Readers;

Wild news from Africa as the ICC charges Sudanese president with genocide and businesses are threatened with governmental seizure in the former Rhodesia. It's important to note that the declaration of genocide empowers the global community to act and intervene directly in a country thus invalidating certain aspects of sovereignty.

A continuing flow of information from the GWOT frontlines, as the successful surge winds down, troop levels are rebalanced between the two main operating areas and as Al Qaida shifts focus from Iraq to Afghanistan. This is good news as casualties are expected to diminish in the Iraq AO, but a renewed effort is required in the Afghanistan campaign to defeat the enemy.

I received an enthusiastic response to our comments about the government's competition for the next battle rifle. A reader provided me a great link for a proposed alternative to the M4, Barrett's M468. In addition to the article on the M468, take some time and surf the site as it contains good articles on guns and associated gear.

Lastly, another thanks for the responses to our Community Chest. We are getting positive feedback for some worthy causes.

Hope you're enjoying the summer and staying safe.

Stay safe.

John Wrenn
Managing Editor, Blackwater Tactical Weekly
Director, Corporate Communications

Overview of our open enrollment Advanced Driving Safety Course.

Blackwater Training Center is known worldwide for providing the highest caliber training to law enforcement, military, and government agencies. Selected training courses are also available to the general public.

Safe, realistic, and challenging are the hallmarks of Blackwater Worldwide's training facilities and staff. They support the company's goal to improve customer's capabilities and mission success. The Advanced Highway Safety Driving Course epitomizes the company's desire to give customers a first class instructional experience. The Driver Training Instructors are professionals and have a combined experience of 100 years of experience in all aspects of driver training. Driver Training uses the most advanced equipment and training curriculum to provide students the skills necessary to counter any conditions that may arise while driving. All driver training courses are taught at Blackwater’s headquarters located in Moyock, North Carolina.

Mark your calendars and prepare yourself for an event like no other. Registration opens July 15th for the Blackwater Escape and Evasion Adventure Race, scheduled to take place November 7th 8th in Moyock, North Carolina.

Brought to you by Blackwater Extreme Racing and Don Mann Productions, the Blackwater E&E is unlike any other adventure race on the planet. This 24-hour race will test teams of two against one another as they run, mountain bike, paddle, swim, and climb their way across a challenging course designed to test them at every turn. Along the way, they'll face the Blackwater obstacle course, the infamous SEAL team "Log PT", an optional orienteering course, and a few other surprises that could only come from Blackwater and the team behind Primal Quest, the "World's Most Challenging Human Endurance Competition."

The Blackwater Escape and Evasion adventure race is prefect for triathletes, endurance athletes, military personnel, police officers, firefighters, or anyone else looking to add a little adventure and challenge to their life. For more information and to register, go to http://blackwateree.com/.

The Backup Training Corporation has introduced a free new Law Enforcement Newsletter. Delivered in electronic format, the newsletter contains a variety of brief training articles in each issue. These articles have been based on portions of the company's extensive library of law enforcement courses and provide practical tips that you can use in your everyday police work. Read these articles and you will want to see the full courses. The Backup is the premier digital training provider for law enforcement. – Click here to subscribe or learn more!

To view the latest contract opportunities at Blackwater, visit our Contract Web Page

TO FILL OUT AN APPLICATION AND SUBMIT YOUR RESUME CLICK HERE
Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training at Blackwater (252) 435-2488 or email webmaster@blackwaterusa.com

Sent by a reader, here is a good review of the Barrett M468, which is competing with the M4 to be the next service rifle. The site also has a lot of gun reviews so enjoy.

Barrett Firearms Manufacturing has been producing high quality semi-auto and bolt action rifles chambered for the .50 Browning Machine Gun cartridge for over twenty years. Their rifles are known worldwide, and are used by many units of the US military and our allies.

Ronnie Barrett is also responsible for a great amount of interest by civilians in the sporting use of the .50 BMG cartridge. Barrett big fifty rifles are used by many long-range target shooters, and Barrett has become the leading producer of .50 BMG caliber rifles in the world.

Besides their constant production of .50 BMG rifles, Barrett is also working full time on several interesting projects for our military. They are developing a very high-tech sniper scope system that should totally eliminate guesswork and human error, and they have a twenty-millimeter rifle that defines the word "awesome". However, the subject of this article is their new AR-15 type rifle chambered for the equally new 6.8 Remington cartridge.

Innovative way for the Border Patrol to attract new recruits. Although the force is growing, there are fears it is growing too fast and will have too many inexperience agents on the job.

The engines were screaming adrenaline at last weekend's NASCAR race in Joliet, but a more unusual attraction was beckoning just outside the track.

There, tucked between the Jack Daniel's whiskey tent and a booth for Red Man smokeless tobacco on the Chicagoland Speedway grounds, the U.S. Border Patrol was taking the names of hundreds of revved-up job applicants.

The agency's presence - complete with a white-and-green Border Patrol-sponsored stock car that competed in the race (it finished 28th) - was part of an all-out effort mandated by Congress two years ago to nearly double the ranks to 20,000 officers by the end of 2009.

