear gunners and some have had to resign before being sacked and all for carrying out their duties. What is the point of a rear gunner who because of possible ramifications is to scared to stop a fast moving incoming vehicle in a land where any of them could be a VBIED. Check out how many people have died in Baghdad alone through having a VBIED slam into the rear of them. Check out the VBIED at CP 12 watch how he crept onto the rear of the queue. Even at checkpoints the rear gunner has a duty to keep all vehicles back. A rear gunner has to have the courage of his convictions and also a great big set of balls check out the pics of the shot up Land Cruisers, http://www.aegisiraq.co.uk/images/vv3.jpg and http://www.aegisiraq.co.uk/images/veh10.jpg in both of them it was the rear gunners that where returning fire, putting their lives on the line for the safety of their team and the clients. I take my hat off to the rear gunner’s

Failed VBIED
From:
Date: 27 Nov 2005
Time: 14:25:51
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
The face of the enemy as seen in the linked clip, no different to any other vehicle in Iraq. So whom do you allow to close in on you? What do you do when they have ignored the hand gestures? Do you give them a second chance? They will not give you one. http://www.flurl.com/uploaded/failed_svbied_3340.html

From the Start
From: Baghdad P.S.D
Date: 02 Nov 2005
Time: 01:55:16
Remote Name: 64.191.210.139

Comments
I have been i iraq since 2003, i was with one off the first company’s out here. In the first year we had to buy are own weapons, and work 15 hour days. It was hard then we traveled in soft skin vehicles and employed local nationals to work in our teams. Many off the blokes got sick because we lived and shared the same food as the local iraqi. We trained hard and worked hard, we had little time to sleep. I joined aegis in june 2005 and from the first day i was happy with the company. The training i thought was good and the equipment and food were excellent. The accomadation was also five star. Your management also very good. A.J and James were both in charge off my last company and i believe they helped save many lives because off good sound deccisions they had made. When the contract came up for the P.C.O many company’s inclueding the one i was with put bids for the contract, and aegis won above all the rest, because i believe they were the only company that could offer all the requirements needed. I have no regrets in my choice to join aegis and find it hard to accept that there are blokes out there who complain about nothing, because if you had been in iraq in the begining you would no what terrible conditions we lived in. I look back at that time and to be honest i have some great memories and they were the best times off my life. All you blokes that work for aegis believe me you have it good remember why you are here, to earn pop star wages. We at aegis are lucky with the good kit and vehicles we are still alive sadly many off my friends from my last company are not. Be happy with what you have earn your money and stay safe.

Re: From the Start
From: chilly
Date: 02 Nov 2005
Time: 05:17:04
Remote Name: 62.254.64.16

Comments
that was a pretty picture painted i know a lot of blokes who where out from te satert and yes they had it hard sorting there own kit/ weapons out and bad accomodation but as spike said the complaintes arnt about living conditions / kit except mabye a few vehchiles that arnt road worthy, lets face it most of us are ex forces and have spent plenty of time laid in puddles for weeks. its as spike said the drips are with the middle management who will not listen to bloke who have years of experince on the ground and with there advice could make things alot safer for all concerned. stay safe lads.

Re: From the Start
From: Spike
Date: 02 Nov 2005
Time: 04:28:30
Remote Name: 212.10.167.231

Comments
Turn it up mate? Rockstar wages and 5 star accomodation? You must be a TCN from some backwards country to say that. Despite that, I dont read anyone complaining about conditions or pay, just the fact management wont listen to common sense or the guys on the ground. That instead they feather their nest and resort to the old reggie army attitude whenever a potentially life saving suggestion is made. You comments in light of the others, make you look like a backwards TCN with no tactical sense. The fact there is worse companies does not make Aeigis the best or incapable of improvement

Gun ships!!!!!!!
From: Trunk Monkey Baghdad
Date: 20 Nov 2005
Time: 11:38:12
Remote Name: 64.191.210.139

Comments
A graduated response to incoming cars, if they ignore the warnings so be it, they get stopped, endex. I dont subscribe to the ‘brass em up regardless attitude’. However not to have a guntruck (C.A.T. in London CP speak) is suicide. As for kit, yes you can go over the top with so much crap you cant move but i would rather have it and not use it than not have it and need it. Common sense should prevail on this one, Blackwater can wear what they like. I have also done a reputable CP course however out here my military experience of adaptability, flexibility and the ability to refine your skills, learn from your mistakes and make progress are of much more use to my team. Afterall lets admit it, the bad guys have made more progress in 2 years than the IRA made in 20 and we have to match that. I just wish we could stop having a go at each other and start working together. Guess i wont be holding my breath on that one then.

