Security

Officers, Mercs Brawl

From Iraq to New Orleans, and now Afghanistan, the Blackwater backlash seems to be growing. Two Air Force officers involved in a scuffle with a Blackwater contractor in Afghanistan have been cleared of charges, but given an official reprimand. The incident seems to underscore the troubling escalation of tension between members of the military and […]

From Iraq to New Orleans, and now Afghanistan, the Blackwater backlash seems to be growing. Two Air Force officers involved in a scuffle with a Blackwater contractor in Afghanistan have been cleared of charges, but given an official reprimand. The incident seems to underscore the troubling escalation of tension between members of the military and private contractors.

Black As the Virginia Pilot reports:

*Even though they won't face a court-martial, two Air Force officers involved in a road-rage incident with a Blackwater USA contractor in Afghanistan have been slapped with administrative sanctions. *

The discipline was meted out by the same general who dismissed criminal charges against Lt. Cols. Gary Brown and Christopher Hall.

Brown's civilian attorney has fired back with an angry letter, calling the sanctions a "laugh-out-loud joke" and suggesting that the general bowed to pressure from Blackwater, a private military company based in Moyock, N.C.

It's the latest turn of events in an escalating clash between uniformed military personnel and private contractors on the battlefield.

In a letter of reprimand, Lt. Gen. Gary North, commander of the 9th Air Force, wrote that Brown acted with "unreasonable force and intimidation" in a confrontation with the Blackwater contractor after their vehicles collided on a busy Kabul road Sept. 19.

"Specifically," North wrote, "while in uniform you shoved, kicked, pointed your loaded M-4 rifle at, and threatened the life of Mr. Jimmy Bergeron, a U.S. civilian contractor employee who did not pose a reasonable threat to you or others.... I find your conduct reckless, undisciplined and a discredit to the armed forces."

An article in the Washington Examiner notes, however, the reprimand "is in conflict with the findings of Lt. Col. Leslea Pickle, the investigative officer appointed by North after the Air Force charged Brown with assault and conducting unbecoming an officer. Pickle concluded in her report that Brown and a second officer properly followed the military’s rules of engagement."

More on Blackwater a bit later....