Unveiling of new training copter for the National Guard.

FORT INDIANTOWN GAP, Pa., July 18, 2008 – Officials at the National Guard’s Eastern Aviation Training Site here yesterday unveiled the new UH-72A Lakota light utility helicopter, for which they will become the military's sole trainers.

This central Pennsylvania post will be the only Army training site for the military's newest light utility helicopter, which entered service in 2006 for homeland security and other non-combat missions, said Army Spc. Matt Jones, a full-time National Guard employee at the site.

While not a security system, a lot of us depend on our portable music devices to take the edge off of workouts or just to help unwind from the stress of our jobs. Here is an article detailing a new threat to those who share music files.

A new kind of malicious software is aimed at music-loving Windows users. The new malware, hits those who download music files on peer-to-peer networks, and inserts links to dangerous web pages within ASF (Advanced Systems Format) media files.

Tactical Equipment Evaluation

TYB = Train Your Brain. Anytime I review a book, CD or DVD that offers training I like to let the readers know that it's that kind of review. So this is a Train Your Brain review of the book, "Close Range Survival Shooting" by Mr. Tony Zanti. The subtitle is "Tactical Problems and Ergonomic Solutions." The copy I received for review is a preprint copy so there may have been some editorial changes made before it actually went to print and release. What I found in my copy was 203 pages of information about Dynamic Combat Shooting (a trademarked phrase) which covers most shooting dynamics between zero and seven yards. I learned some new terms and enjoyed some new insights.

Full Story Can Be Viewed At:

Recreational Equipment Review

Today's manufacturing industry that supplies to military and law enforcement has realized the easy and frequent cross-over of their products to the outdoor hunting, camping and fishing community. The outdoor community has many of the same needs as the military and LE guys – just thankfully without such severe consequences of failure (thank goodness). Still, many products good for one community are equally good for the other. Tactical Orange hydration boosting tablets are one of those products. Designed for use by the people in uniform, this effervescent hydration "system" will be equally welcomed and of equal value to the outdoor folks.

My week of duty has caused me to remember my beginnings, my instructors, my experiences and my training. I have put much thought into what I do and why I do it. When I handle a case I am like a hungry dog with a fresh bone... Like the dog works on the bone until all nourishment is gained from it, I am a detail hound... I keep checking until I am satisfied with all of the answers that I have obtained and how they may be applied. If all is legal and proper, then no action is necessary. If there is a violation of law, code or ordinance, I choose what I view as the proper method of handling it. If there are multiple violations, I may choose to charge one and warn on all others or to charge all. My actions are determined by evidence, knowledge, experience and what I believe will get the best results in the case being handled.

Full Story Can Be Viewed At:

http://www.blackwaterusa.com/btw2008/article/072108chaplain.htm

While this is not a specific fitness article, the lack of sleep has been documented to affect cognitive and physical abilities. Here is a look at the military's way to minimize the effects of sleep reduction.

You don't have to worry anymore about the possibility of an arms race in pharmaceutical enhancement of combat troops. It's already here.

The evidence is laid out in "Human Performance," a report commissioned by the Pentagon's Office of Defense Research and Engineering. The document, issued by a defense science advisory group known as JASON, was published earlier this year. It was flagged by Secrecy News and came to Slate's attention through Wired's military blog, Danger Room.

This is a great site of articles on nutrition written by registered dieticians. Here is an article that points out the pros and cons of butter and margarine and how manufacturers have changed the composition of margarine to reduce the health risks.

Butter or Margarine - which one is better for my health? This debate is still as hot today as when it first arose. To determine which one is better for heart health, let's look at the fat content of both butter and margarine.

Here are some links for charitable organizations.

Blackwater does not endorse any organization over another nor encourage charitable contributions, we provide these links as a public service, and take no responsibility for the actual sites. Although we strive to validate the sites before linking we caution you to do your own research, as the Internet is ripe with scams.

http://www.divers4heroes.org

SupportPoliceOfficers.com
We received a plea to help a young police officer injured in the line of duty.

http://www.supportpoliceofficers.com

Firstgiving.com
Here is a link for a fallen Special Operator, at the Special Operations Warrior Foundation (SOWF).

http://www.firstgiving.com/DebbieArgel

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The Blackwater Tactical Weekly is a free weekly e-publication.

The BTW provides readers valuable information from diverse sources regarding tactical and strategic security issues.

Editor-in-Chief – Gary Jackson (btw@blackwaterusa.com)
Managing Editor – John Wrenn (btw@blackwaterusa.com)
Format Editor – Jennifer Granoff (JGranoff@blackwaterusa.com)
Frank's Review – Frank Borelli (frank@borelliconsulting.com)
Chaplain's Corner – Chaplain D. R. Staton (chpln1@verizon.net)
Advertising – Jennifer Granoff (JGranoff@blackwaterusa.com)

Questions regarding Security Consulting or Training at Blackwater (252) 435-2035

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