Re: Gun ships!!!!!!!
From:
Date: 21 Nov 2005
Time: 20:59:26
Remote Name: 84.64.182.244

Comments
Well said trunk monkey. Low profile is LOW PROFILE! This doesnt involve trying to squeeze past coalition convoys and other PSD teams. You cant have your cake and eat it. It might be slower but im sure anyone that has worked that way will agree its the safest way to travel, well apart from tunnelling from A – B! Its all well and good saying “what if the rear gunner engages another PSD team”, well any team operating LP will not bloody well attempt to zoom past a PSD team, knowing full well they run the risk of being opened up on! The object of LP is to “blend in”, you dont see the local population attempting to zoom past PSD teams bar a few with an obvious agenda, so why try it in a LP convoy??

Re: Insurance
From: mandril
Date: 12 Nov 2005
Time: 08:54:27
Remote Name: 195.93.21.37

Comments
hey guys reference the insurance pay outs. i have been on insurance pay for a few months dew to injury. the company paid me for the first 2 months, less danger money. then the insurance pay kicked in and pays roughly £2300 per month and all private medical expenses after that. as far as im aware they pay up until your fit to go back to work again. keep the heads down

Static Guard Force Baghdad
From: AR
Date: 29 Oct 2005
Time: 03:35:47
Remote Name: 24.142.117.154

Comments
First of all I would like to say well done for this site, about time, I know its really for the PSD side of life however it has become all`s way of telling thier story, I like so many was forced to resign, I was told resign or be fired!! resign and we will pay you a months wages or be fired and get nothing, so after seven months what did I do that was so wrong that it got me out, well the same as all the others by the looks of things, I had issue after issue on how the Guard force was being run and the policies that put the Guard force themslves, the client and any one else who lived in or worked in the PCO/GRD Compound or Annex in Danger! every time I questioned plocies or issues it become another black mark against me, in the end I requested a transfer as I could no longer carry on putting peoples lives in Danger becouse of Tim Spicers profit margin!! I was called to a meeting to what I believed was to talk about my transfer only to be told to resign! during my seven months I requested Three meetings with the Project Director,as was my right under contract, all Three were denied! why, A fabricated report was forwarded by the Guard Commander, under instruction I might add, to nail me, when we are told there is a chain of command thats correct but if your not one of the boys it does not apply to you? The time has come for people to be put into slots that can do the job andnot becouse your some one girl or boy friend or Tm owes you!! when is this shit going to stop, how many good people are going to be fired whilst on leave or forced to resign only becouse you question Dangerous policy or practice, the client must now be aware that they are not getting what they paid for and will act accordingly, its a real same that Spicer and co put the $ profit before lives and they get rid of the people that can do the job and replace them with people that cant, mainly in the Top Management and Directors off course.

HEADHEDS TIKRIT
From: RESIGNED SET 2i/c
Date: 14 Nov 2005
Time: 05:29:07
Remote Name: 84.64.153.84

Comments
Hear the one about the Set Team being ordered to do a 2 vehicle move from Sulyimaniyah to Tikrit with 6 blokes all their kit, no transponders,faulty comms, untested vehicles and the Reg Director says it is safer now than it has ever been. Well it is all true because i was that TL being ordered to do the move. When will TS realise that Pat and Jakes are not living on the same planet. There has been a lot of very good guys resigned from Tikrit yet with all TS does not seem to want to find out why and just assumes that everything is tickety boo in Tikrit.Tim if you read this then please have the deceincy to ask the guys that have resigned what is going on in Tikrit RROC and why are so many guys posting their comments on this site about Tikrit.

