PDA

View Full Version : Blackwater dumps tarnished brand name


VooDoo6Actual
02-13-09, 16:43
redaction.
SeriousStudent
02-13-09, 17:01
Another fair and balanced story from the Associated Press......

Not a slap at you, HOPLOETHOS. It tires us all out to read the tone in these stories.

I am really curious if the AP folks could whip out a quick tally on how many American kids still have mommies and daddies thanks to people serving on PSD's? They never seem to count live Americans, do they?

I'll shut up now..... :(
Iraqgunz
02-13-09, 17:04
Please tell Jan Schakowsky that she can blow me. Thanks.
Kaos
02-13-09, 17:31
Please tell Jan Schakowsky that she can blow me. Thanks.

Yeah..for real. I'd like to see her risk her neck for something more than maybe a hickey.
CarlosDJackal
02-13-09, 17:35
Please tell Jan Schakowsky that she can blow me. Thanks.

I don't think I would ever be that hard up myself. :eek:

Instead, please tell her to go take a jog through one of the uncleared minefields that Saddam Hussein left behind as a legacy!! :mad:
AirmanAtwood
02-13-09, 17:55
wtf? Katy Helvenston sued blackwater for her sons death?? Anyone got the whole story on this?
M4arc
02-13-09, 17:55
Damnit.

I guess I better stock up on t-shirts and stickers because I love the name and logo.
Rider79
02-13-09, 18:06
Couldn't they have just changed their name to Ravenwood?
Rider79
02-13-09, 18:10
Damnit.

I guess I better stock up on t-shirts and stickers because I love the name and logo.

No shit. I'll be selling the Blackwater hat I picked up at SHOT 2007 for $100 bucks on eBay. :rolleyes:
Business_Casual
02-13-09, 18:25
BW is just a victim of the same old shoddy "journalism."


However, I do agree about Ravenwood:

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v235/glock23carry/DSC00455-1.jpg

M_P
Rider79
02-13-09, 18:29
I want that shirt, where'd ya get it?
DrMark
02-13-09, 19:24
Xe.

Odd.
SeriousStudent
02-13-09, 20:22
Please tell Jan Schakowsky that she can blow me. Thanks.

I dunno, make sure you've had all your shots first. Penicillin doesn't cure squat anymore.
jack crab
02-13-09, 20:43
wtf? Katy Helvenston sued blackwater for her sons death?? Anyone got the whole story on this?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scott_Helvenston
Joe Mamma
02-13-09, 20:57
wtf? Katy Helvenston sued blackwater for her sons death?? Anyone got the whole story on this?

I wouldn't get worked up about it. it's old news and i's probably more of an emotional decision/reaction.

As far as the name change, it's understandable, but I think they could have come up with something better. I mean what the heck is a "Xe"?

I also liked the old name and logo.

Joe Mamma
Safetyhit
02-14-09, 00:04
Xe.

Odd.


I agree.
Linea_de_Fuego
02-14-09, 01:04
I agree.

I don't get it either. I found this by way of Google. It is the symbol for an element in the periodic table for chemistry.

Symbol: Xe
Name: Xenon
Name Origin: From the Greek word xenon (stranger)
Classification: Noble Gas
Uses: powerful lamps, bubble chambers
Obtained From: liquid air
Iraq Ninja
02-14-09, 02:54
Another fair and balanced story from the Associated Press......

Not a slap at you, HOPLOETHOS. It tires us all out to read the tone in these stories.
(

Hmm, actually I though the AP article's tone wasn't bad. Why do you think it was?

Been talking about this with my BW buddies here. One of them complained about KBR getting their new contract, yet BW gets dumped by State. My response is that KBR is not universally hated by the majority of Iraqis and doesn't have a reputation for brassing locals.

Unlike KBR, they have given the tax payers a great deal, and I have never heard any reports of BW book keeping or contract irregularities. But their reputation here caught up with them in the end and a politically based decision was made.
VooDoo6Actual
02-14-09, 08:12
redaction.
C4IGrant
02-14-09, 08:51
Damnit.

I guess I better stock up on t-shirts and stickers because I love the name and logo.


What is the TIP going to do?????



C4
ryanm
02-14-09, 10:16
WTF does KBR know about security? I seriously hope they are just hiring the former BW employees and changing shirts. KBR can't even keep us alive in the shower, I have serious doubts as to how things would work outside the wire.

