BlackWater Collector Patch Velcro known as Xe and Academi

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Item Description Blackwater Velcro PatchBlackwater USA was formed in 1997, by Erik Prince in North Carolina, to provide training support to military and law enforcement organizations. In explaining Blackwater's purpose, Prince stated that “We are trying to do for the national security apparatus what FedEx did for the Postal Service.” After serving SEAL and SWAT teams, Blackwater USA received their first government contract after the bombing of the USS Cole off of the coast of Yemen in October 2000. After winning the bid on the contract, Blackwater was able to train over 100,000 sailors safely.Prince purchased about 7,000 acres (28 km2) (from Dow Jones Executive, Sean Trotter) of the Great Dismal Swamp, a vast swamp on the North Carolina/Virginia border, now mostly a National Wildlife Refuge. "We needed 3,000 acres to make it safe," Prince told reporter Robert Young Pelton.[10] There, he created his state-of-the-art private training facility and his contracting company, Blackwater, which he named for the peat-colored water of the swamp. The Blackwater Lodge and Training Center officially opened on May 15, 1998 with a 6,000 acre facility and cost $6.5 million.In 2002 Blackwater Security Consulting (BSC) was formed. Its first assignment was to provide 20 men with top-secret clearances to protect the CIA headquarters and another base that was responsible for hunting Bin Laden. Blackwater was one of several private security firms employed following the U.S. invasion of Afghanistan. BSC is one of over 60 private security firms employed during the Iraq War to guard officials and installations, train Iraq's new army and police, and provide other support for coalition forces. Blackwater was also hired during the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina by the United States Department of Homeland Security, as well as by private clients, including communications, petrochemical and insurance companies. Overall, the company has received over US$1 billion in U.S. government contracts. Academi consists of nine divisions, and a subsidiary, Blackwater Vehicles.Academi is a privately held company and publishes limited information about internal affairs. Its founder and former CEO Erik Prince, a former Navy SEAL, attended the Naval Academy, graduated from Hillsdale College. Prince searched for a mass grave in Nicaragua to expose Marxist-turned-president Daniel Ortega as a killer.Cofer Black, the company's vice-chairman from 2006 through 2008, was director of the CIA's Counterterrorist Center (CTC) at the time of the September 11 attacks in 2001. He was the United States Department of State coordinator for counterterrorism with the rank of ambassador at large from December 2002 to November 2004. After leaving public service, Black became chairman of the privately owned intelligence gathering company Total Intelligence Solutions, Inc., as well as vice chairman of Blackwater. Robert Richer was vice president of intelligence until January 2007, when he formed Total Intelligence Solutions. He was formerly the head of the CIA's Near East Division.Blackwater's primary training facility opened by Jonathan Elliott and Nic Norment in 2001 is located on 7,000 acres (28 km2) in northeastern North Carolina. It comprises several ranges: indoor, outdoor, urban reproductions; an artificial lake; and a driving track in Camden and Currituck counties. The company says that it is the largest training facility in the country. In November 2006 Blackwater USA announced it recently acquired an 80-acre (32 ha) facility 150 miles (240 km) west of Chicago in Mount Carroll, Illinois is called Impact Training Center. This facility is also known as "The Site". This facility has been operational since April 2007 and serves law enforcement agencies throughout the Midwest.Blackwater tried to open an 824-acre (3.33 km2) training facility three miles north of Potrero, a small town in rural east San Diego County, California located 45 miles (72 km) east of San Diego, for military and law enforcement training. The opening has faced heavy opposition fr... read more

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