Re: HEADHEDS TIKRIT
From: Admin
Date: 14 Nov 2005
Time: 14:32:42
Remote Name: 86.136.173.37

Comments
The problem is you cannot take the problems up with Baghdad, as they will always side with the Regional Directors. So you stand firm and carry out your job as a TL, you determine whether a task is safe or not and remember you are making the decision in the clients interest not the regional Directors. The down side of this is you will get shit on for not doing what the Director wants even if yours is the correct choice.

Re: HEADHEDS TIKRIT
From:
Date: 14 Nov 2005
Time: 15:48:30
Remote Name: 81.153.148.8

Comments
If you all stuck together and resigned right before a task,in front of the client then what?….but if this is the standard of Headshed you have do you think it’s appropriate your company having the biggest contract in Iraq?…..the old saying “You reap what you sow”…….sounds like a Rock and a hard place,but it’s either put up or shut up,as nothing will be resolved as long as you are treated like depot recruits

2i/c Tikrit………..
From: concerned parties……
Date: 12 Nov 2005
Time: 11:17:42
Remote Name: 62.215.3.61

Comments
well where do we start…..iv just recieved yet more shocking stories well hard facts from the tikrit out station, and this really does concern me….Aegis is a very good company and is clearly going places its just ashame that single people really let the company down and this is not the first article relating to this matter and i know for a fact it will not be the last……!! im told there has been many good men come and go from tikrit and what im making out of it all is that a certain person is behind most of this, ie 2i/c jacks, jakes, cakes, what ever his name is….lads are on the road nearly every day doing what they do and then on top of that they have totally incompitant individuals to deal with, really come on….written permission to grow a tash and such likes…..it boils down to this man having no concept of anything operational what so ever and to run a team on threats is not the way forward because what happens is your threats run out, and one day someone will have enough, the lads are getting told on a daily basies “there are a 1000 cvs in london waiting to do yuor job” is that really the way to run a company like this?? im told that just in the last 3weeks 3-4 people have resigned and these blokes are top opperators by all accounts….its so sorry to hear that one man can bring the whole ship down it really is….the lads are putting up with enough camping in tents you wouldnt even put your dog in, allocated shower times, 1pc to contact home between 20guys,there is that saying again your not in the army anymore aegis is one big family!!…..!…..i can only say guys up there in tikrit, i and im sure alot of other guys feel for you, you have a hard enough job as it is yet its made harder by control freaks who run things on threats…..what a man hey!!

Re: 2i/c Tikrit………..
From: Guest
Date: 12 Nov 2005
Time: 12:37:51
Remote Name: 62.253.32.6

Comments
I personaly do not know this individual but i know his sort and have come across them before. Let me guess he has NO ABILITY, NOT QUALIFIED and is in a postion of responsability. so if he has no ability and no qualifications how is he there? would he be a friend of a friend? or a friend of the family. Rember where you are and what enviroment you are working in and accidents can and do happen to people if this individual had an accident would it be the end of the world?

Growing a Tache
From: Ops manager Kabul
Date: 12 Nov 2005
Time: 13:55:39
Remote Name: 62.253.128.13

Comments
are you serious about having to get permission to grow a tache, surely not

Security Directors
From: Out station
Date: 21 Oct 2005
Time: 08:55:12
Remote Name: 216.139.177.178

Comments
Question? Why was a SET Team brought down from Tikrit to collect a Security Director. Only to be engaged by an IED. Does it take another Fatality before a decision is made again that we are not here for ADMIN RUNS? Some Security Directors think they are untouchable. (They are not)

Re: Security Directors
From: Outstation
Date: 22 Oct 2005
Time: 08:45:50
Remote Name: 82.46.55.200

Comments
We should all know by now that `The Company` has recruited its Regional Directors from the gentlemans club and they have not been recruited on their merit or common sense. Making fundamentaly bad judgement calls has become somewhat of a normality and i would be surprised if this should change. In my opinion the regional and deputy directors should have been civilian contract supervisors with noteable experience within this field, leaving the security manager to control the teams with the team leaders all with the experience and shop floor approach to basic soldiering and cp work. Only my opinion though !!