Not all of KBR is incompetent, but I've seen enough of what they can do wrong to seriously question how this is going to work out. If they do security like they do everything else-- they'll hire a good ol' boy to run a "crew" and bring some TCN's with M4s--people will die and it will be a hell of alot worse than Nisoor square.
SeriousStudent
02-14-09, 10:25
Hmm, actually I though the AP article's tone wasn't bad. Why do you think it was?

Been talking about this with my BW buddies here. One of them complained about KBR getting their new contract, yet BW gets dumped by State. My response is that KBR is not universally hated by the majority of Iraqis and doesn't have a reputation for brassing locals.

Unlike KBR, they have given the tax payers a great deal, and I have never heard any reports of BW book keeping or contract irregularities. But their reputation here caught up with them in the end and a politically based decision was made.

Just the little jewels scattered through the story. It seems as if the writer has an axe to grind.

"the ugly reputation it earned the company "

"a caustic moniker for private security"

"the tarnished brand "

And of course, what the writer picked as the closing quote:

"Blackwater's notorious reputation will outlast its name,"

Maybe I am just overly sensitive. I just know that if I turned in something like that to my high-school journalism teacher *cough* 30 years ago *cough* I would have received a low grade and an order to re-write it. I would have also been asked if I was writing an editorial, or an straight-news story.

I think that many, many "news" stories you see today frequently erode that line. Just my opinion.

Thanks, and stay safe.
Outlander Systems
02-14-09, 11:00
Xe? That's pretty lame.

I'd expected to see something like __________ Defense.

It's all semantics. Throw the word defense in there, and the perception is automatically skewed.

:confused:

I think a name change is almost an admission of wrongdoing. I think it was a bad move to do it, but WTF do I know? I'm just a redneck, civilian suck-head.
Iraq Ninja
02-14-09, 12:59
WTF does KBR know about security? I seriously hope they are just hiring the former BW employees and changing shirts. KBR can't even keep us alive in the shower, I have serious doubts as to how things would work outside the wire.

Not all of KBR is incompetent, but I've seen enough of what they can do wrong to seriously question how this is going to work out. If they do security like they do everything else-- they'll hire a good ol' boy to run a "crew" and bring some TCN's with M4s--people will die and it will be a hell of alot worse than Nisoor square.


Ryan,

I didn't mean to imply that KBR got a security contract. They got a renewal of their standard life support contract. KBR is not in the security business per se.

Just like with soldiers, contractor's loyalty is with their team members first, not the company they work for. I doubt any of us care what the name of our company is, as long as the check gets in the bank and we are working for the coalition.

I can't think of any security company that hasn't brassed civilians in these past five years. Some were is response to legitimate threats and followed the proper escalation of force protocols.

Nisoor square became such a big deal because not only did a lot of people end up dead, but because it happened in 2007 when the perception among the Iraqis was that things had changed.
ryanm
02-14-09, 13:10
Man, I'm glad to hear that! I can't even imagine going to meet up with a PSD detail and having it staffed with KBR personnel. That would scare the holy crap out of me. Not that they couldn't pull it off with the right people--but I doubt those people would work for KBR. Being on the high end of IT work here in Iraq, I would find it difficult to work for a body shop operation and I'm sure that goes the same for BW professionals.

All of my experience with BW has been overwhelmingly positive. I hope XE is able to retain some of the work or sub to whomever is awarded the contract.
ryanm
02-14-09, 13:13
"Just like with soldiers, contractor's loyalty is with their team members first, not the company they work for. I doubt any of us care what the name of our company is, as long as the check gets in the bank and we are working for the coalition. "


--I'm on my 3rd company doing the same job in the same chair in the span of a little over 2 years...
VA_Dinger
02-14-09, 13:25
Just the little jewels scattered through the story. It seems as if the writer has an axe to grind.

"the ugly reputation it earned the company "

"a caustic moniker for private security"

"the tarnished brand "

And of course, what the writer picked as the closing quote:

"Blackwater's notorious reputation will outlast its name,"

Maybe I am just overly sensitive. I just know that if I turned in something like that to my high-school journalism teacher *cough* 30 years ago *cough* I would have received a low grade and an order to re-write it. I would have also been asked if I was writing an editorial, or an straight-news story.

I think that many, many "news" stories you see today frequently erode that line. Just my opinion.

Thanks, and stay safe.

I would have to agree that the author seemed to have an axe to grind. Not surprising considering the liberal media attacks BW whenever they get the chance. Unfortunately for BW they became the face for the Iraq war which drives the liberal media crazy.