Re: Security Directors

From: Former – SET member (resigned)
Date: 24 Oct 2005
Time: 05:55:02
Remote Name: 83.67.212.27

Comments
I recently resigned from the company, was working out of Tikrit (some of you will know who I am ).The comment about the Gentlemans club is certaintly correct for that detachment. The 2ic there is totally out of his depth, the majority of the operators in the detachment have no respect for either of them. Part of this comes down to the way the opertors are treated. This was witnessed recently by one of the Baghdad teams who worked out of the detachment for a short period of time. PSD operators there are expected to operate on a ‘seen and not heard’ basis, anybody who speaks up about issues on the ground becomes a marked man, even if they are common sense. Driving at 60 miles per hour and stopping for ISF checkpoints are two expample of what the director in Tikrit thinks is tactically sound. Chain of command is important, sure. But I would go as far as to say that the director in Tikrit wouldn’t be able to put a name to the face of all of the guys he has working under him. This is entirely due to the ‘rank’ structure and the headshed not taking the time to get down to ‘street level’ and see what the guys are doing, and getting to know them. The officer class/system is for the military, not for the commercial world. If the people took the time out to get to know their people, build up a better rapport then they are going to get more effort on the ground.

Incompetance, Complacency and Ignorance.
From: Former SET member (resigned)
Date: 17 Nov 2005
Time: 09:24:39
Remote Name: 80.255.40.168

Comments
Here’s the latest tally from Tikrit for the last 6 weeks: 4 resignations, 3 transfers and multiple requests for transfers, all denied. Surely this should put the message out to the company hierachy in London that there is a serious issue in the Tikrit detachment with so many operators wanting to throw smoke and get the hell out of there. The problem does not lie with the locale, it is simply due to two absoloute idiots running the detachment who are both out of their league, and with no idea on how to keep the morale at a good level within the detachment. The Regional Director is a pompous, arrogant, rude, sanctimonious has-been who treats his team like second rate citizens, and with an obvious disregard for their welfare. Examples of this include sending teams out on short notice taskings to high threat areas such as Bayji/Mosul and the classic fast ball mission to Baghdad. Not making any attempt to have OHP (Overhead Protection) provided for the team that was living in trailers when the Indirect Fire attacks occured regularly on the FOB, even though the palace he was living in had double sand bagging around all the windows etc. and it is a hard structure. Moving a team into a condemned building which had raw sewage flooding the ground floor and the car-park in the front of the building, no working toilets and only 1 pota-loo for 12 men…..Ordering a team to drive from Sulimanayah to Tikrit on a 2 vehicle move with no transponders, faulty comms and vehicles which had previously been condemned by an inspector for the US Military. The same vehicles that USACE were forbidden from riding in on tasks. Pat, you are an absoloute prick and a coward. How about you spend a little time on the road in the drivers seat, or pulling rear security. Maybe then you will have more of an understanding on what the guys go through on the road, instead of watching on the tapestry. The same man was cowering in a REVA shouting at the top of his lungs in an IED incident on Tampa when a team was sent to pick him up, another ridiculous mission risking the lives of a whole team for one self rightous idiot full of his own self-importance. And by the way, your total lack of action in regards to LN employees using Thuraya phones unsupervised is a flagrant disregard for the safety of all personnel on that FOB. Even after your beloved chain of command was used to address this security violation. Wake up and smell the coffee numb-nuts. And on that note, let’s talk about the 2ic. Another oxygen thief whose father should have opted for the blow-job rather than the shag that resulted in this clown. This fool is an totally useless, covering up his own inadequacy by constantly threatening operators with diciplinary action and dismissal. Jakes, time for a reality check moron. The only time this joker pops his head out of the toilet is when the RD goes on leave, and even then he palms everything off to the operations officer because any decision making process that requires him making a judgement call is too difficult. Enforcing dress and bearing regulations, shaving and car parking is his priority. One last example of how the man-power is treated like plebs. One operator suffered a recurring outbreak of hives due to a blood infection which was untreatable in country. On the recommendation of a US military doctor, the operatore was told to fly back to the UK for blood tests etc. When he informed the RD, he was told that he would have to take the days from his leave entitlement. The operator returned to the UK, spent most of the time in hospital having tests done, and then returned to work, all of the days taken from his leave entitlement. But when little Patty boy (R.D)had to have some dental work done, and refused to have the work done by the US military dentist at Speicher, he flew back to the UK, business class of course, on an unscheduled leave break just so he could have his favored dentist do the work. Go figure. Nice one boys, keep up the sterling work!!!